More Latinos

Local democrats are not saying much about three City of H-Town At-Large council positions going to GOPers. That is your Harris County Democratic Party at work – not.

Here is from the Chron article today:

Late Saturday night, as voting results continued to update, At-Large Position 3 candidate Richard Cantu hoped Election Day votes would help make the difference between him and his opponent, Carter. He said he believed the coalition Whitmire built was affecting the leads of at-large candidates with Democratic endorsements, himself included.

“The results are showing that the Republicans in the at-large races are doing a whole lot better than they should be doing,” Cantu said, adding Houston is a Democratic majority city. He believed high turnout among Republicans appeared to be making a “big difference.”

Oh, well.

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On the other hand, there will now be three Latinos on the H-Town City Council. See this from the Chron:

The elections of Mario Castillo and Julian Ramirez in the runoffs put City Council a couple steps closer to looking like the city it represents, but there’s still a ways to go.

Castillo and Ramirez will join council with District I council member-elect, Joaquin Martinez. The three elected members mark an increase in representation from Council’s sole Latino representative, District I council member Robert Gallegos, who is term limited and was replaced by Martinez.

Latinos comprise nearly half (45%) of the city’s population according to 2021 U.S. Census estimates, yet are underrepresented in the 16-member council.

And this:

It has been a while since council saw this level of representation, Houston-based LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens) historian David Contreras said. Prior to Gallegos’ eight years (starting from the 2016-2017 term) as the sole member, he served a two-year term with Ed Gonzalez, now Harris County sheriff, Contreras said.

The last time Houston had at least three Latino city council members was in 2001, with Gabriel Vasquez in District H, John Castillo in District I and Orlando Sanchez in At-Large Position 3.

By Contreras’ count, Houston was likely closest to proportional representation when there were four Latino council members in 1996 with Gracie Saenz, Orlando Sanchez, Felix Fraga and John Castillo. At that time there were 14 seats.

Here is the entire Chron read: Houston runoff election boosts Latino representation in City Council (houstonchronicle.com).

More Latinos on city council is healthy for sure.

The featured photo is from a campaign event with Latinos in the Near Northside a week before the election.

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Commentary lives in CD 18, and I am voting for former H-Town city council member Amanda Edwards. If you are a Dem and live in CD 18, I would hope you would vote for Amanda. Cong. Sheila Jackson Lee ran one of the lousiest campaigns ever for mayor. The audio tape cussing out her staff. The campaign ad with the wrong date. Totally rejected by H-Town voters.  Her act is old for sure. She needs to be retired.

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Commentary also lives in SD 15. The Dean will be leaving the state senate so we will have an open SD 15. I will have to figure out who gets my vote.

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Christmas Day is 13 days away.