Early voting in the Texas Primary has started, you’ve got nearly 10 days of early voting left then election day so really no excuse not to cast a ballot. Whether or not you think Democrats have a chance at winning statewide positions like Governor, there are two really important seats with districts that Democrats can and should continue to hold. One of those is the Texas 28th Congressional District which I’ve already written about and hope you’ll vote for Jessica Cisneros. The other seat is State Board of Education District 5 in which Rebecca Bell-Metereau is the excellent incumbent, she’s a career educator, a professor at Texas State University in San Marcos and a strong advocate for teaching historical truth and real science as well as replacing Texas’ high stakes testing which benefits the test making companies and not the students. Our children deserve the continued efforts of her leadership and scholarship.
In the statewide races the race for Governor has five candidates
but the only one with a track record on public policy issues and running for
election is Beto O'Rourke. O’Rourke had a strong run against Ted Cruz four
years ago and is our best chance to beat whoever Republicans put up including
the incumbent who is backed by corporate funds including the very power
companies that he failed to hold accountable for last year’s statewide power
outage during the snow storm. The power companies got off the hook and those of
us who pay our electric bills were left holding the bag, many of us will be
paying extra on our electric bills for many years to come in order to cover it.
There are three outstanding candidates for Lieutenant Governor
and I’m siding with Mike Collier who has worked tirelessly for years working to
unseat the unscrupulous incumbent. Collier ran for the spot previously and has
built name recognition around the state. He faces Carla Brailey, a university
professor and social justice advocate. Also running for the seat is Michelle
Beckley who won a state house seat in District 65 in 2018 beating the
Republican incumbent, she’s an advocate for expanding Medicaid in Texas and
fixing the power grid among other widely supported Democratic priorities.
There are five contenders for the Attorney General
nomination. Joe Jaworski made a strong impression on me when I had the
opportunity to listen to his pitch and ask him questions. Jaworski is a
practicing attorney in Galveston and has held various local political offices
over the years. His platform includes starting a Civil Rights division within
the Attorney General’s office to insure that Texans are able to count on the
Office of the Texas Attorney General to protect civil rights in employment,
education, housing, voting, the courts, physical access to accommodations and
above all interaction with our criminal justice system.
Comptroller of Public Accounts is a position that most of us
don’t even recognize but is a truly important job. Janet Dudding is a CPA who
began her governmental accounting career with the Office of the State Auditor
investigating allegations that governmental officials had embezzled taxpayer
money or taken kickbacks. She’s spent her professional life holding government
officials accountable to the citizens, not special interests. Dudding is ready
to hit the ground running and deserves your support.
There are four contenders for Commissioner of the General
Land Office provides funding for Texas public schools. Jinny Suh is a community
organizer, former patent litigator, and when I spoke to her expressed her
determination to use the office to protect the environment while expanding funding
for education.
Published in the Seguin Gazette - February 16, 2022
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