Pearland, a growing suburb of Houston, has been a reliable republican bastion at all levels of government from the school board to the city council. An unlikely trio of candidates have challenged this status quo in this mid-term election held on May 06th 2017. It looks like a slate of progressive candidates have made some inroads.
Pearland’s beloved Mayor for over three decades, Tom Reid – an active nonagenarian, was challenged by a 36 years old African American candidate Quentin Wiltz. To the surprise of many, Quentin Wiltz secured 46% of the vote against Tom Reid’s 49%, and has forced a run off.
Rusty DeBorde, a two-term incumbent Pearland Independent School District (PISD) Board member, was unseated by an 18 years old Pearland High School senior Mike Floyd with an impressive 8% margin, and has attracted national attention.
In a six-person race for the city councilmember, Dalia Kasseb, a local pharmacist, running for public office for the first time, secured 41 percent of the vote and will face Woody Owens who received 21 percent of the vote in a run-off election. If elected, Dalia Kasseb will be the first Muslim to ever serve in elected office in the long history of the Brazoria county.
Despite the long odds, Mr. Wiltz, Mr. Floyd, and Ms. Kasseb, mounted a credible, unapologetically progressive campaign with block walks, yard signs, and phone calls. Their efforts attracted the attention of local republicans as well. A local real-estate agent who apparently felt threatened by their campaigns, penned and circulated a nasty letter online, soliciting support for the opponents of Wiltz, Floyd, and Kasseb.
An unlikely trio of candidates – an 18 year old running against a veteran, a young man running running against a well-established 10+ term Mayor, and a young Muslim woman – a novice to politics, have managed to upstage the establishment candidates in deep red Texas. Wiltz and Dalia, may yet lose in the run-offs, but their work has already shown the benefit of competing in every election to win. When republicans no longer feel secure, even in deep red Texas, then there is hope that candidates will realize that taking extreme positions advocated by hyper-partisans is no longer a guaranteed winning formula.
Crossposted here.