To view the Harris County Democratic Primary runoff results, please click on the link below:
Based on the local runoff results, we are encouraged that voters generally selected the more moderate candidates to represent the Democratic Party in November. Of the eleven endorsements made by HarrisCountyDemocrats.com, nine of our preferred candidates won. All things considered, we believe moderate / centralist Democratic candidates, rather than left-wing liberals and progressives, have a much better chance of defeating Republicans in the upcoming general election.
On the negative side, there was one race in which our endorsed candidate won, but we are very concerned about how she won. Leading up to election day, Commissioners Court candidate Benjamin Chou (a Chinese American) accused his opponent, Lesley Briones, of doctoring a photograph of him and then using that photo in negative, racist ads against him. As it turns out, Mrs. Briones has now acknowledged that Mr. Chou's face in her ads had been doctored (eyes, nose, lips, skin-tone), but claimed it was done without her prior knowledge. Mrs. Briones stated that the graphic designer who doctored the photo is no longer working for her campaign. Frankly, it's hard for us to believe that no one in the Briones campaign noticed the altered photo prior to placing it in those negative ads. With all the ethical issues surrounding County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the last thing Democrats need is another candidate with ethical issues. To her credit, Mrs. Briones has apologized to Mr. Chou and the Asian-American community for the doctored photograph. Of course, that's very little consolation for Mr. Chou, who lost the runoff to Mrs. Briones by a 54% - 46% margin (or 1,167 votes).
For some of the media reports on this story, please click on the links below:
FOR MORE POSTS, please routinely check HarrisCountyDemocrats.com.