Here’s another batch of Chron endorsements to run down.
Don’t just vote for him because he’s young. Christian Menefee wins more fights than Al Green.
Normally, newly elected members of Congress get sworn in as part of a cohort, a freshman class who learn the ropes together. When former Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee got to Washington, D.C., that didn’t happen.
“I came in in a special election so none of that existed,” he told the editorial board.
“My orientation was 15 minutes and then I’m told, ‘You know you’re giving a speech on the floor tonight?’”
Occasionally on the House floor he has flashbacks from his childhood as the kid of two military members whose frequent moves meant he often had to start at a new school from scratch midway through the year.
“I’m good at making friends,” he said.
[…]
His primary challenger, Rep. Al Green, 78, knows people will be familiar with him, too. The longtime incumbent of the 9th was drawn out of his district and has been campaigning to show his new constituents that he still has the fight and vigor to continue being the outspoken advocate who was the first to present articles of impeachment against Donald Trump during his first term — a move that alienated some fellow Democrats at the time but that shows his willingness to be bold.
In the past, we endorsed Green several times, citing his reliable Democratic representation that brought back millions to his district for important infrastructure projects. This time, he didn’t meet with us, offering this statement instead:
“I am not the Houston Chronicle’s Congressman, I’m the People’s Congressman. I see no reason to legitimize a sham, pre-determined endorsement process wherein the Houston Chronicle has already made its selection.”
Though we clarified for him — and should for readers, too — that yes, columnist Joy Sewing had already voiced her feelings that Green should step aside in this race, she is not part of the editorial board and doesn’t make the endorsement decision.
Green is nothing if not a fighter — he once left the emergency room to cast a vote while still in his hospital gown against the Republican-led impeachment of Biden’s secretary of homeland security. And he’s fighting hard for this seat. At the same time, all of that fighting seems to have the same effect of burning rubber: Lots of smoke and noise, but not too much movement. For all of his passion and legislative seniority, Green’s record has increasingly become more about symbolic fights than real action.
Seems kind of petty of Rep. Green, but whatever. I do think the Chron was always going to endorse Menefee in this race. Especially now with Amanda Edwards suspending her campaign, he’d have my vote if I were still in CD18.
Imagine a Texas governor focused on kitchen-table issues. Gina Hinojosa is Democrats’ best hope.
As he’s ridden the big red wave over the past decade or so, occasionally paddling out front to take the lead nationally, it’s hard to imagine that the man who aspires to be the governor of Texas in perpetuity was once a fair-minded justice of the Texas Supreme Court and later a relatively moderate attorney general.
That’s not the Greg Abbott we Texans know today. The longest-serving incumbent governor in the nation has gone full MAGA, which may be why his approval rating hovers in the 40s or lower. Those mediocre numbers, plus the anti-Trump zeitgeist that seems to be taking hold as we head into the midterms, offers hope to beleaguered Texas Democrats that their fellow Texans are ready for a change. (Abbott, sitting on a campaign cache of an astounding $100 million, also faces 10 challengers in the Republican Primary, all of them unknowns.)
We imagine plenty of Texans love to see a change, as well, in large part because an FDR-length tenure in office is long enough for any elected official. Abbott’s three terms as governor should be a signal to voters, regardless of party, that it’s time for spring cleaning. It’s time for sweeping out old habits, stale ideas, encrusted notions, depleted energy.
Although it’s long past time for shaking loose sclerotic one-party rule, we’re not yet persuaded that Texas Democrats, footsore, weary and frustrated after three decades of wandering in the political wilderness, are up to the opportunity that lies before them in 2026. Their gubernatorial choices have not yet generated excitement that their counterparts running for U.S. Senate have.
Among the nine Democratic primary candidates, the three candidates we found most compelling are Bobby Cole, an East Texas poultry farmer who, at age 57, has never run for public office; Chris Bell, a Houston-area attorney who’s run for too many; and Gina Hinojosa, an earnest, approachable state representative from Austin who’s staking her campaign on voter dissatisfaction in general with Abbott and, more specifically, with the GOP’s neglect and mistreatment of our public schools.
Our endorsement goes to Hinojosa, the only one with robust campaigning and fundraising to show she is taking the task seriously.
Not sure that a clear reading of Abbott’s actual history as an elected official supports such a gauzy interpretation of his record, but again I say “whatever”. The hope here very much is that with Abbott’s approval levels down and with Trump’s hopefully continuing to plumb new depths, an active and more dynamic gubernatorial candidate can take advantage of some hoped-for coattails from the Senate race to be in a similar position to win, unlike how it was in 2018. The obstacles are obvious and the Chron mostly dings Hinojosa for not being particularly charismatic, but they clearly see her as a good Governor if given the opportunity.
Like them, I like the idea of Bobby Cole and I hope he runs for something else in the future – there ought to be a Congressional or legislative seat in his wheelhouse – but in the absence of fundraising chops it’s hard to see the case for him.
In the race for lieutenant governor, Democrats could use a Goodwin
In Texas, the lieutenant governor derives his mighty power from being boss of the Texas Senate — which is to say, by doing wonky things like setting agendas and making committee assignments. Basically, in the snakepit that is Senate politics, the lieutenant governor is head of the reptile house. The lite guv decides what the Senate snakes do all day and how much they’re each fed.
In the unlikely event that Democrats win that power spot this year, even-keeled Vikki Goodwin, 58, would be ready to wrangle the snakes.
Since 2019, the Austin-area Realtor has represented District 47 in the Texas House, which covers broad swaths of Austin and Travis County. As a member of the subcommittee that oversees education funding, she has fought against vouchers in public schools. Instead, she wants to increase funding for our state’s public schools — as well as improve housing affordability, water infrastructure and access to health care.
In Austin, Goodwin is known for her discipline, hard work and command of the facts. Rice University political scientist Mark Jones ranks her among the House’s most liberal members, but she’s anything but a wild-eyed radical. After studying government as a University of Texas undergrad, she earned a master’s from UT’s LBJ School of Public Affairs. She radiates level-headed earnestness.
At first, in our screening meeting, we wondered: Does Goodwin have the steel the job will require? Not to mention the moxie that the general election will take? After all, the primary winner will face one of this year’s most formidable Republican incumbents: Dan Patrick, a loud-and-proud general in Texas’ culture wars.
But first, in the primary, Goodwin faces two opponents: The unserious-looking Courtney Head, whose campaign website lists an October event as her last public appearance; and the more serious Marcos Vélez, 40.
Vélez, a charismatic Houston-area organizer and labor contract negotiator for the United Steelworkers union, has never held public office. Despite being a newcomer, he has picked up important endorsements from labor groups and Houston’s LGBTQ+ Caucus, and has received money from Texas Majority PAC. His policy plans are far less developed than Goodwin’s, but their positions on issues are broadly similar.
It’s their styles that are wildly different.
They go on to relate a story from the endorsement interview that highlighted Vélez’s relative lack of knowledge about the Legislature, which was a key reason why they endorsed Goodwin. I have an interview with Vélez that will run shortly – he had reached out to me and we set it up – so you’ll be able to hear what he has to say for yourself.
The Chron also made a few legislative endorsements – you can see the full list of their endorsements to date here. Amusingly, their advice to Republicans in their Senate primary mirrored what they told Dems in ours, which is vote for Cornyn if you want to win. I feel like the kind of primary-voting Republican who still reads the Chronicle is likely to already be a Cornyn voter, but I suppose anything is possible. They still have endorsements to make on the Dem side for AG and Comptroller.