Harris County is a light blue county. In order to win countywide races HCRP and/or candidates needs to make a sustained effort to engage persuadable voters. One easy way to interact with voters is to go to events. The Southwest Management District and Sharpstown Civic Association put on a “Liberty Fest” every year. This was a great way to engage with voters who are persuadable, and just as important it serves as an opportunity to not let the Democrats set the narrative for the election. As far as I can tell, only Commissioner Cagle, Kyle Scott, and John Branch were present at the event. This is opposed to about a dozen democrat candidates and the Southwest Democrats, who show and have a booth every year.
Controlling the Narrative
Sharpstown is an area where crime is an issue, and that’s one narrative that Republicans can use to persuade voters to vote red, at least on local races. The main message that played as a time filler while I was at the event was crime is on the way down. This message was paired with statistics to give a veneer of truth to the message. Although Republican literature talks about crime, we need to actively engage with voters t show how crime is still a significant problem even if the overall rate is coming down.
Use pictures like the above to show how crime is still an everyday issue, and engage the voters so they don’t fall for the counter narrative the democrats are pushing – crime is decreasing. That’s probably the best line they can push on crime, and for people who are already predisposed to vote for them it is a message that will take root. Our candidates need to be out in the streets at events engaging with the voters to push our message and counter the lines the democrats are pushing.
Time is Short, and Crime isn’t Enough
We only have 120ish days until Election Day. The clock is ticking, and we need to go out and make the personal connections now. Yes, the weather is miserably hot. It’s hard to find block walkers, and people are reluctant to answer doors even if you can get block walkers out. We still have to try. Outside of the criminal court races it’s difficult to see how crime picks up enough split ticket voters to make a difference.
We need to learn the lessons from last cycle. Mary Nan Huffman and Joe Danna were both kind enough to let me interview them on their races last cycle. The biggest difference between the two was Many Nan was engaged in more one on one voter interaction while Joe was more focused on mass messaging activities. The results showed a difference. While both were unsuccessful, Many Nan lost by 7.5% while Joe lost by 15%. With a one on one interaction model and targeting areas where voters are persuadable might be enough to obtain enough split ticket ballots on criminal courts. It’s more up in the air will the prevailing sentiment on crime be enough to switch enough voters on a mass messaging model.
But what about races other than the criminal courts? What is the message we have that will persuade voters who don’t see how crime is involved with those offices? We have a significant opportunity in the wake of Dobbs to show we are fundamentally different from the democrats. While the democrats are doubling down on abortion and promoting more of the same/trying to circumvent the law, Republicans have an opportunity to show we are problem solvers. Commissioners Cagle and Ramsey have the largest bully pulpit from which to promote solutions. The candidates need to either coordinate with the Commissioners and get a unified message, or start crafting their own solutions and get out and spread the word. Time is short, and crime is not enough.
We Still Have an Opportunity
Although time is short, we still have an opportunity to make course corrections. Labor Day will have many similar events to the one that just occurred in Sharpstown. Hopefully the candidates are going to cooperate and have some meet and greets in neighborhoods where persuadable voters are located. It’s going to take following the lead of Kyle though. He is out everywhere, and doesn’t abandon any part of the county. We will not have a cycle this favorable again in the foreseeable future. Next cycle will be dominated by the Presidential election. The next midterms will find Harris County run better – the next Houston mayor will see to it that they make some significant visible change. If we lose this opportunity we lose the best chance we have to make meaningful change for at least three cycles.
may want to use the concept of contrast when posting
light gray on white is a bit too chic for me to read
Dan, thanks for the input. Yes, this is difficult to read. I will try to address the colors.
Should be better now.
Greg – Yes- as many times and ways as we can reach the community with our message about our great candidates the better. But, instead of after-the-fact complaining about “missed opportunities” – how about you pitching in to underwrite and man a HCGOP booth to support the candidates that could make it to the Liberty Fest and encourage more volunteers to join you? That goes for anyone else out there who has opportunities for our candidates, too. We are coordinating events so that our candidates and party volunteers and staff can cover as many events as possible within our budget both financially and timewise. Contact HCGOP Political Director Vanessa Ingrassia at [email protected] or me, SJ Swanson, HCGOP Judicial Selection/Candidate Committee chair directly [email protected] with opportunities please.
You may not be aware, but there’s quite a coordinated effort for the joint judicial campaign for the 68 judicial local judicial candidates on our Republican ballot. The judicial candidates with assist from the Party hosted three parade floats on the same day: The City of Bellaire which ended at the Bellaire Celebration of Independence Festival (9 candidates + two cute kids, HCGOP Chair Cindy Seigal, me HCGOP Judicial Selection/Candidate chair, the HCGOP Political Director, and two longtime precinct chairs on the float gave out beads to the 5,000k + and later had a presence at the festival); Kingwood Independence Day parade in conjunction with the Kingwood Area Republican Women and Kingwood Tea Party (6 or more candidates, gave out over 3,000 US flags and hundreds of HCGOP marked beads); and the Lindale Park parade and festival (six candidates plus kids and other party supporters gave out hundreds of HCGOP marked beads to the crowd).
These parade and festival activities were well received and certainly made a direct impact on an estimated 10,000 people. You probably don’t realize the work that goes into these events – or the cost to sponsor booths or floats. It is a lot of work, and a lot of expense. That is a real issue that the Joint Judicial Campaign at the Harris County Republican Party needs financial support to carry out these community outreach events. We would all appreciate your help on that, too. Here’s a link to the joint judicial campaign https://secure.anedot.com/harris-county-republican-party/jointjudicialcampaign.
And as you noted, a few of the candidates did attend the Southwest Management District’s Liberty Fest – maybe you did, too? A missed opportunity if you weren’t helping the cause while you were there yourself (if you were).
Again – please call/email me or Vanessa Ingrassia at the party for campaigning/outreach opportunities. Thanks. SJ Swanson – chair Judicial Selection/Candidates Committee
Yes, SJ, I was there. And I posted the event info on Phillip Owens Facebook group to alert candidates. And texted a few, some of which even returned the texts.
Where we differ is this is something that the joint judicial campaign isn’t going to be an effective presence.
7811 Clarewood, 8300 Sands Point, and 6815 Redding are all going to be interested in different judicial races. The individual candidate involvement is going to matter far more than the joint judicial campaign regarding the specific issues at the specific addresses.
HCRP has an important function. It’s not a substitute for candidate appearances at local events, especially in an area like Sharpstown which is persuadable blue rather than the reliably red areas you mentioned.
We don’t win by only engaging voters who are likely to vote for us. That’s necessary, but not sufficient. We have to obtain some crossover blue voters. We get those between Sharpstown and Nassau Bay.
Greg, I’ve wondered about how candidates pick which events to attend on days there are so many opportunities that even scratching the surface just can’t be done. There are numerous areas in the county where a concentrated effort might really help, so called purple areas or other fancier terms, but it’s easy to overlook stronghold areas too, taking them for granted is a mistake. There are still upset primary losers and/or their loyalists spreading fabrications and serious misrepresentations to deal with, the need to shore up support among our own people is important too.
I can’t help but wonder if the judicial candidates have it easier this election given how completely fouled up the dems have made things, not just from that crazy misdemeanor bail settlement but also the widescale release of long term felons awaiting trial, the mismanagement of the courts, and related topics. Those seeking more generalized political offices have to contend with a wider array of issues that independent voters are not always in line with the GOP Platform, candidates risk turning off independents by going too far or reducing our own turnout should they cater to the extremists.
Peter, good to hear from you. I don’t think the judicial candidates outside of the criminal courts will benefit. People can readily connect crime with criminal judges.
How does a family law candidate equate crime to the pale blue voter? How does a probate judge?
The joint campaign is great for the reliability red areas. But it is going to take the other types of judicial candidates to make the arguments on why they should be elected in these persuadable areas.
If you think about it, it shouldn’t be too difficult to find someone in House District 133, as an example, to host meet and greets. That gets the candidates out in the reliably red areas and probably gets contributions to the candidates or the joint effort. The meet and greet options are limited to non-existent in the pale blue areas. It takes seizing the opportunities presented.
It’s going to take both aspects to turn anything other than the criminal benches red this cycle.
Our county judge candidate was too busy verbally assaulting staff in kingwood to attend. I saw it with my own eyes.
What staff? Anyone else witness this?
Yes they did. Feel free to ask anyone at the party or anyone else for that matter. Just ask around about her irrational behavior.
Greg – It’s clear you aren’t aware of the plan for the joint judicial campaign, and that’s ok. Not going to broadcast it here in a public forum, but it’s not aimed solely at the reliably red.
Everyone’s entitled to their opinions, but always better when they are actually informed. I’ll repeat the request to contact Vanessa or me with opportunities you are aware of. And again, it would be great if you would participate in the community events on a more formal basis. That would be more helpful than whatever this is. SJDS