Cy-Fair Edition | January 2022

TOP STORY

Polling by precinct

80% or more R

Equal split

80% or more D

70-79% R

60-69% R

50-59% R

50-59% D

60-69% D

70-79% D

Insucient data

Most Democratic Precinct 0597 (53.8%) Lowest turnout Precinct 0597 (20.8%)

2014 straight-ticket results

2018 straight-ticket results

Most Republican Precinct 0442 (80.4%)

Lowest turnout Precinct 0597 (40.6%)

While experts agree Cy-Fair tends to favor Republican candidates at the polls overall, election results skewed slightly more blue in 2018 than in 2014. Many citizens chose to take advantage of the option to vote straight ticket in the two most recent midterm elections, but that will not be an option in 2022.

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party with the push of a single button in 2017, and straight-ticket voting was ocially removed in 2020. Jersey Village, a community that leans Republican based on recent elec- tion trends, had the highest levels of voter turnout in both elections while residents in the more liberal Willow- brook area consistently had the lowest, according to county data. Harris County has piloted new initia- tives in recent elections to make vot- ing more convenient and accessible, such as drive-thru voting and 24-hour voting on select days. However, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 1 in September, prohibiting these strat- egies and enforcing additional voter ID requirements for those voting by mail. Gov. Greg Abbott signed the bill into law after making “election integrity” an emergency item in the 87th Legisla- ture following delays due to Democrat lawmakers breaking quorum earlier in the year. “Senate Bill 1 ensures trust and con- dence in our elections system—and most importantly, it makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat,” Abbott said in a statement. Despite these changes, community leaders are expecting strong voter turn- out in 2022. Justin Ray, the former Jersey Village mayor who made an unsuccessful run to represent Texas House District 135 in 2020, planned to run again in 2022 until redistricting moved him into a district with a Republican incumbent. He said he did not want to run against some- one in his own party. Ray predicts 2022 elections will be values-based rather than issues-based. “There’s terms that are being thrown out all the time, whether it be wokeness or [critical race theory] or whatever the case may be, there’s just

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Most Republican Precinct 0642 (88.2%)

Highest turnout Precinct 0074 (54%)

Most Democratic Precinct 0598 (71.1%)

Highest turnout Precinct 0074 (54%)

VOTER TURNOUT IN 2018 57.9% of registered voters cast ballots 58.7% of straight-ticket ballots were Republican 40.8% of straight-ticket ballots were Democratic

VOTER TURNOUT IN 2014 37.2% of registered voters cast ballots 72.6% of straight-ticket ballots were Republican 26.6% of straight-ticket ballots were Democratic

SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY ELECTIONS ADMINISTRATOR’S OFFICECOMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER

RKaty, and Ray lost District 135 to Rosenthal by just 300 votes. Henry said he believes candidates such as Oliverson and state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, RHouston, are repeat- edly re-elected to the state Legislature because they serve strongly Repub- lican districts. Moreover, Oliverson, Bettencourt and state Rep. Sam Har- less, RSpring, are all running for re-election with no challengers from either party in 2022, according to the secretary of state. Harris County Precinct 3 Commis- sioner Tom Ramsey said he believes County Judge Lina Hidalgo would not have unseated longtime Republican incumbent Ed Emmett in 2018 without straight-ticket voting. “It’s not an ideological shift in the way people think,” Ramsey said. “That was an unfortunate process. Fortu- nately, we’ve done away with straight- ticket voting, and I feel real optimistic ... in terms of what 2022’s going to hold for those people running on a conser- vative platform.” Ray said despite northwest Harris County’s growth bringing dierent political dynamics, he believes Cy-Fair is still a Republican-leaning commu- nity overall. He said he is expecting a “Republican surge” nationwide and locally in upcoming elections.

this gut feeling and concern with all the voters that we’re losing our hold on our national identity, our culture and our values. That’s what’s going to drive a lot of people to the polls,” Ray said. Partisanpolitics Nearly four years ago, Harris County and Texas saw what Ray called a “wave election” for Democrats. Several elected ocial positions at the county level held by Republicans ipped to Democratic candidates, and two state representatives, Jon Rosen- thal and Gina Calanni, ipped red seats blue in the Cy-Fair community. “In 2020, obviously in Harris County, even statewide, Democrats wanted to expand on those gains [from] 2018, but it didn’t happen. Donald Trump was on the ballot again, and so even though Democrats were highly energized to vote, Repub- licans were highly motivated to vote as well,” said Bryan Henry, who ran as a Democrat challenger to state Rep. Tom Oliverson, RCypress, in 2020. Henry earned 31% of voters’ sup- port. He said he believes the election outcome was not a reection of his campaign, but rather a reection of how red District 130 is. In the same election, Calanni lost her seat to former incumbent Mike Schoeld,

Political ideologies typically do not play a signicant role in elec- tions for smaller governing bodies such as school boards and city coun- cils. However, the three new CFISD school board trustees elected in November ran as openly conserva- tive, Christian Republicans. “School board races are supposed to be nonpartisan. They are one of the last areas of our politics that is not completely tainted by the partisanship of national politics—the culture wars, the ongoing resentment between Dem- ocrats and Republicans,” said Henry, who founded the Cy-Fair Civic Alliance as a direct response to that election. The nonpartisan alliance of par- ents, students, educators and com- munity members was formed to hold the school board accountable and to express to trustees that their job is to represent the entire community and not just one particular political party or religious group, Henry said. Local issues Natalie Blasingame, Scott Henry and Lucas Scanlon were sworn into their new roles on the CFISD board in late 2021, replacing incumbents of more than 15 years John Ogletree, Don Ryan and Bob Covey. Blasingame said at the Dec. 13 board meeting one of

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