What makes John Davis the most endangered Republican in the Texas House? It's a good question, and we've got the answer.
John Davis is out of touch with HD 129, a district that includes El Lago, Nassau Bay, Seabrook, Shoreacres, Taylor Lake Village, and Webster and parts of Friendswood, Houston, La Porte, League City, Pasadena, and Pearland -- all in Harris County.
A common misconception is that HD 129 is a "silk stocking" district full of wealthy folks. That's not true, however. While a majority of families do have an annual income of over $50,000 according to the 2000 Census (the most recent numbers broken out by House District), the population of HD-129 is more middle-class than anything else.
And Davis' voting record is pretty shoddy when it comes to the needs of middle-class families.
Davis voted for tuition deregulation. It doesn't take a genius to tell you that middle-class families have been impacted significantly by the Legislature's decision in 2003 to deregulate college tuition. It has become very difficult for middle-class families to afford to send their kids to college because tuition costs are skyrocketing. Clearly, tuition deregulation is not a middle-class value that the people of House District 129 support. Davis has even put the interests of one of his big supporters, Houston home builder Bob Perry, above middle-class students who want a college education when it came time to cast votes on the Appropriations Bill on the House floor!
He's for dirty air. Once again, it doesn't take a NAS scientist to tell you that the air quality in Harris County is lacking. Heck, even the American Journal of Epidemiology has taken note of the fact that lung cancer mortality in Harris County is high--and that isn't because more people in Harris County enjoy the occasional Marlboro, either. Yet John Davis -- time and time again -- has voted against improving the air quality in his own district. Here is some of what Davis actually has to say about this topic:"It's much cleaner than it was 20-30 years ago. I believe we are on the right track. I don't want to choke off industry.
You can watch a YouTube of Davis actually making that statement here.
Davis also voted for raising taxes on small businesses. Even though Republicans are typically pro-business, Davis is surely no friend of small business. Even others in his own party call the tax John Davis supported an "abject failure." Taxing small businesses out of business isn't exactly a middle-class value, either.
And there is plenty more where that came from: Davis voted to disenfranchise minorities and the elderly (Voter ID), to waste taxpayer dollars on state-funded lobbyists (more than once), and even allowing the state to seize homes of Medicaid patients (HB 2922).
Does Davis share his district's values? We think not.
Davis' failure to reflect the values of his district alone, however, doesn't make him endangered. It is, rather, a variety of factors.
One of the key factors that makes Davis terribly endangered is the quality of his Democratic opponent, Sherrie Matula, and the campaign she is running down in HD 129.
Sherrie Matula is one of my favorite Texas House candidates this cycle, and you can meet her in person at tomorrow's TexBlogPAC function.
