Now that we know ballot order, let's go forward listing the candidates that way. As a reminder, Kuffner has audio interviews with a lot of these folks posted already, and Wayne is posting questionnaires returned to him from those responding.
It might be worth repeating (scroll to the end) that Houston blacks consider AL 4 to be theirs, and that is likely to hold true in this cycle with Edwards and Robinson, both African American Democratic women with solid networks of support. They present as the best qualified and most progressive choices. Robinson ran for AL 5 previously in 2011, finishing third behind then-incumbent Jolanda Jones and now-incumbent Jack Christie. She is the chief executive of a high-profile management consulting firm. Edwards practices law at Bracewell & Guiliani, and has a wide-ranging background of political and social justice efforts. Blackmon -- this Chron piece thinly describes him as a retired school teacher active in local politics -- also carries a good resume' and the endorsements of three black Texas House members; he's been overshadowed to some degree by Edwards and Robinson. Edwards has racked up most of the endorsements from Democratic clubs and groups to this point.
Either of the three has the skill set to be an effective council member. But two of the three are unlikely to be in a runoff together, so we must handicap the likely (conservative) challengers.
Morales is a name we all know and distrust by now. He's lost more city council and mayoral general elections and runoffs than I care to document. But his Republican activism and Latino surname may once again be enough to get him second past the post.
Husband Thompson is the widow of astronaut Ron Husband, who perished in the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster. That's pretty much it for her online campaign as a prospective city council member. No website, no Facebook page. There's a story here about how she met, courted, and married her second husband, and too much for my digestion about the strength of their faith. I'm going to presume, until she says otherwise on the record, that she's a Christian conservative and an opponent of HERO.
That leaves Hansen and Murphy.
Hansen is your basic pro-business, inherited-wealth, pull-yasef-up-by-ya-bootstraps Republican. He recently engaged in some good old-fashioned political ball-busting of Murphy on HERO, without revealing his own position on the ordinance. Murphy is the "pro-family fiscal conservative" in the contest, and I would surmise based on his flip-flop on HERO -- as detailed at Hansen's blog -- that he indeed does have the requisite hypocrisy needed for Houston's worst Republicans to vote him into the runoff.
Prediction for the runoff: Toss-up between Edwards and Robinson (with a small chance given to Blackmon) squaring off against Murphy.
- Amanda Edwards
- Jonathan Hansen
- Larry Blackmon
- Laurie Robinson
- Evelyn Husband Thompson
- Matt Murphy
- Roy Morales
It might be worth repeating (scroll to the end) that Houston blacks consider AL 4 to be theirs, and that is likely to hold true in this cycle with Edwards and Robinson, both African American Democratic women with solid networks of support. They present as the best qualified and most progressive choices. Robinson ran for AL 5 previously in 2011, finishing third behind then-incumbent Jolanda Jones and now-incumbent Jack Christie. She is the chief executive of a high-profile management consulting firm. Edwards practices law at Bracewell & Guiliani, and has a wide-ranging background of political and social justice efforts. Blackmon -- this Chron piece thinly describes him as a retired school teacher active in local politics -- also carries a good resume' and the endorsements of three black Texas House members; he's been overshadowed to some degree by Edwards and Robinson. Edwards has racked up most of the endorsements from Democratic clubs and groups to this point.
Either of the three has the skill set to be an effective council member. But two of the three are unlikely to be in a runoff together, so we must handicap the likely (conservative) challengers.
Morales is a name we all know and distrust by now. He's lost more city council and mayoral general elections and runoffs than I care to document. But his Republican activism and Latino surname may once again be enough to get him second past the post.
Husband Thompson is the widow of astronaut Ron Husband, who perished in the 2003 Columbia shuttle disaster. That's pretty much it for her online campaign as a prospective city council member. No website, no Facebook page. There's a story here about how she met, courted, and married her second husband, and too much for my digestion about the strength of their faith. I'm going to presume, until she says otherwise on the record, that she's a Christian conservative and an opponent of HERO.
That leaves Hansen and Murphy.
Hansen is your basic pro-business, inherited-wealth, pull-yasef-up-by-ya-bootstraps Republican. He recently engaged in some good old-fashioned political ball-busting of Murphy on HERO, without revealing his own position on the ordinance. Murphy is the "pro-family fiscal conservative" in the contest, and I would surmise based on his flip-flop on HERO -- as detailed at Hansen's blog -- that he indeed does have the requisite hypocrisy needed for Houston's worst Republicans to vote him into the runoff.
Prediction for the runoff: Toss-up between Edwards and Robinson (with a small chance given to Blackmon) squaring off against Murphy.
