Texas Tribune
Harris County district attorney race divides Democrats
by Madaleine Rubin, The Texas Tribune – 2024-02-16 06:00:00
SUMMARY: Kim Ogg, the Democratic District Attorney of Harris County and the first from her party in this role in over 35 years, is facing internal party challenges in her bid for a third term. Her primary opponent, Sean Teare, is capitalizing on Ogg's perceived failures in criminal justice reform, her purported ties to Republicans, and high turnover rates in her office. Despite being reelected in 2020 with significant support, Ogg has been admonished by party leaders for not adequately representing Democratic values. The upcoming election is critical as divisions within the party, and competition with a Republican candidate could influence the county's political landscape, potentially benefiting Republicans. Debates over issues like bail reform, crime, and political alliances underscore the race's importance, as Harris County looks ahead to the general election.
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When Harris County voters initially elected Kim Ogg as the top prosecutor in Texas' most populous county, she became the first Democrat in more than 35 years to lead the District Attorney's Office.
But before she can compete for a third term against a Republican later this year, she must first face a primary election challenge from former prosecutor Sean Teare in a race that is dividing the county's Democratic party.
Early voting for the March 5 primary starts Tuesday and runs through March 1.
Ogg has drawn fire from local Democrats for failing to deliver on the party's criminal justice reform priorities, maintaining alleged ties to Texas Republicans and having a high turnover rate in her office.
The next district attorney in Texas' largest county — and the nation's third largest — will face major challenges. Harris County is grappling with a mounting criminal case backlog and overcrowding in the county jail, the biggest in the state. Teare said he's running to take more action on these issues.
“These are things that are pretty easily fixable, but you've got someone in that office right now that has no interest in fixing anything,” he said.
Ogg was reelected in 2020 by a margin of over 120,000 voters and has the backing of prominent Houston Democrats, including state Sen. Carol Alvarado and state Rep. Mary Ann Perez. She was not made available for an interview for this story. In an email to the Tribune, she defended her record.
“I intend to make my case to voters that I've lived up to the promises I made to the community and crime victims,” she said. “My opponent is running on creating diversion programs that we've already instituted and reforms we've already made.”
But Ogg's ongoing, derisive feud with members of her own party could impact her reelection chances. Last month, mounting tensions came to a head when Harris County Democratic Party leaders voted to condemn her for inadequately representing party values.
Over two terms, Ogg has split from her party on the county's cash bail system for suspects awaiting trial, investigated local Democrats and publicly clashed with Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo — an influential young progressive backed by national party leaders.
Asked about the party vote admonishing her, Ogg accused Teare of “trying to create division in the Democratic party.”
“There is no question I'm a Democrat, and my dad, the late state Senator Jack Ogg, is spinning in his grave watching this nonsense,” she added.
Weeks before the primary election, Ogg is facing a maelstrom of new allegations. Recent reports claim she wrongfully influenced an investigation into a controversial Texas Republican. And her office filed criminal charges in thousands of cases that lacked probable cause, the Houston Chronicle revealed.
As the rift between Ogg and her party widens, Teare has gained endorsements from Hidalgo, a group of Harris County Democratic Party precinct chairs and state Rep. Gene Wu, a Houston Democrat who endorsed Ogg in 2016.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face Houston attorney Dan Simons, the lone Republican candidate, in November's general election.
Harris County contains Houston, Texas' most populous city, and is a reliable Democratic stronghold in state and national elections. But Democrats there did not start winning county-level positions until recently — Ogg is the first Democrat to serve as District Attorney since 1980.
In a presidential election year, when higher Republican turnout is anticipated come November, experts say more than Ogg's reelection is at stake in Harris County.
“The fact of the matter is, if it becomes an open seat, and [Ogg] is not renominated, this is the opportunity for Republicans to make real, significant inroads,” said Bob Stein, a political science professor at Rice University.
Run-up to the race
Ogg has been at odds with members of her party since her first term. In 2016, she won over Democrats with campaign promises to reform the county's cash bail system.
Yet three years later, she changed tack, opposing a settlement to a lawsuit in which a federal court found that jailing people accused of crimes before trial because they could not afford bail was unconstitutional.
Since then, Ogg has opened a probe into the county's Justice Administration Department, an agency monitoring the progress of bail reform, and challenged positive reports on bail reform from 2023, according to the Chronicle.
“Bail is set by judges. Prosecutors and defense lawyers only make suggestions,” she said in an email to The Tribune. “Our approach is that no one should be kept in jail just because they are poor, and no one should be released without sufficient consideration for public safety.”
Recently, Ogg has come under fire for accepting major campaign contributions from bail bonds companies — in January, she brought in over four times as much money as Teare, with over $50,000 coming from the bail bonds industry. Teare has vowed to refuse fundraising contributions from bail bonds companies.
Teare and local Democrats also argue that Ogg has faltered on other Democratic priorities, including gun violence prevention, decriminalizing low-level offenses and reducing overcrowding in the Harris County Jail.
In response, Ogg has touted her record on criminal justice reform and said it is “disingenuous or worse” to discount her office's work, including decriminalizing most marijuana possession and diverting thousands of minors away from time in jail.
While in office, Ogg has also investigated members of her party on at least four occasions, securing criminal charges twice and incensing local Democrats. In 2022, Ogg indicted three ex-staffers of Judge Hidalgo over their handling of COVID-19 vaccine outreach funds. She hired a private attorney, Rachel Hooper, to work on the investigation.
Hooper is counsel for the Texas GOP. She has been linked to Texas House candidate and former chair of the Harris County Republican Party Jared Woodfill — who Harris County unexpectedly stopped investigating for fraud charges one month after Hooper was hired.
Asked about claims that she played a role in the investigation's conclusion, Ogg said she would not comment “on allegations made in an affidavit submitted to a third party.”
Throughout these investigations, prosecutors reportedly working long hours and sifting through a steep, multiplying caseload began leaving the District Attorney's Office en masse. The turnover rate in the office nearly doubled between 2018 and 2022, according to the Houston Landing. Witnessing Ogg's management during his tenure, Teare said, pushed him to enter the race.
“That was one of the beginning mass exoduses,” Teare said. “People went to Fort Bend, people went to Galveston, people went to Montgomery, people went to other jurisdictions all over the state because they still believed in the job; they still believe in the mission — they just didn't want to do it for her.”
Possible outcomes
Experts say infighting between Harris County Democrats reflects a larger fissure in the party — between older moderates and younger progressives.
According to Stein, as the party shifts left nationally, young voters and elected officials mirror that trend locally. In the 2022 midterm elections, voters aged 18 to 29 leaned left of the general electorate on key progressive issues, like abortion and immigration.
Nationally, Democrats have hitched their campaigns to issues like abortion access that drive voters to the polls. Teare has tried to position himself to Ogg's left on progressive issues — at a candidate forum hosted by the ACLU of Texas last week, he critiqued her response to the state's 2021 ban on nearly all abortions, arguing it was insufficient.
In the primary, this strategy could mobilize progressive voters. Teare has gained crucial endorsements by arguing that Ogg has not taken action on Democratic reforms she once supported.
“I endorsed Kim when she ran [in 2016], and I had high hopes for her that she would come in and do all the things she promised,” saidWu, the state representative who is now endorsing Teare. “And then when she actually took office, nothing happened.”
In such a race far down the ballot, endorsements are critical. Teare also has the backing of former Houston mayor Sylvester Turner and Hidalgo, who is revered among progressive voters and could energize her base.
But the Harris County electorate is ideologically diverse, and historically, turnout in Texas primaries is low. Just under 7% of the county's registered voters cast ballots in 2022's Democratic primary election. Young, progressive voters are often least likely to turnout, according to Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.
“The voters who come out to vote in Democratic primaries tend to be a little bit older, a little bit more moderate and are not quite as tuned in to Judge Hidalgo,” Rottinghaus said. “I think that's the question mark we don't know the answer to yet — which electorate will show up? And that will really dictate [whether] the district attorney is able to hold on or not.”
Clinching the primary is half the battle — Teare or Ogg will eventually face Simons, the lone Republican candidate, in the general election. While appealing to progressives might help Teare in the primary, Rottinghaus said, it could backfire in November.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, facing a reelection challenge, will be atop the ballot in the general election, likely alongside former president Donald Trump — the frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary. The two party figureheads could magnify conservative turnout in November, Rottinghaus predicts, and Teare might struggle to sway Republican voters.
“The farther left you go in a primary, the harder it is to walk that back to a Harris County electorate that has shown some conservative tendencies,” Rottinghaus said, noting that in recent elections, Republican candidates have gained traction in Harris County — Hidalgo won reelection in 2022 against a Republican challenger by just two percentage points.
Ogg, though, has won the general electorate twice before, and already has some conservative support — she's received large campaign contributions from a top-dollar, longstanding Texas Republican donor. Yet the Chronicle's report that her office has filed thousands of criminal charges without legal basis could hurt her chances with moderate and conservative voters, too.
At last week's candidate forum, Teare attempted to walk the midline. He made appeals to moderates, emphasizing his experience in the district attorney's office while critiquing Ogg on abortion and bail reform — two hot-button issues for progressive voters.
Voter turnout in Harris County is difficult to forecast. But fractures in the Democratic party are poised to influence this race, and others, Stein said. And county Republicans might view infighting on the other side of the aisle as an opportunity to mobilize their base.
“The Republicans who looked like they were out of business in Harris County have been given a foot back in the door in the city and in the county,” Stein said.
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Texas Tribune
Trump says Paxton would make good U.S. attorney general
by By Jasper Scherer, The Texas Tribune – 2024-05-20 08:47:03
SUMMARY: Former President Donald Trump is considering Ken Paxton, Texas' Attorney General, for the role of U.S. Attorney General if re-elected. Trump commended Paxton's abilities and loyalty, highlighting his legal challenge to the 2020 election results and his support during Trump's impeachment defense. Paxton was impeached for bribery allegations but acquitted, with Trump claiming credit for the outcome. Recent polls show Trump leading President Biden in key states. Paxton's legal issues have diminished following the dropping of securities fraud charges, although federal investigations continue. If nominated, Paxton's Senate confirmation faces partisan challenges and opposition from notable Republicans.
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Former President Donald Trump said he would consider tapping Ken Paxton for U.S. attorney general if he wins a second term in the White House, calling his longtime ally “a very talented guy” and praising his tenure as Texas' chief legal officer.
“I would, actually,” Trump said Saturday when asked by a KDFW-TV reporter if he would consider Paxton for the national post. “He's very, very talented. I mean, we have a lot of people that want that one and will be very good at it. But he's a very talented guy.”
Paxton has long been a close ally of Trump, famously waging an unsuccessful legal challenge to Trump's 2020 election loss in four battleground states. He also spoke at the pro-Trump rally that preceded the deadly U.S. Capitol riot in January 2021.
Paxton's loyalty was rewarded with an endorsement from Trump in the 2022 primary, which helped the attorney general fend off three prominent GOP challengers.
Trump also came to Paxton's defense when he was impeached last year for allegedly accepting bribes and abusing the power of his office to help a wealthy friend and campaign donor. After Paxton was acquitted in the Texas Senate, Trump claimed credit, citing his “intervention” on his Truth Social platform, where he denounced the proceedings and threatened political retribution for Republicans who backed the impeachment.
“I fought for him when he had the difficulty and we won,” he told KDFW. “He had some people really after him, and I thought it was really unfair.”
Trump's latest comments, delivered at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in Dallas, come after a series of recent polls have shown the presumptive Republican nominee leading President Joe Biden in a handful of key battleground states.
Paxton has also seen his political prospects rise in recent months, after prosecutors agreed in March to drop three felony counts of securities fraud that had loomed over Paxton for nearly his entire tenure as attorney general. The resolution of the nine-year-old case, along with Paxton's impeachment acquittal in the Senate last fall, has brought him closer than ever to a political career devoid of legal drama.
Still, Paxton's critics say he is far from vindicated. He remains under federal investigation for the same allegations that formed the basis of his impeachment, and he continues to face a whistleblower lawsuit from former deputies who said they were illegally fired for reporting Paxton to law enforcement. A separate lawsuit from the state bar seeks to penalize Paxton for his 2020 election challenge, which relied on discredited claims of election fraud.
If nominated, Paxton would need to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The chamber is narrowly divided along party lines, with Democrats holding a 51-49 majority. One of the most prominent Republican members, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, has been an outspoken critic of Paxton, while Paxton has openly entertained the idea of challenging Cornyn in 2026.
Paxton is not the only Texan Trump has floated for a high-profile spot in his potential administration. In February, he said Gov. Greg Abbott is “absolutely” on his short list of potential vice presidential candidates. Abbott has since downplayed his interest in the job.
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Texas Tribune
These Texans aren’t taking buyouts despite repeated floods
by By Emily Foxhall, The Texas Tribune – 2024-05-20 05:00:00
SUMMARY: Recent floods in Harris County, Texas, have devastated homes along the San Jacinto River. Tom Madigan, who owns multiple properties, quickly started repairs without knowing the Harris County Flood Control District aims to buy out such flood-prone properties. The region has a longstanding buyout program to remove homes from high-risk flood areas, with about 800 out of 2,400 targeted properties purchased. However, buyouts are voluntary and often insufficient for low-income residents. Despite the program, many choose to stay due to affordability and community ties, while others like Madigan remain skeptical of receiving a fair offer.
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HARRIS COUNTY — After the floodwaters earlier this month just about swallowed two of the six homes that 60-year-old Tom Madigan owns on the San Jacinto River, he didn't think twice about whether to fix them. He hired people to help, and they got to work stripping the walls, pulling up flooring and throwing out water-logged furniture.
What Madigan didn't know: The Harris County Flood Control District wants to buy his properties as part of an effort to get people out of dangerously flood-prone areas.
Back-to-back storms drenched southeast Texas in late April and early May, causing flash flooding and pushing rivers out of their banks and into low-lying neighborhoods. Officials across the region urged people in vulnerable areas to evacuate.
Like Madigan's, some places that were inundated along the San Jacinto in Harris County have flooded repeatedly. And for nearly 30 years, the flood control district has been trying to clear out homes around the river by paying property owners to move, then returning the lots to nature.
The recent floods show why buyout programs can be important. These spots typically flood first and worse. Gov. Greg Abbott reported that hundreds of rescues took place in the state while the floods destroyed homes. A man drowned and a child was swept away into the floods. One Harris County resident described climbing on top of his motor home as the water rose before first responders rescued him.
But the disaster and its aftermath also illustrate why buyouts are complicated to carry out even in Harris County, home to Houston, which has one of the most robust buyout programs in the country. The flood control district has identified roughly 2,400 properties as current buyout candidates around the San Jacinto; the district and county have bought about 800 of them.
Nearly all of the district's buyouts are voluntary. If an owner doesn't want to sell, the district can't force them out.
Buyouts make sense for some people who can't be protected from floods, said Alessandra Jerolleman, director of research for the Center on Environment, Land and Law at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.
But buyouts might not provide lower-income people enough money to get somewhere safer, she said, and they could lose important support like child care from nearby family or neighbors.
“It's not as though it's a guarantee of reducing risks to that family,” Jerolleman said.
People who live near the river and who have endured repeated floods explained that they've stayed because it's affordable and, most of the time, peaceful. Where else would they be able to buy anything like it? Some said they didn't think the government would offer them what they consider a fair price to sell their land. Some didn't know the buyout program existed.
Madigan started buying homes more than 15 years ago in the unincorporated River Terrace neighborhood because they were cheap. On Tuesday, the Houston firefighter drank a Heineken and grilled hamburgers for his work crew outside his most damaged house, which he rents to his brother. Sodden rugs baked in the sun on the driveway.
Madigan said he might have taken a buyout if it was a reasonable offer — but he doubted it would be. He said he needed to get the properties ready again for his renters. “I can't wait,” he said.
Two blocks away, water had swept through a yellow house Madigan rents to a family with a teenage son. One of the workers fixing the property, 21-year-old Omar Reyna, watched the family throw out pretty much everything they had. Piecing together new laminate flooring with his dad, Reyna kept thinking about a trash bag of Teddy bears and stuffed toys he tossed out for them.
He wondered if the parents had been saving the toys for another kid they might have in the future.
“The faster we get it done, the faster they can come back in here,” Reyna said.
Some people choose to live with the risk of flooding
The San Jacinto is the largest river in the state's most populous county. For years before Harris County's first floodplain maps were drawn up in the mid-1980s, people built homes near its banks. Even today, people can still build in the vast floodplain if the houses are high enough and have enough stormwater detention.
The flood control district tries to buy out homes in pockets of the floodplain that are deepest, said James Wade, manager for the district's property acquisition department. Those are places where engineers can't easily fix flooding problems.
Buyouts are meant to get people out of flood zones before their property floods again, not to help in the immediate aftermath of a disaster. The process is slow: In some cases, it can take 18 months or longer to approve a buyout application, Wade said. The district pays owners the market value or pre-flood value for their house, determined by a third-party appraiser, plus moving expenses and a supplement to help them get into a house out of the floodplain, Wade said.
“It's a very equitable, fair program,” Wade said — but still some people don't want to leave.
Those who stay learn to adapt. They build homes on stilts. They monitor the river level and watch for releases of water from the Lake Conroe dam upstream. Some know intimately the routine of rebuilding: gut the house, clean it, put it back together.
The floor of 49-year-old Sean Vincent's house in the Forest Cove neighborhood in northeast Houston is 15 feet above the ground. Three feet of water flooded it when Hurricane Harvey hit in 2017. This month, the floods reached five feet high on Vincent's property. He cleaned out his waterlogged ground-level shed with help from church members. On Tuesday, he was building new shelves for it.
But most of the time Vincent, who works in railroad traffic control, said he enjoys the space surrounded by tall trees with room for his three kids.
“It's just really not a major part of our life,” Vincent said of the flooding. “Yes, it's inconvenient. Yes, it's now happened to us twice in seven years … It's sort of a trade-off for us. And it is lovely out here.”
“Where are you going to go?”
Then there are those who stay because they don't see anywhere else to go.
Jack St. John, 67, a retired long-haul truck driver, moved to Northshore 43 years ago and has had to clean up after two floods. He worries any time flooding threatens, but the neighborhood's advantages keep him there: He has no water bill because he has a well. His taxes are reasonable. The neighborhood has a fish fry in the spring and a barbecue in the fall.
“You know, when you leave, where are you going to go?” he said. “What's it going to cost to buy into another place?”
Farther northeast, in the Idle Wild and Idle Glen neighborhoods, the floods forced some residents to sleep under tarps. On one largely forested street, boats were turned sideways or flipped upside down. A small building was lodged in the trees. A car was in the ditch.
For several years, Elvia Bethea, 68, has driven from her home in Humble to check on people and pets here, and pick up stray animals. On Tuesday, she and other volunteers gave John Gray, 50, bamboo yard torches to fight the many mosquitoes, plus two trays of chocolate-covered strawberries.
Gray said he couldn't afford to fix up his destroyed house. He earns a living printing labor law posters for businesses. His printers at home were destroyed.
Gray said he had never heard of the buyout program but would consider taking one.
“Who do I call?” Gray asked. “I don't have a clue.”
From the back of a white SUV, Bethea handed some hot dogs to Jose Tabores, 68, who lives on Gray's land in a trailer now filled with mud.
“I'm coming for dinner, remember!” Bethea teased him.
Nearby, 51-year-old Veronika Scheid had been sleeping in a wet tent. The flood washed the shipping crate she lived in down the road and into the trees — along with her and her neighbors' belongings.
At a low point, when Scheid was crying over all she lost, she found a pink-and-white beaded necklace with stitching in the shape of a “V,” like her name. At the end was a charm shaped like a house.
She was grateful the person who owned the land where she stayed hadn't taken a buyout. Otherwise she would have nowhere to go.
“At least we have this,” Scheid said.
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The post These Texans aren't taking buyouts despite repeated floods appeared first on TexasTribune.org.
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
Texas Tribune
Trump, Abbott speak at Dallas NRA convention
by By Annie Xia, The Texas Tribune – 2024-05-18 19:24:41
SUMMARY:
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DALLAS— At the National Rifle Association's annual convention on Saturday, Donald Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott encouraged the thousands gathered to vote for Trump in the 2024 presidential election as a way to ensure their Second Amendment rights.
“The NRA has stood with me from the very beginning, and with your vote, I will stand strong for your rights and liberties,” Trump said. “I heard it a few weeks ago that if gun owners voted, we would swamp them at levels that nobody's ever seen before. I think you're a rebellious bunch, but let's be rebellious and vote this time.”
Trump and Abbott spoke to a room packed with NRA members, some of which sported supportive attire from the standard-fare red caps to a dress covered with photos of the former president.
During the convention, the NRA released its endorsement for the 45th president, and the Trump political campaign announced the launch for the “Gun Owners for Trump” coalition.
Abbott touted his track record on gun rights by pointing to Texas laws passed last year, such as House Bill 3137 which prohibits local governments from requiring firearm owners to buy liability insurance. To energetic applause, he said the law ensured people would not be forced to pay to exercise their Second Amendment rights.
Abbott also described the state's successful crackdown on the recent pro-Palestinian protests on university campuses, in which protesters are demanding the schools divest from from companies tied to Israel or weapons manufacturing amid the Israel-Hamas War.
“When they tried to pull that stunt in Texas, our Department of Public Safety cleared the area, arrested the protesters and put them in jail,” Abbott said. “Unlike some of these radical leftist universities like Columbia, UCLA and far too many others, in Texas we don't tolerate paid protesters who tried to hijack our college campuses.”
Almost to the day, the NRA convention takes place two years after the Uvalde school shooting, where an 18-year-old gunned down an elementary school with a legally purchased assault rifle. The shooter killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers with an AR-15 style rifle.
During the 2023 legislative session, Uvalde families unsuccessfully pressed Texas policymakers to pass a raise-the-age law, which would have upped the minimum age for buying semi-automatic weapons from 18 to 21.
“Donald Trump and Texas Republicans made the gun violence epidemic worse, especially in our state, where we have seen nine mass shootings just in the last 15 years,” said a statement by Gilberto Hinojosa, the Texas Democratic Party Chair, on Friday. “Even after Uvalde parents pleaded with Greg Abbott and Ted Cruz for commonsense gun safety laws, they decided, like Trump “ that the NRA and gun lobby was more important.”
Instead the legislature approved a school safety bill that established preventative measures toward school shootings. The law included a mandate that every school must hire an armed security officer and the creation of a department within the Texas Education Agency that can compel districts to adhere to active-shooter protocols.
During his speech, Trump endorsed four Republican candidates who are fighting in late May runoffs to be their party's nominee: Alan Schoolcraft, David Covey, Helen Kerwin and Brett Hagenbuch. Each of them has already received endorsements by Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton or both. Schoolcraft, Covey and Kerwin are running against Republican incumbents in the Texas House who impeded Abbott's signature school voucher bill or voted for Paxton's impeachment based on accusations of corruption.
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