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Tag: Harris County Democratic Party

  • Odus Evbagharu Hopes to Keep Texas House Seat Blue – Houston Press

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    A Cypress-Fairbanks ISD graduate who also served as the youngest chairman of the Harris County Democratic Party is taking his political ambitions to the next level. 

    Odus Evbagharu announced recently that he’s running for Texas House District 135, which covers northwest Houston, Cypress and Jersey Village. Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, who currently holds the seat, announced in September that he’s running for Texas railroad commissioner, a powerful position that oversees the state’s oil and gas industry. 

    Evbagharu was Rosenthal’s chief of staff and said he knows the district well, having been mentored by the man who held the office for four terms. “Our families spend Christmases together,” Evbagharu said. 

    With “unpopular Republicans” holding the highest-ranking state offices like governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, it’s a good time for a Democrat to run for a down-ballot statewide office, and Rosenthal, a mechanical engineer, is “the perfect guy” for railroad commissioner, Evbagharu said. Rosenthal has endorsed Evbagharu to be his successor in the House of Representatives. 

    If elected, the 33-year-old son of Nigerian immigrants would be the youngest and first Black person to represent District 135. Evbagharu was born in London and is therefore also an immigrant, but he attended elementary, middle school and high school in Cy-Fair ISD and graduated from the University of Houston. 

    “Folks are excited to see someone who is one of their own run for the legislature,” Evbagharu said. “Part of why we’re in this fight — it’s not just about having grown up in the area — when I’m talking to folks, I talk about how this campaign is powered by a simple idea: for us. I’m running to make sure that our schools are fully funded, that we expand Medicaid in the state that has the highest uninsured rates in the country, that we turn our minimum wage into a livable wage and that we don’t have government interfere in decisions that women and people have to make about their bodies.”

    “All of this is to protect the future that we’re trying to build right here in Texas,” he added. “We know that this movement and this moment isn’t about politics. It’s about people. It’s about me and you. It’s about ‘for us.’ Every family, every child, every dream deserves a fair and equitable shot.” 

    So far, Evbagharu hasn’t drawn a challenger for the Democratic primary, which will be held March 3, with the general election to follow in November 2026. The district has been blue since Rosenthal flipped it in 2018, with Evbagharu as his campaign manager. In 2020, Rosenthal spent millions of dollars in the area and won by 300 votes. After redistricting in 2021, District 135 is now considered a “safe blue seat,” 

    Democrat Kamala Harris won the district over Republican Donald Trump by about 8 percentage points in last year’s presidential election. 

    One Republican, Liz Ramos, has entered the race and already has an endorsement from Natalie Blasingame, a Cy-Fair ISD trustee who was ousted in last week’s election by Prairie View A&M professor Cleveland Lane Jr. Evbagharu block-walked and helped organize the campaigns of Lane and his two “teammates,” Lesley Guilmart and Kendra Camarena. All three secured victory. 

    Odus Evbagharu campaigned for three progressive Cypress-Fairbanks school board candidates who secured victory in the November 4 election.  Credit: Andrea Odom

    Jaime Martinez, treasurer of the Harris County Emergency Services District No. 9, is also rumored to be eyeing a bid for the GOP nomination for Texas House District 135. 

    Evbagharu said he’s confident but he’s still going to run “like it’s a flippable seat.” 

    “I’m a first-time candidate so you never know,” he said. “We’re going to spend money and we’re going to turn out. That’s important to me, particularly because I was the former chair of the party and the treasurer of the state party. I know what it means when we don’t have state Democrats working their areas. We have to do that and we have to get more people out to vote so we can flip statewide.” 

    While serving as Harris County Democratic Party Chair from 2021 to 2023, Evbagharu led the effort to flip the Commissioners Court to a Democratic majority. 

    “It was a great experience and we won,” he said. “I’ll forever be proud of that,” he said. Just 28 years old when elected, he was the youngest and first Black person to hold that position. 

    The candidate is a small business owner who operates a political and community consulting shop, Onward Strategy Group. 

    “This is what I know, and this is what I do,” he said. “When we get to the state legislature as a small business owner, we’ll know the needs and what it means to have access to capital and all that.” 

    He’s been working on Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee’s campaign for U.S. Congressional District 18. Menefee was the top vote-getter in the November 4 election and will be in a January runoff with former Houston City Council member Amanda Edwards. 

    The Cy-Fair school board campaigns that Evbagharu worked on, although nonpartisan, were hailed as victories for Democrats in the debate over the separation of church and state in public schools.

    The race caught the attention of Gov. Greg Abbott, who attended a rally with the GOP-backed candidates, and the progressive wins were highlighted by Democrats at a recent rally featuring California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Texas gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa. 

    “On [November 4], all across this country, Americans held [Republican leadership] accountable,” Hinojosa said. “Texas was no different. Right next door in Cy-Fair, y’all flipped three school board seats for the pro-public education candidates who went up against big, mighty vote-getters, and you won.”

    Evbagharu said he encouraged the Cy-Fair school board candidates to raise money and campaign vigorously, especially because it would be a low-turnout election. 

    “We put a coalition together of not just Democrats but Republicans, independents and pro-public education folks,” he said. “As soon as the 2023 elections happened, we got to work. We had some hard conversations and we said if we’re going to win, we’ve got to be able to raise money, and we did.” 

    Fundraising is key in any race, Evbagharu said. 

    “You can’t do this without money,” he said. “Candidates should be honest about that. I told the Cy-Fair slate that we created that it’s not enough to just say [the opposition] is terrible on the school board. You’ve got to raise money. I’m the same way, constantly on the phone and building out events. The other thing is getting support and making sure the community knows who I am, that I grew up with them; I graduated from public schools here. I want the same things that they want.” 

    Texas Democrats should stop referring to themselves as the minority party and instead use the term “opposition party,” Evbagharu said. 

    “Yes, we can get things done. We have to,” he said. “In the state House, it’s 88-62, so you have to find 16 Republicans to vote for your legislation. We can still fight for our values. We’ve got to start putting the Republicans in conflict. We’ve got to get people to vote. If you want change, you’ve got to win elections. We’ve got to get better messengers. We’ve got to make sure we’re meeting the moment. The message resonates better when it comes from someone who looks like you or is the same age as you.” 

    The representatives in the Texas House got a national platform when they walked out of the state Capitol over the summer and broke quorum to avoid voting on a mid-decade redistricting proposal orchestrated by Donald Trump to secure five GOP seats in the U.S. Congress. Among the Democrats who fled the state was Rosenthal, who was appointed to serve as vice chair of the Select Committee on Redistricting and spoke to the Houston Press in August from Chicago while breaking quorum. 

    The Democrats eventually returned and the map ultimately passed and is now being challenged in federal court, but California passed Proposition 50 last week which will allow state legislators to redistrict their own Congressional seats to counter what they say are racially gerrymandered lines in Texas. 

    Evbagharu said he hopes the recent re-energizing of Texas Democrats will influence good policy nationally. 

    “We have an administration now in D.C. that is failing people,” he said. “The government is shut down right now and instead of helping the people who will lose SNAP benefits, their social security is being delayed. Medicaid and Medicare services are being delayed. These folks are sending $40 billion to Argentina, and you have federal employees that are furloughed right now.” 

    “To make matters worse, leadership here in Texas isn’t helping,” he added. “We used to be a state that didn’t capitulate and answer to every whim of D.C., but that’s what they’re doing. You saw it with redistricting. Donald Trump called the state of Texas and said, ‘Hey, give me five more seats,’ and these guys did.” 

    Evbagharu said  Governor Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton have neglected to fully fund schools and create an affordable pathway for Texans.

    “Instead they focused on culture wars,” he said. “A big part of this for me is that I want to serve the people. When working families are thriving, Texas is thriving. We need leadership in Texas. We’ve been 30 years in the wilderness and enough is enough. So I put my name in the ring to make sure we win, finally, in Texas.” 

    This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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    April Towery

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  • It May Be Just a Formality, But Harris County Political Parties Are Backing Houston ISD Trustee Candidates

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    Regardless of who is elected to the Houston ISD board of trustees in November, they won’t have any power — but both major political parties are endorsing candidates in the nonpartisan race, with the Harris County Democratic Party doing so for the first time ever.

    Due to a 2023 state takeover, HISD’s governing authority is a board of managers appointed by the Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath. The elected panel doesn’t have a vote and can’t sit in on executive sessions.

    Nonetheless, officials with Harris County’s GOP and Democratic Party are making sure voters know which candidates espouse their party’s values when they go to the polls on November 4. The endorsements carry some weight but don’t guarantee victory, according to a Republican Party precinct chair, but the bigger picture is that it appears the religious right and the progressive left are attempting to take over all levels of government, starting at the most local races, where they say it matters most.

    The Harris County Democratic Party’s picks for HISD include Felicity Pereyra (District 1), Maria Benzon (District 5), Michael McDonough (District 6), Dr. Audrey Nath (District 7), and Myrna Guidry (District 9).

    The candidates “share a commitment to strong public schools, equity in education, and the democratic values that empower Houston families,” said Democratic Party Chair Mike Doyle.

    “At this point, unfortunately, the Trumpsters have turned school districts into an ideological playground and parents, teachers, and families are in a position where, unless they have the most qualified folks identified, they’re not necessarily going to know who [to vote for], so we felt an important need to speak out,” he said.

    Doyle acknowledged that HISD’s “puppet” board of managers has the authority, but said the elected trustees have oversight responsibility.

    “At this point, because of folks basically trying to kill public schools in favor of vouchers, with the takeover, they don’t have the authority to do what they need to do to protect,” he said. “They’re basically just oversight, calling out the worst abuses, so they’re important positions for that.”

    “I think local races are important to every family in Harris County and they have become the place where the worst of the worst in many ways have started to get involved in destroying education,” he added. “It’s reached the point where we’ve got to make sure that folks understand who the ones are who are not the crackpots.”

    The Democratic values espoused by the endorsed slate, according to Doyle, include fully funding and supporting public education, properly paying teachers, and “not just trying to destroy the system in favor of billionaires pushing vouchers for profit.”

    “I think endorsements matter in a school district that is predominantly Democrat-voting,” he said. “I think it matters because it gives voters a really strong guidepost for who the most effective, willing-to-fight-the-takeover candidates are.”

    The Harris County Republican Party endorsed two Houston ISD candidates, Bridget Wade for District 7 and Robbie McDonough for District 5. Harris County GOP Party Chair Cindy Siegel said the party began endorsing school board candidates in 2021 and takes credit for flipping three school boards to a Republican majority.

    “I thought having conservative representation on school boards and city councils — local government — was important because that impacts your life more than what goes on in Austin or D.C.,” said Siegel, a former mayor of Bellaire. “Our process has been fine-tuned and sometimes we’ve done a really great job and other times we’ve learned from it. We continue to try to refine the process.”

    Siegel said the process is fair and transparent, and candidates are fully vetted through interviews and a series of public forums. If precinct chairs don’t like the bylaws, they’re welcome to submit a resolution to change them, she said.

    “We have, more often than not, gotten it right,” she said. “Our job, as party officers, is to try to get Republicans elected, to make your case, whether you’re knocking on doors or talking to friends. Instead of making their case and participating, my frustration was that I felt like some of [the precinct chairs] were like, it’s not going the way I want it to, so I’m going to take my toys and go down the road.”

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    April Towery

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  • Cypress-Area Church Backs Candidates in Nonpartisan School Board Race

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    A church pastor called forward three people to the altar during a recent Sunday service. The trio wasn’t being baptized or sharing testimonies. They were receiving endorsements in a November school board election.

    Glorious Way Church, east of Cypress, is backing Christian conservatives Natalie Blasingame, George Edwards Jr., and Radele Walker. The announcement came after a sermon in which pastor John Greiner preached on “the importance of signs and wonders.” Greiner then passed the mic to associate pastor James Buntrock.

    Buntrock, the Harris County GOP’s Senate District 7 Chair, a precinct chair, and an advisory board member, also serves as the executive director of the nonprofit MyGodVotes.

    So why would a religious institution tell people how to vote? At least a few of the Harris County GOP precinct chairs are regular attendees of Glorious Way Church and had a hand in the party’s endorsement of the three candidates, which was announced in August. Precinct chairs Bill Ely and Clark Denson came forward when the Cy-Fair ISD candidates were introduced at Glorious Way, offering their support.

    Maybe it’s about control: putting the people who support a party’s agenda at the helm of local decision-making. But maybe, many said this week, it’s because local government, particularly when it involves the education of children, is of the utmost importance. Although this is the first time Glorious Way has endorsed candidates, it’s not uncommon for Houston-area churches to back their favorites in a local race.

    Buntrock couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday but said in his remarks from the pulpit that “because we haven’t done it right in the earthly realms, the demonic is running rampant in the heavenly realm.”

    “If we just start doing our job, we can turn this thing around,” he said, noting that if the three endorsed candidates are elected, they’ll have a majority on the seven-member board along with trustee Christine Kalmbach, who was in the congregation on Sunday.

    “All authority in heaven and earth is given to Jesus and then he assigned it to us and told us to go to all the world,” Buntrock said. “He talks about those in governing authorities and he calls them ‘God’s ministers for righteousness.’ There’s a purpose. They are God’s ministers for good and when they cease to do good or operate with righteousness, they need to get out. That’s why we have candidates who are up here today.”

    “Assuming you guys get elected, you are there to be an avenger against evil and to defend and protect our kids, to protect our families, to protect the covenant of marriage, and to do God’s work in this place,” he added.

    The associate pastor pounded a gavel and told the trio they were officially endorsed by Glorious Way Church. “We are taking the fight up another level,” he said. “I don’t care what the IRS says about this.”

    Edwards, a U.S. Army veteran and former Cy-Fair ISD board member, mentioned that he’s a church deacon and wants a forensic audit of district finances. Walker, a retired CFISD administrator, quoted scripture and talked about loving one another and being careful about the “antichrist among us.”

    “We have to be careful, because they will tear down what we built,” Walker said. “I ask you to vote for the candidate whose values are shared by you, a candidate who believes that our school district should have traditional values and oppose rhetoric and things that are creeping into our schools that are dividing our nation.”

    Blasingame, an incumbent who is running against board president Scott Henry, has recently been embroiled in a controversy over her secret recordings of community members. The board adopted a new policy barring trustees from recording conversations without the knowledge of all parties involved, and Blasingame tried to accuse the panel of violating the Texas Open Meetings Act.

    Her recent behavior, and that of her close friend Damon “Bam” Lenahan — who threatened to release the tapes if one of the residents on a secretly made recording didn’t take down a Facebook post endorsing Blasingame’s opponent — prompted a Harris County GOP precinct chair to introduce a resolution rescinding Blasingame’s endorsement.

    The resolution was withdrawn, and the Harris County Republican Party maintained its endorsement of Blasingame. The endorsements of Edwards and Walker were never called into question. The slate is also endorsed by the Texas Republican Party.

    At the September 20 church service, Blasingame said she has done some good work over the past four years as a trustee, “trying to fight some of the culture wars.”

    “This is a spiritual battle, and this group right here can come in with some spiritual authority to take care of things because the thief is real,” she said. “He comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but our kids deserve to have life and life abundantly. That’s what schools should be offering them.”

    Blasingame spoke of an assignment from God she received years ago on an airplane. “He told me that my role was to tear down the over-interpretation of separation of church and state in our schools,” she said.

    A slate of challengers calling themselves “pro-public education” candidates includes Lesley Guilmart, who is running against Walker; Cleveland Lane Jr., who is running against Blasingame and Henry; and Kendra Camarena, who is running against Edwards.

    click to enlarge

    A slate of “pro-public education” candidates, Lesley Guilmart, Cleveland Lane Jr., and Kendra Camarena, are challenging the conservative GOP-backed hopefuls.

    Screenshot

    Buntrock said the Democrats are “very serious about this fight” and want to take the school board “back to a socialist, progressive, leftist, liberal, Marxist evil.”

    The Harris County Democrats did not endorse candidates in the Cy-Fair school board election. Cypress-Tomball Democrats president Jennifer Lorenz said that race should remain nonpartisan, but it’s not stopping her from knocking on doors to remind her neighbors to cast their ballots on November 4.

    “We need to get back to putting kids and teachers first and get away from the hyper-partisan political nature that has appeared on this board,” said Lorenz, who moved to Cypress-Fairbanks ISD 30 years ago because it was a “destination district” with a reputation for good schools. “Our public schools should not be the place to fight hyper-partisan battles. It really does come back to value statements.”

    Lorenz said school board races matter, even for those who don’t have kids in public schools.

    “They matter more than anything,” she said. “If you are unhappy with the federal government, there’s not a whole lot that can be done. I care about every kid’s education, whether they’re mine or not, period. For those who don’t have that same philosophy, if they live in this district, they should care about their appraisal values.”

    “If the district goes downhill, your resale values are going to go with it,” she added. “That’s a fact. School districts mean a lot to communities.”

    In 2021, it came to light that some of the conservative Cy-Fair candidates were being backed by Republican megadonors who added more than $1 million to the candidates’ war chests. That made the Democrats take notice, Lorenz said.

    “So we’ve got outside money from very clear hard-right folks coming into the community. Maybe we need to pay attention,” Lorenz said. “This was not on our radar. We didn’t think we had to be engaged in this fantastic school district. We supported the candidates who made the most sense. We voted for the incumbents because they were doing such a good job.”

    When Blasingame, Henry, and Lucas Scanlon were elected in 2021, followed by Todd LeCompte in 2023, the board gained a 6-1 majority led by Blasingame. The group supported book bans, reduced library services, and eliminated entire chapters from textbooks that referenced climate change and vaccines. They wiped out several bus routes, which led to accidents and prompted the board to reinstate the bus service.

    “We want freedom of religion, which means not pushing a particular religion at the schools,” Lorenz said. “We’ve become very active because of what this current board has done.”

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    April Towery

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  • Harris County Dems, Whitmire’s State of the City Postponed While Hilton Workers Strike

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    As employees of the Hilton Americas-Houston hotel enter week three of a strike for higher wages and better working conditions, two major events originally scheduled at the Lamar Street venue have been postponed.

    The Harris County Democratic Party moved its annual gala, originally planned for September 20, to late January, pending “a satisfactory outcome” of the strike. Mayor John Whitmire postponed his State of the City address, scheduled for September 25, indefinitely.

    “I urge both parties to negotiate in good faith and reach a fair, reasonable agreement,” Whitmire said in a statement. “Workers are essential to our city, and I will always insist that they be treated with dignity and respect.”

    About 400 housekeepers, cooks, laundry attendants, banquet servers, and other hotel workers employed by Hilton Americas-Houston are represented by UNITE HERE Local 23 union and began their strike on Labor Day. The picket line was expected to end last week but was extended through September 20 as negotiations continue.

    The workers are demanding a minimum wage of $23 an hour and manageable workloads. Officials said the strike is the first for Texas hospitality workers in recent history.

    Officials with Hilton Americas corporate office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but a spokesperson said when the strike began that they “remain committed to negotiating in good faith to reach a fair and reasonable agreement that is beneficial to both our valued team members and to the hotel.”

    The hotel is owned by the city’s marketing organization Houston First Corp. and is connected to the George R. Brown Convention Center. The Texas Association of School Boards conference was held at the convention center September 12-14, and guests were housed at the Hilton. Organizers said they plan conventions years in advance and were made aware of the strike when it launched but believed it would be over in time for their event.

    At a press conference on September 13, Harris County Democratic Party Chair Mike Doyle said his team was willing to postpone the largest Democratic Party fundraiser in Texas while the dispute is resolved. Doyle was joined by union members, hotel employees, and state Reps. Gene Wu, D-Houston, and Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston.

    “By postponing this event, we are standing together with working people in our community and sending a clear message about our values,” Doyle said.

    Franchesca Caraballo, Texas chapter president of UNITE HERE Local 23, referred to data showing Houston broke records last year for hotel revenue, increasing more than 15 percent to $3 billion.

    “Yet the city’s hospitality workers have not seen the benefits of that boom, and report struggling to pay their bills,” union officials said in a press release. “Workers say they are the people who make tourism possible for the city’s economy and are fighting so they do not have to prioritize among paying rent, feeding their families, and meeting their many other financial obligations.”

    One job should be enough to live on in Houston, Caraballo said.

    “For far too long, working people have had to struggle to make it, and the workers at the Hilton Americas-Houston are no exception,” she said. “Workers are on strike to send the message that they are not backing down in their demand for at least $23 an hour.”

    Willy Gonzalez, secretary/treasurer and a primary negotiator for the union, spoke at Saturday’s press conference and thanked those who have postponed events to stand in solidarity with the hospitality workers.

    “These workers are taking a stand,” Gonzalez said. “Why are we fighting? The hospitality industry in Houston has exploded. They’re going to expand the convention center. They want to build more hotels. They had a record year last year. But what happened? Houston First and the Hilton forgot about who made that industry succeed: these workers.”

    In the hospitality industry, employees refer to the “front of the house and the back of the house,” Gonzalez said, referencing the difference between those who interface with the public and those who work behind the scenes.

    “These workers are coming from the back of the house to the front and saying, ‘You will hear our voices.’ You don’t always get a chance to make history,” Gonzalez said. “In the big, great state of Texas, these are the first hotel workers to ever go on strike and demand the respect and dignity they deserve.”

    Hilton housekeeper Eileen Alvarez said she’s been employed at the hotel for two years and has an infant who has a birth defect, but she’s received no support from management.

    “We’re tired of living paycheck to paycheck,” she said at the press conference. “We all have bills and have kids. We are really tired. I’m thankful to y’all for supporting us.”

    Wu said Texas House Democrats left the state earlier this year during a special legislative session to fight against attacks on Texas communities. The lawmakers broke quorum, halting the session during a redistricting vote designed to garner five additional Republican seats in U.S. Congress. The Democrats eventually returned and the measure passed but is now the subject of a lawsuit alleging racial gerrymandering.

    “We were tired of the people getting stepped on, getting crushed, and doing whatever the billionaires want no matter what the cost,” Wu said. “The people of this country came out and supported us. We need everyone in this state, everyone in Houston, to do the same for these working people. This fight is not any different from what we were fighting earlier.”

    “If you think that fairness and hard work are the core values of America, support these workers,” Wu added. “Do not cross a picket line.”

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    April Towery

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