Lowest Level Primary Election Campaign Debrief

Our Primary in Texas was on Super Tuesday, along with many other states. All in all, it was a good day.

The race I experienced most closely was my own—for precinct chair. It’s the lowest elected political office there is. I represent my neighborhood at the Harris County Republican Party meetings. There are somewhere around 600 of us in the County. My total constituency, including all voters of any party, is around 3300 (precinct size varies; mine is probably a bit over average size). Of those, about half are Independent voters—meaning they have not voted in a Primary, where party is declared, so we don’t know how they vote in a general election. Of the remaining, I think my precinct is about 54% Republican, which is solid but not stellar.

Republicans are more active here, though. Often the Dems have trouble hiring someone to run their Primary; two years ago the County notified us in the middle of the night that they had no one, and we’d have to run their Primary in addition to our own. This year they had a good person—from well beyond the precinct. And as far as I know things went smoothly. My husband and I were not allowed to run the polling location, because I was on the ballot.

I won! After Early Voting and Ballot by Mail (BBM) were counted, I was leading with 70% of the vote. That decreased to 67% in the official count. I actually did better on Election Day than Early Voting, but my BBM percentage was 86%, so, while that number was few, it had helped my percentage to look high. Still, 67% is a huge win. The ballot doesn’t indicate the incumbent, and I was listed as the second choice, so random votes (no name recognition but voting anyway) would have gone against me. I’ll need more data to know for sure, but I also think we had a relatively good turnout in our precinct for a Primary.

Election results provided on HarrisVotes.com/Election-Results. 

This was very nearly my first experience with intense block walking and electioneering at polling places. Add to that texting every known Republican voter who had not already voted. I also had a website, and business cards, and flyers.

I got a lot of help from friends. In the area that comprises our school district, there were eleven races with challengers. Most of us had worked hard to flip the school board to conservative. Some of the challenges came because someone didn’t like that. Two on our team were challenging incumbent precinct chairs who had worked against us (supported a different conservative candidate who split the vote and caused one loss out of four school board seats in November). We teamed up to help each other block walk every Republican voter in every precinct. And we got help building the website, designing business cards, covering electioneering for Early Voting, and doing a few timed mass texts. I had done only small amounts of those things until now, although I had helped with various races in small ways. It was kind of a new experience to meet so many voters—outside of duties as an election clerk, where you don’t talk views at all.

All eleven of us who worked together won, by the way.

I’m going to share a few memories of this campaign experience, which is maybe a micro version of what any higher office campaign goes through.

Let’s get the few negative ones out of the way first, and then enjoy the good ones, for dessert.

Block Walking Adventures

While block walking, most people were either not home or very gracious, and many were friendly and welcoming. But there were some exceptions. We were aiming at houses with known Republican voters; we don’t need to talk with Democrat voters about a Republican Primary. So, there was a house where a man came to the door. The app on my phone told me two female Republican voters lived there, but sometimes people move, so we make a note of that. Anyway, I offered him my flyer, and he said, “I’d never vote for a Republican!” I laughed. I thought he was kidding, because I believed I was knocking on a Republican’s door. He wasn’t kidding. He said all Republicans are—the usual list of horrid things. And then, he’s looking at me and seeing I am none of those things, and he says, “But thank you for being involved and caring.” And I left. It could have been worse.

Some of the block walking crew; I'm so glad we could help each other.

There were two houses with a similar story. In one I was block walking with a friend in her precinct, near the end of our route. We pulled up in her car. I got out sooner and rang the doorbell. The woman answered and I began to offer the flyer. She said, “Tell me who won the 2020 Presidential Primary.” OK, weird question. But I said, “Well, I think Trump won,” and began to finish, “but here we are.” And she said. “Liar! I’m a Christian, and I won’t tolerate any more of these lies.” OK, I didn’t lie; I am the expert on what I believe, and I spoke the truth about what I believe, although I didn’t argue. Then she started to rant about how women need to get abortion rights back. Um. Christian? Calling me a liar when I didn’t? Expressing her hatred toward Trump and Trump voters? Insisting the urgent Christian priority is killing babies in the womb? (She wasn’t, by the way, anyone who would be facing that in her life going forward, since her childbearing years were in the rearview mirror.) By the time most of this happened, my friend had joined us, and quickly extracted us. This was not a voter worth a conversation.

The second similar story was in my precinct—block walking with the same friend. Vicki had gone to this house and left a flyer when no one answered the door. But we were walking back from further down the block when a woman came out of the house to the mailbox. So we approached her. She said she was a Democrat—and her husband wouldn’t be voting Republican anymore either, because women need to get back their abortion rights. OK. Noted. Again, this is a married woman beyond childbearing years, whose priority is getting those babies killed before they can be born. Apparently our constitutional liberties, our border, or economy, our First and Second Amendment rights, and just about anything else we care about is unimportant, but we need to get those babies killed. Hmm.

 

Electioneering Adventures

There were a few negative encounters while electioneering at polling sites, but a large percentage were positive. During Early Voting I spent time at three different polling locations. They are not set up for electioneering (approaching voters before they go in to vote). Unless the main parking areas are full, as when it’s really busy, then every voter is already beyond our reach. It was frustrating and fruitless.

But when voters were available, those tended to be good encounters. We were giving people information they weren’t getting from the various organizations that send out their ballot recommendations. Those didn’t include precinct chairs; that would be too granular for a mass mailer. So, unless someone had filled out their own sample ballot, they wouldn’t even be aware of precinct chairs. And a lot of people don’t know what such a position does. So we were giving them information they didn’t have, and most people seemed to appreciate that.

Electioneering at Radack Community Center, along with
House Rep. Lacey Hull's mom (right).

I had really good, long discussions with a couple of voters at one polling location—two different days. They were wide ranging but turned to religion. One man was into a particular preacher, who has a YouTube following, and I followed up and watched that. Interesting. I thought he had a few things right, and a few things I see differently, but I like to see what other people believe—especially about the times we’re living in. The next day, in the second of these conversations, a man gave me a book—that he had written about the Rapture and the Two Witnesses, talking about end times. I’ve been reading it; again, we don’t agree on all points. But I’m pleased to see he’s a good writer, and he lays out his points very clearly.

At my own polling place on Election Day, at the middle school, they assigned us to the gym, instead of the usual band room. The door into the gym is a bit further from the parking lot than the band room door, which meant the 100-foot line past which no electioneering can be done was more advantageous to me. I could encounter almost every voter who came.

It was a very hot day—our first day in the 90s. I set up a lawn chair and attached a very large umbrella to give myself some shade. I also brought along my mountain dulcimer and played music during slow periods (around 3:00 PM was slow). A few people asked about it. When school got out, some kids came and thanked me for my impromptu concert.

My electioneering oasis on Primary Election Day 2024

Later in the day, until the polls closed, I had company campaigning for the next precinct over (people can vote at any polling location, and ours attracts 3-4 nearby precincts). So that was good for conversations too, and for catching all the voters.

Electioneering with Heather Palomo (left), the new
precinct chair just west of my precinct.

There was something I noticed, anecdotally, but maybe it’s meaningful. We’re told in various news sources that 90% of blacks vote Democrat, but that may be going down. So I go up to any voter I can get to, because you never know. At the Early Voting locations, sometimes Democrat voters were rude, but very few at mine on Election Day. I would offer my information, about precinct chairs, the last race on the ballot for anyone in a precinct with a challenger. I let people know the people on the list I was providing were conservative Republicans. Nevertheless, people I thought might not be interested (if I were profiling) were polite and accepted the information, even thanked me. If they were voting Democrat, they could have said so, or said, “No thanks, not interested,” as some did. But a surprising number showed interest and appreciation. They could have been just being polite, but it seemed to me more than was needed for politeness. I had the impression that either there are more black Republican voters than we knew of, or there are more becoming Republican voters this year.

The most gratifying thing to me was encountering voters who are already on my email list, who thank me for providing good information. They so appreciate it. I love hearing that. Providing them with good information—so they will not only just vote, but have what they need to be informed voters—that is my mission in this position.

Primaries and Conventions in Texas

The political world goes in cycles here in Texas. Our legislature meets every other year, in odd years. So that half year (plus special sessions) is a busy time. And just as you’re catching your breath, primary season is upon us. If you think the primary election is just a day, you’d be missing all that gets put into motion after that—the convention season. And that’s somewhat more involved during a presidential election year, which this one is. The information below is mostly local, down to my county and precinct. But the conference information may be informative for others as well. Different states have different specific procedures, but most will have levels similar to ours.

My Campaign Adventure

I’ve been a precinct chair since 2014. I never had to campaign; no one else sought the job. I signed up to do it when my previous precinct chair moved and have always been unopposed on the ballot. But this year someone decided to challenge me. She doesn’t seem to have any complaints about the job I’ve done; she just wants to do it instead of me.

Block walking my precinct last week,
just before rain and nightfall shut us down,

Anyway, this means, because I’m on the ballot, I can’t be an election worker for the primary. Neither can my husband, who is usually our presiding judge. Instead, I’m campaigning.

There are a number of us precinct chairs with challengers. I don’t know how frequently active and effective precinct chairs get challengers, but it seems to be more than usual this year. (For some, it may have to do with our successful efforts to flip the school board, although I don’t think my challenger has that motive, that I’m aware of.) Anyway, we’ve worked together. I’ve got a campaign website, business cards, and flyers—all because of skills my other precinct chair friends have. And we’ve block walked my entire precinct—every known Republican voter. Talked with many, left info for those who weren’t home. We’ll get back to those with phonecalls or another visit. I’ve helped block walk some of the other precincts too. We’re not leaving any voter’s door unknocked on.

It has been a lot of work to do an unpaid, volunteer, grassroots-level position. But so far it has been a good experience.

This may not be interesting beyond my precinct, but here’s my campaign website. There’s a lot of other information for voters there as well. My goal is always to give voters the information you need to be an informed voter—and to get ideas from you, the grassroots, to influence our government.

 

CANDIDATE FORUM

I’ve mostly made up my decisions about other campaigns. I plan to write about my reasons soon. But I’m interested in a candidate forum of the four Republican candidates for Sheriff, sponsored by Cypress Texas Tea Party, next Thursday. The four candidates are Glenn Cowan, Joe Danna, Paul Day and Mike Knox. (Personally, I am leaning toward Glenn Cowan. I have heard him speak in person a couple of times. But I’m open to hearing from all these candidates.)

When: Thursday, February 15th, 7PM.

Where: Spring Creek BBQ

Address: 25831 Northwest Fwy, Cypress, TX 77429

 

VOTING

Our Sample Ballot is now available.

Early Voting: February 20-March 1, 7:00 AM-7:00 PM (every day except Sunday, February 25, with hours Noon-7:00 PM)

Election Day: Tuesday, March 5, 7:00 AM-7:00 PM

You can vote at any voting location for both Early Voting and Election Day. You can find locations here; toggle between Early Voting and Election Day locations. Our usual location at Truitt Middle School will be available. My husband and I won’t be running the polling place, because I am on the ballot. But you might see me outside, beyond the 100-foot line, campaigning. Come by to say hi.

The Democrats will be sharing our voting location. Because of interpretations of law, we must share the election, which we have never done. That means that you declare your party at the sign-in table, and you will be assigned only the ballot you have requested, which will be available on any machine, the way it works during Early Voting. We may set up the room to be physically separate, but if one side has a long line, the voters can use the other side’s line.

 

CONVENTIONS

The way we get ideas from the grassroots up to the lawmakers is through conventions. In a convention, we elect delegates to the next level convention, and we put forth resolutions for the platform at the next level. If you want to participate in a next-level convention, you will need to have been chosen as a delegate at the previous level convention.

Precinct Convention

The basic level is the Precinct Convention. We used to hold these at the polling place after the polls closed. Because of the change to countywide voting, and the change in machines and the time it takes to close the polls, we have needed to change the meeting to another day. Starting in the last biennium, we now meet the Saturday following voting day. In Harris County, precincts will share locations with the other precincts in our Texas House District (we are in HD 138).

Date: Saturday, March 9

Time: Registration begins 8:00 AM; Convention begins 9:00 AM

Our Location: Trini Mendenhall Community Center, 1414 Wirt Rd, Houston, TX 77055

Here is the full list House District locations:

·        HD 126 - Glorious Way Church, 11611 Champion Forest Dr, Houston, TX 77066

·        HD 127 - Kingwood Middle School, 2407 Pine Terrace Dr., Kingwood Area, TX 77339

·        HD 130 - Spillane Middle School, 13403 Woods-Spillane Blvd, Cypress, TX 77429

·        HD 132 - Autumn Creek Baptist Church, 6735 Barker Cypress Rd, Houston, TX, 77084

·        HD 133 - Hilton Garden Inn Energy Corridor, 12245 Katy Fwy, Houston, TX 77079

·        HD 135 - Autumn Creek Baptist Church, 6735 Barker Cypress Rd, Houston, TX, 77084

·        HD 138 - Trini Mendenhall Community Center, 1414 Wirt Rd, Houston, TX 77055

·        HD 148 - Glorious Way Church, 11611 Champion Forest Dr, Houston, TX 77066

·        HD 149 - Hilton Garden Inn Energy Corridor, 12245 Katy Fwy, Houston, TX 77079

·        HD 150 - Spring First Church, 1851 Spring Cypress Rd, Spring, TX 77388

The convention should be over easily by noon, or as soon as business is completed. Plan on attending this meeting. Bring written resolutions with you, or come and simply give input on the resolutions others have brought. We will vote on our resolutions (this includes the ability to amend them).

And we will elect delegates for the Senatorial District Convention. We are given a generous number of delegate slots; according to party rule, each precinct is allowed to have 1 delegate for each 25 votes cast in the Precinct for Governor Abbot in the 2022 November election. If you want to be a delegate at that convention, most of the time that simply entails saying you want to be one. (If you want to be a delegate but simply can’t make the Precinct Convention, there is a procedure to try to make that happen. Please contact your precinct chair.)

 

Senatorial District Convention

Senatorial District Conventions will be held Saturday, March 23. The SDs will meet at locations in or close to their district. We are in SD 7.

Date: Saturday, March 23

Time: (probably) 8:00 AM registration; 9:00 AM Convention begins

Location for SD7: Glorious Way Church, 11611 Champion Forest Dr, Houston, TX 77066

Here is the full list of SD convention locations for Harris County:

·        SD 4:   Kingwood Community Center, 4102 Rustic Woods Dr, Kingwood, TX, 77345

·        SD 6:  Gulf Meadows Church, 8012 Fuqua St, Houston, TX, 77075

·        SD 7:  Glorious Way Church, 11611 Champion Forest Dr, Houston, TX, 77066

·        SD 11:  Gulf Meadows church, 8012 Fuqua St, Houston, TX, 77075

·        SD 13:  Norris Conference Center, 816 Town & Country Blvd., Houston, TX, 77024

·        SD 15:  Norris Conference Center, 816 Town & Country Blvd., Houston, TX, 77024

·        SD 17:  St. Basil the Great Orthodox Church, 1100 Eldridge Pkwy, Houston, TX 77077

·        SD 18:  Glorious Way Church, 11611 Champion Forest Dr, Houston, TX 77066

Many parts of Texas do these conventions by county, or sometimes multiple counties together. It depends on number of voters. We do it by SD in Harris County, because we’re such a large county. So, if you don’t know when yours is, contact your county Republican Party Chair.

There will be a Temporary Committee (a committee invited by our SD Chair) that works on the resolutions between the Precinct Convention and the SD Convention. I have worked on this committee every biennium since 2014. Many hours go into preparing our SD 7 Platform. We, as well as a few other SDs in the state, do an entire platform. It’s based on the previous biennium’s platform, but we address every plank, whether to keep, delete, or amend, and then add planks based on the hundreds of resolutions that come in from the precinct conventions. Most SD or County Conventions simply go through the resolutions that have come up to that level, combine similar ideas for the best wording, and then submit those resolutions for the State level convention. Any way it’s done, this is the path up for ideas from the grassroots.

There are also a lot of speeches at a convention. Allen West spoke
at our SD 7 Convention in 2020.

At the SD Convention, we elect Permanent Committee members—this will be for Platform, Rules, Legislative Priorities, Credentials, and maybe other committees I’m not thinking of. In Platform Committee we work on additional resolutions that are brought in that day. Then we bring to the floor our Committee Report—our version of the SD 7 Platform. That’s the version we bring to the floor for amendments and final vote. And then that final platform will be submitted to the State’s platform committee.

We will also elect delegates to attend the State Convention (the RPT Convention). Usually we are allowed to elect 2 delegates and 2 alternates (in my experience, there is always room for alternates to be seated as delegates at the state convention; however, that isn’t a guarantee). If you want to be a delegate at the State Convention, you must be chosen as a delegate (or alternate) at the SD Convention. Sometimes there are at-large positions available, which you can apply for. Most people who want to be delegates to State can do so. You can, of course, attend the State Convention as a guest, but you cannot vote on anything.

Attendance is at the delegate’s own expense. This is usually a moderate attendance fee (toward facilities, etc.), plus hotel, meals, etc. You may also want to plan on bringing spending money; there are booths, pop-up stores, swag sales, and such convention things. Note that the Republican Party of Texas Convention is the largest political gathering in the nation, larger than the National Republican Convention. More about the RPT Convention below.

 

The State RPT Convention

The 2024 Texas State Republican Convention will be held in late May, earlier in presidential election years than in midterm election years, because it will be followed by a national convention.

Date: May 23 – 25

Time: begins 9:00 AM Thursday, May 23

Location: Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center, 900 E Market St, San Antonio, TX 78205.

A Temporary Committee will handle Platform and other committee work between the SD conventions and the State Convention. These committees are comprised of a single appointed representative from each SD. The higher the level, the more formal the process. Plan to see Roberts Rules of Order in all meetings, with committee members addressing the Chair rather than each other. At precinct and SD/County levels, these conversations are likely to be much more informal.

Platform Committee taking testimony, June 2022, view from the table;
I was managing the file, sitting next to the Chair.

These committees do a lot of work before the convention, and will take testimony in the three days prior to the State Convention, to prepare their Temporary Committee Report (their version of the State Platform). Then, when the convention gets underway, Permanent Committee members are elected in their SD Caucus; these are often the same representatives as in the Temporary Committee, but not always. The Permanent Committee has one day to take testimony and prepare the document for print. Their final report (their version of the platform) is presented for the body to amend and vote on, which happens some part of Friday or Saturday, usually near the end of business at the State Convention.

In presidential election years, at the State Convention we also elect delegates to the National Convention. This usually requires some brief campaigning and speech making to convince people. I think this vote takes place in your Congressional District Caucus at the convention. (We are in CD 38.) Travel, etc., is done at the delegate’s own expense, and is likely to be over $1000, so you need to really want to do it.

This year’s National Republican Convention is scheduled to be held July 15 to 18, 2024, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The national party platform is developed in a similar way to the lower levels, taking input from the various states. The national platform may be considered the official party platform. But at the state level, we keep our full platform and use it to advise the legislature here in the state, as well as guidance for our Senators and Congressmen.

The big purpose of the national convention is to decide on the party’s presidential candidate. Sometimes, by the time of the convention, this is something of a formality, because the choice is already known, following the various state primaries. It looks like that will be the case this year, with Donald Trump eclipsing any other candidate. I’ve seen my sample ballot, but I didn’t even notice the names of the several other presidential candidates.

Once this decision is finalized, there’s a lot of celebrating. Sometimes the candidate will announce a running mate. I don’t have any idea who that will be this year, so that’s news to anticipate.

After this convention, then the campaign season is fully on, from mid-July until the first Tuesday of November.

 

So that’s the summary of this year’s Primary/Convention season. The more you know about the process, the more effective you’ll be at getting your grassroots ideas up through the ranks to the elected officials.