State Representative Jon Rosenthal will visit with us today to discuss Republican election deniers challenging his election and others. We will have a general discussion on our Democracy.
State Representative Jon Rosenthal visits with us today. He will discuss the state of our democracy and how election deniers are disrupting our democracy. This is not a Texas issue. It is a national issue that is fundamentally a clear and present danger.
Representative Jon Rosenthal has been in Texas since 1979. He graduated from The University of Texas at Austin in 1991 where Jon earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He has since worked for over 25 years as a Project Manager, Engineering Manager, and Subsea Systems Engineer in and around the oil & gas industry. Representative Rosenthal has been a strong fighter, advocate, and champion for better public schools, and healthcare and ensuring we have comprehensive criminal justice reform across the State of Texas. Jon was honored to receive the Freshman of the Year award from the non-partisan Legislative Study Group, the second largest caucus in the Texas State House dedicated to developing mainstream solutions and advancing sound public policy benefitting all Texans.
Jon was reelected to the Texas Legislature by more than 6,000 votes. Yet, his MAGA election-denying opponent is now challenging the election. The Texas Tribune reported the following.
A losing Republican candidate for the Texas House of Representatives is challenging his defeat and asking the Legislature to void the results of the election.
Republican Mike May this week filed what’s known as an election contest with the Texas secretary of state’s office, citing reports of scattered paper ballot shortages at “numerous” polling places on Election Day. May lost to incumbent Democrat Jon Rosenthal by more than 6,000 votes in his bid to represent House District 135 in the Houston area.
The secretary of state’s office on Tuesday delivered May’s petition to House Speaker Dade Phelan, who can refer the contest to a committee for investigation and appoint another member of the House as a “master” to oversee discovery and evidence related to the contested election. If they side with May and void the results, another election would be required to decide the district’s representative. The House can also toss the contest by declaring it “frivolous.”
MAGA election-denying Republicans are a danger to our Democracy and the sense of order in our body politic. True to form, another MAGA Republican who lost her election is challenging the winner. Alexandra Mealer is now challenging Lina Hidalgo, winner of the Texas Harris County Judge position, the most powerful politician in Harris County. The Houston Chronicle reported the following.
In a late Thursday night tweet Alex Mealer, the Republican challenger who lost to incumbent Democrat Lina Hidalgo in November’s race for Harris County Judge, stated that she would be challenging the results of the contest after reviewing available public data.
“After reviewing all publicly available data, I have decided to file an election contest in light of the post-election assessment submitted by Harris County Election Administrator Clifford Tatum,” Mealer said in a statement attached to her tweet. “It is inexcusable that after two months, the public is no further along in knowing if, and to what extent, votes were suppressed. Far from being a ‘success,’ as the report characterizes, there were serious operational issues that occurred throughout Election Day that call into question whether the county’s failures denied voters their right to vote.”
We must extricate the MAGA cancer from metastasizing in our politics and our social spheres. Absent that, the nation cannot and will not survive.