Despite a systemwide shutdown that halted all electronic voting for about two hours on Tuesday, Dexter McCoy secured the Democratic Party nomination for Fort Bend County judge and will face Republican Daniel Wong in November.
McCoy, the 34-year-old Precinct 4 commissioner and former Obama staffer earned 74.43 percent of the vote in a runoff with Sugar Land Municipal Court Associate Judge Rachelle Carter.
It didn’t come easy, as Fort Bend County polls shut down for about two hours on Tuesday afternoon. Fort Elections Administrator Chase Wilson told KPRC that a “bad file was uploaded” and poll workers had difficulty checking in voters, but the integrity of the election was not compromised. Those who were at the polls during the outage were allowed to cast provisional ballots, and the electronic system was restored just after 5 p.m. with two hours to go before the polls closed. But some people left confused and frustrated.
During the outage, McCoy provided updates on social media and encouraged voters who were already at the polls to stay in line. After the results were tallied, McCoy told supporters, “My heart is full tonight because you all know this has been a grueling journey, and all of us know it’s only just the beginning.”
Wong, who won the GOP primary in March, was appointed last month to serve as interim county judge after former Judge KP George was removed from office by visiting Galveston County Judge Jeth Jones following a felony conviction for money laundering.
Fort Bend County Democrats say Wong’s appointment was an effort by Jones, a Republican who was presiding over a civil matter involving allegations against George, to manipulate the November election in favor of party politics.
McCoy has said he was surprised and frustrated by Wong’s appointment and that Jones “bypassed the ballot box to install someone with no county experience to be our county judge.” However, McCoy added, the interim appointment has allowed Wong to show the people of Fort Bend County what kind of judge he will be if elected to the full term. Wong immediately hired Trever Nehls as his chief of staff and assigned him a six-figure salary, more than double the amount that other court employees are taking home, McCoy said.
Nehls is the GOP nominee for a U.S. Congressional seat and is viewed as a MAGA Republican who, along with his twin brother Troy Nehls, pledges unwavering loyalty to President Donald Trump. Wong’s new communications director, Bobby Eberle, is a Republican commentator and the immediate past president of the Fort Bend County GOP.
Perhaps even more concerning to Fort Bend County Democrats was a series of photos Wong posted on May 21 from a “rare meeting” with Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton, who earned President Donald Trump’s endorsement in a heated contest with John Cornyn for Cornyn’s U.S. Senate seat, won the GOP runoff on Tuesday and will face state Rep. James Talarico in November.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has said he plans to spend $25 million from his war chest to turn Harris County “dark red.” The governor celebrated Memorial Day in Sugar Land on Monday, signaling he may also have an interest in the communities southwest of Houston.
Fort Bend County is solidly purple with two Republican commissioners and two Democratic commissioners. The only wild card is the judge. George was elected twice as a Democrat but switched parties last year in the midst of his legal troubles. George placed fifth in the March primary that Wong won.
George is scheduled for sentencing on his felony charge in mid-June and faces up to 10 years in prison.
McCoy said recently that even though he’s now facing an incumbent in November, he’s sticking to the script he’s stood by since he launched his campaign for judge in December: building an economy that lowers costs and lifts wages, restoring ethical leadership, fighting for democracy and supporting education.
“I am so grateful that people see the challenge ahead of us and believe that I am their champion to take on this fight,” McCoy said. “I think it’s indicative of the message we have been consistently pushing, that we need to be fighting for people, not politicians.”
