Attendees and candidates participating in the Texas Congressional District 18 forum on Saturday were in for a surprise if they were expecting an hours-long droning session about positions and policies.
Sporadic audience outbursts and additional antics by candidates on stage punctuated the first opportunity for seven of the individuals vying for the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee’s seat to present their congressional priorities to the public.
Disgruntled crowd members corrected political newcomer Cortlan J. Wickliff’s mispronunciation of Vice President Kamala Harris’s name, and fellow candidate Rob Slater took subtle shots at former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner’s leadership.
Other candidates on stage Saturday in the crowded field trying to secure the Democratic nomination included former Houston City Council At-Large member Amanda Edwards and Texas Representatives Jarvis Johnson and Christina Morales (D-Houston).
Houston At-Large City Council Leticia Plummer opted not to participate.
Also onstage was the less well-known Corisha Rogers, who serves as the leadership engagement and support manager for the Harris County Democratic Party. But candidates Erica Davis, a Harris County trustee, and Chad Lawrence Peace, an attorney, were not selected to participate in the forum.
Moderators Sonny Jiles, CEO of Defender Media Group, and DaLaun Dillard, FOX 26 anchor, asked the candidates about their stances on a mixed bag of local, statewide and national issues. They touched on the Texas Education Agency’s takeover of Houston ISD, infrastructural issues amid ongoing natural disasters and transportation problems, among other topics.
Most candidates were in lockstep, using their minute responses to speak out against the state’s encroachment on public education, CenterPoint Energy’s monopoly on the local energy sector and the lack of Houston METRO’s connectivity across the city.
Turner said he would bring economic opportunities to the district, emphasize community revitalization, and prioritize finishing what Jackson Lee had left on her desk. He added that his seniority would provide stability and allow him to carry out the late congresswoman’s legacy.
Johnson and Rogers expressed their desire to develop measures to increase voter engagement and combat voter suppression. Edwards echoed Jackson Lee’s priority of providing affordable healthcare to the community, sharing her story about her father’s health battles.
Edwards also spoke about wanting to bring more affordable housing to the community. Edwards and Slater previously opposed Jackson Lee in the November primary. Slater exited the face, endorsing Jackson Lee, who defeated Edwards.
Slater brought up his experience being incarcerated for 10 years when discussing his priority of working on legislation that would assist those within the district serving jail time to avoid ending up back there.
A handful of hecklers took turns targeting Wickliff, the associate vice provost of academic affairs at Rice University, Turner and Morales.
Morales garnered support from the crowd against the state takeover, but others criticized her for focusing nearly all of her responses on education. Some attendees doubled down on their disapproval of Morales when she pointed out that the district was now predominantly Latino due to recent population growth.
“Oh, no, ma’am,” one audience member shouted. “She just lost it,” another one added.
Turner also caught stray shots when Jiles said the former mayor had served Houston well, to which several “uh” and “nos” echoed from a section of the crowd.
Wickliff experienced the worst of it as attendees disrupted his first statements and final remarks. One individual said, “Tell us you’re new here,” in response to Wickliff saying he would work across the aisle to resolve the state’s takeover of HISD.
The crowd’s objection to Wickliff came to a head when he said, “It’s crazy to sit up here and listen to people brag about how great a job they’ve done when in every metric that you can look at in your life — your life is worse today than when they took office.”
Jiles had to step in to contain the chorus of “boos” from the crowd. The quiet was short-lived as he added, “Your reaction is part of the problem.”
About 30 of the 88 Democratic precinct chairs tasked to select the Democratic nominee on Tuesday were at Saturday’s forum. The candidate they choose will go on to race against Republican nominee Lana Centonze in November’s general election.
Governor Greg Abbott called a separate special election to be held on the same day to determine who will serve the remainder of Jackson Lee’s term, which expires in January. Anyone is eligible to run in the special election.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2024.
