Don’t place any bets on the Texas electricity grid

Plus, the oddly harsh race for Smith County Democratic chair

Beto O’Rourke was in East Texas last week on his “Frozen” tour — the one where his speeches were focused on what might happen if the Texas power grid had gone down in the freezing winter storm of the week before.

The storm was not nearly as strong as the one the previous year and the grid held — it was touch-and-go in some areas, though. Across the state, a few thousand did lose power for a while but nothing catastrophic occurred. There were, thankfully, no reports of deaths.

We should all be happy, right? Gov. Greg Abbott protected us all, right? Well, not exactly.

Beto has a point. The state’s power grid is not what it should be, and we dodged a bullet. We might not be so lucky the next time. Summer is coming.

The sun was shining by the time Beto arrived in East Texas, though it was still cover-up weather. Beto himself was in shirtsleeves with nary a worry about his well-known problem of excess sweating.

The crowd was much smaller than in his previous visits to Tyler. The Tyler Morning Telegraph estimated 300 attended. I would have cut that by a third to about 200 spectators. The time of early afternoon on a Tuesday is a tough time for many to attend.

Those who were there gave him an enthusiastic welcome and, when the time came to ask questions, there were more than he could answer. People were engaged.

Beto properly welcomed about 10 protestors who held up poster board signs at the entrance to the park where he was speaking. They had every right to be there and to their credit, they did not prevent him from speaking.

Beto is currently behind the polls but this race is not over by a long shot. Democrats should not give up on this one.

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Early voting has begun across Texas and the drama for Democrats in East Texas is exceptionally low. When the most exciting race in the party primary here is who will be the next Smith County Democratic Chairman, you know the candidate field is weak.

Unable to mount much of an offense against Republicans, East Texas Democrats are at war with each other, and it isn’t pretty. It’s drama at the lowest possible elective level but I suppose you must find it where you can get it.

Serial candidate Hank Gilbert — he’s run twice for Texas Agriculture Commissioner and most recently tried unsuccessfully to unseat U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert — is vying now to be the county Democratic chairman.

His opponent is Hector Garza, who says he was a RINO in hiding two years ago but said he got fed up and now wants to lead the Democrats to victory.

What? He got fed up with the vast majority of Tyler Republicans who still believe that Donald Trump is responsible for “saving” America? Who’d a thunk it? I wonder if that idea has struck any other Republicans?

Even with Trump’s Big Lie still considered gospel in these parts, it isn’t surprising that even a committed Democrat would vote in a Republican primary in Smith County. Even when the Democrats have a good statewide candidate, they often run opposed in the primary, so the real vote occurs in the general election.

Except for the occasional constable positions, justice-of-the-peace races or county commissioner posts, Democrats here run unopposed and there often aren’t significant differences.

This year is slightly different in that there are several qualified candidates for Texas Attorney General, though Houston’s Joe Jaworski seems to be the consensus pick by most who endorse in that race.

Also this year there is a contested race in the Democratic Party to replace the retiring Louie Gohmert in Congress.

Republican races in Smith County — and many other places in East Texas — are often opposed in the party but face no opposition in the general election. These races determine not just local governance but sometimes who will run unopposed for the Texas House, Texas Senate and even Congress.

It should not be a real factor that Garza admits to hewing to the Republicans. The question all Smith Democrats should ask themselves is whether he’ll stick with the party. There’s no way of knowing that but as the son of farm workers, you would think he would.

Both men have some blemishes on their records. Garza has filed for bankruptcy twice and, Gilbert didn’t pay some traffic tickets a decade ago and has stiffed paying a campaign aide whom he says didn’t do the job she was paid to do.

While a bit troubling, those aren’t disqualifying problems in either case. In fact, we probably would never have known about either man’s problems if it weren’t for this acrimonious race.

Listening to either one of these candidates, it is somewhat difficult to believe that the future of the party here is wholly dependent on which one gets the chairman’s office.

At issue is that over the last several decades Democrats have not been able to become even a little more competitive in races against Republicans. While this stagnation has gone on the state itself has grown more diverse and many other areas have become more successful.

Both Garza and Gilbert believe they have the answers to an enlivened Democratic party. Garza has been a hard worker during the campaign, that’s for sure and says that the party needs more visibility and activity in all sorts of ways.

There’s little doubt that Garza has put more energy into the campaign and is practicing what he preaches.

Gilbert, who has always seemed to me before this race to be a genuinely nice guy, says money has been wasted in the past on billboards and said that any spending must be targeted to likely Democratic voters.

Both of those ideas sound good. This may be much less about party health and more about who controls what happens in East Texas politics.

I wish both the best of luck. Whoever wins is going to need it, that’s for sure.

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