Harris County Young Democrats Endorse Melissa Noriega for City Council, At-Large 3

After a bit of a rocky start to tonight's Harris County Young Democrats Meeting, Melissa Noriega once again received the endorsement of the organization. Here's how the rest of the races broke down from the Screening Committee:

District D:
Wanda Adams - Endorsement with GOTV
Lawrence Allen - Qualified
Michael P. Williams - Qualified

District E: Manisha Mehta - Qualified

District I:
John Marron - Qualified
James Rodriguez - Qualified

At-Large 5:
Zaf Tahir - Endorsement
Jolanda Jones - Qualified
Marlon Barabin - Principled

HISD School Board District 4:
Paula Harris - Endorsement

The following were unopposed City Council Races. All were Endorsed:
District B: Jarvis Johnson
District H: Adrian Garcia
At-Large 1: Peter Brown
At-Large 2: Sue Lovell
At-Large 3: Melissa Noriega
At-Large 4: Ron Green

Poll Taxes? Literacy Test? Nope, just HCYD signature forms!

I'm liveblogging in the middle of voting with the HCYD endorsement meeting. I have plenty of time to blog, because i was, along with about a dozen other members were held up waiting for our memberships to be verified, including several candidates themselves.

James Rodriguez's campaign would have been allowed to have a proxy vote, but his membership was unverifiable as his membership dated from 1999. HCYD President Max Cardenas III said that was another organization. The current HCYD was chartered in 2001. A representative from the Rodriguez campaign said she would have appreciated some notification as to what was required to be able to vote. The same held true for Jolanda Jones and her campaign--unable to vote. When asked how he felt, Nick H. (red cap pictured) said he was, "livid." Save the hate for the Republicans, Nick!

Heated discussion ensued, and after a half hour of debate, only 18 voting memberships were confirmed, meaning the 12 of us who were denied voting rights may very well have easily had the ability to sway the endorsement proceedings. Cardenas declined postponing the vote, and the vote whether to accept the recommendations of the Steering Committee were passed with little discussion.

The membership forms were verified by the highly secure method of... Three ring binder.

Stay tuned for more.

Melissa Noriega READS THIS BLOG!

That's right! I met the Houston Councilwoman, and wife of Lt. Col. Rick Noriega tonight. I introduced myself, and she says, "Oh, I know you, you do the blog!"

I'm still smiling..!

Harris County Young Dems Candidate Forum

Even with some leftover rain from Tropical Depression Erin lingering, the atmosphere was certainly upbeat as candidates from across Harris County, including representatives from state-wide and national campaigns showed up to mingle with the Young Democrats. This is definitely promising, as it shows that candidates recognize that us, the "you-tube" and internet generations can make a significant difference in their elections next year.


Rick Cofer, Deputy Campaign Manager, and Melissa Noriega from Rick Noriega for Texas

About one and a half dozen candidates attended a happy hour after work with the Young Dems, asked for petition signatures to aviod filing fees, and spelled out their platforms. In several cases candidates told us why their opponents suck, "with all due respect," of course. The atmosphere was quite intimate, as the ratio of Young Dems to candidates was only 3 or 4-to-1.

I grabbed some cards from a few folks, but will get up a full list when I get a chance. Just some of the candidates in attendance:

Presidential Race:
Hillary for President represented by field staff.

Statewide office:
Rick Noriega for US Senate - Represented by Melissa Noriega and Rick Cofer, Deputy Campaign Manager (Rick himself was unable to attend due to military training)

County-wide office:
Steven Kirkland for 215th Civil District Court
Fred Cook for 215th Civil District Court
Marc Isenberg for 80th District Judge

City-wide offices:
Lawrence Allen for Houston City Council District D
Manisha Mehta for Houston City Council District E


Candidate Steven Kirkland meets with young dems.