GOP’s leader trailing badly
In Dem contest, incumbent leads
Bexar County Republican Chair Cynthia Brehm, an obscure and volatile political figure who so alienated state GOP leaders that nearly all of them demanded she resign, appeared headed to defeat in a primary runoff Tuesday.
Gov. Greg Abbott and Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz called on Brehm to step down last month after she suggested on social media that the killing of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police might have been “a staged event.”
Brehm refused to relinquish her party position then, but voters Tuesday appeared to do what Republican leaders could not.
With returns in from about half of all precincts, Brehm was trailing her challenger, real estate appraiser John Austin, by a seemingly insurmountable 2-to-1 margin.
Austin said earlier in the day that he tried to run a “positive campaign” and did not dislike Brehm personally. Still, he called her political career “a dumpster fire.”
In the race for Bexar County Democratic Party chair, incumbent Monica Alcántara was leading challenger Grace Rose Gonzales with about half of precincts reporting.
“I’m excited, but I’m not ready to call it,” Alcántara said Tuesday night. “All day long, we heard nothing but positive, positive from our people at the polls.”
Brehm drew near-unanimous censure from GOP
leaders after she suggested on Facebook that the death of Floyd in May was staged to undermine the “rising approval rating of President (Donald) Trump in the Black community.”
Doubling down, she opined that the coronavirus was a hoax “promulgated by the Democrats to undo all the good that President Trump has done for our country.”
Austin is a father of two and a loyal supporter of Trump – “he’s doing the best he can,” he said of the president.
Between bites of a taco Tuesday, Austin said that Bexar County Republicans are in disarray as a result of Brehm’s “dysfunctional” management of the party.
Brehm did not return a call seeking comment.
Many traditional Republican donors and patrons have pulled their support from the party because of Brehm, Austin said. He added that the county party organization “is about broke” and lacks hundreds of precinct chairs because Brehm’s conduct alienated volunteers.
Alcántara, the incumbent Bexar County Democratic chair, was elected in 2018 after defeating party boss Manuel Medina by a better than 2-to-1 margin.
In March 2019, Alcántara asked the FBI to investigate complaints of financial malfeasance under Medina’s administration. She accused the party secretary and treasurer of withholding party documents and called on them to resign.
The Democratic Party rift has led to clashes at party meetings and crippled its ability to conduct business. The party’s usual meeting venue — Luby’s cafeteria on North Main Avenue — banned it from returning.
Alcántara said she has fostered unity since then, “modernized” the party and developed training for aspiring precinct chairs and election workers.
Traditionally, county party chairs — volunteer positions — have concerned themselves primarily with nurturing donors, recruiting new candidates and marketing the party.
Gonzales, Alcántara’s challenger, has served on the Zoning Commission, the city’s Cultural Arts Board and other public agencies.
Her first run for political office was tinged with sadness. On Tuesday night, she attended a rosary for her mother, 89, a long-time nurse at local hospitals who died last week and who will be buried today.
“My mom used to say politics is a necessary evil,” said Gonzales, an interior designer who worked on Ed Garza’s successful 2000 mayoral campaign and who graduated from Jefferson High School. “I didn’t want to run for office. This was not on my bucket list.
“But the fervor and anger of these people has just been weird,” she said, referring to opponents who confronted her at political forums. “Monica’s people would just start shouting me down. I couldn’t answer.”
Referring to the demonstrations and political activity following Floyd’s death, Gonzales said she hoped to “invigorate the party with more young people. The horse is out of the gate. People want change. and they’re willing to work.”