Race for Senate Dist. 6 down to the wire
Alvarado, Hernandez appear to top field of 4 running for Garcia post
The political domino effect began over dinner last November, when longtime U.S. Rep. Gene Green told a handful of possible successors he would not seek re-election.
More than a year later, the political ramifications of Green’s decision continue to play out through Tuesday’s “expedited” special election to fill the Texas Senate seat vacated by Sylvia Garcia, who resigned shortly after winning Green’s seat.
Though four candidates — three Democrats and a Republican — are competing to represent the heavily gerrymandered district, state Reps. Carol Alvarado and Ana Hernandez appear best positioned to finish atop the field, campaigning for months and tapping into their deep ties among Houston’s political circles to raise funds.
Without much ideological separation, the Houston Democrats differ in how inclined they are to work with Republicans, a distinction they finally addressed head-to-head during a recent debate. Set off by a question about her lack of House chairmanships, Hernandez suggested Alvarado had compromised her Democratic principles to gain leadership roles under Republican Speaker Joe Straus. Alvarado later snapped back that “promises don’t equate to much if you don’t have the results to back them up.”
On the campaign trail, Hernandez emphasizes her background as a onceundocumented immigrant and single mother. Her door hangers include a photo of herself and her son, Gregory Eli, and while canvassing the 74 percent Hispanic district, she tends to lead conversations with her backstory.
“As an immigrant, as an attorney, as a mother of a 6-year-old boy, I go through similar challenges to the rest of the communities in Senate District 6,” she said in an interview.
Alvarado’s pitch focuses on her
wide-ranging resume, particularly working as Green’s legislative aide and serving on City Council before joining the Texas House. Where prudent, she raises her track record of carrying bipartisan legislation, as she did while courting a Republican voter on a recent block walk.
Between door knocks, she recounted carrying the bills of a handful of Republican state senators, including Larry Taylor, R-Friendswood, and Joan Huffman, R-Houston.
“There are bills that they could have given to other Republicans, but they I think had trust and confidence in me, being a Democrat, that I could get it passed,” she said, also citing a collaboration with Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, on a law that authorizes courts to bar parental rights of parents who commit rape.
Republicans, encouraged by a September upset in a West Texas Senate race, smell opportunity in the unpredictable, low-turnout nature of special elections and a fractured Democratic field.
“I’m doing this for my community. I’m not doing this for a title or anything like that. I know that I can make a difference,” said Martha Fierro, a precinct chair for the Harris County Republican Party who is among the field of candidates for the Senate District 6 seat.
Still, the GOP faces a decidedly uphill climb in this deeply blue district, one that was drawn to elect a Democrat and covers the east end, north Houston, unincorporated Harris County and all or parts of Aldine, Baytown, Galena Park, Jacinto City and Pasadena. Also running is Democrat Mia Mundy, a consultant at a Houston recruiting firm.
Deep ties to the district
Fixtures of Houston’s Hispanic political community for the better part of two decades, Hernandez and Alvarado both grew up in the district, becoming absorbed in politics and government at young ages.
Alvarado, raised near the Houston Ship Channel in Manchester, worked on her godfather’s unsuccessful 1979 City Council campaign at age 12 during the same year Hernandez’s parents brought her across the U.S.-Mexico border as an infant, raising her in Pasadena.
While attending the University of Houston, Alvarado met Green — then a state senator — and later supported his bid for Congress against multiple Latino candidates, including Garcia. She worked after college as his legislative aide, primarily handling Port of Houston and women’s health issues.
Hernandez, meanwhile, became a U.S. citizen several years after her family gained permanent residency through immigration reform legislation passed in 1986. Her parents operated a popular Mexican restaurant, through which she became connected to the area’s Hispanic community early on.
Her political career began while she attended the University of Houston, earning political science credits through an internship with state Rep. Jessica Farrar, who she later served as chief of staff. Mentoring interns and young staffers remains a focus, Hernandez said, because she once received the same benefit.
More so than most lawmakers, Hernandez’s background has informed her political approach, particularly amid fraught immigration debates.
“A former undocumented immigrant, an illegal alien, is your colleague standing before you today,” Hernandez, 40, said during a floor speech last year, when the House was considering an anti-“sanctuary cities” bill that ultimately: “I’m not an alien.”
Hernandez’s political experience has come entirely from the Legislature: she went on to become Farrar’s chief of staff, and also served as an aide to state Rep. Joe Moreno, who was grooming Hernandez to succeed him when he died in a single vehicle crash in 2005. Hernandez won the special election for his seat.
Notably, Farrar is backing Alvarado in the race, along with state Reps. Harold Dutton, Jarvis Johnson and Gene Wu. Hernandez has won endorsements from Houstonarea state Reps. Garnet Coleman, Marry Ann Perez, Shawn Thierry, Senfronia Thompson and Armando Walle.
“I have no criticism of Carol and her ability to do that job,” Coleman said. “Ana brings a less political point of view. … Both are focused on issues – what anybody would tell you about Carol is, she’s very scrappy.”
Alvarado’s path to the Legislature — delayed by an unsuccessful run in 1994 — passed through Houston city government, where she coordinated Mayor Lee Brown’s postelection transition and worked as his senior executive assistant. In 2001, she won the District I seat, ultimately becoming mayor pro-tem under Mayor Bill White and acting as something of a vote “whip” among council members.
‘Sassy and opinionated’
Alvarado, 51, is touting the support of the last three Houston mayors — Brown, White and Annise Parker — while Mayor Sylvester Turner is backing Hernandez.
Once described by then-state Sen. Rodney Ellis as “articulate, sassy and opinionated,” Alvarado has thrown the sharpest elbows during the campaign, noting in interviews that her House district covers more of Senate District 6 than Hernandez’s. In an interview last month, Alvarado also suggested that she knows parts of Hernandez’s district better than the incumbent herself.
Hernandez, who attended Sam Rayburn High School in Pasadena ISD and often highlights her ties to the area, has been reluctant to go after Alvarado, instead seeking to draw distinctions between their approach to legislating.
“You work across the aisle where you can find common ground,” Hernandez said when asked to about the difference between herself and Alvarado. “But there is a definite line that I do not cross when it comes to values and principles and representing the best interests of my community.”
During the debate, Alvarado argued it’s necessary to work across the aisle to pass legislation, and possible to do so without “compromising your values.”
“I would say by mentioning the words ‘compromise your values,’ I’ve never done that,” she said. “I don’t forget where I come from.”
Mundy, making her first bid for elected office, has not appeared to mount as competitive of a campaign as the other Democrats. She acknowledged at a recent forum that she is a “political novice,” but called herself a “people-first, holistic-type person,” who is willing to listen to everyone in the district.
Alvarado, who gave initial consideration to a bid for Green’s seat, first ran for Senate District 6 in 2013, losing to Garcia by 1,049 votes in a special election runoff. She says she is using data from that race to inform her strategy.
Hernandez backed Garcia over Alvarado in the 2013 race, which took place after state Sen. Mario Gallegos died of complications from liver disease. She, too, has run in a special election before, claiming her House seat in a December 2005 runoff that drew 3,500 total votes. She also was floated as a potential Green successor, but said she never seriously considered it.
Both Democrats say they are prepared for another runoff, likely to occur in January, if nobody reaches more than 50 percent on Tuesday. That is only the latest uncertain element in a race that has had a uniquely confusing timeline, one complicated by a dispute between Gov. Greg Abbott and Garcia over her resignation.
Though Alvarado and Hernandez both announced their candidacies the day after Garcia — running in a solidly blue district — won her congressional primary, they faced an uncertain election date for several months, and risked confusing voters if they campaigned before the Nov. 6 midterms. Both initially campaigned at a slow pace, Alvarado said, “because we didn't know when this was going to happen.”
The election date remained a mystery until the minute Abbott ordered it for Dec. 11. His announcement came Nov. 9, the day Garcia resigned, giving candidates one week to file and 17 days to ramp up their campaign operations before early voting began.
Since then, Hernandez has operated out of a campaign office in Pasadena. Underscoring the hurried nature of this election, she had to carve out a workspace that requires people to walk through a bathroom to move from one office to the other.
GOP aims at an upset
Alvarado is partly battling voter fatigue through TV ads, while she and Hernandez are investing heavily in digital advertising. Meanwhile, Fierro has drawn the support of state party resources, and county GOP Chair Paul Simpson says the party’s grass-roots infrastructure — bolstered in recent years by Abbott’s campaign — has marshaled in large numbers for Fierro, hoping to score an upset.
Fierro, like Hernandez, received legal status through the 1986 immigration reform law. She says her focus in the Legislature would lie in part on combating human trafficking.
“It just illustrates what probably defies the usual narrative, that the Harris County Republican Party is very open to Martha and anybody who is interested in promoting conservative principles,” Simpson said of Fierro’s background.
This marks the second special election for a Texas Senate seat this election cycle, coming less than three months after state Sen. Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton, won a seat that stretches from San Antonio to far West Texas.
Senate District 6, however, has a more exaggerated Democratic lean, going to Hillary Clinton 71 to 25 over Donald Trump. Statewide Republicans also are not pouring money into the race the way they did in the previous senate race.
The winner of this race will finish out Garcia’s term, which ends in January 2021.