State party influence cited in Pearland runoff
In her second campaign for the Pearland City Council, Dalia Kasseb outspent her leading opponent by a 24-to-1 margin and secured the backing of a statewide political organization. She placed second in a three-person race.
Kasseb, a 31-year-old pharmacist, received 2,679 votes, or 37 percent, in the May 5 election for the Position 4 seat on the seven-member council. That was enough to land a spot in a June 16 runoff against Adrian Hernandez, 35, a small-business owner, who got 3,372 votes, or 47 percent. In the month leading up to the May election, campaign finance reports show, Kasseb spent $51,116, including $7,500 on cable television ads and almost $18,000 on a direct-mail campaign. Kasseb’s husband lent $55,000 to her campaign during that period, part of $142,000 in loans he made to his wife’s campaign and a 2017 council bid.
Hernandez raised $2,105 and spent $2,145 in the same time frame. He didn’t borrow any money.
A portrait of Kasseb on her campaign website shows a young woman with a pleasant smile, her head covered by a white hijab. It’s impossible to know how many votes her Muslim faith may have cost her; in her campaign for a different council seat last year, messages calling for banning the Quran and referring to “Muslim sex slaves” were shared on the Facebook page of Woody Owens, who defeated Kasseb in a runoff. (Owens denied sharing the messages, suggesting his account had been hacked.)
It appears, though, that Kasseb’s endorsement by the Texas Democratic Party was at best a mixed blessing. Local elections are officially nonpartisan, but social media messages show a backlash by some voters in a predominantly Republican
area. Two Pearland school board candidates endorsed by the Texas Democratic Party lost by wide margins.
“It is really tough to go toe-to-toe against an entire party organization,” Hernandez wrote on Facebook, “but we are trying our darndest to stick to what we know best —grass roots! We are focused on the people of Pearland and not outside influence.”
The partisan divide
In a phone conversation, Hernandez said he regrets the growing partisan divide in local campaigns. He said his efforts to reach out to local Democratic groups had been rebuffed because of his history of voting in Republican primaries.
“We all get to drive on the roads, we all get to drink the water, we all get to play in the parks, so it (party affiliation) really doesn’t matter,” said Hernandez, who ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 2015. Kasseb agreed. “Whenever I knocked on doors, I have not limited my reach to Democratic constituents only,” she said. “When you talk to people face to face, that (party politics) is not their concern.”
Mike Floyd, who was a senior at Pearland High School when he won a seat on the Pearland school board last year, has lived in the fast-growing suburb his whole life. Candidates seen as outsiders — a Democrat among Republicans, a Muslim among Christians — face a daunting challenge in a community resistant to change, he said.
“Pearland is and has been for decades a very conservative place controlled by a small group of insiders,” Floyd said.
It may be a stretch to characterize Hernandez, who grew up in Houston and opened his Pearland coffee shop just 10 years ago, as an insider. But he did secure the endorsement of We Are Pearland, an organization that represents the local business and political establishment.
Last year, the We Are Pearland political action committee sprang into action on Woody Owens’ behalf after Owens, who was backed by longtime Mayor Tom Reid, placed second to Kasseb in the initial round of voting as neither candidate won the required 50 percent to avoid a runoff election. (Pearland holds city elections every year because of the way terms are staggered.)
Not a springboard
The PAC spent more than $31,000 supporting Owens in the weeks leading up to the runoff; its largest donation was $20,000 from the camapign of Republican U.S. Rep. Pete Olson. Voter turnout surged, and Owens prevailed with about 60 percent of the vote.
Pearland City Council members earn $9,000 a year, and the position has never been known as a springboard to higher office. Kasseb and Hernandez appear to be deeply engaged with local concerns; Hernandez said he went to one resident’s home at 1:30 a.m. in response to a complaint about noxious odors from a nearby landfill.
“It was exactly as described,” he said. “It was incredibly intrusive.”