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Democrats eye repeat runs for Harris County congressional seats
The results in the Texas CD 2, 10 and 22 races were far closer than anyone expected. I was a contributor to Sri Preston Kulkarni's campaign and I am glad that he may run again
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Democrats-eye-repeat-runs-for-Harris-County-13490454.php
CD 22: Olson v Kulkarni
The 22nd Congressional District, once represented by redistricting architect and House Majority Leader Tom Delay, regularly has voted for top-of-the-ticket Republicans by more than 25 points, and Olson — first elected in 2008 — never faced a serious re-election challenge until 2018.
Putting the district in play, Kulkarni believed, was Fort Bend County’s fast-growing and highly diverse population, a natural target for the former State Department foreign service officer who speaks six languages and would hire campaign staffers who spoke even more.
Olson never had won a general election by fewer than 19 points — his margin in 2016 — but several trends gave Kulkarni reason to contest the district. Notably, it shifted 17.5 points in favor of Democrats from the 2012 to 2016 presidential election, the fourth most dramatic change in the country.
Kulkarni’s preliminary data also found that both parties had ignored major swaths of the district. In particular, Asian residents make up about 20 percent of the district’s population, far more than any other Texas congressional district, but Kulkarni found that three-quarters of Asian voters had not been contacted by any political party.
Kulkarni’s efforts hinged on turning out the scores of college-educated immigrants who moved to the district during the last several years. He ultimately lost by 4.9 percentage points, a result he attributes partly to not reaching enough Hispanic voters. He did not rule out giving it another shot in 2020.
“If I'm the best candidate, I'll run again,” Kulkarni said. “I don't want to throw away all the hard work that we did in organizing here, because going from 19 points two years ago or 34 points four years ago, to 4.9 — there's obviously a change going on in terms of who's participating.”
The 22nd Congressional District, once represented by redistricting architect and House Majority Leader Tom Delay, regularly has voted for top-of-the-ticket Republicans by more than 25 points, and Olson — first elected in 2008 — never faced a serious re-election challenge until 2018.
Putting the district in play, Kulkarni believed, was Fort Bend County’s fast-growing and highly diverse population, a natural target for the former State Department foreign service officer who speaks six languages and would hire campaign staffers who spoke even more.
Olson never had won a general election by fewer than 19 points — his margin in 2016 — but several trends gave Kulkarni reason to contest the district. Notably, it shifted 17.5 points in favor of Democrats from the 2012 to 2016 presidential election, the fourth most dramatic change in the country.
Kulkarni’s preliminary data also found that both parties had ignored major swaths of the district. In particular, Asian residents make up about 20 percent of the district’s population, far more than any other Texas congressional district, but Kulkarni found that three-quarters of Asian voters had not been contacted by any political party.
Kulkarni’s efforts hinged on turning out the scores of college-educated immigrants who moved to the district during the last several years. He ultimately lost by 4.9 percentage points, a result he attributes partly to not reaching enough Hispanic voters. He did not rule out giving it another shot in 2020.
“If I'm the best candidate, I'll run again,” Kulkarni said. “I don't want to throw away all the hard work that we did in organizing here, because going from 19 points two years ago or 34 points four years ago, to 4.9 — there's obviously a change going on in terms of who's participating.”