The Fort Bend County political drama would be comical if not for the deadly serious implications of the potential fallout.
Fort Bend County Judge KP George was arrested in April on two felony counts of money laundering tied to alleged wire fraud and tampering with a campaign finance report. Last fall, he was indicted on a misdemeanor charge of misrepresentation of identity for allegedly staging racist attacks against his campaign.
Democrats immediately condemned George’s alleged actions. George responded by announcing he was switching his political affiliation from Democrat to Republican.
And it did not take George long to master the GOP rhetoric.
“The Democratic Party has become one of corruption, radical political ideology and positions that do not reflect my values or those of Fort Bend County residents,” said George in a statement. “I have always believed in faith, family and freedom as the cornerstones of our nation, and know that these are the key principles being advanced by the Republican Party.
“Like President (Donald) Trump, I will stand up and fight against the radical leftists who seek to tear down the values we hold very close to our heart.”
Why it matters
As County Judge, George presides over Fort Bend’s five-member Commissioners Court, which oversees the county’s operations and budget. Before George’s party switch, Democrats held a 3-2 advantage on the court.
Switching parties means the GOP will hold the voting advantage, a reality critical to Republican desires to engage in mid-century redistricting to redraw county voting maps in a way they believe will favor Republicans, like their Texas Legislature counterparts.
The potential GOP redraw of Fort Bend’s voting maps is viewed differently, depending on who’s asked.
“With a Republican majority, the time for action is now,” said Fort Bend County Republican Party Chair Bobby Eberle. “That includes establishing fair and balanced voting maps and correcting the obscenely gerrymandered Commissioners’ precinct lines forced on the county by the Democrats in 2021.”
Fort Bend County Commissioner (Precinct 4) Dexter McCoy, however, views the move as illegal, at best and immoral at worst.
“The whole process in and of itself is illegitimate. One, because we redraw district lines after a census that only happens once every 10 years. We’re in the middle of a decade,” said McCoy. “There is no population data to tell us where people are… But I know that their aim is to try to make this a red county, which it no longer is.”
Wrong focus
McCoy views the current area political drama as detrimental to Fort Bend County residents.
“These are sad times in our community right now. We have people who are putting their own personal interest over the interest and the good of our community. That’s what’s happening in Fort Bend right now,” said McCoy. “Unfortunately, now we have our county judge who, in an act of desperation, has decided to switch parties and wreak havoc on our entire county. It’s unacceptable. And unfortunately, it’s something that every resident in Fort Bend County’s having to deal with.”
McCoy views George as a pawn, being used and eventually discarded by area Republicans.
“We saw the general counsel for the state Republican Party say, ‘Application rejected;’ the Republican Party will not be a safe haven for someone just trying to escape prosecution. The chairman of the Texas GOP reiterated the same thing: that this is not legitimate, that he is not truly Republican,” said McCoy, whose Precinct 4 seat is reportedly in the GOP crosshairs.
Consistent with McCoy’s read of the situation, most Republicans statewide want nothing to do with George—at least they didn’t initially.
“I was one of the people targeted in [George’s] smear campaign,” Trever Nehls, a Republican who ran for county judge in 2022, said in a statement referencing the misrepresentation of identity charge against George. “I saw how low he was willing to go. This isn’t a shift in beliefs. It’s a calculated move to escape accountability.”
McCoy added that though Fort Bend GOP members were initially calling for George to resign, their cries went silent.
“It stopped in February, and you heard their tone shift to, ‘We need to take back our county.’ And when [George] announced that he was switching parties, there was no outright rejection of that from the Republican Party Chairman. It was a ‘Prove it,’” added McCoy, intimating that proof of George’s true MAGA colors can only come from him voting for GOP-redrawn voting maps.”
Lessons
Still, Republican, Democratic and Independent voices condemn George for lacking integrity and a willingness to face accountability.
“The Republican Party stands for accountability, transparency and service,” said Daniel Wong, Former Sugar Land city council member Daniel Wong will face George in the Republican primary. “It is not a refuge for career politicians looking to escape the consequences of their actions.”
Roderick Garner, Ft. Bend County Justice of the Peace (Precinct 2), views George’s moves as self-sabotage.
“KP George has made a political decision to switch parties and weaponize his position to punish the very constituents who voted him into office,” said Garner. “He is enduring a fall from grace and respectability, hoping that doing the bidding of Commissioner Andy Meyers will save an already dead political career.
“KP showed Fort Bend his true colors and is trying to take the Democratic Party down with him…. A teachable moment for us all.”
Moving forward
McCoy says Fort Bend’s changing nature means a GOP-redrawn map may not produce the results Fort Bend Republicans desire.
“Our community is not what it used to be 10, 15 years ago, where this was a reliably red county. Our community is tremendously diverse, well-educated, and it’s far more blue these days,” said McCoy, who believes it will be impossible for his GOP colleagues on Commissioners Court to draw three red commissioner precincts or maps that produce a 50/50, Democrat/Republican split.
Even though McCoy is discouraged by the political drama that has distracted attention from the issues facing Fort Bend residents, he remains encouraged by how constituents are responding.
“I’m proud of what our residents already have been doing. They’ve been showing up to Commissioners Court every time that we have it, and they’ve been raising their voices in opposition to this,” he said. “The overwhelming majority of the people who’ve come and spoken in Commissioners Court are opposed to this, Democrats, Independents and Republicans.”
