Election aftermath: Can’t we all get along?
The District 18 election is over. One candidate won. One candidate lost. That’s how democracy works.
Now comes the real question: Can Black Houston move forward without doing what we too often do after hard-fought elections — divide, disengage, and disappear from the political process altogether?
The race between Al Green and Christian Menefee became deeply personal for many voters. Supporters chose sides passionately. Some backed experience. Others wanted generational change. And yes, feelings got hurt along the way.
But politics cannot become emotional warfare every time our preferred candidate loses. One thing Republicans understand — and Democrats, particularly Black voters, often struggle with — is the bigger picture. Sen. Ted Cruz once openly criticized Donald Trump, who talked about his family like a dog. Now? He stands firmly beside him because Republicans understand political power requires alignment, even amid disagreement. Quiet as it’s kept, many Republicans likely still have private frustrations with Trump. But they stay focused on advancing their broader agenda.
Meanwhile, too many of us treat politics like a relationship breakup. If our person doesn’t win, we threaten to sit out the next election, disengage from the process, or dismiss everyone involved. We become one-issue voters. Single-candidate voters. Emotion-driven voters.
And then we wonder why our collective political influence weakens.
The reality is this: No candidate will align with every belief, every priority, or every expectation. Politics is coalition work. It’s a strategy. It is understood that progress rarely comes packaged in perfection.
That doesn’t mean people shouldn’t hold elected officials accountable. They absolutely should. But there’s a difference between accountability and abandonment. At a time when voting rights, education, healthcare, and economic opportunities remain on the line, opting out because your candidate lost is not a protest. It’s surrender.
Black political power has never been built through unanimity. It has always been built through participation. The election may be over, but the work never is.
Harris County battles “Voter fatigue”
In Harris County, Election Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth declared Election Day a logistical success. Hudspeth commended election workers who successfully managed the county’s eighth election in just eight months.
More than 93,000 residents cast ballots on Election Day in Harris County, bringing the total to 145,000 ballots submitted during early voting. While the operations ran smoothly across more than 160 polling locations, Hudspeth acknowledged that voter turnout was significantly lower than the March primaries, attributing the dip directly to voter exhaustion from an overly packed election cycle.
“With some common-sense laws that will consolidate some of the elections… I’m already talking with our elected officials across the aisle, seeing how we can be a little bit proactive,” Hudspeth noted. Despite the low runoff turnout, she expressed optimism that Harris County could see record-breaking participation when Menefee, Talarico, and Paxton face off against their respective opponents in November.
Reparations for rioters? America has officially entered the Twilight Zone
Let me make sure I understand this correctly: The same people who scream every time somebody mentions reparations for descendants of enslaved Black Americans are now perfectly fine with taxpayer money being handed out to Jan. 6 rioters? We’ve officially entered the MAGA multiverse.
The Trump Justice Department’s creation of a $1.7 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate people who allegedly suffered under Biden feels less like government accountability and more like political fan fiction funded by the public. And of course, the number starts with 1776, because subtlety packed its bags and left this administration a long time ago.
What’s most insulting isn’t even the hypocrisy anymore. It’s the rewriting of reality. Folks stormed the Capitol, attacked police officers, threatened elected officials, and tried to overturn an election. Now we’re supposed to see them as victims deserving restitution and formal apologies? Meanwhile, generations of Black Americans are still fighting for voting rights, equal education, fair housing, and basic justice without a penny of reparations for centuries of documented harm.
At some point, we have to stop pretending that outrage is equally reserved in this country. Clearly, it’s not.
