Decision time for Harris County Judge Ed Emmett

I know, I know, we are all focused on the recent Presidential election and how the Harris County Republican Party screwed the pooch and got exactly ZERO candidates elected. But life moves on and the next primary for Harris County Republicans is in roughly 16 months. Can you believe that?

The biggest decision for Harris County Republicans is this: will Harris County Judge Ed Emmett run again? Tough call. On the one hand, he is the most popular Republican in Harris County in any General Election. And that is a simple fact based upon the number of votes he gets when he runs. On the other hand, he has a beautiful family, more grandchildren than I have fingers (and thumbs) and maybe it is time to enjoy life.

I’ve talked to Ed several times over the last few weeks about his decision. At one point, he told me he had already written the annual letter to that he gives to his staff about the state of the county with one exception – the last paragraph with his intentions. And this afternoon, he told me that he still hasn’t decided and that he and his wife Gwen are going to make that decision tonight and announce it to his staff tomorrow morning.

Well, between you, me and the fencepost, I hope he chooses to run one more time. As a conservative, that is a natural position for me to take. As in, the devil you know is always better than the one you don’t. Or something like that. Plus, he has done more for Harris County Republicans and governance than anyone that I can think of. And my goodness, I can’t even imagine what Gwen is going to do with all of that energy he has. The guy is a perpetual motion machine. Sitting on a rocking chair is probably okay for a few minutes but then what? I mean, seriously, then what? C’mon Ed, give Gwen a break. Sort of like this guy’s wife says.

And if he runs, I hope he throws caution to the wind and decides to show Republicans how to govern in a BIG way. Use the Trump message to do populist stuff like improving public transportation (not toy trains), achieving his dream of helping mentally ill people (not counting the Hillary supporters that need therapy dogs and Play-Doh) and in general, showing that Republicans CAN govern when given the chance. But that’s just me. If he runs again, he’ll have his own agenda, obviously.

So what happens if he doesn’t run again. Well, if you believe failed Houston Mayoral candidate Bill King, Emmett has greased the skids and made it possible for him to run unopposed. When I asked Emmett about that, he seemed a bit perturbed (I do that to him often) and told me that he has no intention to pick his successor. So why is King telling people that Emmett has blessed his run and cleared the decks? No idea but multiple elected officials and HCRP insiders told me that Kind indeed said that. The funniest quote was from an elected official who said this about King: “He’s a nice little moderate.”

Besides King, at least three people want the job. Okay, more want it but only three are willing to say so, even if in private conversations. They would be soon to be former Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Mike Sullivan, current Harris County Treasurer Orlando Sanchez and current State Rep. Jim Murphy.

Should Emmett decide to spend time with Gwen and his grandchildren, it is going to be a slugfest.

Here’s to hoping that Gwen tells Ed, ‘Are you kidding me? Do you expect me to deal with all of that energy? Run again and do something big!’ tonight.

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