2022 Midterms Has Seen One of the Most Crucial Elections in History
Sophomore computer science major Lauren Lutz, who is a member of Texas Rising, helps freshman Marisol Guzman on getting her registered to vote in the upcoming 2022 Midterm elections. Photo by Jonathon Garcia
November 2, 2022
One of the most important events in American history is coming to a start, and many politicians on the state and local levels are hoping for re-election, or a potential new candidate to run the state of Texas.
“Elections have consequences and it does make a difference to who we elect to office,” said Dr. Juan Huerta, a political science professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
With hot-topic issues such as abortion, gun rights, and aid to the ERCOT Texas power grid, many Texans are taking notice of who would be best suited to run the state of Texas. One of the most talked about races is the one for the Governor of Texas, with Beto O’Rourke looking to unseat incumbent Governor Greg Abbott.
“Texas is a big state, it’s an important one in how things move in national politics,” Huerta said. “O’Rourke has a lot of name recognition. This is probably one of the most high-profile candidates Democrats have run in a statewide office.”
Huerta adds that the Democrats hope that with O’Rourke on top of the ticket, the people will get out and vote, whereas the Republicans may show up to vote for Abbott in order to maintain power within the state of Texas.
With the Governor’s race being one of the most talked about, there is also the race for Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General being up for grabs this midterm election.
For the Lt. Governors, incumbent Dan Patrick faces off against Democratic nominee Mike Collier. For Attorney General, Rochelle Garza looks to unseat incumbent Ken Paxton.
Although there is great importance to the state-level elections, another important race that matters is the local races, which include the mayor, judges and the city council. One big change is District 2 in Corpus Christi, which sees Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi within that district.
“One thing that is new for [Texas] A&M-Corpus Christi students, is that the City of Corpus Christi redrew the district boundaries and the university is no longer in District 4,” said Huerta.
The City of Corpus Christi released a statement saying that “District 2 will gain areas along the southern part of Ocean Drive,” which includes TAMU-CC that was originally in District 4, which included Flour Bluff and Padre Island.
Incumbent District 2 councilman, Ben Molina, won’t be running for re-election, leaving his seat open on the council. Running for District 2 is Sylvia Campos, Brian Rosas, who served as the councilman for District 2 in 2015, and former Councilman At-large, Mark Scott.
Huerta agrees that while the state elections are important, the local elections are just as important as the ones at the state level.
“Local elections are very important. We have more influence in local elections,” said Huerta. “We can get to know about our local officials more, and the types of actions the local government would take, I would argue, have a really big impact on us every day.”
After the 2020 election, there have been concerns brought up about voter fraud and the integrity of the elections. Although there are some pushing this theory, there hasn’t been much evidence of fraud on a massive scale.
“There are some folks that are advocating that the elections are rife with fraud,” said Huerta, “There are other things we do in Texas that can affect elections. But in terms of outright voter fraud, that is a myth.”
Huerta also adds that a major myth is that there are people who think that their vote doesn’t matter or makes a difference, which is false. He emphasizes that elections have consequences if they don’t get out to vote.
Early voting continues until Friday, Nov. 4. You can vote from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Friday, Oct. 28, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29 through Nov. 4, with the Nueces County Courthouse being open Sunday, Oct. 30, and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day Tuesday, Nov 8.
Sources:
District 2 redistricting:
https://news.cctexas.com/news/releases-20220329-6868050
Voting locations:
https://www.cctexas.com/elections
Candidates for City Council:
