January’s Perfect Party: Everyone-Take-Your-Seat Edition

2019 is finally here! Ushering in the new year means ushering in our newly elected officials, so we’ve decided to invite a few of them to hobnob at our monthly gathering. On our list: Lori Chambers Gray, the local defense attorney who won the race for judge of Harris County’s 262nd Criminal District Court, one of 19 African American women who were elected as judges in the county with their inspiring #BlackGirlMagic campaign; Dan Crenshaw, the former Navy SEAL who won the race for U.S. Representative for Texas’s 2nd Congressional District, and who—fine, we admit it—is mostly on our radar for his funny, gracious Saturday Night Live appearance alongside Pete Davidson, after the comic made a dumb joke about his appearance; Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, the Houston attorney who won the race for U.S. Representative for Texas’s 7th Congressional District, in quite an upset over Republican incumbent John Culberson; Lina Hidalgo, the 27-year-old Spanish-language interpreter who won the race for Harris County Judge, besting beloved incumbent Ed Emmett, in the biggest upset of all locally; Ted Cruz, who once again won the race for U.S. Senator for Texas, in a contest that riveted the entire country and even drew President Donald Trump down here to campaign for his old rival; and, finally, Cruz’s opponent, Beto O’Rourke, who lost, yes, but came tantalizingly close to getting elected, helped usher in Harris County’s blue wave, and remains unavoidable in the media (yes, we see the irony here), with seemingly daily calls for a 2020 presidential run. Whatever happens, it’s going to get interesting, y’all!

Published in the 60 Ways to Have Fun & Feel Great issue of Houstonia Mag.