Josh Harkinson reports on the Hubert Vo/Talmadge Heflin race for state representative.
He includes these observations from UH political science professor Richard Murray:
“Most people think Harris County is going to flip from Republican to Democrat,” explains University of Houston political science professor Richard Murray, “but the question is when it’s going to happen. Politicians like Heflin are kind of like the canaries in the mine.”
And for the Democrats, Vo could be the chisel that strikes gold. The 48-year-old former factory worker and convenience store clerk has become one of the party’s greatest hopes for a new beginning, in a race that reflects the rapidly shifting political bedrock in urban Texas.
Murray sees an upset in the works. “I think he’s going to win.”
Like the rest of the local dinosaur media, Harkinson neglects to identify Murray as a finally out-of-the-closet Democratic partisan. Murray’s a straight shooter and a good academic, but readers deserve to know that he’s no longer just a political science professor talking about politics.
