Why I Endorse Alexandra Mealer in new Congressional District 9

Two local Republicans have announced their intention to run for Congress in the newly redrawn U.S. Congressional District 9. Alexandra Mealer, who ran for Harris County Judge in the 2022 election, will square off against State Representative Briscoe Cain in a primary.

I am strongly endorsing Alex Mealer based on her distinguished background and her continued commitment to improving flood-mitigation infrastructure in our region.

In making this decision, I also considered Cain’s voting record in the legislature. He voted against a Lake Houston Area Dredging District this year (HB 1532), even though it wouldn’t have raised taxes. He also did not vote for the so-called “Ike Dike” bill (HB 1089), which created a Gulf Coast Protection Account in the state’s general fund.

Mealer by a reminder of the depth of flooding during Hurricane Harvey *at Torchy’s Tacos in Kingwood Town Center*

Alex Mealer’s Distinguished Background

Mealer graduated from West Point, then completed advanced training at the Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) school. As a young lieutenant, the Army selected her ahead of her peers to form a new EOD company for a planned surge in Afghanistan. She prepared her team in half the time usually required by the Army then deployed to a forward operating base in Afghanistan.

While there, Mealer was again selected ahead of her peers to lead the EOD Headquarters Company, consisting of 600+ personnel deployed to 40+ locations throughout Afghanistan. For her 14-month deployment, Mealer was awarded the Combat Action Badge and Bronze Star Medal.

After honorably completing military service, Mealer obtained an MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD degree from Harvard Law School. She then went on to leverage her degrees as an oil & gas investment banker in Houston. She specialized in capital markets and merger/acquisition consulting in the oilfield services sector.

In 2021, Mealer began her campaign against incumbent Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. She shocked political insiders by winning a nine-way primary in which opponents outspent her 3:1. She went on to win the Republican nomination in a landslide runoff victory.

In the general election, Mealer received approximately 45,000 more votes than any other Republican on the ballot. But the first-timer narrowly lost to Hidalgo. She secured more than 49% of the vote in the nation’s third largest county (the size of 6 Congressional Districts).

Currently, she works as a VP for a private financial institution and serves as a representative of 14 cities on the METRO board where she also chairs the public safety committee.

A Force of Nature

I first met Mealer when she ran for county judge in 2021. She spent days studying flood issues in the Lake Houston Area and meeting with area residents. She and I have stayed in touch ever since. We frequently discuss Harris County flood issues, many of which originate upstream.

Mealer has seemingly inexhaustible reserves of energy. Even after her razor-thin loss in the county judge race, she never gave up trying to help the people of Harris County.

Within one day after her narrow loss, she started working with a legal team and subject-matter experts to craft legislation that could have potentially expanded the geographic scope of the Harris County Flood Control District.

The idea? Create a regional Resiliency District that could someday grow as large as the entire San Jacinto River Basin. Then she pushed for it in Austin, where State Rep. Dennis Paul ultimately led the effort to reform and expand the Harris County Flood Control District.

Even though it didn’t pass this session, the idea still has legs. There is a growing recognition that people must work together across jurisdictional boundaries if they will ever truly address flooding problems.

Here is a white paper that Mealer wrote on the subject immediately following her race for County Judge.

Rest of Region and World Depend on CD9

A map of the new CD9 shows that the district stretches from Cleveland to the ship channel and Port of Houston. It includes refinery complexes in Pasadena, Deer Park, and Baytown. If CD9 were a country, it would have approximately the 20^th largest economy in the world, according to Mealer.

The new CD9 also includes the East Fork San Jacinto, Luce Bayou, the Luce Bayou Inter-Basin Transfer Project, the Trinity River, the Lake Houston Dam, Colony Ridge, all of Liberty County and major parts of Harris County.

From north to south, water weaves through CD9 into CD2 and back into CD9.

*Map of new Congressional District 9 (shown in blue*)

Any flood-mitigation solution must recognize the interdependence of these areas for their collective safety. CD9 cannot be operated independently as a fiefdom. Cain’s vote on the Lake Houston Drainage District Bill would lead one to conclude he just doesn’t understand that. Or if he does, he doesn’t care.

CD9 is Houston’s economic gateway to the world. It needs world-class infrastructure.

Lake Houston Dam and Harris County Flood Projects

The inclusion of the Lake Houston Dam in the new CD9 will put major funding and leadership responsibilities on the new congressional representative. The City just started a major repair project on the dam. Houston has also been studying ways to add more floodgates for several years now.

A strong representative in CD9 could help with those projects. A strong representative could also help Harris County reach well beyond the 2018 flood bond.

Heavy vehicular traffic near refineries places exceptional stress on infrastructure. And in military fashion, Mealer has made infrastructure her mission.

She and I spent most of the day yesterday scouting drainage channels plus dredging and maintenance needs in the Lake Houston Area all the way down to Crosby and Barrett Station. At one point, the rain started coming down so hard, we got soaked.