Tag Archive for: endorsement

Why I Endorse Alexandra Mealer in new Congressional District 9

2/16/26 – Update – Mealer now endorsed by President Trump – 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. President Trump has endorsed Mealer.

I am also 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 20th 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.

Mealer caught in downpour at Bens Branch and Kingwood Drive.

Mealer smiled through it all and pushed our recon patrol forward for another four hours. That was on a Sunday. On a major holiday weekend.

I don’t know about you. But I feel this area needs that kind of committed leadership. And that’s why I’m endorsing her. 

Posted by Bob Rehak on 216/26

3093 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Endorsement of Harris County Flood Bond: I’m voting “For!”

Yesterday, the final project list was released for the Harris County Flood Bond. There was only one change affecting the San Jacinto Watershed and it was positive.  The number of homes covered by subdivision drainage improvements increased tenfold. Early voting starts tomorrow on the flood bond referendum and I hope to be one of the first people at Kingwood Community Center at 8 a.m. because the flood bond is getting my wholehearted endorsement.

Townhomes cut in half by Harvey’s floodwaters. North side of the west fork of the San Jacinto River in Forest Cove. Photo: September 14, 2017.

Reasons to Vote “For” Are Numerous

I like this bond for many reasons:

  • We lobbied long and hard as a community to make sure the things that would mitigate flooding in the Lake Houston area were included. The county responded by including additional upstream detention, dredging, and floodgates for Lake Houston. They’ve given us what we asked for.
  • Additional detention will decrease the input during a flood. Additional dredging will increase the throughput. Additional gates will increase the output. Hopefully, all of that will reduce flooding.
  • The County has also included money to improve internal drainage ditches so water can get to the river faster.
  • Together, these measures should help get us back to the point where a 100-year storm produces a 100-year flood. That’s the goal. Over the years, siltation has reduced drainage capacity and upstream development has increased peak flows. Baseline assumptions have changed since most of us bought our homes. Measures in the flood bond should help our drainage systems respond to heavy rains the way they were intended to.
  • If we don’t address flooding, home values will not increase the way they normally would  simply because of proximity to flooding. We must send a signal to the rest of the world that we are dealing with this problem.
  • No one can afford another storm like Harvey, which USGS just re-classified as a 42-year storm (based on its West Fork gage at the Grand Parkway).
  • The bond will provide seed money for many projects that bring in billions of additional dollars in matching funds.
  • For instance, bond money could help us get started on dredging the West Fork mouth bar which is not within the scope of the Army Corps’ current dredging project.
  • The cost per household is not a budget-breaker. It should cost far less than flood insurance and, unlike flood insurance, will actually reduce flooding.
  • It will help protect homes, schools, businesses, and infrastructure, and make this entire area more secure and resilient.

Reasons to Vote Against are Weak

The main arguments that I have heard against the bond have to do with distrust of government; flexibility that allows officials to cancel or change projects; misplaced anger; and a tax increase.

Re: distrust:
  • I have had the opportunity to meet for hours with the County Judge, the County Engineer and the Director of Operations for the Flood Control District. I have been impressed by how open, candid and receptive they have all been. I’m just not getting a negative vibe.
  • We are holding them accountable for preventing another disaster, but without the money to do it, we’re tying their hands. That’s a prescription for another disaster.
Re: flexibility:

It’s true that projects on the list could be changed or cancelled. I may not like that flexibility because it could potentially result in cancellation of what I perceive to be key projects, but I get it. Officials have rushed to respond to an urgent need; preliminary engineering reports have yet to be started on most of these projects. Things will change. No one can tell exactly how every penny will be spent ten years from now. Officials need flexibility to ensure our money is well spent. Sometimes you just have to trust people to use their judgment and do the right thing. I trust these people.

Re: misplaced anger:

Some people are conflating the Harris County Flood Bond with the City of Houston Drainage Fee. Don’t. They’re from two different groups.

Re: a tax increase:
  • Some people have claimed the bond will double property taxes. Not true! You are NOT doubling your entire tax BILL. You would only double a tiny portion of it, the 1.4% that goes to flood control. Some people – depending on age, exemptions, and home value – won’t see any increase at all. See the typical examples provided by Bill Fowler at this link.
  • Any increase will be phased in over time as projects get ready to launch.
  • Yes, I might pay another $100 bucks a year. But it’s an investment in the security of my home – my biggest investment. It will pay me (or my heirs) back many times over. You wouldn’t hesitate to put a new coat of paint on your house if it needed it. Why would you vote against the one thing that might keep your neighborhood from flooding again?

Sleep Better, Look Better, Too

The biggest reason to vote for the bond is that you’ll sleep better. And maybe even look better. My wife keeps telling me that I look better without grocery bags under my eyes. That’s why the flood bond gets her endorsement, too.

Posted by Bob Rehak on August 7, 2018

343 Days since Hurricane Harvey