Mike Anderson, a former Harris County assistant district attorney and a former state district judge, was elected Harris County district attorney, based on unofficial results in Harris County in the Nov. 6 election.
Anderson, a Republican, defeated criminal-defense attorney Lloyd Oliver of Houston, a Democrat. Oliver had to go to court to fight his own party to retain his spot on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Anderson won 52.35 percent of the vote to 47.65 percent for Oliver, with all precincts in Harris County reporting, according to unofficial results from Harris County Clerk Stan Stanart’s office.
Anderson’s take on why he won: “I think just the issues that we were able to touch on resonated well, not the least of which was Mr. Oliver’s stand on domestic violence and the statement he made that women who were victims of domestic violence should learn to box.”
Oliver says his statements about domestic violence were misinterpreted. He says he advocates counseling, not a boxing match, for those involved in alleged domestic violence, and prosecuting an individual for domestic violence as a result of a heated argument between a couple is not always the best choice.
Oliver says Anderson got more votes because he took campaign contributions from lawyers and far outspent him.
“We had to fight every step of the way,” Oliver says, noting that he had to defeat his primary opponent, then he had to fight the leadership of the Harris County Democratic Party and the Texas Democratic Party to stay on the ballot.
In August, the Harris County Democratic Party removed him from the ballot on the ground that he violated Texas Democratic Party rules by making favorable public statements on May 30 and June 18 about current DA Pat Lykos, a Republican who lost the primary election in May to Anderson. Lloyd sued to keep his spot on the ballot, and on Sept. 5, 189th District Judge Bill Burke ruled that Oliver did not violate the rules.
Anderson said this morning that he is surprised Oliver did not call him election night to concede defeat once the unofficial results were in.
“That was shocking,” Anderson says.
Olive says he has no plans to concede the election, because he feels he “won” because he made a difference in the election dialogue.
“I will go by and shake his hand and congratulate him, but as far as concede, no,” Oliver says.
— Brenda Sapino Jeffreys
My vote is for Anderson. I hate Olive, he is a sub par candidate.
Posted by: Statement Examples | November 10, 2012 at 04:28 AM
Olive has no chance of winning this, he is definitely a sub par candidate. This is how issues should be solved http://www.youtube.com/watch??v=B4LrHJCLs3Q not by arguing in court.
Posted by: Sam Masters | November 08, 2012 at 03:07 AM