Vo Faces Recount in Win by a ‘Landslide’ in Texas
November 26, 2004
Seventeen days after the election, Houston area businessman Hubert Vo received the telephone call he had been looking forward to. State election officials informed the Democrat that he defeated 11-term Republican Talmadge Heflin by 32 votes in Texas’ District 149 (southwest Houston and Harris County) race.
However the former chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee has filed for a recount with the Texas secretary of state to contest the Nov. 2 outcome, which showed 20,694 votes for Vo and 20,662 for Heflin.
“He has all the right to do (the recount). I don’t think it’s going to change anything at all,” said Vo last Monday night.
Heflin in a statement said, “The narrow margin dictates that we have a recount. The process in this election will be complicated. We are looking into all issues as to how this recount will be performed.”
“I don’t care if he ever gives a concession speech,” Vo stated. “The people and I know I have won the election. The secretary of state has done an excellent job in counting all of the votes.”
Vo now joins City Councilman Van Tran of Garden Grove, Calif., in becoming one of the first Vietnamese American state legislators in the country.
Vo, who immigrated to the United States at age 19 from Saigon in 1975, says he’s ready to start work Jan. 11 in Austin, Texas, with education and health care high on his agenda.
“Many of the working families can’t afford to have health insurance for their children,” he stated. “Here in Texas, last year we lost almost $600 million in federal matching funds. The Republicans in the state Legislature raised the standards for families to qualify for that care in an effort to balance the budget. I plan to set health care for children as a priority.”
Following the election, Vo learned the next morning that he was leading Heflin by only 52 votes with absentee and provisional ballots remaining uncounted.
“I wanted to give back to the people who have helped me,” Vo said. “The people here have opened up their arms to me and my family. They’ve given me so many opportunities especially in education. I was raised … to believe in the importance of good education and hard work.”
As a young man, during the day, Vo studied for a degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Houston; at night he worked as a steel worker at Hughes Tool Company. Later he opened his own business and supplied computers and services to the Houston Fire Department and other cities. He has been so successful that he has purchased an office/shopping center, apartments and other real estate. Married for over 20 years, he and his “supportive” wife, Kathy, have a son and two daughters.
Vo says if his opponent is seriously thinking about contesting the result, he promises the diverse community of the district — 18 percent Asian American, 20 percent African American, 21 percent Hispanic American and 36 percent Anglo American — “will quickly mobilize and help support [him].”
“I don’t think the Republicans in this state will take it too seriously if my opponent wants to challenge this election,” Vo stated. “They wish him well, but he’s already been replaced as head of the appropriations committee. His backers have to prove the ballots were not counted properly.” He added, “The secretary of state has said, ‘Every ballot that has been cast … has been properly taken under consideration.’ It’s going to be a tough case for my opponent to bring it to the public.”
Vo has been invited to a Capitol orientation for freshmen lawmakers, and he says he will be ready to hit the ground running when the 2005 session gets underway.
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