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Taral Patel: A New Vision for Fort Bend Precinct 3 Commissioner


With more than a year to go until the 2024 election, the race for Fort Bend Precinct 3 commissioner is picking up steam as Taral Patel announces his candidacy as a Democrat for the seat currently held by longtime Republican Commissioner Andy Meyers.


Patel shared his announcement through a press release that featured a vibrant campaign ad-style video of him driving through the precinct and engaging with local residents.


Patel, who served as chief of staff to Fort Bend County Judge KP George from 2019 to 2021, recently wrapped up his time at the White House, where he worked in the Biden administration's Office of the White House Liaison, focusing on housing, urban development, and disaster recovery and resilience.


He previously worked in the Department of Justice's Criminal Division within the public integrity section, served as the deputy finance director for former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, and was a legislative staff member for former Texas Representative Celia Israel, where he focused on the Transportation and Government Accountability and Transparency Committees.

 

Patel is the son of Indian immigrants who arrived in the U.S. in the 1980s, working in various small businesses while he attended Texas Southern University and the University of Houston.


In an interview with the Fort Bend Star, Patel stated that his government experience at the local, state, and federal levels, along with his background working in small businesses with his parents, provides him with a broad perspective on how government can effectively improve people's lives.


Patel grew up primarily in Fort Bend County, with brief periods in Harris County, and attended Mission Glen Elementary, Garland McMeans Junior High, and Cinco Ranch High School. He went on to the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a B.A. in Government in 2016.


Having left Washington, D.C. a couple of months ago, he is now a resident of the Sugar Land area.


As his time at the White House was coming to an end, he came up with the idea to run for the Precinct 3 seat during his frequent visits to his Fort Bend County home. Conversations with old friends from his neighborhood and members of the immigrant community filled him with excitement about the possibility of someone from that community representing them at the county level.


If Patel wins the Democratic nomination next March and ultimately secures the election in November 2024, he would become the second former chief of staff to George to be elected to Commissioners Court. Dexter McCoy, who succeeded Patel in 2021, won the election for the Precinct 4 seat last November and took office in January. (McCoy is also a White House alum, having served in the Obama administration.)


A victory for Patel would also bolster the relatively recent Democratic majority on Commissioners Court, which had been under Republican control for two decades prior.


Although he has been engaged in Democratic politics since his teenage years, Patel, a self-described "policy wonk," stated that he plans to run a campaign centered on pragmatic solutions to residents' challenges. He aims to prepare the county for the modern issues it will face as it adds an additional million residents over the next couple of decades. He emphasized his commitment to a bipartisan approach, seeking "21st Century tools to solve 21st Century problems."


Meyers, who has held the Precinct 3 seat for three decades, announced his intention to run again in April, ahead of a Commissioners Court vote that maintained the precinct's recently redrawn boundaries. This situation effectively required Meyers to change his residence from the house he has owned in Sugar Land for decades in order to run again, a move he described as nearly unprecedented in Texas politics.


Meyers is one of two Republicans on the five-person court, alongside Precinct 1's Vincent Morales. He is well-known for his fiscal conservatism and has often clashed with the Democratic majority. Morales has already declared his intention to run.

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