EDITOR’S NOTE: Reporter Kim Smith said she and Kris Crow spoke several times last week following the initial report and Smith tried to connect with him several times after that. Also, others on the Odessa City Council have condemned Crow’s actions.
By Kris Crow
Odessa City Councilman Gilbert Vasquez recently expressed outrage that I congratulated him for joining the Republican Party by voting in the Republican Party March 2024 primary. Mr. Vasquez, who has been a well known and life-long Democrat, appears upset not by his cross-over vote but by me making the public aware of his changed party affiliation and wants to now claim he’s still a Democrat.
Despite what Councilman Gilbert Vasquez says, for the year 2024, he has – under Texas law – officially changed his party affiliation.
In Texas, there are several main ways for a voter to affiliate with a political party: by voting in a party’s primary election, by taking the required oath at a party precinct convention, or by taking a party oath of affiliation generally (TEXAS ELECTION CODE 162.012-162.013). After being affiliated with a party, a voter is NOT able to change or cancel their party affiliation until the end of the calendar year. (TEXAS ELECTION CODE 162.010)
So… what really happened at last week’s Odessa City Council meeting and why did two separate Odessa American articles characterize my comments as an attack? It’s important to note that the Odessa American never attempted to contact me for comment before publishing their report. I have since attempted to contact them twice but have not been able to connect with reporter Kim Smith.
While Mr. Vasquez, may now be ashamed of his decision to “jump the fence” to vote against my wife, his decision has real consequences. As my oldest daughter says, “When you play stupid games, you are gonna win stupid prizes.” According to the Texas Election Code, he and others that walked up to that election judge in the March primary election, and said the word “Republican” when asked what ballot they wanted, just declared themselves to be Republicans until the end of 2024.
In Ector County alone, for our March Primary Election, we have identified almost 600 “staunch” Democrats that “jumped the fence” to vote in our Republican election. While this is not illegal, it certainly has ethical and moral implications and voters should question their motives. Mr. Vasquez admitted that he chose to represent himself as something that he is not, solely to disrupt the political process in an attempt to remove strong Republican conservatives from local office. It was actions just like these that led to the results of our stolen 2020 Presidential election.
I encourage everyone to go online to the City of Odessa City Council agenda page and watch the recording of my comments for yourself. Odessa City Council Meeting July 9th, 2024 – YouTube My presentation to Mr. Vasquez was meant, and appeared at the time to be received, as all in good fun. Everyone on the dais was laughing and Mr. Vasquez even asked me to sign the book that I presented to him. Just a few weeks earlier, at a public event I presented another individual that “jumped the fence” with a Donald Trump bumper sticker and also welcomed him to the Republican Party. This individual saw it for what it was. He shook my hand, smiled, gave a good laugh, and we all went on.
I personally like Mr. Vasquez and, until the OA published his comments after this meeting, had the utmost respect for him. I too have Democrats that I call friends. However, I make no apologies for my solid, conservative, Republican stance. I have never wavered in my beliefs, actions, or statements when called upon. Both professionally and politically, everyone in the city of Odessa and Ector County knows exactly where I stand. Personally, I could never imagine declaring myself as something that I am not, as Mr. Vasquez and many other local Democrats did in the March primary.
To be clear, my intentions were not to “degrade or embarrass” Mr. Vasquez. However, by his delayed reaction, it really does appear that he, in his own mind, is certainly embarrassed of his own behavior when voting as a Republican. I have never once said a defamatory word against Mr. Vasquez, yet he says that my family is “living proof of the ugliness in this world” and calls us “hypocrites… that really don’t live up to being Christians.” Well, actions speak louder than words, Mr. Vasquez. It wasn’t me or my family that perverted our local election process nor have I ever tried to mislead or deceive local voters.
My intention was to let everyone know that there were almost 600 “staunch” Democrats in our community that consciously conspired together to disrupt our local election process. Had it had been Republicans that “jumped the fence”, the media storm would have been tremendous.
However, since it is our liberal media that is controlling this narrative, nothing has been said.
Ector County voters should, I believe, question why Mr. Vasquez and other Democrats would cross over into the Republican primary to help overthrow strong Republican conservatives and should also question the bonafides of the recently elected Republican leadership if it took hundreds of Democratic votes to get them elected.
Tisha and I will always continue to fight and defend the conservative values of Odessans.
Neighbors be aware: there are wolves among us that have no problem putting on the sheep’s clothing. The actions of these “staunch” Democrats to disrupt our voting process should not go unnoticed and should never be tolerated.
Kris Crow is a local businessman and president of the Odessa Development Corporation.
