10/16/2024
FOR MEDIA RELEASE
Official Response from Republican Nominee for Sheriff of
San Jacinto County, Texas, Sam Houston
San Jacinto, TX, October 11, 2024 - On September 27, 2024, San Jacinto County Sheriff Greg Capers released a statement regarding the civil lawsuit he filed against San Jacinto Republican Nominee for Sheriff, Sam Houston. In response to Sheriff Capers’s public announcement, Mr. Houston wishes to state the following:
Citizens of San Jacinto County,
I want to thank you for your ongoing support over the past few months. The citizens of our County are entitled to the truth. In response to Sheriff Capers’s latest statement, I offer the following clarifications:
1. Sheriff Capers failed to receive a majority of votes during the March 5, 2024, primary election. As is his right, Sheriff Capers requested and received a recount from the County’s elections office. The recount again confirmed that he had lost the popular vote. Even though all the election records were publicly available by March 26, Sheriff Capers waited until May 20 to file a civil lawsuit against me claiming “voter fraud” and contesting the certified election.
2. I believe that it is in the best interest of the citizens of San Jacinto County to have investigations into elections, especially those that involve a sitting official, be conducted by a third-party group. This would help ensure both fairness and non-bias and assist with delivering accurate results. Unfortunately, this is directly contrary to how Sheriff Capers conducted the investigation, since he has instructed several of his own Deputies, who serve at his pleasure, to investigate his political rival. Law enforcement should focus its efforts on investigating crimes that harm our county’s citizens, on protecting those who live in our community, and on upholding our peace and safety. Taxpayer dollars and crucially important man-hours should not be spent bolstering a civil lawsuit so that Sheriff Capers can try to stay in office after losing an election.
3. I would also like to publicly refute Sheriff Capers’s allegations of improper votes affecting the election. I have no way of knowing who voted for me or for my opponent. However, I have every confidence that the San Jacinto County public servants conducting the election did an outstanding job and that Sheriff Capers’s lawsuit claims are, therefore, false. The Elections Administrator has already testified that she is aware of no evidence whatsoever supporting Sheriff Capers’s claims.
Finally,
4. Sheriff Capers incorrectly stated that on September 20, 2024, my attorney requested a reset of the previous trial date. In fact, my attorney received a request from Sheriff Capers’s attorney for a reset. Out of courtesy and given the inadequate document production from Sheriff Capers at that time, we mutually agreed to reset the trial for October 21, 2024.
Update: FROM MY UNDERSTANDING THEY ARE ASKING FOR ANOTHER CONTINUANCE WHICH WE WILL NOT AGREE TO!
I have full confidence in our County’s legal system and look forward to being sworn in as your Sheriff in January. I thank you for your time and interest in this election. May God Bless.
- Republican Nominee for San Jacinto County Sheriff, SAM HOUSTON