Early voting begins Monday for the Nov. 7 Joint General and Special Elections in Texas. The mayoral election in Houston is a hotly contested one. The October surprise landed in this race on Saturday.

A 95-second audio clip was published on social media Saturday. The clip is not verified and it was sent out to various media outlets, including the Houston Chronicle, anonymously. The voice on the tape sounds like Jackson Lee, in my opinion. It’s brutal.

Language alert. Hide your wife, hide your kids.

LEAKED AUDIO: Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee Berates Staffer

Full audio here: https://t.co/XCD3rlrCLn

Audio we received today appears to be of Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee berating her staff.

Sheila Jackson Lee • 0:01 – 0:09
Uh, you took a piece of paper from that… pic.twitter.com/AOUKE4utJ9

— Current Revolt (Tony O.) (@CurrentRevolt) October 21, 2023

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is a longtime member of the House representing Texas’s 18th congressional district since 1995. The Democrat politician now wants to “come home” and be the Mayor of Houston. Houston has not had a Republican mayor since 1982. I’ve lived in the city since 1998 and would really like to see a Republican back in that office but it isn’t happening anytime soon. In this year’s contest, the two frontrunners are Democrats Jackson Lee and longtime State Senator John Whitmire. The race is supposed to be a nonpartisan one but it is always clear during campaign season to which party the candidate belongs. In this year’s race, Jackson Lee specifically is referred to as a Democrat in her media ads. She also slams “Trump Republicans” and “MAGA Republicans.”

Here’s the thing. The October surprise is pretty perfect to expose the validity of the reputation Jackson Lee has in how she treats her staff. It’s bad.

Over the past three decades, critics have repeatedly attacked Jackson Lee and her top aides for demanding workloads and high turnover rates. Congressional staffers have also routinely voted for Jackson Lee as the “meanest” employer on Capitol Hill in Washingtonian Magazine’s “Best and Worst of Congress” lists.

LegiStorm, an online portal that monitors congressional staff, places Jackson Lee at the top of the list for historical turnover among Texas House members and tenants nationwide. Her turnover rate also has notably increased in recent years, placing her fourth among all U.S. House members in 2021 and 2022.

Remember, most Congressional staffers are young people, many fresh out of college. This is their entry job into a political career in politics, if that is the direction they hope to go. They don’t make much money. The least the boss can do is be civil to them and not spew foul-mouthed rants at them. As I said, this is Jackson Lee’s reputation, though. Hearing her on tape (allegedly) is a surprise revelation on the Saturday before early voting begins.

Whitmire’s campaign denies any responsibility for the leaked audio.

“We don’t know any of the people who put this out on Twitter,” said Sue Davis, Whitmire’s spokesperson. “We know nothing about it other than what everybody else does. And to try to accuse our camp of leaking it is just trying to take attention away from what is in the recording.”

Jackson Lee’s staff would not verify the audio clip’s authenticity.

It will be interesting to see if the October surprise has any effect on the vote. Her district voters know her and don’t seem to be bothered by her personality. They keep voting her in. She has to appeal to the whole city in this race, though, and she isn’t presenting herself as a uniter. Whitmire, however, strives to bring in voters from across the political spectrum. Polling from earlier this month shows Whitmire gets more support from undecided voters and independent-minded voters. There will most likely be a need for a run-off between Whitmire and Jackson Lee.

Whitmire has a long history of working well with Republicans. He has the support of many wealthy Republican donors in his run for mayor.

The Houston Chronicle is out with an endorsement of Whitmire today.