The Mark Jones Scorecard
(Note: This is a running tally of right-leaning political commentary and botched predictions from Mark Jones. If we’re missing anything e mail houstonheadliner at gmail dot com)
Just about every media outlet in Houston has Rice University’s Mark Jones on speed dial.
He’s (seemingly) the perfect pick for journalists who need a quick soundbite to fill space on breaking political news of the day. Always available, always an expert on whatever is happening. And he’s always presented as an unbiased observer or expert on what’s happening in politics.
Except he’s not.
A closer look at his public statements reveals Mark Jones has a long history of botched predictions and slanted commentary favoring a conservative agenda.
The bottom line: Houstonians deserve to know when talking heads have an agenda, particularly when they’re presented as as “unbiased” source. Journalists should think twice before relying on Jones for analysis.
Mark Jones Consistently Gets It Wrong
Without evidence, on Sept 24th 2024, Jones claimed that the 2024 race for District Attorney between Democrat Sean Teare and Republican Dan Simons “would be the most competitive local election on the Nov. 5 ballot.” This matters because it feeds into the right-wing crime-scare narrative. Jones also suggested Simons should define Teare, was "a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” (He ignored the fact that Teare beat his primary opponent, Kim Ogg, by 50 points. Hardly a competitive primary result that would weaken Teare in a general election.) His own subsequent October 2024 U of H poll revealed that the most competitive race was actually the campaign for County Attorney. Election day results confirmed that race as the closest among the top races, proving Jones wrong yet again.
In September of 2023, Jones confidently predicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton would be impeached. "While we have up to two or three weeks of trial to go, the writing's on the wall. Ken Paxton will be impeached," Jones said. "Greg Abbott will appoint a new attorney general." Ken Paxton was not impeached.
On March 5th, 2024, Jones quietly deleted a tweet predicting Texas State Rep Shawn Thierry would avoid a runoff against Lauren Simmons. Actually, Simmons beat out Thierry in the vote count and the race progressed to a runoff. Jones never corrected the record in any subsequent post.
Mark Jones Consistently Advances Right-Wing Narratives
In August of 2023, Jones appeared in a political video disguised as a “news” report produced by conservative private investigator Wayne Dolcefino. The video - part of a broader series intended to sow public doubt on the integrity of the 2022 Harris County elections - was funded by conservative activist and local election denier Mattress Mack. In the video, Jones advanced oft-repeated Republican talking points about the election and left out important context. (Claims of election fraud were debunked by the Houston Chronicle.)
In May of 2023, Mark Jones took sides with the GOP when asked to respond to unprecedented Republican legislation aimed at eliminating Harris County’s Election Administrator position. In an interview with ABC 13 Jones stated, “"If Harris County Democrats were less adversarial with the state government, they probably would not be facing this intervention.” Jones let out the fact that more than half of other counties in Texas have an appointed elections administrator.
On April 9th, 2024 Jones bolstered Ken Paxton’s narrative that Harris County’s guaranteed income program is unconstitutional on local news outlets. Despite not having a law degree, Jones presented himself as an expert on the Texas Constitution and ignored the fact other jurisdictions in Texas have lawfully executed similar programs.
Mark Jones and former Republican Harris County Judge Ed Emmet - a vocal critic of local democrats - are now colleagues at Rice University. Unsurprisingly their public remarks criticizing local democrats often match in tone and substance.
Unsurprisingly, Jones is often pitched to news media by Amy McCaig - the former spouse of Mark McCaig, a vocal right-wing activist and publisher of pink slime site “The Texas Voice.” Mark McCaig is also chairman of the Texas Republican Initiative.
In May of 2024, Jones - who does not have a law degree or expertise in the judicial system - piled on to anonymous sources attacking Harris County Judge Kelli Johnson. Without first-hand knowledge of the facts, Jones parroted right-wing talking points frequently used to attack democrat judges.