It’s official! Houston’s top two spots have new people poised to take the helm. State Senator John Whitmire has defeated Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee to win the election as the 63rd mayor of Houston. The tally from the Harris County Clerk’s Office showed Whitmire beating Jackson Lee by a margin of 65% to 34%, with roughly over 131,000 early votes cast.
“To my people in my campaign and supporters who have told me ‘You have to smile more.’ They don’t know what it’s like to be attacked… and I tell them I will try to smile,” Whitmire said at his election night watch party, following his victory. “Well, tonight I’m smiling, and I’m smiling for the city of Houston.”
Whitmire consistently led in most polling ever since his first public announcement that he planned to run for mayor more than two years ago. The most recent poll, sponsored by Houston Public Media jointly with the Houston Chronicle and the University of Houston, showed Whitmire leading Jackson Lee by seven points, but with more than a fifth of likely voters still undecided.
Several trends from that poll seem to have ultimately worked in Whitmire’s favor. The senator led strongly among older white voters and conservatives, two groups that are more likely than others to come out to vote in municipal runoff elections.
Black voters, a core constituency of Jackson Lee’s, did not show the same support to the congresswoman in the first round of the mayoral contest as they did for Sylvester Turner during his first mayoral victory in 2015. Whitmire also benefited from a plurality of support among Latino voters. And while Whitmire led among men in Houston Public Media’s poll, he also tied among women, cutting into another critical Jackson Lee support group.
Sheila Jackson Lee thanks supporters at her election night watch party.
“You worked real hard, you come from all over the city and you have hearts of gold,” Jackson Lee said in her concession speech. “And I am very happy to be able to say we worked as hard, and I’m grateful for every vote.”
Jackson Lee said she would make an announcement within the coming days about what’s next for her.
While Houston’s mayoral election is officially nonpartisan, Whitmire will enter the mayor’s office with half a century’s experience in public service as an elected Democrat. He was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1972 and won election to the Texas Senate in 1982. He was first appointed chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee in 1993 and continued to hold the post long after Republicans took over the chamber. He leaves as its longest-serving member, with the unofficial title of “Dean of the Senate.”
Whitmire is the former brother-in-law of Kathy Whitmire, who served as Houston’s mayor from 1982 to 1991.
County Clerk race
Former Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins defeated former Harris County Treasurer Orlando Sanchez in the race for Houston city controller. The tally from the Harris County Clerk’s Office showed Hollins beating Sanchez by over 59% to just over 40% with over 122,000 early votes cast.
An emotional Chris Hollins to his supporters at the watch party on Saturday night.
“The city of Houston spoke with one voice tonight…we got it done,” he said. “…My promise to every Houstonian is we’re going to come in on day one and work hard and work smart.”
Hollins came within a few points of eking out a victory in the first round of the controller’s contest. While Houston municipal elections are officially nonpartisan, Hollins has long identified as a Democrat. That may have helped him, given Harris County’s trend of electing Democrats to major offices over the last several election cycles. Sanchez was previously elected county treasurer as a Republican.
Hollins was vice chair for finance of the Texas Democratic Party in May 2020 when Harris County commissioners tapped him for the post of interim county clerk. He came to the post after the elected clerk, Diane Trautman, resigned due to health concerns. As interim county clerk, Hollins oversaw the 2020 elections, introducing a number of innovations to increase voter safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, including drive-thru voting and 24-hour voting at some locations. He did not run for a full term as clerk and was succeeded by the victor in that year’s clerk’s election, Democrat Teneshia Hudspeth.
Hollins initially launched a bid for mayor of Houston before dropping out when Jackson Lee entered the race.
Hollins will enter the controller’s post as the city faces significant fiscal challenges with the rapidly approaching end of federal COVID assistance. Outgoing City Controller Chris Brown has repeatedly forecast that Houston’s next administration will need to cut spending significantly starting next year if it is to avoid a budget crisis in 2025.
City Council
Lawyer and Texas AG Ken Paxton’s former defense attorney Tony Buzbeeconceded his runoff race against incumbent Mary Nan Huffman for the City Council District G seat.
Buzbee’s loss comes after the attorney earned 41.29 percent of the Nov. 7 general election vote compared to Huffman’s 49.45 percent, just shy of the 50.1 percent needed to secure the election. In the month since, Buzbee and Huffman have both poured significant funds into the runoff race since the general, with their campaigns combining to spend more than $500,000 total in the month since the vote, according to campaign finance reports.
