Whitmire and Jackson Lee Head to Houston Mayoral Runoff
The Houston mayoral race has ended with State Sen. John Whitmire and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the lead. As of 11 p.m., Whitmire (43.5%) and Jackson Lee (35.1%) were in the lead among early votes, mail-in ballots and about 42% of election day votes. This tallies up a large margin enough to secure a significant lead in the crowded mayoral race. Former Metro Chair Gilbert Garcia and former Councilmember Jack Christie are trailing the front-runners by wide margins.
The two longtime Democrats have been the front runners in the race and have both dominated election polling since the summer. Under Texas law, when no candidate receives a majority of the vote, a runoff is required. The mayoral runoff is set for Saturday, Dec. 9.
Whitmire, first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 1972, has campaigned as a bipartisan coalition builder, vowing to tackle crime and restore confidence in city services like trash and recycling collection. Jackson Lee, who is a nearly three-decade veteran of Congress, has run on her record of bringing federal dollars to Houston and promising to continue that flow of money to aid the city’s infrastructure.
The two candidates have expressed gratitude to their supporters, but public polling has indicated that Jackson Lee may struggle to build on her base in the runoff. Whitmire is expected to build a strong coalition with support from Republican and independent voters. On the other hand, Jackson Lee will have to overcome the perception of negative views among Republican and independent voters.
Additionally, Jackson Lee will enter the runoff at a financial disadvantage, as Whitmire has 40 times the amount of money in the bank as Jackson Lee. Whitemire’s supporters are projecting confidence in his campaign, while Jackson Lee has already launched attack ads against Whitmire.
Despite a race with many variables, Whitmire’s colleague at Locke Lord, a politically connected law firm, predicted a Whitmire victory to be near certain. At the same time, Garcia invested over $3 million of his own money in the race, yet other candidates were unable to gain ground in the two-candidate race. The highly contested race has shown challenges for both primary candidates, and in a few weeks voters will decide the next leader of the city of Houston.