Race for Houston Mayor Heads to a Runoff

In a field of more than a dozen candidates, two well-known Texas Democrats emerged: U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee and State Senator John Whitmire.

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By J. David Goodman

Nov. 7, 2023

ImageRepresentative Sheila Jackson Lee on the House floor last month as House held a vote to pick a speaker.Credit…Haiyun Jiang for The New York TimesImageState Senator John Whitmire in the Senate chamber during the impeachment trial of the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, in September.Credit…Jordan Vonderhaar for The New York Times

The race to become Houston’s mayor is heading for a runoff between two longtime Texas Democrats: United States Representative Sheila Jackson Lee and a veteran state senator, John Whitmire, according to The Associated Press. Each emerged from a field of more than a dozen candidates on Tuesday, but neither with a majority of the vote.

The runoff election to lead the nation’s fourth-largest city will be held on Dec. 9.

Both candidates are in their 70s and have been fixtures of Texas politics for many years. Mr. Whitmire, a prolific fund-raiser even from Republican donors, has long been considered a front-runner for the position, offering a moderate message aimed at courting a bipartisan coalition. The entrance this spring of Ms. Jackson Lee, a better-known figure, turned the race into a de facto two-person contest. Her wellspring of support came from Democrats, including many progressives, and from many of the city’s Black residents.

Still, many voters were unsatisfied with their choices, with about a third signaling before the vote, in an October poll by the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston, that they preferred one of the other candidates. More than 40 percent of respondents said they would never vote for Ms. Jackson Lee, compared with 15 percent who said they would never vote for Mr. Whitmire.

Crime has been the top issue in the race, as it has been in many cities. Even as Houston police officials have said that their statistics show recent declines, residents have expressed feelings of unease about the sharply elevated levels of crime that emerged during the pandemic.

Mr. Whitmire, 74, has focused on public safety, promising to bring in hundreds of Texas state troopers to make up for staff shortages at the Houston Police Department. Ms. Jackson Lee, 73, has highlighted her record in Washington, where she has served in Congress since 1995, delivering federal funding to the city’s police department but also underscoring the struggles of working-class Houston residents and her role in legislation like the Affordable Care Act.

Other top issues in the race have been homelessness, Houston’s chronic flooding and perennial concerns about road improvements and garbage collection. The city is facing a looming budget crisis that could force the next mayor to resort to large-scale municipal layoffs, according to the city’s comptroller.

If the race were a Democratic primary, Ms. Jackson Lee would most likely have had an advantage, since she has outperformed Mr. Whitmire in polls of Democratic voters. But the position of mayor in Houston is nonpartisan, and while Houston is dominated by Democratic voters, Republicans and independents hold significant sway in deciding races. Mr. Whitmire openly courted centrist voters and Republicans, and has been favored by those voters over Ms. Jackson Lee by wide margins.

Nearly half of Houston’s 2.3 million residents, about 45 percent, are Hispanic, according to census data, with Black and white residents each making up a little less than a quarter of the population. Several Hispanic candidates entered the race — including a city councilman, Robert Gallegos, and a businessman and former chair of the city’s transit system, Gilbert Garcia — but none gained momentum.

Ms. Jackson Lee would be the first Black woman elected mayor of Houston. The current mayor, Sylvester Turner, who is Black, served for two terms but could not run again because of term limits.

J. David Goodman is the Houston bureau chief, covering Texas. He has written about government, criminal justice and the role of money in politics for The Times since 2012. More about J. David Goodman