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Andrew Schneider/Houston Public Media
Texas State Senator John Whitmire has defeated Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee to win election because the 63rd mayor of Houston. The tally from the Harris County Clerk’s Workplace confirmed Whitmire beating Jackson Lee by a margin of 65% to 35% with roughly over 131,000 early votes forged.
“Nice cities clear up their issues. Collectively, we are able to clear up our issues. The primary approach you clear up your downside is admit you’ve gotten one. And I do not thoughts telling of us what an excellent metropolis we’ve, however we have nice challenges,” Whitmire mentioned at his victory get together on the George R. Brown Conference Middle in downtown Houston. “It will be a chance to point out the nation what the town of Houston can do. We is not going to kick our can down the highway any longer.”
Whitmire led persistently in most polling ever since his first public announcement that he deliberate to run for mayor greater than two years in the past. The latest – the Houston Public Media/Houston Chronicle/College of Houston Political Science and Inhabitants Well being Ballot, performed after the primary spherical of voting – confirmed a number of traits that appear to have in the end labored in Whitmire’s favor. The senator led strongly amongst older white voters and conservatives, two teams which can be extra doubtless than others to return out to vote in municipal runoff elections.
Black voters, a core constituency of Jackson Lee’s, didn’t present the identical assist to the congresswoman within the first spherical of the mayoral contest as they did for Sylvester Turner, the present mayor, throughout his first victory in 2015. Turner had endorsed Jackson Lee within the present election. Whitmire additionally benefited from a plurality of assist amongst Latino voters. And whereas Whitmire led amongst males in Houston Public Media’s ballot, he additionally tied amongst ladies, chopping into one other essential Jackson Lee assist group.
In her concession speech, Jackson Lee mentioned that she was grateful for each vote, and mentioned of Whitmire that she “decide to working with him, as a result of as I noticed the town and listened to all of you, I do know that our concepts can put this metropolis sooner or later, as I’ve mentioned.”
The Houston Public Media ballot pinpointed the primary points on voters’ minds. Thirty-five % of doubtless voters polled mentioned crime was a very powerful subject within the race.
Whitmire made combating crime and enhancing public security the cornerstone of his marketing campaign, saying he would deliver 200 state troopers to Houston whereas the town employed and educated tons of extra law enforcement officials. Whereas Jackson Lee additionally talked concerning the significance of public security, she took a extra nuanced method, emphasizing the significance of making jobs, and violence intervention to get at a few of the root causes of crime.
By comparability, 18% of voters polled mentioned the financial system is a very powerful subject going through the following mayor. Fourteen % pointed to the price of housing, whereas 10% mentioned the town’s funds had been their chief concern.
Whereas Houston’s mayoral election was formally nonpartisan, Whitmire will enter the mayor’s workplace with half a century’s expertise in public service as an elected Democrat. He was first elected to the Texas Home of Representatives in 1972 and received election to the Texas Senate in 1982. He was first appointed chair of the Senate Felony Justice Committee in 1993 and continued to carry the publish lengthy after Republicans took over the chamber. He’s presently its longest-serving member, with the unofficial title of “Dean of the Senate.”
Whitmire is the previous brother-in-law of Kathy Whitmire, who served as Houston’s mayor from 1982 to 1991.
“We are going to make this a safer metropolis,” Whitmire mentioned of his plans going ahead. “We are going to do it by recruiting extra officers, supporting the officers we’ve, the coalition constructing with different businesses. Our infrastructure shall be repaired and glued, not solely streets however water. Nice cities don’t boil their water for 2 days.”
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