Houston Mayor Annise Parker wins a second term

County development funds fail

Jay Blazek Crossley, Nov 09, 11.

City of Houston Mayor Annise Parker won a second 2-year term in office and no incumbent Council Members were outright defeated, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Only 8.79% of registered voters countywide came to the polls, according to Harris County election results (pdf). Of the more than 3 million residents of the county, only 1.87 million are registered, and only 164,283 of those voted during this election cycle.

All incumbent City of Houston Council Members seeking reelection won their races with a majority, except Brenda Stardig and Jolanda Jones who will face Helena Brown and Jack Christie, respectively, in runoff elections on December 10.

Larry Green and Mike Laster won the races for the newly created Houston City Council Districts K & L seats. Former State Representative Ellen Cohen won the District C seat, vacated by term limited Anne Clutterbuck. The winner for At-Large Position 2, vacated by term limited Council Member Sue Lovell, will be determined in a runoff election, with no candidate getting more than 17% of the vote and 4 candidates receiving 10% or more.

In a race characterized as one between old rivals by ABC 13, Carroll G. Robinson defeated Jew Don Boney in the race for Houston Community College System trustee District IV.

Following a controversy over ads his campaign produced that many saw as homophobic, incumbent Houston ISD Trustee Manuel Rodriguez Jr. defeated openly gay candidate Ramiro Fonseca by only 24 votes, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Of ten statewide constitutional propositions placed on the ballot by the Texas Legislature, all but three passed, according to the Texas Secretary of State. The losing propositions were: Proposition 4 - Permit County to issue bonds for development, Proposition 7 - Permit El Paso County to create reclamation district, and Proposition 8 - Appraisal for ad valorem tax of land devoted to water stewardship.