2023 Houston Mayoral Election

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

I guess people don’t want a mayor whose 73

Both Sheila Jackson Lee and John Whitmire are 73.

He's older than her by a couple of months.

Damn I didn’t realize.

[MargieCat]

https://twitter.com/HoustonChron/status/1689407217118679042

[smoltchanov]

Hope - Whitmire. In both Democratic and Republican primaries i am, usually, rooting for the most moderate candidate. And, with present polarization - frequently disappointed with the results))))

[Schiff for Senate]

Not sure who wins since I'm not following this race, but of the three poll options, I'd probably support Edwards by process of elimination, unless she's just an absolutely horrible candidate.

Sheila Jackson Lee is notorious for mistreating her staff and continually goes through staff changes. When your employees keep quitting, the problem is probably you, not them. Confirming this, she's repeatedly been won the superlative of "Meanest" in Washingtonian surveys where congressional staffers are polled -- and in landslides.

As for John Whitmire, there are a number of complaints about him. Back during the notorious 2003 mid-decade redistricting by the TXGOP, Senate Democrats fled the state to avoid quorum. It was Whitmire who ultimately cracked and gave Senate Republicans the quorum they needed to proceed. Still, inevitably they were all going to have to return to Texas, so that's a minor gripe. Secondly, he has the level of empathy and nuance you'd expect from a Republican on certain things (perhaps he's the opposite of "compassionate conservative" GWB in that sense) -

In 2021, Whitmire stirred controversy by responding to questions about the lack of air conditioning in prisons by saying: “You know, we can talk about this all day, it’s not gonna change. The prisons are hot. They’re uncomfortable. And the real solution is, don’t commit a crime and you stay at home and be cool. We’re not gonna air condition them. One, we don’t want to. Number two, we couldn’t afford it if we wanted to.” Whitmire's quote was featured the following month on a segment on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver criticizing Texas for not air conditioning its prisons, exacerbating medical conditions and even causing the deaths of some prisoners. Heat has killed numerous prisoners and cost Texas taxpayers millions of dollars in wrongful death suits brought by victims' families.

(Source: Wikipedia)

[MargieCat]

Not sure who wins since I'm not following this race, but of the three poll options, I'd probably support Edwards by process of elimination, unless she's just an absolutely horrible candidate.

Sheila Jackson Lee is notorious for mistreating her staff and continually goes through staff changes. When your employees keep quitting, the problem is probably you, not them. Confirming this, she's repeatedly been won the superlative of "Meanest" in Washingtonian surveys where congressional staffers are polled -- and in landslides.

As for John Whitmire, there are a number of complaints about him. Back during the notorious 2003 mid-decade redistricting by the TXGOP, Senate Democrats fled the state to avoid quorum. It was Whitmire who ultimately cracked and gave Senate Republicans the quorum they needed to proceed. Still, inevitably they were all going to have to return to Texas, so that's a minor gripe. Secondly, he has the level of empathy and nuance you'd expect from a Republican on certain things (perhaps he's the opposite of "compassionate conservative" GWB in that sense) -

In 2021, Whitmire stirred controversy by responding to questions about the lack of air conditioning in prisons by saying: “You know, we can talk about this all day, it’s not gonna change. The prisons are hot. They’re uncomfortable. And the real solution is, don’t commit a crime and you stay at home and be cool. We’re not gonna air condition them. One, we don’t want to. Number two, we couldn’t afford it if we wanted to.” Whitmire's quote was featured the following month on a segment on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver criticizing Texas for not air conditioning its prisons, exacerbating medical conditions and even causing the deaths of some prisoners. Heat has killed numerous prisoners and cost Texas taxpayers millions of dollars in wrongful death suits brought by victims' families.

(Source: Wikipedia)

She dropped out awhile ago. She endorsed Sheila Jackson Lee and is in fact running for her congressional seat.

The other Democrats are Robert Gallegos, Gilbert Garcia, and Lee Kaplan. Robin Williams, a forth Democrat, was arrested for domestic violence

[Fuzzy Bear]

Considering the terrible group of candidates running for Houston Mayor, it is easy to see why our major cities have such pressing problems.

[Nutmeg]

Hope - Whitmire. In both Democratic and Republican primaries i am, usually, rooting for the most moderate candidate. And, with present polarization - frequently disappointed with the results))))

This is a non-partisan race (i.e. no primaries).

[PSOL]

Rather awful choices for mayor. People should have realized beforehand that SJL was toxic enough to lose this race. After getting clobbered in Honolulu, Democrats would seriously embarrass themselves if they lose Houston too.

[Schiff for Senate]

Not sure who wins since I'm not following this race, but of the three poll options, I'd probably support Edwards by process of elimination, unless she's just an absolutely horrible candidate.

Sheila Jackson Lee is notorious for mistreating her staff and continually goes through staff changes. When your employees keep quitting, the problem is probably you, not them. Confirming this, she's repeatedly been won the superlative of "Meanest" in Washingtonian surveys where congressional staffers are polled -- and in landslides.

As for John Whitmire, there are a number of complaints about him. Back during the notorious 2003 mid-decade redistricting by the TXGOP, Senate Democrats fled the state to avoid quorum. It was Whitmire who ultimately cracked and gave Senate Republicans the quorum they needed to proceed. Still, inevitably they were all going to have to return to Texas, so that's a minor gripe. Secondly, he has the level of empathy and nuance you'd expect from a Republican on certain things (perhaps he's the opposite of "compassionate conservative" GWB in that sense) -

In 2021, Whitmire stirred controversy by responding to questions about the lack of air conditioning in prisons by saying: “You know, we can talk about this all day, it’s not gonna change. The prisons are hot. They’re uncomfortable. And the real solution is, don’t commit a crime and you stay at home and be cool. We’re not gonna air condition them. One, we don’t want to. Number two, we couldn’t afford it if we wanted to.” Whitmire's quote was featured the following month on a segment on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver criticizing Texas for not air conditioning its prisons, exacerbating medical conditions and even causing the deaths of some prisoners. Heat has killed numerous prisoners and cost Texas taxpayers millions of dollars in wrongful death suits brought by victims' families.

(Source: Wikipedia)

She dropped out awhile ago. She endorsed Sheila Jackson Lee and is in fact running for her congressional seat.

The other Democrats are Robert Gallegos, Gilbert Garcia, and Lee Kaplan. Robin Williams, a forth Democrat, was arrested for domestic violence

Funny how that works.

[smoltchanov]

Hope - Whitmire. In both Democratic and Republican primaries i am, usually, rooting for the most moderate candidate. And, with present polarization - frequently disappointed with the results))))

This is a non-partisan race (i.e. no primaries).

I know. Nevertheless - even in such cases i use the same approach: first - look for "reasonable moderate", then, if no one is in sight - consider alternatives. With small corrections: in liberal areas i will be satisfied with "sane liberal", but not "far leftist", in conservative - accordingly.....

[Oryxslayer]

Bumping this thread cause it's another of the many elections happening on Tuesday.

I don't have much to add, but maybe others do. Either way, this looks likely to go to a runoff, so having the thread be in the recent discussions will be beneficial.


The last poll of this race was at the start of October. Whitmire had 34%, Jackson Lee 31%, and nobody else cleared 5%. The hypothetical runoff was 50% Whitmire, 36% Jackson Lee.

[Oryxslayer]

Whitmire leads 43-35 right now as both democrats go to a runoff.

[Oryxslayer]

https://twitter.com/_fat_ugly_rat_/status/1722299550105235491?t=ZT8-qiazuqNozROu...

[riceowl]

I voted for Whitmire at an HBCU. Am I cancelled?

[Born to Slay. Forced to Work.]

https://twitter.com/_fat_ugly_rat_/status/1722299550105235491?t=ZT8-qiazuqNozROu...

Houston’s borders are hideous

[Oryxslayer]

Runoff poll by SurveyUSA, link here

Whitmire 42
Jackson-Lee 35
Undecided 22

Which is only a 1% MOE from the November results.

Undecided voters look more like Jackson Lee voters but they are better described as a heterogeneous group.  Hispanic identity though is the largest ethnic demographic in the Undecided pool, but not overwhelmingly.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I have to say I'm very glad I don't have to vote in this election. Whitmire I'm familiar with because he betrayed the Democrats in redistricting in 2003. For those too young, Tom DeLay tried to push through a mid-decade redistricting map that was a GOP gerrymander, so the Senate Democrats fled the state to New Mexico to deny a quorum to pass the maps. However Whitmire was the Democrat who gave up and returned and thus allowed a quorum and the maps to be passed. However Sheila Jackson Lee is by all accounts a very monstrous person and a nightmare to her staffers, some of them have PTSD from their encounters with her. The thought of her holding some office with executive power is downright horrifying.

So I'd definitely hold my nose and vote for Whitmire, but damn what an awful choice.

[Oryxslayer]

Preliminary results - most of the Early Vote no precincts yet - have Whitmire leading 64.4% to 35.6%.

[Arizona Iced Tea]

https://twitter.com/IanJaeger29/status/1733664371304280399

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

Hot take: we need more tough-on-crime Democrats in office. It’s one of the GOP’s most potent issues against us (not that they have any real solutions to it) and we need to deal with it. I still wish Caruso had won last year.

[pikachu]

Hot take: we need more tough-on-crime Democrats in office. It’s one of the GOP’s salient issues against us and we need to deal with it. I still wish Caruso had won last year.

Major problem here is that mayors don’t that much effect on crime and it’s v easy to lose credibility on the issue if you hype it up and fail to meet the expectations you set (e.g. Eric Adams, maybe London Breed soon). Pandemic aid drying up + no one wanting to be a police officer anymore doesn’t help either.

[Mr. Smith]

Hot take: we need more tough-on-crime Democrats in office. It’s one of the GOP’s salient issues against us and we need to deal with it. I still wish Caruso had won last year.

No, Dems just need to reverse-uno card the issue better.

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

Hot take: we need more tough-on-crime Democrats in office. It’s one of the GOP’s salient issues against us and we need to deal with it. I still wish Caruso had won last year.

No, Dems just need to reverse-uno card the issue better.

And adopting a tough-on-crime platform, as Whitmer has, is part of that.

[smoltchanov]

Hot take: we need more tough-on-crime Democrats in office. It’s one of the GOP’s salient issues against us and we need to deal with it. I still wish Caruso had won last year.

No, Dems just need to reverse-uno card the issue better.

And adopting a tough-on-crime platform, as Whitmer has, is part of that.

Agree 101%. Crime issue already sank Democrats on Long Island, and may do the same in many other parts of the country, even "reliable". Between BLM and police i choose the latter...

[GM Team Member and Senator WB]

they taught me good was bad and bad was good. I come from the highest house, and the highest family in the south.

(an inside joke only Nerd will get)