I have no complaint about the results.
Brenda Stardig
With all precincts reporting, controversial first-term council incumbents Helena Brown, in northwest Houston’s District A, and Andrew C. Burks Jr., in At-Large Position 2, fell to their challengers, as did HCC trustees Yolanda Navarro Flores and Herlinda Garcia.
Brown lost her rematch with Brenda Stardig, the incumbent she defeated to gain the seat two years ago.
“We’re very proud of the work we’ve done on our campaign and we wanted to get back out there and support our community,” Stardig said. “We’ve had the support of police and fire and so many in our community.”
[…]
Burks fell to challenger David W. Robinson, a civic leader and former city planning commissioner. Robinson raised far more campaign cash than did Burks, who had run unsuccessfully numerous times before winning his seat two years ago. Both men were among the 10 candidates who sought the post when it was an open seat two years ago.
[…]
In the At-Large 3 runoff, bail bondsman and civic activist Michael Kubosh, best known for leading the charge against Houston’s red-light cameras, topped former Harris County Department of Education trustee and former mayoral candidate Roy Morales.
“I appreciate all the people who have supported me and all of my staff that’s worked so hard through the last few months,” Kubosh said. “I’m looking very forward to working on City Council and getting things done.”
[…]
In south Houston’s District D, lobbyist Dwight Boykins bested businesswoman Georgia D. Provost. Boykins had thumped the 11 other candidates in fundraising heading into November. Term-limited District D Councilwoman Wanda Adams was elected to the Houston ISD board.
In a very low-turnout race in the East End’s District I, Harris County jailer and civic activist Robert Gallegos beat Graci Garcés, who is chief of staff for the term-limited James Rodriguez.
So I was three for four in my prognostications. I can’t say I’m unhappy to have been wrong about District A. I am curious about one thing, however, and that’s whether or not Brenda Stardig is eligible under the term limits amendment to run for election again in 2015. If you consider her situation to be analogous to that of former CM Jolanda Jones, and you go by the interpretation given by City Attorney David Feldman, the answer would seem to be No. I made an inquiry about this with the City Attorney’s office several weeks ago, but they have never gotten back to me. Guess I need to try again. Anyway, congratulations to CMs-elect Stardig, Boykins, Gallegos, Robinson, and Kubosh.
The results I’m really happy about are these:
In the Houston Community College contests, District 1 incumbent Flores lost to challenger Zeph Capo, a vice president of the Houston Federation of Teachers. In District 3, Adriana Tamez, an education consultant, beat incumbent Garcia, who was appointed to the post after the resignation of the prior trustee. In the runoff for the open District 5 seat, businessman Robert Glaser topped commercial real estate agent Phil Kunetka.
Capo over Flores is a huge step up, and Tamez is an upgrade as well. Both Flores and Herlinda Garcia were palling around with Dave Wilson, so having them both lose makes the HCC Board of Trustees a better place. Major congrats to Zeph Capo, Adriana Tamez, and Robert Glaser.
Here are the unofficial Harris County results. There were an additional 308 votes cast in Fort Bend, so the final turnout is right at 37,000. Here’s an update to that table I published Friday:
Year Absent Early E-Day Total Absent% Early% E-Day%
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2005 5,350 8,722 24,215 38,287 13.97% 22.78% 62.25%
2007s 5,464 7,420 11,981 24,865 21.97% 29.84% 48.18%
2007 4,456 6,921 13,313 24,690 18.05% 28.03% 53.92%
2011 8,700 15,698 31,688 56,086 15.51% 27.99% 56.50%
2013 9,883 10,143 13,517 36,123 27.36% 28.08% 37.42%
See, that’s the kind of pattern I was expecting for the November election. I guess the turnout was too high for it. Gotta tip your hat to whichever candidate’s mail program generated all those votes. It’s good to be surprised sometimes.
This is a really big win for Houston Community College. Yolanda has been the worst of the worst for the HCC Board. Her street thug tactics of bullying is finally over at HCC. What a humiliating defeat. Can’t wait to see what she has up her sleeves now.
HCC needs to go after the $37,500 that she still owes HCC and has not paid a dime. This will be the last final boot from HCC to drive her shameful act away from Harris county voters.
Herlinda is gone, too. Early Christmas presents for HCC.
It’s interesting that Stardig won by only 119 votes. Voter turnout was terrible again (7.62%), much like the runoff two years ago.
Without Brown to help muss things up, I think Kubosh will not have as great an impact as he had hoped. Brown getting tossed is the best news District A and the city could have hoped for.
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