Kathryn Jean Whitmire is an American politician,businesswoman,and accountant best known as the first woman to serve as Mayor of Houston,serving for five consecutive two-year terms from 1982 to 1992. From 1977 to 1981,she was the city controller,a position which made her the first woman elected to any office in the city. Whitmire drew national attention when she defeated former Harris County Sheriff Jack Heard in her election as mayor. The election drew national focus because it symbolized a major political realignment in the fourth-largest city in the United States.
Robert Christopher Bell is an American politician,attorney,and former journalist. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and South Texas College of Law. Bell served five years on the Houston City Council from 1997 to 2001,followed by one term in the United States House of Representatives from Texas's 25th Congressional District in Houston from 2003 to 2005.
David Van Os was a Texas attorney,a member of the Democratic Party of Texas,and a frequent candidate for public office. A three-time Democratic nominee for statewide office,he was a self-styled "People's Democrat" and labor attorney.
Sam Sparks is a senior United States district judge of the Austin Division of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.
Rodney Glenn Ellis is an American politician who has served on the Harris County Commissioners Court Precinct 1 since 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Dean A. Hrbacek,CPA is an American attorney and Republican politician who served as the mayor of Sugar Land,Texas from 1996 to 2002. Before serving in that capacity,he served as a city council member. In 2008,he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination in Texas's 22nd congressional district.
Shelley Ann Sekula-Gibbs is an American physician and politician,who serves as a director of The Woodlands,Texas Township board of directors. She served as a member of the United States House of Representatives,representing Texas's 22nd congressional district in 2006. A Republican,she won the special election to fill the seat for the last few weeks of the 109th United States Congress. Dr. Sekula-Gibbs has the distinction of being the first dermatologist and female physician to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. She previously served as a city councilwoman in Houston,Texas from 2002 to 2006.
Clifton David Briley is an American politician. A Democrat,he was the eighth mayor of Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County. He was elected in 2015 as vice-mayor and was sworn in as acting mayor after Megan Barry's resignation on March 6,2018. Briley went on to win the May 24 special election for the balance of Barry's term with 55% of the vote over nearly a dozen challengers,avoiding a runoff and making him the official mayor of Nashville. John Cooper defeated Briley in the 2019 Nashville mayoral election. Briley was the first native of both Nashville and Tennessee since Bill Boner in 1991 to be mayor.
Melissa Meisgeier Noriega is a former member of the Houston City Council in Houston,Texas,having held At-Large Position 3. Noriega is an educator and civic leader in Houston and Harris County,Texas,as well as a former member of the Texas House of Representatives. She currently is part of the leadership team at BakerRipley,a community development non-profit.
Larry Joe Doherty or LJD is a Texas legal ethics attorney and former television star of the syndicated courtroom show Texas Justice. He was the Democratic candidate for the 10th Congressional District of Texas in 2008,unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Republican Michael McCaul. Born in Hillsboro,Texas,Doherty is married to Joanne Doherty.
Adrian Garcia is an American politician and the current County Commissioner for Precinct 2 in Harris County,Texas. Garcia spent 23 years with the Houston Police Department,before becoming a city councilman. Garcia served six years as a Houston City Councilman,eventually becoming Mayor Pro-Tempore under former Mayor Bill White. In 2008,he became Sheriff of Harris County. In 2015,Garcia stepped down from post as Sheriff to run for Mayor of the City of Houston. Garcia won the general election to be Commissioner of Precinct 2 for Harris County on November 6,2018,after advancing from the primary on March 6,2018. Garcia ran for re-election in 2022 and won the election against former Precinct 2 commissioner Jack Morman,with 52.6% of the vote.
Anthony Glenn Buzbee is an American lawyer and political figure. In 2019,Buzbee ran for mayor of Houston,Texas,but lost to incumbent Sylvester Turner. He also ran for Houston City Council in 2023,but lost to incumbent Mary Huffman.
The Houston mayoral election of 2013 took place on November 5,2013. The incumbent Mayor Annise Parker was re-elected to a third,and final,two-year term in office.
Sylvester Turner is an American attorney and politician who was the 62nd mayor of Houston,Texas. A member of the Democratic Party,Turner was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1989 until 2016. He attended the University of Houston and Harvard Law School. Turner ran for mayor of Houston in 1991,losing in the runoff election to Bob Lanier. He lost again in 2003,coming in third and thus missing the runoff.
Orlando Sanchez is an American politician,elected three times as Treasurer of Harris County,Texas (2006),2010,and 2014. Dylan Osborne was elected to succeed him in the November,2018 election that saw most Republicans in county-wide offices replaced by Democrats.
Jared Ryker Woodfill V is a Texas lawyer and political figure who was chairman of the Harris County Republican Party from 2002 to 2014. He was elected chairman of the county party for six two-year terms. After being ousted from the chairmanship of the county party in 2014,Woodfill launched two unsuccessful campaigns for the chairmanship of the Texas Republican Party. Woodfill is known for his socially conservative views and activism,including his opposition to the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance,which was repealed in a 2015 referendum.
Proposition 1 was a referendum held on November 3,2015,on the anti-discrimination ordinance known as the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO). The ordinance was intended to improve anti-discrimination coverage based on sexual orientation and gender identity in Houston,specifically in areas such as housing and occupation where no anti-discrimination policy existed. Proposition 1 asked voters whether they approved HERO. Houston voters rejected Proposal 1 by a vote of 61% to 39%.
Christopher George Hollins is an American attorney and politician who is the City Controller of Houston. He previously served as interim Harris County Clerk from June 2020 to November 2020. He is known for overseeing the 2020 United States presidential election in Harris County;many of his policies received resistance from state Republican officials.
El Franco Lee was an American politician who served as a Harris County commissioner from 1985 to his death in 2016. Before becoming a county commissioner,he served as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1979 to 1985.
The 2023 Houston mayoral election was held on November 7,2023,with a runoff on December 9 because no candidate won a majority of the vote in the first round. It was held to elect the mayor of Houston,Texas. Incumbent Democratic mayor Sylvester Turner was term-limited and could not seek re-election to a third term in office. Municipal elections in Texas are officially nonpartisan.
