Huffman was the candidate who went into December’s runoff election with a leg-up against Buzbee to retain her District G seat on Houston City Council after she narrowly missed the half mark to avoid running a second time around, collecting 49 percent of votes cast in November.
Houston area voters likely kept an eye on this race as Buzbee is a de facto political personality, having run for mayor against current Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and represented Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton during the Senate’s impeachment trial against him.
Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, said the attention on this contest could also have come from the Republican voter turnout it generated.
“Turnout in District G was relatively high, and that means that there’s going to be enthusiasm for Republicans to try to find a Republican for other races,” he said.
Rottinghaus said the concentration of Republican voters brought forth by Buzbee and Huffman’s race likely affected State Senator John Whitmire’s significant lead over U.S Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the mayoral contest and Houston Controller candidate Orlando Sanchez’s slight increase in voter support this time around.
He added that the funds involved in Buzbee and Huffman’s race also drew voter attention. Their combined campaign expenses between November and the beginning of December alone total above $500,000.
According to Nancy Sims, a political science lecturer with the University of Houston, the other two district City Council races were expected to be less eventful and fairly easier to read than District G.
Early returns indicated Mario Castillo was leading against Cynthia Reyes-Revilla to obtain the open District H seat by 63.2 percent of votes to Reyes-Revilla’s 36.7 percent. In recent days, Reyes-Revilla lost some of her previous support after her campaign sent out a message which many in the community interpreted as an attack on Castillo for being gay. In it, Reyes-Revilla is described as a “devoted Christian” who makes decisions that “reflect the moral and ethical standards values in our community.”
As Sims expected, District D incumbent Dr. Carolyn Evans-Shabazz was coming out ahead of veteran community organizer Travis McGee with 65.7 percent of votes – not unusual for those who held the seat before in council races to win against a challenger.
Sim said the four non-district City Council member races – at large positions one, two, three and four – were up for grabs by any eight candidates running in these respective elections.
Criminal law attorney Julian Ramirez followed suit in his November bid to hold at-large position one, but was only slightly leading against fellow candidate and Family law attorney Melanie Miles with 50.2 percent of the votes to Miles’s 49.8 percent.
Local Real Estate Agent Nick Hellyar was trailing pastor Willie Davis by a lengthy amount of votes, 44.9 percent compared to Davis’s 55 percent, to obtain the council member at-large position two.
It was a closer race between Harris County Department of Education Board Trustee Richard Cantu and Former Astros Executive Twila Carta for council member at-large position three. Carter was coming out ahead of Cantu with 51.7 percent of the votes.
At-Large 4 City Council member Letitia Plummer was the only incumbent running in these lower ballot races. She was leading as she did in the primaries against retired Air Force Colonel Roy Morales by 52.9 percent of votes to Morales’s 47 percent.
