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November 10, 2005
Another Strange Night
Well, another Election Night has come and gone. Few Houstonians seemed interested, but the same sex marriage amendment clearly motivated some folks to come out.
The statewide result of 76% for Prop 2 and 24% against was not terribly surprising, but the nearly as lopsided margin in Harris County was. We suspect local churches quietly signaled their flocks to cast a ballot on Tuesday.
There were few suprises. Mayor White dominated -- even a bit more than we expected -- receiving over 90% of the vote. We suspect he was the only person on the ballot to benefit from the Prop 2 vote on both sides. Whatever folks thought of same sex marriage, they thought Bill White deserved a second term as Mayor -- we agree.
While some expected Peter Brown to win handily in his race for At-Large Position #1 (Houtopia worked on his campaign), he won a narrow majority in a three-candidate field, earning 51% of the vote. As several knowledgeable folks have reminded us, winning a citywide open seat without a runoff is no small feat. Peter's three-year quest to win a seat on Council has borne fruit -- congratulations!
The At-Large #2 race (in which Houtopia is also involved) yielded a runoff as expected. Sue Lovell and Jay Aiyer emerged from a five-candidate field and will face off in the only citywide runoff on December 10th. It should prove interesting, as both are Democrats and a fair chunk of the electorate figures to be conservative.
Two district seats ended up in runoffs as well. District B, on the north side, will feature Felicia Galloway (daughter of the current officeholder) against Jarvis Johnson. That one could get ugly.
Finally, in District C, four candidates ran neck and neck, but Anne Clutterbuck and George Hittner made the finals. Conversely to At-Large #2, two Republicans made the runoff, and where Democrats decide to go will likely determine the winner.
Posted by houtopia at November 10, 2005 11:50 PM