Sylvester Turner defeats Bill King in close Houston mayoral runoff election

Sylvester Turner defeated Bill King in the closely contested Houston mayoral runoff election held on Saturday, December 12.  Although Houston mayor is a nonpartisan position, Sylvester Turner (a long-time politician serving in local and  state positions) is a Democrat.  Bill King (lawyer and former mayor of Kemah — a small town near Houston) is a Republican.  Houston mayors can serve a maximum of three two-year terms.

Severe weather in Houston raised fears that voter turnout would be small.  In the end, Turner defeated King by approximately 4,000 votes (Turner-108,000. King-104,000).

Turner and King placed first and second in the mayoral election held back in early November.  That election, as you may remember, was dominated by a referendum on the Houston HERO ordinance, which unfortunately was repealed.

Pensions for city employees, improvements to city infrastructure and how to pay for them were emphasized by both candidates in the runoff.  

Turner had previously run for Houston mayor twice; having been defeated by Bob Lanier and Bill White (both progressives that are Democrats).   He follows the term-limited Annise Parker as mayor, and is the second African-American to serve as mayor (former police chief Lee Brown was the first).