The runoff elections are over and the results are in. Houston’s City Council will have a new faces in the New Year and so will the Houston Community College System Trustees.
Brenda Stardig beat out incumbent City Council member for District A, Helena Brown. Stardig earned 2,734 votes 51.11% to Brown’s 2,615 votes 48.89%. The race between these two ladies has been neck and neck from the first election. During the general election Stardig came out 1,077 votes short of beating Brown. Stardig told the Houston Sun in an interview that she continuous put effort into grassroots campaigning. This tactic may have earned her the votes she needed to win.
Meanwhile in District D, Dwight Boykins and Georgia Provost, the strongest contenders for the coveted seat that had 12 candidates vying for in the general election, squared off. Boykins won by 2,269 votes. His 3,960 votes came out to be 70.08% of the votes in District D. Provost earned 1,691 votes, 29.92%. Boykins is adamant about repairing streets, jobs and senior care. Yet when incumbent Councilmember for District D, Wanda Adams relinquishes her seat in January there will not be an African American woman on the city council, leaving out a major voice for the Black community.
Robert Gallegos won the seat for District I over Graci Garces. The race for District I was extremely close during the first election. All four contenders were only a 100 votes off from the other. In the runoff election Gallegos received 1,819 votes and Garces failed short with 1,634 votes, 185 votes off. That is a reverse from the general election where Garces had 173 more votes than Gallegos. In an interview with the Houston Sun, Gallegos said he continued to work very hard, smart to get his message out.
At-Large Position 2 Councilmember Andrew Burks, Jr. lost his seat to David Robinson. Burks who has championed for Veteran rights, after school programs and smart business partnerships for city economic gain fell short by 675 votes. Robinson earned 16,776 votes 51.03% to Burks 16,101 votes 48.97%.
Michael Kubosh won the the At-Large Position 3 seat over Roy Morales. Kubosh earned 18,019 votes, 53.35% to Roy Morales 15,753, 46.65%.
Houston Community College Trustee for District I is Zeph Capo with 1,569 votes to Yolanda Navarro Flores, 1,392 votes. Adriana Tamez won District III with 1,706 votes to Herlinda Garcia’s 1,543 votes and Robert Glaser won District V with 2,013 votes to Phil Kunetka’s 1,364 votes.
On January 2, 2014 the new elected officials will take office for Houston’s City Council.