None of the candidates received a majority of the votes, so a run-off election was held on December 1, 2001.

Lee P. Brown was elected mayor of Houston, the first black person to do so, in 1997, and was reelected in 1999.

Brown proposed a $16 million expansion to the fire department's budget after the incident, but Sanchez attacked it as a "self-serving, despicable and cynical act".

[9][10] The Democratic National Committee spent $75,000 to aid Brown and DNC chair Terry McAuliffe campaigned for him.

Elaine Chao and Mel Martínez, members of President George W. Bush's cabinet, campaigned for Sanchez.