Politics of Houston
[2] The municipal elections held on November 8, 2011, included the newly formed Districts J (located in the Greater Sharpstown area) and K (a section of Southwest Houston, Reliant Park, and Fort Bend County located within the Houston City Limits) where 2 candidates won over 50% of the vote.
Houston is a home rule city and all municipal elections in the state of Texas are nonpartisan.
Several former city officials—Anthony Hall, Rodney Ellis, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Sylvia Garcia, Martha Wong, Chris Bell, Annise Parker, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, Adrian Garcia, Ed Gonzalez, and Mike Sullivan—chose to run for other elected positions once their terms expired or shortly before they were due to expire.
Former mayor Lee P. Brown denounced the term limits, saying they prevented incumbents from gaining enough experience in city government.
Some elected officials from the Greater Houston area within the Texas Legislature—primarily Garnet Coleman and Sylvester Turner—have also spoken out against term limits.
Houston has voted Democratic for more than a decade and is currently liberal leaning, despite being historically conservative.
[6] Harris County as a whole is more of a swing area, as the longtime GOP majority in Commissioner's Court ended in 2018.
Republican challenger Alexandra del Moral Mealer nearly defeated incumbent Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo in November 2022, losing by 1 percentage point as GOP Commissioner Jack Cagle lost re-election to Democrat Lesley Briones.
[15] Areas within the district boundaries include Acres Homes, the Fifth Ward,[17][18] and George Bush Intercontinental Airport.
[10] The Houston Chronicle said that District B's constituency "has been shortchanged historically on municipal services and economic development.
"[16] Kristen Mack of the Houston Chronicle said in 2005 that the district, prior to the 2011 redistricting, "is plagued by unkempt lots, clogged ditches and substandard streets.
[15] Because of the inclusion of the Montrose, Heights, and Rice University areas, it has the nickname "Hipstrict" for what Chris Moran of the Houston Chronicle refers to as its "progressive, urban ethic.
"[29] Jerry Wood, a former city planner and neighborhood expert, said that all of the regions of District C were active in terms of politics.
[26] Robert Jara, a political consultant of the group Campaign Strategies, drew the boundaries of District J in order to ensure that Gulfton and Sharpstown were together in one area.
[26] The district includes Brays Oaks, Hiram Clarke, Reliant Stadium, Westbury, and areas of Houston in Fort Bend County.
[46] In a 2011 editorial the Houston Chronicle editors stated that African-American voters likely would have control of the district.
[15] During the administration of Lee P. Brown, starting in the year 2000 the City of Houston began grouping areas into "super neighborhoods."
Communities with similar identities, infrastructures, and physical features were grouped into super neighborhoods.
As of 2010 the department maintains about 350 developed parks and 200 esplanades and greenspaces inside and outside of the City of Houston.
[50] County government courts try criminal violations of state law and other civil offenses.
[53] The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) operates the Region III Parole Division headquarters in Houston.
[54] The agency also operates the Joe Kegans Unit state jail facility in Downtown Houston.
Starting in September 2010 the TDCJ instead began to use regional release centers for male prisoners.
Residents of several other municipalities, including Jacinto City, Jersey Village, Nassau Bay, and West University Place, have "Houston, Texas" mailing addresses, and some residents of Missouri City also have Houston mailing addresses.
[65] An ICE Special Agent in Charge (SAC) principal field office is also in Houston.
Representatives Morgan Luttrell, Lizzie Fletcher, Al Green, Sylvia Garcia, Sylvester Turner, Troy Nehls, Brian Babin, Dan Crenshaw, and Wesley Hunt.
[70] After 1960 and until 2016, Fort Bend County generally voted for Republican candidates in U.S. presidential elections.
[72] From 2008 and by 2016 increased urbanization caused an increase in votes for Democratic Party candidates in the Houston area, with several unincorporated areas of Harris County selecting Democrats and with declines in Republican voters in River Oaks, Upper Kirby, and Washington Avenue.
[72] That year Alexa Ura of the Texas Tribune stated that "undeniably" the majority of Harris County voters now selected the Democratic candidate for presidential races.
Michael Hardy of the Texas Monthly stated that a person wishing to become the Mayor of Houston would need to attract two of these blocs to win their election.
