Democrat John Whitmire elected Houston mayor, defeating congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee

[Elderberry]

Corsicana Daily Sun

A longtime Democratic Texas lawmaker who has represented Houston in the Legislature for more than 50 years will now lead the nation’s fourth-largest city after winning a mayoral runoff election

Houston elected Democratic state Sen. John Whitmire as its next mayor on Saturday night, elevating a Texas lawmaker who has represented the city for 50 years by giving him a victory over U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in a runoff.

Whitmire, 74, who is one of Texas’ most powerful Democratic legislators, will now be at the helm of America’s fourth-largest city. His campaign focused on reducing crime, improving streets and bringing people together. He heavily outspent Jackson Lee, who was running to become Houston’s first Black female mayor.

The congresswoman’s campaign also had to deal with fallout from the release in October of an unverified audio recording that purported to capture her profanely berating staff.

Whitmire and Jackson Lee had made it to Saturday’s runoff after emerging from a crowded field of nearly 20 candidates in the Nov. 7 general election.

Both candidates — two of Houston’s biggest political fixtures — touted their decades-long political experience as strong qualifications to lead a growing city facing challenges that include crime, crumbling infrastructure and potential budget shortfalls.

More: https://www.corsicanadailysun.com/national/democrat-john-whitmire-elected-houston-mayor-defeating-congresswoman-sheila-jackson-lee/article_104613c3-4d29-573a-b6b6-4922e92c3b85.html

[Bigun]

 

[Texas Yellow Rose]

 

[catfish1957]

The fact that maybe the dumbest person in the history of the U.S. Congress was able to still get 1/3 of the vote in the Houston Mayor's race?

 

[Wingnut]

The fact that maybe the dumbest person in the history of the U.S. Congress was able to still get 1/3 of the vote in the Houston Mayor's race?

 

When you look at the electorate it is understandable.

[mountaineer]

RNC Research
@RNCResearch
Sheila Jackson Lee — endorsed by Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Hakeem Jeffries — just lost the election for mayor of Houston in a landslide
9:06 PM · Dec 9, 2023


Do you suppose anyone remembered this?

https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1715813601494069674

[Elderberry]

Sheila Jackson Lee loses Houston mayor’s race to tough-on-crime state senator

Politico by Andrew Zhang 12/10/2023

The showdown illuminates the faultlines within the Democratic Party over how to deal with crime on a local level.

Democratic state Sen. John Whitmire defeated Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the Houston mayoral race in Saturday’s runoff election after a campaign heavily focused on voter concerns over safety on the streets.

Whitmire, a perennial tough-on-crime voice who for decades heralded Texas regulations over public safety, was declared the winner by the Associated Press with 57 percent reporting. At that point, Whitmire was leading by an almost 2-to-1 margin.

Whitmire leaned on a coalition of moderate Democrats, independents and conservative voters, with a prominent campaign promise to make the city safer with increased policing.

First elected to the state Legislature as a college student in 1973, Whitmire ran a campaign that hewed closely to concerns of local voters: crime, infrastructure issues and city financial controls. In comparison, the 15-term member of Congress Jackson Lee talked about tackling public safety but also elevated concerns about women’s access to abortion and cast her opponent as a Trump-style Republican.

Along the way, she notched endorsements from big national names such as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Hakeem Jeffries, as well as term-limited incumbent mayor Sylvester Turner.

“She has been a champion for as long as I’ve known her, as long as she’s represented many of you in Congress,” Hillary Clinton said at a rally for Jackson Lee at the end of October. “We need her leadership, her advocacy, her grit, to get stuff done for the people of Houston.”

But even with big-name Democrats behind her, Jackson Lee ultimately couldn’t make up her deficit.

Her campaign became mired in scandal after an expletive-filled rant, allegedly of Jackson Lee berating staffers, leaked online in October, for which she expressed regret in a statement.

If Jackson Lee intends to run for another House term, she doesn’t have long to declare her intentions: The filing deadline is Monday evening.

More: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/09/john-whitmire-sheila-jackson-lee-houston-mayor-00130873

[Timber Rattler]

Bad news for her staff in the morning...

[Bigun]

RNC Research
@RNCResearch
Sheila Jackson Lee — endorsed by Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and Hakeem Jeffries — just lost the election for mayor of Houston in a landslide
9:06 PM · Dec 9, 2023


Do you suppose anyone remembered this?

https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1715813601494069674

Those crying the most this morning are Lina Hidalgo (current Harris County Judge), Rodney Ellis (former state senator and current city council member), and Sylvester Turner (current mayor who wanted desperately to run for Congress), all of whom also endorsed queen Sheila. (Their little rip off syndicate is now in trouble.)

https://twitter.com/AlexMealerTX/status/1733689733207773374

[Elderberry]

The Constitution Is 400 Years Old and More Pearls From Sheila Jackson Lee

The Democratic congresswoman could give the craziest Republican a run for his money with her history of wild statements.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-constitution-is-400-years-old-and-more-pearls-from-sheila-jackson-lee

If You Believe They Put a Man on Mars

In 1997, while on a trip to the Mars Pathfinder operations center in California, Jackson Lee asked if the Pathfinder had succeeded in taking a picture of the flag planted on Mars by Neil Armstrong in 1969. Needless to say, Jackson Lee, then a member of the House Science Committee, had confused Mars with the Moon. (Despite the alliterative names, they are very different astral bodies. Mars is a planet that orbits the Sun and has never been visited by man. In contrast, the Moon, which is a satellite of Earth and orbits our planet, has been visited six different times by astronauts).

You Stupid bleep and Other Friendly Nicknames

Jackson Lee has a well-documented history of being the worst employer on Capitol Hill. With plenty of job security representing a safe Democratic district, she goes out of her way to demean and abuse members of her staff. As Jonathan Strong, then of the Daily Caller documented in 2011, she constantly referred to one staff member as “You Stupid bleep,” threw her cell phone at another and demanded to be chauffeured by car when travelling between House office buildings (which are connected by tunnels) and that staffers run to the supermarket at 2 a.m. to buy garlic supplements for her. The congresswoman was also known to proclaim angrily ‘”What am I a prostitute? Am I your prostitute? You can’t prostitute me.”

[Bigun]

https://twitter.com/rdgarcia03/status/1733849913459343779

[Bigun]

https://twitter.com/ryanc_2025/status/1733859404661862762

[rangerrebew]

John Whitmire defeats Sheila Jackson Lee in Houston mayoral runoff election
by Robert Stewart, Web Producer
 December 09, 2023 09:42 PM
 
Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, a Democrat, defeated Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) in a runoff election Saturday to become the next mayor of Houston.

The Associated Press called the race in Whitmire’s favor at 7:23 p.m. local time, not even half an hour after the polls closed. Almost two-thirds of mail-in ballots and early votes were for Whitmire, the Texas Tribune reported.
 
Whitmire is the Texas Senate’s most senior member, having represented Houston since 1983. At 74, he is set to replace Sylvester Turner, a term-limited Democrat.

Although both Whitmire and Jackson Lee are Democrats, the former garnered more centrist and conservative voters in the largest city in Texas and the fourth-largest in the United States.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/john-whitmire-defeats-sheila-jackson-lee-in-houston-mayoral-runoff-election

[rangerrebew]

Yes, Loretta, there is a Santa Claus, though he must be racist for her to lose.

[Mod5]

Merged.

[mountaineer]

Ouch.

BPR
@BIZPACReview
Houston’s new mayor jabs ‘bully’ Sheila Jackson Lee after 30-point beatdown

Houston Mayor-elect John Whitmire took a parting shot at U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) after delivering a 30-point beatdown over the weekend in the runoff election for mayor.

“People want to go to work for me because we respect people. We don’t bully people,” Whitmire declared in his victory speech, according to the Houston Chronicle — his remarks being a likely reference to the leaked audio of a profane tirade purportedly from Lee being directed at her staff.

“My family taught me to treat people the way you want to be treated, and that works wherever you are, regardless of what community you’re visiting with. Treat these individuals like you want to be treated,” Whitmire added.

He took another not-so-veiled shot at Lee for taking credit for bringing federal dollars to Houston.

“I was just about fed up with one person taking credit for our entire Harris County delegation because I know this person is a public servant and is bringing significant funds, and so has Al Green and Lizzie Fletcher,” Whitmire said. “Quite frankly, we’ve got a great congressional delegation.”

In conceding the race, Lee said: “I’ve had a great opportunity to serve this city, and yes, I was there during every disaster bringing federal dollars here. I never ran away from the fight to make Houston better. Even though the outcome was not the way we would have wanted. The best thing for us to do is to shore up and stand up and be committed to Houston moving forward. That’s what I will do.”

The controversial Democrat lost in a landslide, 65-34, despite being endorsed by failed 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, the stinging defeat coming on the heels of a vulgar meltdown directed at staff over an apparent scheduling issue being secretly recorded.

“I don’t want you to do a godd**n thing. I want you to have a f**king brain. I want you to have read it. I want you to say, Congresswoman, with such and such date,” Lee can allegedly be heard saying. “That’s what I want. That’s the kind of staff that I want to have. So some stupid other motherf**ker did it. And, and I don’t have the information.”

“Nobody sent me the information,” the audio continues. “I need to, uh, ensure my, um, schedule and, uh, you know, if, if Boo Boo did it, sh*t ass did it, f**k face did it. And nobody knows a godd**n thing in my office. Okay?”

Lee would later acknowledge in a statement that she was “not perfect.”

“I want to convey to the people of Houston that I strongly believe that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, and that includes my own staff. I know that I am not perfect,” Lee said of the recording. “I recognize that in my zeal to do everything possible to deliver for my constituents, I have in the past fallen short of my own standards and there is no excuse for that. I am passionate about serving my constituents. I want the best for all of them.”

Adding to her problems, the 73-year-old Democrat’s campaign released an embarrassing campaign ad indicating the wrong date for her runoff election for mayor, informing Houstonians that she has spent her entire time in office — 28 years in the DC swamp — “fighting” for them before encouraging them to vote on December 7th or earlier — for an election being held on December 9th.
Image
9:57 AM · Dec 11, 2023

[Bigun]

John Whitmire is a Houstonian born and bred. Sheila is a carpet bagger originally from Queens, NYC.

That should write you a book!

[Cyber Liberty]

It's a bit disappointing she will still be a mega-stupid Representative in the House.  But good for Houston.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Sheila Jackson Lee berates her staff just like Hillary Clinton does.

[catfish1957]

Sheila Jackson Lee berates her staff just like Hillary Clinton does.

Except Hitlerly didn't ask the NASA technicans to show her the flag and location of where we landed astronaunts on Mars.   

[corbe]

   Isn't John Whitmore Kathy's (X Mayor of Houston) Son?  I lived in Houston during her unraveling of the McConn empire in the early 80's, the last and only the second Republican ever elected to office as Mayor of Houston.

[Bigun]

   Isn't John Whitmore Kathy's (X Mayor of Houston) Son?  I lived in Houston during her unraveling of the McConn empire in the early 80's, the last and only the second Republican ever elected to office as Mayor of Houston.

Nope! He is a distant cousin of hers.

John is at least as old as she is. Ben serving in the Texas legislature since 1973. My HS buddy (Lawrence Coleman) served as John's Chief of Staff for many years. If John were launching his political career today he would run as a Republican. @corbe

[corbe]

   Thanks for clearing that up for me @Bigun

[Bigun]

   Thanks for clearing that up for me @Bigun

My pleasure! @corbe

[GrouchoTex]

Now if they can only figure out a way to get Hidalgo out...