Houston is set to be the nation’s third-largest city in a few years, and it’s already considered to be the most diverse. Now, the race for the job to run it is heating up, as Mayor Sylvester Turner faces several challengers in his bid for reelection.
Turner will compete against 11 candidates in Houston’s mayoral election in November. That includes former mayor of Kemah, Republican Bill King, whom Turner narrowly beat in 2015, and millionaire personal injury attorney, Tony Buzbee.
Jasper Scherer, a city hall reporter for the Houston Chronicle, says Turner is generally seen as a successful mayor by Houstonians. He reformed the city’s public employee pension system, and Houston’s response to Hurricane Harvey was mostly “scandal-free,” Scherer says. But that doesn’t mean winning reelection will be easy.
“With 11 challengers, he would be hard-pressed to win on Nov. 5, outright, without going to a runoff,” he says. “The question at this point is, really, who ends up in the runoff against him?”
Democrats in the race include former and current City Council members Sue Lovell and Dwight Boykins.
What you’ll hear in this segment:
– What Turner’s opponents are saying about him
– Why this mayoral election is especially competitive
– Whether Turner’s voter base could be weakened by other Democratic candidates
Written by Antonio Cueto.
