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The tone at city hall today wasn’t exactly celebratory. Several councilmembers won re-election outright, but two incumbents ended up in run-offs and several others are term-limited and will soon hand over their jobs to someone else.
Mayor Annise Parker says last night’s election was an indication of voters’ concerns over the welfare of Houston.
“I am excited to know what I’m going to be doing for the next two years, I know I have a job for two more years, it’s a great thing. But I make a joke about that, but there are a lot of Americans who don’t know whether they’re going to have a job tomorrow. Or next year. And I’m quite aware that a lot of the frustration of voters in this election was about the overall economy, the recession.”
Parker won with just 50.86 percent of the vote.
The city charter requires a majority vote, which means if she had received even nine tenths of a percent fewer votes, there would have been a run-off election.
Still, Parker says a win is a win.
“I’m proud of the work we’ve done, but a lot of it hasn’t been particularly popular. Necessary, but not popular. And we’re going to continue with that same attitude — I’m not planning on slowing down, I’m not planning on doing anything differently. I am praying, however, that the economy eases a little bit so that some of the work we do won’t be quite so difficult.”
When her new term starts in January, Parker will be working with anywhere from five to seven new councilmembers, depending on the outcome of the two run-off races.
