A political advertisement supporting the mayoral candidacy of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) in Houston urged her followers to cast their ballots, but not on the actual day of the election.
Although the planned election was on December 9, a 30-second ad graphic urged people to cast their votes no later than December 7 in the runoff campaign between Jackson Lee and Texas Democratic state senator John Whitmire.
A report shows the 41 early voting facilities in Harris County closed on December 5 and did not reopen until Election Day, so any voters who showed up to the polls on December 7 would not have been allowed to cast their votes.
Jackson Lee Represented Texas’s 18th Congressional District for 28 years. In March, she declared her intention to run for mayor. She not only sought the mayorship of Houston but also her re-election to Congress, just in case.
With 35.6% of the votes cast on November 7th, Jackson Lee made it to the runoff. Among the sixteen candidates, Whitmire, the longest-serving senator from Texas, got 42.5% of the vote.
But being the Mayor of Houston was not in the cards for Jackson Lee.
Reports show Sheila Jackson Lee, who had the support of both Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and two-time failed Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, was shellacked in the Houston mayoral contest. Whitmire beat Lee 64% to 36%.
In his victory address, Whitmire, the newly elected mayor, did not hold back in his description of his fellow Democrat, Jackson Lee, despite his overwhelming win.
Whitmire expressed his frustration with Lee’s incessant boasting, saying he was tired of its negative effect on other Democrats in the region’s conference.
After her wipeout in the mayor’s race, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee filed for reelection to the US House two days later, triggering a heated primary on March 5 between herself and Amanda Edwards, a Democrat and former intern of Lee’s.
After receiving no challenger in the Democrat primary, Jackson Lee won reelection with over 70% of the vote in 2022.
