Meet the special election candidates running for a Houston City Council at-large seat

Justin Doud/Houston Public Media

Houston Mayor John Whitmire looks on as protesters disrupt a Houston City Council meeting on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.

The crowded field of candidates vying to fill an open Houston City Council position offers a wide range of options for voters heading to the polls on Nov. 4. The candidates boast diverse professional backgrounds, they have a range of policy priorities, there are huge disparities in campaign fundraising — in one case fueled by out-of-state donations — and some individuals have checkered criminal and financial backgrounds.

“This is all about name recognition, and it’s about money,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, professor of political science at the University of Houston. “The candidates who are going to succeed are going to be the ones who are more front and center, who’ve got more eyeballs on their issues and on their profiles, and the ones who can get enough funding to turn out votes — that’s the most critical component.”

The at-large 4 city council seat is open during an off-year for municipal elections because Letitia Plummer is stepping down to run for Harris County Judge. Plummer’s seat will appear on the ballot at the same time as the special election for the 18th Congressional District, regular elections for five Houston ISD school board seats and 17 amendments to the Texas Constitution.

“The first November election is one where they’re primarily appealing to people who are going to be voting for something else,” said political scientist Mark Jones with Rice University, adding that neither of the top two candidates is likely to secure more than 50% of the vote, thereby forcing a runoff election. “Perhaps the only thing on the ballot in December will be this one race for the city council … so we could see abysmally low turnout for the December runoff in this special election.”

The candidates hope to join the city council as Houston grapples with chronic budget deficits, projected to approach $500 million by 2030; discussions of a potential property tax hike and possible garbage fee as Houston’s tax-and-fee rate remains the lowest of major cities in Texas; and contention over road projects, with Mayor John Whitmire’s administration prioritizing a car-centric “general mobility” approach to infrastructure that often eschews bicycle lanes.

In interviews with Houston Public Media, the candidates addressed those topics and more.

A spokesperson for Whitmire did not respond to a question about whether he will endorse anyone in the race or a request for comment on some candidates’ criticism of his governance. Plummer said she will not make an endorsement.

Before the Sep. 3 deadline, 14 candidates filed to appear on the ballot, and one declared herself as a write-in candidate:

Brad Batteau

Batteau is a real estate investor and landlord.

He said his top priority is flood mitigation.

“The flooding in our city — we need to work on that,” Batteau said. “A lot of neighborhoods are getting flooded out, a lot of cars, a lot of people losing money, insurance claims and all that. We need a way … that we don’t have flooded streets and freeways and feeder roads in the neighborhoods where people can’t get out and get to work and all that. We need our drainage. It’s really bad right now.”

A cyclist, he said he opposes the direction Whitmire’s administration is taking when it comes to mobility infrastructure — especially the removal of concrete protections on the Austin Street bike lane.

When it comes to city finances, Batteau said Houston is “running out of money right now” — but he doesn’t support a garbage fee or property tax hike.

“We have a lot of complaints by our Houston citizens in this city who are complaining right now, so I would like to get in there and create a better revenue for this city to give more ideas to Whitmire,” he said.

Batteau has been convicted of misdemeanor theft and vandalism as well as felony robbery with a deadly weapon, according to public records. Those offenses stretch from as early as 1986 to 2001. He was charged with felony assault in 2024, but the case was dismissed. Batteau said the charge in 2024 was a result of mistaken identity.

“I feel that everyone should have a chance to go on in life with a second chance,” he said. “Now, a lot of higher people, like the president and a lot of other people, have felons and criminal records and all that. They didn’t stop, they didn’t give up, so I can’t give up when I’m fighting for my people in the city.”

As a landlord, he’s faced complaints from tenants about unacceptable living conditions that go unaddressed for months, as first reported by ABC13. He told Houston Public Media that one tenant was behind on rent, so he refused to address nonfunctioning air conditioning, water leaks, rats and other pests in 2023. He added that he didn’t have enough money to take care of similar issues at another rental property in 2021. He also alleged a tenant who was behind on rent threw a firecracker into his home.

“All these people you’re bringing up right now tried to destroy me,” Batteau said.

He has never filed a campaign finance report with the city, despite previous unsuccessful runs for office. He said he intends to run without political contributions or expenditures.

Dwight Boykins

Boykins was a city council member representing District D from 2014 through 2019. He now works as a consultant focused on government relations work.

He said his top priorities include addressing flooding in the Kingwood area by tapping into federal funding, expanding a program to repair the homes of senior citizens, encouraging the development of grocery stores in areas known as “food deserts” and addressing the city’s budget deficit.

“I think experience matters,” the former city council member said, “and I think I’m ready — I know I’m ready — to hit the ground running.”

When it comes to road projects, he called for more community engagement before major changes are made — like the removal of traffic safety features on Houston Avenue and the concrete protections on the Austin Street bike, as well as the reduction of planned shared-use paths on Montrose Boulevard and Antoine Drive.

“Safety is the most important thing, and I don’t want to speak on the issue I’m not really keyed in on,” Boykins said. “I just don’t believe in making decisions to impact communities or nonprofits or industries without having a conversation.”

Boykins said he would need more time to study a property tax increase, but he would support a garbage fee to boost revenue for the solid waste department. When it comes to a property tax hike, he would ask: “Have we looked at everything we can do to streamline the budget?”

“And then pitch the idea based on what’s fair and comparable to other cities,” he added, “and then do a tour around the city — town hall meetings. Let’s talk about it so they will understand what we’re asking, and then you just take the will of the voters and move with that.”

Another candidate, Alejandra Salinas, accused Boykins of plagiarizing her campaign priorities using a large language model — also known as artificial intelligence — as first reported by the Houston Chronicle in August. The priorities on his website, Boykins acknowledged, were generated by a large language model, but he denied intentional plagiarism.

“If I’m not mistaken, I’ve served on city council for six years. … Why would I have to copy off somebody?” Boykins said. “Now, everybody uses the AI app, and if she put in the word infrastructure, we put in the word, it pops up. And then my campaign manager said something that was interesting — how do we know they didn’t copy off us? But it’s not important.”

Salinas maintained that her campaign wrote her priorities independently without the assistance of a large language model before Boykins published his list.

Boykins said he didn’t file a finance report in July because his campaign “had just gotten in the game.” He declined to say how many political donations he has raised since then or what his overall goal is.

“We’re on pace to where we’re trying to go,” Boykins said. “We know what our budget should be, and we’re going to get there, but I don’t want to put that out.”

During his unsuccessful mayoral bid in 2019, his campaign and an affiliated political committee raised about $400,000, according to finance reports submitted to the city. The latest available reports from 2019 and 2020 showed nearly $30,000 remaining in his personal campaign coffers and no money in the affiliated political committee’s account.

Martina Dixon

Dixon is a business consultant and a member of the Harris Central Appraisal District board of directors. She previously ran a company focused on speeding up the permitting process for small construction projects and served on the Humble ISD school board.

“I’m running for Houston City Council because, number one, I truly believe that our city deserves leadership that will prioritize the things that are important to Houstonians,” Dixon said, “and when I say that, what I mean is public safety, fiscal responsibility and also improving our infrastructure.”

She said her top priorities include supporting law enforcement, fixing streets and sidewalks, improving the city’s resilience to flooding and prioritizing fiscal responsibility.

Asked about the removal of cyclist protections and traffic safety infrastructure under Whitmire’s administration, she said she doesn’t know enough to have an opinion.

“The challenge being an outsider, when you’re not on a board or a position like city council, there are a lot of things that you know — as a public, you don’t know,” Dixon said. “I would say at this point, I’m trusting the decisions that my council members are making and the mayor. I know they cannot be easy. … Is it more important to cut down on traffic, or is it more important to leave the bike lanes in place when people aren’t really utilizing them? So, you know, it’s a hard balance.”

When it comes to city finances, she praised the Whitmire administration’s recent cuts to departmental budgets and efforts to boost efficiency.

“It’s important in order to be responsible with taxpayer dollars,” Dixon said. “And I think when you make cuts in departments, people adjust. At first, you don’t like it … but you can adjust, and once you adjust, then at the end of the day, it’s going to be better for council, for the city overall, and for taxpayers.”

Dixon said she would not support a property tax hike or a garbage fee. To address the growing budget deficit — forecast to approach $500 million by 2030 — she said the city should continue to slash spending.

“As far as cutting, I think it’s looking at each department, it’s looking at the programs you have to break down, so for me to just say, from the outside looking in, “Oh, I cut this, or I cut that,’ I don’t think that’s fair,” she said. “What I would ask for are our audits of departments, number one, and programs. Two, I would ask to see the data regarding all of that in order to make an informed decision.”

She did not file a campaign finance report in July because she had not yet entered the race. She said her campaign hopes to raise $50,000 and only just began fundraising.

Ethan Hale

Hale is a student at Houston City College and an organizer with the effort to recall Houston Mayor John Whitmire from office.

“Why am I running? Well, I mean, the mayor is essentially a MAGA Republican. I feel like our council is complicit,” Hale said. “I feel like everyone else in the race at this point, they just kind of — they’re not really willing to say what needs to be said here.”

Whitmire is a Democrat who served five decades as a state lawmaker before being elected mayor in 2023.

Hale’s policy positions include ending “collaboration” between the Houston Police Department (HPD) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — in which HPD has called ICE on motorists during traffic stops and on people seeking emergency services who have active ICE warrants — as well as transferring power distribution from CenterPoint Energy to municipal government. He also wants to abolish the strong-mayor form of government in which the mayoral administration sets the city council agenda and oversees day-to-day operations, along with preventing the planned closure of Polk Street as part of the George R. Brown Convention Center expansion.

When it comes to road projects, Hale argued the city’s current approach under Whitmire is “completely ignoring the data on what is safe.” He pointed specifically to the redesign of Telephone Road, in which the local management district dropped a plan for a three-lane road with a center-turn lane as well as protected bike paths in favor of a four-lane road.

He said he supports a garbage fee as well as a property tax hike — though not under Whitmire’s administration.

“I would not be against a tax hike — if the money was going to like actual services,” Hale said. “At this point, I feel like right now, most of the money — it’s going to cops and fire. That’s where they want to put the money at this point, and leaving nothing for services.”

As of late August, Hale said, the recall campaign had raised about $4,500 of its previously stated $100,000 goal for canvassers and notaries for the petition drive. He said the recall effort, which will rely heavily on volunteers, plans to start its 30-day sprint to collect more than 63,000 signatures in October.

He did not file a campaign finance report in July. He said that the filing period preceded his entry into the race, and he’s not expecting a “high-budget campaign.”

Miguel Herrera

Herrera is a student at the University of Houston-Downtown, where he serves as vice president of the student government association.

He has four primary goals — making Houston affordable for the next generation, reducing wasteful spending, increasing the quality and safety of neighborhoods in East Houston, and combating illegal dumping.

“The reason why I’m running for Houston City Council is because I believe that it is time for a new generation of leadership, and I plan to bring that here in Houston, beginning with my campaign and my candidacy for city council,” Herrera said. “Because if I end up winning, not only will history be made, but I will pave the way forward for future leaders so they can step up and make our voices heard.”

When it comes to road infrastructure, Herrera said the city needs to do more to fix streets — especially in areas with heavy 18-wheeler traffic — and the administration should stop destroying bike lanes because it makes Houston appear “bad and careless that they don’t have any space for the people who use the bike lanes.”

Herrera said he wouldn’t support a property tax hike or a garbage fee, and he also wouldn’t support any cuts to city services — despite a forecasted budget deficit that would bankrupt the city before 2030 if current trends continue.

“When it comes to that, let me tell you a little something about the deficit, because the deficit — it’s very big,” Herrera said. “Wasteful spending makes the deficit go up, and if I reduce wasteful spending, the deficit cannot go up, and in fact, it’ll go lower — by focusing on those key points of interest that the city needs to have, such as flooding, public safety, expansion of city services, and, of course, reforms and programs to help decrease that deficit.”

He did not file a campaign finance report, telling Houston Public Media that he believed it wasn’t required. He said he’s received no contributions and hasn’t decided whether he’ll raise funds for his campaign.

Al Lloyd

Lloyd is an employee of Group 1 Automotive, a multinational vehicle dealership and repair company where he said he focuses on customer relationships.

“When people ask me, why am I running, I tell them the same thing over and over — it’s important to know the history of voting,” Lloyd said. “Over 100 years ago, there were so many people that could not vote, didn’t have the right to vote, so it’s important for me to make sure that I honor them by making sure that I’m a qualified candidate.”

He said his top priorities include retaining the staff members in Letitia Plummer’s office, expanding the city’s so-called “civility ordinance” that prohibits people from sitting or lying down on sidewalks, and addressing illegal dumping by seizing the vehicles of those who dump waste. By retaining Plummer’s staff, Lloyd said, he would continue her work to ramp up inspections of problematic apartment complexes.

When it comes to cyclist infrastructure, he called for more community engagement both before concrete protections are installed and before they’re removed as occurred on Austin Street.

“I myself have run over one of these and blew out my tire late at night. I just didn’t see the bike path,” Lloyd said. “So I believe there is a way to come together, because I don’t believe every street needs to have a bike path. I believe in urban planning. I believe in sitting down with the city and the community and working it out first, and then once we agree on the plan, then we execute that plan.”

He praised the Whitmire administration’s efforts to slash spending earlier this year, especially in light of the blockbuster $1.5 billion deal with the firefighters’ union in 2024, which Lloyd also supported. He said his approach to city finances would be “very simple — need versus greed.”

“I’ve worked for a Fortune 500 company for years, and we have to make drastic cuts, especially during COVID, and some came with layoffs to employees, but we were able to hire all those employees back when times got better,” he said. “So I believe that companies have been around for hundreds of years. They know how to stay lean and mean, and at the same time, they know how to grow. And I think the city knows how to grow as well.”

Lloyd said he would be open to a property tax increase but would oppose a garbage fee.

“The city can only raise money by, you know, increasing taxes, increasing fees and increasing fines, so I think that’s a conversation we need to have,” Lloyd said. “As city council member, I would make sure that it’s fair, and then I would make sure it’s completely explained, completely transparent, so they can see it.”

Lloyd did not file a campaign finance report in July before he entered the race. He declined to say how much his campaign has raised since then.

Kristal Mtaza-Lyons (write-in candidate)

Mtaza-Lyons is running as a write-in candidate. She is the executive director of the nonprofit she founded in 2017, Houston Strong Children Services, which provides services for children in the foster system.

“I decided to put my name in the hat because we need new leadership that’s innovative, that’s actually been working within the community, that’s truly focused on putting people first,” she said.

She said her top priorities are equity, innovation, workforce development, trauma-informed approaches by law enforcement officers and the expansion of affordable housing.

Asked about cyclist and pedestrian infrastructure, she expressed support for a targeted ban on e-scooters.

“I myself have also had an injury from a scooter fall, so I do understand the hazards that happen with them, but I also understand the importance of transportation and people being able to get to work,” Mtaza-Lyons said. “As far as roads, I obviously feel that we should definitely increase the number of sidewalks that we have for pedestrians.”

When it comes to the city’s finances, she said Whitmire’s administration has done “a great job.” She opposes a property tax hike and would like to see “property tax relief,” but she’s open to a garbage fee. To address the growing budget deficit, she said, the city should conduct a line-by-line audit of the budget to identify ways to slash spending.

According to filings with the Internal Revenue Service, her nonprofit has taken off in recent years — from reporting just under $70,000 in revenue in 2020 to more than $1.1 million in 2024. Mtaza-Lyons said her compensation does not exceed $100,000.

In 2022, she was charged with a misdemeanor count of family assault, according to public records, and the case was subsequently dismissed. She said the case stemmed from a “misunderstanding during a divorce,” and the experience drives her commitment to “ensuring our communities are supported, not punished.”

She said she hopes to raise $75,000 for her campaign. Because she’s running as a write-in candidate, her name will not appear on the ballot.

Daisy Espinoza/Houston Public Media

Pictured is Houston City Hall.

Sonia Rivera

Rivera is the owner of SoRivera Strategies, a business consulting company she founded in 2009. She said she previously worked as a gang and drug intervention counselor, provided support to homeless youth and served on the board of the Texas Association of Mexican-American Chambers of Commerce.

“I am the only candidate that has worked throughout all of these communities for all of these years,” Rivera said. “I’ve worked with businesses to ensure that they have the resources and the information that they need to be successful to grow their businesses from the ground up, whether it’s a startup or a business that has been in existence for a long time.”

She said her top priorities include addressing crime and public safety, ensuring economic stability and opportunity for businesses and communities, and ensuring senior citizens have access to affordable housing and medical care.

When it comes to road infrastructure, she questioned the feasibility of bike lanes across the city — especially along 11th Street in the Heights neighborhood.

“It’s just such a large area that it’s impossible to just focus on pedestrians and bike lanes, so I would really have to see what the engineers are saying, because it’s hard to comment on a policy without knowing what the bigger picture is,” Rivera said. “On 11th Street, it’s caused a lot of congestion, and a lot of the curbs and medians have broken down because large trucks cannot make proper turns because of the space restrictions, so that’s causing a breakdown of that infrastructure. It just depends on the location of Houston.”

She said she is open to a property tax increase and a small garbage fee, but she wants to study both issues more deeply. She supports the efforts by Whitmire’s administration to slash spending.

“I believe that what he is doing is good to streamline operations,” she said. “It is difficult for a lot of the departments, but I believe that it’s something that has to be done. And I believe that once we start reducing the deficit as it has been, I believe that once we continue down this path, that things are going to be looking a lot brighter for the city.”

In 1992, she was convicted for failure to appear in court, according to public records. Asked about that case, she revealed she again failed to appear in court in August of this year — a case that did not appear in a search of public records. She was previously charged with driving with a suspended license, and she said the missed court appearances in 1992 and earlier this year were related to traffic violations.

“That certainly doesn’t hinder my ability to do anything or speak to my character,” Rivera said. “It’s just, you know, the failure to appear in court. Unfortunately, I missed a court deadline, and that was actually very recent, and I posted bond immediately. As soon as I was aware that I had missed the court date, I posted bond for it and resolved it.”

Rivera’s campaign did not file a finance report in July because she had not yet entered the race. She said she had since raised about $25,000, and her campaign is still assessing its overall fundraising goal.

Alejandra Salinas

Salinas is a trial lawyer and partner at Susman Godfrey LLP, a high-profile litigation firm targeted by President Donald Trump in an executive order over its representation of Dominion Voting Systems in a defamation case against Fox News.

She said her priorities include public safety, affordable and reliable city services, flooding mitigation and improvements to the city’s aging water infrastructure.

“I feel like the message voters sent us in this last election, whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, is that people don’t trust government, and I really believe the best way to fix that is to transform the government people interact with most — and that’s local government,” Salinas said. “That’s the street you drive down, that’s the water you drink, that’s the police you interact with. And for too many Houstonians, that government isn’t quite working, and so I want to run to make that government work as effectively as possible, and that means getting the city to focus on the basic priorities — affordable and reliable city services, a strong infrastructure and safer neighborhoods.”

The priorities listed on her website mirror those on the website of another candidate, Dwight Boykins, who Salinas accused of AI-driven plagiarism. Boykins acknowledged using a large language model to generate his priorities, but he denied intentional plagiarism.

“I don’t think the city of Houston wants to be represented by an AI bot,” Salinas said.

Asked about the removal and reversal of traffic safety features and cyclist infrastructure, Salinas said she’s a “strong believer in multimodal transportation.” A resident of the Montrose neighborhood, she said she enjoys the sidewalks and bike path in the area.

“I think we need to turn to the experts,” she said. “I’m a trial lawyer, and I often present experts in court, and it’s important to listen to them. And so the experts are telling us that narrow streets make it safer for drivers on the road, make it safer for all those that are trying to get around the city of Houston. We should try to listen to them and take their advice and try to make transportation as safe as possible.”

When it comes to the city’s finances, she praised Whitmire’s push to boost efficiencies and called for further efforts to cut waste. She said the city should work harder to seek funding from the state and federal government to support the budget.

“I think the city of Houston should be held to the same standard that we all are in our families, which is, we have to balance our budgets, and we have to make sure that we’re not spending more than we’re taking in,” Salinas said.

Salinas called for more transparency about how the city spends money so residents can easily figure out how taxpayer dollars are being used. She said the transparency would help city officials “start a conversation about what resources we need,” including a potential garbage fee and property tax increase.

“I think we need to have all options on the table to figure out how best to balance the budget and be honest with the voters about what things cost,” she said.

In her campaign finance report received by the city on July 7, Salinas reported nearly $280,000 in political contributions from 115 donors and one political action committee, the Future of Texas PAC, which gave $10,000. Among the individual donors: 14 individuals from California, 11 from New York, nine from Washington state, two from Florida, one from Minnesota, one from Virginia, one from New Mexico, one from Louisiana, one from Kansas and one from Connecticut. Those 42 out-of-state donations — totaling $129,175 — comprised nearly half of the political contributions to her campaign.

“My out-of-town contributions are largely from a mix of my law partners from our firm’s various offices and friends, which include other attorneys and folks I’ve known since I served on the DNC (Democratic National Committee),” Salinas told Houston Public Media.

Most of the out-of-town donors were employed by the same law firm as Salinas, Susman Godfrey LLP. Including those who live in Houston, 64 employees of the firm gave contributions for a total of $228,700.

Salinas is the top candidate when it comes to fundraising, based on what’s been reported to the city and shared with Houston Public Media by other campaigns.

Sheraz Mohammad Siddiqui

Siddiqui said he’s a business manager focused on trading and investing. He described himself as a “servant to the community” for the past 20 years with thousands of hours in service at various nonprofits.

He said his top priorities include support for law enforcement, flood mitigation, business-friendly policy, international trade missions and lower taxes.

“I was not born with a silver spoon,” Siddiqui said, pointing to his time in Houston’s public school system as well as his volunteer work. “I lived through it. I see everyday struggle. I see everyday Houstonians’ concerns, and years and years that I spent with them, serving them, understanding them, and these are the few points that every historian is concerned about.”

When it comes to roads, he called for a balancing act between vehicular traffic and cyclist safety.

“We have a great community here in Houston that loves to bike,” he said. “I’ve done cycling with them as well. We’re going to come to an agreement, we’re going to come to where they’re not undermined, and we can work around it.”

Siddiqui is opposed to a garbage fee and said he wants property taxes to be lowered. Asked what spending he would like to slash, he said the city should consolidate services with Harris County, which also faces a budget deficit.

“There are many programs in the city of Houston and Harris County that are overlapping, like parks and health and a lot of different things, where we can save lots of money,” he said.

His campaign did not file a finance report in July because he had not yet entered the race. Siddiqui said he’s raised “close to $5,000,” and he’s hoping to raise up to $25,000.

Kathy L. Tatum

Tatum is the founder and executive director of the nonprofit Collaborating Voices Foundation, which “promotes safe and healthy relationships by supporting service providers, facilitating strategic prevention efforts, and creating opportunities for freedom from domestic violence.”

She said her top priorities include government transparency and cutting city payments to other nonprofits in the area. She argued many nonprofits that work with the city pay their executives too much money.

“We are helping corruption,” Tatum said. “You have not done enough on actually looking at the salaries that you are keeping versus boots-on-the-ground employees and other people that are in need.”

She said those cuts would also help balance the budget, which she said shouldn’t depend on property tax hikes or a garbage fee. To support the solid waste department, she said city council members should pick up garbage themselves.

When it comes to the Whitmire administration’s removal of certain cyclist infrastructure, she said “what we have built needs to be better, not taken away.” She also called for the expansion of the city’s sidewalk network.

In 2021 and 2022, her nonprofit told the Internal Revenue Service that it collected less than $50,000 in revenue. She told Houston Public Media the nonprofit now has “over $2 million in tangible resources,” but she declined to share financial documents. She said she missed the filing periods for 2023 and 2024 “because I have literally no time,” but added that those documents should be submitted to the IRS sometime this month.

Tatum attempted to file for chapter 13 bankruptcy protection in June, according to public records, but the filing was dismissed in July.

“I was trying to find out what that program was because we have so many people here in Houston,” Tatum said. “I was trying to learn a little bit, but I didn’t need it because I didn’t have any assets to put in. When you file you have to put down debt, and I didn’t have any.”

Asked why she filed for bankruptcy despite not being in debt, she clarified that she has credit card debt, small-business loans and student loans, but she believed they were ineligible for forgiveness through the bankruptcy process.

Tatum said her campaign hopes to raise $100,000. She has not yet begun fundraising.

Angie Thibodeaux

Thibodeaux is a public relations consultant for the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America. She described herself as a community advocate focused on “neighborhood revitalization, stabilization and home-ownership opportunities, generational wealth-building and financial literacy.”

“The reason why I chose to run was to enact change,” Thibodeaux said. “I live on a motto of bringing forth awareness, access and change. And the reason why I say that — when you make people aware of various resources, services and opportunities, once they’re aware and they’re provided with fair and equal access, it can change their socio-economical and financial status. It can change their lives.”

She said her top priorities include combatting homelessness, neighborhood revitalization and stabilization and promoting housing affordability.

Asked about cyclist and pedestrian infrastructure, she said there are more pressing concerns.

“I just think our city’s priorities when we’re talking about infrastructure — I’m looking at infrastructure such as safe and clean water or water treatment. I’m looking at infrastructure such as drainage and making sure that we’re combating the fast flooding, the fast street flooding and things like that,” she said. “I’m not saying that cycling and things like that are not a priority. They are, but I think we need to look at things in a holistic perspective and tackle what’s most critical.”

When it comes to the city’s finances, she expressed support for spending cuts and the voluntary retirement program implemented by Whitmire’s administration.

“I do believe in trimming the fat,” Thibodeaux said. “Sometimes we do have to make those cuts, those fundamental cuts, because the bigger picture is safety, better streets, safer neighborhoods, tough on crime, making sure that we have enough officers to cover the streets.”

She said she would support a garbage fee but not a property tax hike.

“When I hear increase on property taxes, you’re penalizing people for being committed to the city,” she said. “So let’s look at ways to bring more people to the city and incentivizing them, and new businesses promoting investments.”

The Internal Revenue Service filed a lien on Thibodeaux’s assets in 2016 for $34,502 in unpaid taxes, according to public records. She said the issue was caused by her accountant, who she fired, and the matter should be settled this year.

Before the 2024 runoff election for Texas House District 139, which she lost, she reported nearly $44,000 in political contributions, mostly from political action committees (PACs) advocating for charter schools and school vouchers.

She didn’t file a campaign finance report in July because she had not yet entered the city council race. She didn’t specify a fundraising goal but said she’s begun the process of seeking donations.

“We’re gonna do grassroots, and we’re going to try to raise funds as best as we can,” she said. “I’ve reached out to various PACs to let them know I’m running, and some PACs have reached out to me, but I’m going to do the best I can grassroots.”

Jordan Thomas

Thomas worked as chief of staff for current at-large city council member Letitia Plummer until 2021 as well as former at-large city council member Amanda Edwards beginning in 2018. He currently works as a project manager for Grid United, which develops electricity transmission infrastructure.

“I’m not happy with the direction that city council is moving right now, and to be more specific, I’m not happy with the direction that the mayor and this current administration is taking our city,” Thomas said. “I think that Houston was on the right track under the previous administration in terms of how we approached the built environment.”

He said his top priorities include boosting affordable housing by repurposing vacant public land for housing, recommitting to the Vision Zero initiative of reducing traffic deaths, and addressing ecological challenges by tracking heat-related deaths and requiring the planting of more trees.

Thomas called for a multimodal approach to the city’s transportation infrastructure. He argued the car-centric, “general mobility” approach of Whitmire’s administration — focused on maintaining the number and width of vehicle lanes, often at the expense of cyclist infrastructure — will impede economic development.

“This administration is hostile towards pedestrians, cyclists, anyone who is not in a car, and that’s unfortunate,” he said. “I’m a Ford F-150 driver, I’m a cyclist, I’m a pedestrian — I try to get around town multiple ways. This city sprawls out too much, and if we continue that pattern of development, we’re going to run into a lot of challenges.”

When it comes to Houston’s financial direction, he said the city needs to ask residents to reconsider the voter-imposed cap on property tax revenues — which has caused the tax rate to drop by nearly 20% over the past 10 years, shaving hundreds of millions of dollars off the city’s annual revenue — as well as the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone system, which reserves a portion of property tax revenue for use in specific parts of the city. He also supports a garbage fee applied “equitably,” adding “a flat fee for everyone is not the approach.”

He said the city will have to make tough decisions as Whitmire’s finance department projects a nearly $500 million deficit by 2030 if the baseline continues.

“Those are numbers that are going to have drastic cuts associated with them, and we know what austerity does in terms of things like crime, in terms of things like unemployment, so it is not a pretty picture that’s been painted by his own budget office,” Thomas said. “We’ve got to get real with Houstonians about what the future looks like and what that’s going to mean for everyone.”

As of July 16, Thomas reported collecting no political donations. Since then, he told Houston Public Media, he’s raised “tens of thousands” of his campaign’s $200,000 goal.

“We want to hit as many doors and touch as many Houstonians as we can,” Thomas said.

Adrian Thomas Rogers

Rogers is an attorney and a Houston Police Department patrol officer.

“I’m running for city council because, you know, the last 12 years, I was a teacher, I was an officer, and I was an attorney, and I’ve noticed certain things that citizens and people that work on the police department have been complaining about, and I feel like I’m a problem solver,” Rogers said.

He said his top priorities include addressing crime through the expansion of surveillance technology, re-striping streets where markings have faded and addressing homelessness.

An avid cyclist, Rogers said he would seek a meeting with Whitmire to address the removal of bike lanes.

When it comes to the city’s finances, he praised the early retirement program in which about 1,000 workers accepted buyouts, saving the city an estimated $100 million on an annual basis, including $35 million in the general fund.

“I felt like we’ve always been in a deficit in the city of Houston, and I believe now we’re moving towards a more positive and a more conscious financial goal,” Rogers said.

He said he would not support a property tax hike, but he would be open to a garbage fee if it supported “more efficient cleaning services, more efficient ways to get the trash up off the streets.”

He did not file a campaign finance report in July because he had not yet entered the race. He said his campaign aims to raise $20,000 but has not started soliciting donations.

Cris Wright

Wright is the founder and owner of digital services consultancy firm WrightNow Results.

“I’m running because I’m tired of decisions being made without residents at the table,” Wright said, “and what makes it even worse is that far too few of them have a working understanding of how those decisions get made, or what their roles are in the whole process. Meanwhile, Houston’s decision makers have been obsessed with growing bigger instead of stronger.”

She said her top priorities include infrastructure “that supports everyday residents,” using technology to gather community input for decisions at City Hall, supporting “microbusinesses” and preservation of historical communities.

Asked about cyclist and pedestrian infrastructure, she said roads have too many potholes and flood too often.

“We’re really focused on the wrong thing here, and it’s really no shade to the mayor. I’m sure somehow this makes sense to him,” Wright said, “but I know for certain that it doesn’t make sense to the everyday resident of this city when we’re driving through flood waters, or when the wind blows and everyone’s power goes out, when you’re driving … and you’re hitting potholes. I can’t drive faster than maybe 5 miles an hour on these streets, and so it’s really about prioritizing everyday residents and not developments and corporations.”

When it comes to city finances, Wright called for more funding of the city controller’s office so it can conduct more thorough audits. Until then, Wright said, she can’t make a decision on a property tax hike or garbage fee.

“Until I see a comprehensive audit, I can’t support either one of those, even though, yes, they are tools that are used in other places for very good reasons,” she said. “We simply don’t know the reasons.”

Wright said an arrest in 2008 for unpaid traffic tickets fueled her belief that traffic violations need to be handled differently for low-income families. She said didn’t know she could complete community service to clear out the tickets until after she was arrested.

“That was one of my early indications that there is information about this system that is not as clear or presented to those of us that don’t come from certain backgrounds,” she said. “I come from a single-family, a single-parent household on limited income, so when it came to deciding whether we were going to get dinner for the night or we were going to pay the city $200 simply for not having a sticker that we, again, didn’t have the money for to begin with, you know, we picked dinner, and I think that’s a decision that a lot of everyday residents have to make.”

She didn’t file a campaign finance report in July because the filing period preceded her entry into the race. She said she hasn’t yet established a fundraising goal.

“We’re a grassroots campaign, and so we’re going to make this thing happen on probably limited funds,” Wright said.

Meet the special election candidates running for a Houston City Council at-large seat – Houston Public Media

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