Seven candidates are vying for a city council seat to represent portions of The Heights, Washington Avenue, Fourth Ward, Montrose, Rice Village and Meyerland, where road construction is constant and flooding has, in the past, pushed people out of their homes.
Public safety, infrastructure and affordable housing opportunities are among the top priorities for all the candidates, who appear to agree that they want to move forward the initiatives put in place by District C Council Member Abbie Kamin, who is stepping down to run for Harris County attorney. She won the Democratic primary earlier this month and will face Republican Jacqueline Lucci Smith in November.
Early voting in the District C race continues through March 31, and Election Day is April 4. Polling places are posted at Harris Votes. If no one candidate wins at least 51 percent of the vote, a runoff will be held between the top two candidates.
On the ballot for the April 4 election are:
- Sophia Campos, a teacher and LGBTQ+ activist
- Laura Gallier, an accountant
- Nick Hellyar, a real estate agent and former City Hall staffer
- Angelica Luna Kaufman, former chief of staff to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo
- Dr. Audrey Nath, a pediatric neurologist and former HISD trustee candidate
- Patrick Oathout, former U.S. Army officer and AI industry professional
- Joe Panzarella, green energy developer and president of the Freedmen’s Town Fourth Ward Super Neighborhood
There’s no clear frontrunner in the nonpartisan race, although Hellyar, backed by the police and firefighters’ unions and well known from his time at City Hall, has raised the most money, with about $46,000. Panzarella hosted his campaign kickoff event in January with Texas Sen. Molly Cook, D-Houston, and was endorsed by the Houston Chronicle.
Nath, who has also been joined by Cook at various campaign events, is backed by the Houston Progressive Caucus. Oathout is a Houston native who touts his leadership as an out gay man who led a tank platoon as a U.S. Army officer and the only candidate who works in the burgeoning AI industry.
“I joined the Army because I didn’t want MAGA taking over our elections,” Oathout said at a candidate forum on March 21. “I’m back in Houston now because I want city council members with courage who are going to push for affordability, public safety and infrastructure.”
The District C seat has been held by a Jewish woman for the past 12 years, with Ellen Cohen preceding Kamin. None of the candidates in the current race are Jewish.
The seat has traditionally “leaned left but not radical left,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “We may see that happen in this election,” he said, referring to Panzarella and Nath as the most progressive on the ballot. “If that happens, this person could be a very outspoken member of council. It would be interesting to see how it changes the dynamics around the horseshoe. I don’t live in the district so I’m just kind of watching with popcorn.”
“That fight is worth having,” he added, referring to someone standing up to the status quo. “In a strong mayor system, if no one is going to speak up against the mayor, it’s like, what are we doing here? People like to see a little pushback, and this is going to be that district. It can’t be all [District J Councilman Edward] Pollard. He’s got to have some help if he’s going to make a difference and so far it’s just been him tilting at windmills.”
Nancy Sims, a UH political science lecturer, lives in District C and said its populace is the most educated and the most civically engaged in Houston. She said earlier this week she hasn’t decided yet who she thinks will win or make the runoff, if there is one.
“I can’t get a feel for who is standing out in that pack,” she said. “I don’t have a frontrunner in mind.”
The candidates vying for District C appear to agree on more than they disagree. Of the six candidates at last week’s forum in The Heights, five said they’d used public transportation within the past couple of weeks (Campos said it’s been years since she’s taken METRO and Gallier was not present). All supported removing minimum parking requirements for new construction and implementing “road diets” that support safety over speed and lane reduction.
None of the candidates at last week’s forum took a strong stance against Mayor John Whitmire, although Oathout said the mayor reminds him of Army generals he’s worked with: “institutionalists with decades of experience but they can often be incrementalists with resistance to feedback.”
Most candidates appeared to be in favor of multimodal transportation, and several spoke specifically about bicycle lanes. Whitmire established himself as a foe of local cyclists when he made the decision last year to remove the Austin Street bike lanes without a public discussion or council approval.
Nath commended Kamin and council members Alejandra Salinas and Pollard for their recent proposal to reform HPD interaction with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It’s been suggested by government watchdogs that the council proposal undermines a directive given by Whitmire and Police Chief Noe Diaz but Salinas said it does not prevent the police from doing their jobs but rather allows them to focus on public safety.
Panzarella is the founder of No Higher No Wider I-10, an effort to “reconnect a community divided by an interstate” by putting caps over parts of the freeway that cut through Inner Loop Houston. Based on that advocacy, Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones secured a grant to study the feasibility of the project, Panzarella said.
“Right now, our streets are unsafe,” he said at his kickoff in January. “This past year, we had more road deaths than homicides. That’s by design. Our roads are built in a way where drivers drive too fast. They encourage rash decision-making, and they endanger pedestrians, drivers and cyclists.”
Panzarella has also harped on how expensive it is to live in Houston, whether one is a renter or a homeowner. The Fourth Ward Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone is “sitting on 27 empty lots,” valuable land that the candidate says could be converted into affordable housing.
“We are running to redesign our roads, to bring multimodal transit to every Houstonian, and to slash permitting processes to make it easier and quicker to build affordable housing,” he said.
Hellyar, a former executive director of BikeHouston, has also highlighted the need for improved streets and sidewalks, transit safety and better walkability. He touted his work as a former staffer in the District I constituent services office, where he helped resolve issues with trash pickup and drainage and permitting, and acted as a liaison between city staff and neighborhood representatives.
“Major issues we’re going to focus on are public safety, number one. If we don’t keep our neighborhoods safe, nothing else really matters,” Hellyar said at last week’s forum. “And flooding infrastructure: District C has a lot of portions of it in the flood zone.”
Hellyar noted that he’s been working on transportation issues for at least 20 years and wants to draft a districtwide transportation plan that would identify and fix dangerous intersections, and work with TIRZ boards on putting funding toward infrastructure upgrades. “If we’re going to make Houston a place where businesses want to relocate, where people want to raise families, we’re going to have to build a system that works for everyone,” he said. “People want to walk, people want to bike, and people want to get in their cars.”
He pointed out that the new District C council member would be sworn in during the city budget process and noted that he is endorsed by Council Member Sallie Alcorn, who chairs the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee.
Oathout suggested looking at existing vacant commercial property for conversion into affordable apartments. “I don’t tell people that Houston is a car city; it’s a neighborhood city,” Oathout said. “We’re defined by our neighborhoods and we need to build the infrastructure that matches it.”
Nath built a strong following during her bid for Houston ISD trustee in November, when she lost to incumbent Bridget Wade, garnering 45.9 percent of the vote. During last week’s District C forum, she said she would continue to advocate for crosswalks near schools, safe streets and funding for flooding and infrastructure.
“Climate change is real, and these disasters aren’t going to get better on their own,” she said. “We need to be proactive about basic city services, like reliable trash pickup.”
Along with the Houston Progressive Caucus and other members of the Harris County Democratic Party, Nath joined the effort to have Mayor Whitmire admonished in December for attending the fundraiser of Republican U.S. Congressman Dan Crenshaw and acknowledging that HPD is cooperating with immigration authorities.
Nath speaks frequently about tackling issues at City Hall with evidence-based data and coalition building. “It’s saying, here’s what the data shows and what we need,” she said. “In my experience as a physician, we are trained to deal with multiple emergencies at the same time, the concept of triage. That is applicable to the city as well. I see constituent services as akin to a busy medical office, where there are urgent issues that need to be dealt with right away and all of the calls need to be addressed.”