Fresh off U.S Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee joining the Houston mayor’s race just a week ago, former Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins has called off his mayoral bid to instead run for the city’s controller position.
Political science professor Bob Stein had anticipated Hollins dropping out after Jack Lee decided to run.
“To my understanding, they had a meeting, and it didn’t go well,” Stein said. “Hollins didn’t feel like he should step aside for Jackson Lee, but she made compelling arguments and he felt as if there was no future in the race for him.”
However, Stein did think that Hollins would have a longer run than some of his other Democratic counterparts, such as former Houston city council member Amanda Edwards.
The current city controller, Chris Brown is term-limited and will leave office at the end of this year. Those vying for the position alongside Hollins are Mayor Pro Tem Dave Martin, City Council member and Houston accountant Michael Kubosh and current employee of the Controller’s office Shannon Nobles.
“You have to think about term limits, when you consider the mayor’s race you have eight years plus the four-year intervals, that’s just too long to wait,” Stein said. “Hollins invested a lot of money in his campaign and has the name recognition from 2020, it’s just too much capital to leave on the table for voters to forget about.
According to Stein, Hollins has a financial upper hand as he raised at least a million dollars in his past efforts to become the city’s mayor; but does still face a challenge, specifically when facing Kubosh.
“Kubosh is extremely strong with black voters, he consistently draws well, I would think he is likely to create some problems for Hollins during this race,” Stein said. “Kubosh ran for city councilman at large from a broad basis of all corners of the community, including Conservative Republicans.”
Stein said there is still a chance for movement in the Mayoral candidate line-up, as now millionaire businessman and trial lawyer, Attorney Tony Buzbee is considering a second run for Houston mayor.
Buzbee lost against current Mayor Sylvester Turner in 2019 and is a wild card having donated to both Republican and Democratic candidates.
Stein referred to him as a “vanity candidate” who runs on somewhat of an undefined policy platform but has strong financial means to draw a voter base through campaigning.
“It will be interesting to see if Republicans like Bettencourt or Siegel run to back Buzbee if he does decide to formally announce he is running for mayor,” Stein said.
According to Stein, there is still a chance that other mayoral candidates decide to follow Hollins in dropping out and joining the controller’s race.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
