Following a contentious race for Houston’s District C city council seat, Joe Panzarella, the 31-year-old president of Freedmen’s Town Fourth Ward Super Neighborhood, was elected in a runoff Saturday.
Panzarella garnered 6,415 votes, or 64.72 percent, over Realtor and former City Hall staffer Nick Hellyar, who earned 3,497 votes, or 35.28 percent. Panzarella has always been the frontrunner, earning the most votes in an April 4 special election, but Hellyar didn’t go down without a fight.
Days before last month’s election, Hellyar’s campaign reported that Panzarella lied about voting in a Republican primary in 2016. Panzarella promptly responded that he had previously misspoken when he said he’d voted in every Democratic primary and acknowledged that he cast a ballot in the 2016 GOP primary as a “protest vote” against Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Panzarella’s supporters pointed out Hellyar’s ties to the ”far-right” police and fire unions and expressed concern that Hellyar would be a “yes man” to Mayor John Whitmire, who was admonished by the Democratic Party last year.
Then came Panzarella’s endorsement from the political arm of the Islamic civil rights group CAIR. Jewish community members led by attorney George Hittner condemned the endorsement, saying that the Council on American-Islamic Relations traffics in hate and supports anti-Semitic attacks. District C — which includes portions of The Heights, Washington Avenue, Fourth Ward, Montrose, Rice Village, Braeswood and Meyerland — has a large Jewish population and the city’s highest concentration of synagogues.
About 169,000 people live in District C, and 9,912 people cast ballots in Saturday’s runoff. The area has been represented by a Jewish woman for the past 12 years, with Ellen Cohen preceding Abbie Kamin, who stepped down to run for county attorney. It’s said to be one of the most civically engaged districts in Houston, although the turnout numbers don’t exactly demonstrate that.
A last-minute lawsuit from members of the Orthodox Jewish community asked for extended voting hours on Saturday, claiming that Shabbat observances hindered the ability to cast ballots on Election Day, even though there had already been a two-week early voting period. A judge rejected the request.
Panzarella’s response to the CAIR Action Texas endorsement was that the group is dedicated to enhancing civic engagement and political participation in Houston’s Muslim community, championing candidates who advance social justice, equity and inclusivity for all.
“Their endorsement is a powerful reminder that our campaign is built on the belief that every Houstonian deserves a seat at the table,” he said in a May 7 social media post.
CAIR Action Texas said it stands against hate in all forms. “It’s disappointing to see misinformation used to distract from a candidate who truly cares about our community,” the group said in a statement.
Panzarella’s supporters were quick to point out that their candidate was among the first to condemn an alleged plot against Congregation Beth Israel in Houston last month. The backers also say that the last-minute “Islamophobic attack” from the Hellyar camp did little to influence the election results, noting that Panzarella built a diverse coalition of more than 120 Houston-based volunteers “rooted in the belief that Houston deserves responsive, community-driven leadership.”
In a statement issued Sunday afternoon, Panzarella said, “It is my privilege to have your support and to earn the trust of those who had wished for a different outcome last night.”
City council positions are nonpartisan but the red and blue lines were drawn quickly in the District C race. Until recently, the seat was held by Kamin, a self-proclaimed progressive Democrat who was recently appointed to the county attorney post as an interim but will run for the full term in November.
Panzarella, a green energy developer, will be sworn in on May 27. One of his first major tasks will be voting on Mayor John Whitmire’s $7.5 billion budget, set for adoption on June 3.
Panzarella said that once the early voting totals were posted Saturday, Controller Chris Hollins called him to set up a time to meet and review the budget. Hollins and others have criticized a proposed $5 monthly trash fee and Whitmire’s plan to reclassify Solid Waste under the utility structure, saying it won’t necessarily save money or improve services.
Panzarella told the Houston Press on Sunday that he’d like to see the trash fee “go directly toward improving trash services and improving the Solid Waste department.”
“I don’t know if I see that just yet, so I look forward to learning more about how the trash fee is going to have a direct impact there,” he said. “I look forward to having a sit-down meeting with Controller Chris Hollins and learning his perspective on this and just being really open and figuring out how we can make sure the budget improves services while not worsening the deficit.”
Early on the campaign trail, Panzarella won favor with supporters by suggesting a progressive approach to transportation through wider sidewalks, redesigned streets and protected routes for cyclists and pedestrians. The councilman-elect was raised in Kingwood but spent time in Spain and Italy, which he says influenced his ideas on multimodal transportation.
He’s 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. Panzarella has also focused his messaging on affordable housing, improved flood infrastructure and transparent government. He said Sunday one of the first things he wants to do is boost constituent services.
“We’re filling a special term here,” he said. “We’re going to have to run for re-election in November 2027. The next few months are going to be about getting to know the district and getting to know City Hall. It’s making sure that constituents are heard and their needs are being met. It’s solving issues at the fundamental level. It’s easy to call Solid Waste and say, ‘I’ll make sure the trash gets picked up,’ but are we fighting for you in the budget season to make sure Solid Waste is getting funded in a way that solves your problems fundamentally? That’s what we’re going to try to focus on.”
In last month’s special election, Panzarella and Hellyar were the top two vote-getters in a crowded race that included teacher Sophia Campos, accountant Laura Gallier, Harris County judge’s chief of staff Angelica Luna Kaufman, pediatric neurologist Audrey Nath, and AI industry professional Patrick Oathout. Nath and Oathout, the No. 3 and 4 candidates in the special election, endorsed Panzarella.
The councilman-elect was also endorsed by Alejandra Salinas, who was elected to an at-large seat in December and has led the charge to limit HPD’s cooperation with immigration agents. That fight stalled last month when the council voted 13-4 to amend Salinas’ ordinance in an effort to protect public safety dollars that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott threatened to withdraw.
Panzarella said he’s encouraged by the support he’s received from the community, crediting volunteer workers Christos Patelis, Sophie Adams, Patrick Grant, Ally Smither, Christina Harston and Emanuel Nunez for helping run his campaign.
“The campaign was grueling. It was long hours; it was tough, but it was the perfect incubation period for being a council member,” he said. “I feel a lot more prepared now, thanks to meeting with a lot of amazing folks. We were elected for safer streets, for affordable housing and for transparency. As long as we stick to that, I think we’ll be OK.”
