Sylvester Turner, a member of the Texas House of Representatives and former Klein Bearkat, was officially elected for Houston mayor on Dec. 12 in the mayoral runoff election.

Because no candidate had a majority vote in the original election in November, the top two candidates, Turner and his opponent, Bill King, had to wait for the runoff election to find out who the mayor would be for the next term. The results of the runoff were close until the very end, with Turner winning 51 percent to King’s 49 percent.  

“I heard both the candidates, Turner and King, debate each other on the radio and they both sounded as if they agreed on what the issues were,” social studies teacher Jon Benignus said. “The only issue was how to [solve] it was a little bit different.”

There are many issues facing Houston and the new mayor, largely focused on roads and finances. Turner will have to find a way to arrange the budget and find a way to give city employees their promised pension.
“I think [Turner] will probably be really good because he’s had lots of experience,” Benignus said. “I think Turner’s been around the block. He will be effective at working and compromising. But he’s never been in an executive position of leadership before; his experience has all been legislative. He has lots of legislative and cross party experience and getting things done with the two parties. Does that transfer into an executive position? Quite possibly.”