Elections In Pasadena, Pearland Heading To Runoff

PASADENA, TX -- Several key political races in the City of Pasadena will be heading to a runoff after several candidates failed to gain 50 percent of the ballots.

The race to unseat Pasadena Mayor Johnny Isbell was among the most closely watched with seven candidates poised to unseat the embattled mayor, who was was prohibited due to term limits from running for re-election.

Councilman and former Houston Police Detective Jeff Wagner was the top vote getter winning 39 percent of the votes, while Pasadena businessman and San Jacinto College trustee John “J.R.” Moon came in second with 18 percent of the votes.

Meanwhile, all of the city council seats were also up for election, with some of those also heading to a runoff election next month.

In Council District A, Daniel Vela and Felipe Villarreal will face off in a runoff, and District B was also very close with Bruce Leamon winning 50.56 percent of the votes to Steve Halvorson’s 49.4 percent.

Candidates for Council Districts C,D and E were unopposed and retained their seats.

In Council District F, Phil Cayton won by 62 percent to challenger Larry Peacock, who took 38 percent of the ballots.

Cary Bass won the District G Council seat with 55 percent of the votes, while Thomas Schoenbein won the District H seat with 50.9 percent of the votes.

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The U.S. Justice Department announced last week that observes would be present at polling places in Pasadena to ensure Latino voters were not unfairly treated.

The City of Pasadena has been the subject of scrutiny since August 2016, when the Mexican American Legal Defense Education Fund filed a federal lawsuit against the city, citing Voting Rights violations related to the 2013 redistricting that saw the city implement races for six single-member districts and two at-large seats, instead of the eight single-member seats that had been in place.

See Also: Justice Department Sending Observers For Pasadena’s May 6 Election

Justice Department officials said no irregularities were observed.

You can click the link for Pasadena’ unofficial election returns

The City of Pearland will also see a runoff in their mayoral election after incumbent Tim Reid failed to win a majority, capturing 49 percent of the votes.

He will be challenged by Quentin Wiltz in the runoff.

Like Pasadena, where 24 candidates had their names on the ballots, Pearland ballots were also crowded with 10 candidates battling for three council positions.

The most crowded field was for the newly created Position 7 Council seat, which drew six candidates, which included Bud Tollefsen, Sherry Stockwell, Woody Owens, G.C. Sonny Atkins, Dalia Kasseb, and Terry Gray.

Kasseb was leading the pack with 41 percent of the votes and will face a runoff.

In Position 5, J. David Little won with 65 percent, while Darrell Moore won the Position 3 seat with 55 percent of the ballots cast.

You can find full Brazoria County election returns here.

Image: Shutterstock

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