Panzarella campaign
Pictured is Joe Panzarella, a candidate for the Houton City Council.
Joe Panzarella jumped to a big early lead against Nick Hellyar in a special election runoff to fill the District C position on the Houston City Council, according to early voting results reported Saturday night by the Harris County Clerk’s Office.
Panzarella, a progressive community organizer, held 61.6% of 6,578 early ballots. Hellyar, a former city hall staffer, trailed with 38.4% of the early vote.
More than 3,330 ballots were cast Saturday on Election Day, when polls closed at 7 p.m.
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Panzarella and Hellyar are vying to replace Abbie Kamin. She is stepping down to run for Harris County attorney, a position to which she has been appointed on an interim basis.
Panzarella ran as a candidate focused on boosting home affordability and expanding multimodal transportation options on city streets. Hellyar focused on core city services, like the police and parks departments.
They emerged from a seven-candidate field in April, when Panzarella and Hellyar earned 33% and 23% of the vote, respectively, with progressive Audrey Nath falling short in third place with 20% of the vote. In the runoff, Nath endorsed Panzarella.
Hellyar campaign
Pictured is Nick Hellyar, a candidate for the Houston City Council.
Hellyar and Panzarella were not immediately available for interviews on election night.
For some voters in the area — overlapping with the 18th Congressional District, which also had a special election this year — the runoff marked the sixth election since November.
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Panzarella faced an attack this week from George Hittner. Hittner, a failed candidate for the city council in 2005, said he paid for an advertisement in the Jewish Herald-Voice — sent in advance to local television station Fox 26 — criticizing Panzarella for accepting an endorsement from Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, the Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR). The ad argued CAIR engaged in “antisemetic and anti-Zionist rhetoric,” pointed to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s designation of the group as a “terrorist organization,” and encouraged voters to “say no to Joe and no to hate.”
District C runs from the Heights through Montrose to Meyerland, an area with a dense concentration of Jewish residents.
In a statement, Panzarella described Abbott’s designation as “dangerous and racist misinformation,” and said representing District C “means protecting Jewish families, congregations, schools, and institutions, and standing against antisemitism.”
“I take that seriously and will tirelessly work to earn their trust,” he said.
CAIR Action, the political wing of the organization, did not respond to a request for comment on the advertisement.
On Friday, Hittner announced a lawsuit seeking an extension of voting beyond Saturday into Sunday. The petition argued Orthodox Jewish voters were disenfranchised because the election fell on Saturday, when they observe the weekly Sabbath day of rest, and they didn’t have time to react to the revelation of the CAIR endorsement.
Panzarella announced the CAIR endorsement on May 7. Early voting ended on May 12. The lawsuit was rejected on Friday.
In a statement on Friday, Hellyar said the advertisement and legal action were “being led by the Jewish community in District C.”
“I have always been an ally of the Jewish community in Houston, and I support them now,” Hellyar said.
As of the most recent campaign finance reports filed on May 8, Panzarella had raised more than $156,000 over the course of the race, trailing Hellyar, who brought in about $176,000. But in the space between the special election in April and the runoff this month, Panzarella outraised Hellyar with approximately $71,000, while Hellyar received about $63,000.
If he falls short, Hellyar will suffer another blow to his political aspirations. He lost two previous bids for the city council in 2019 and 2023.
This is a developing story and will be updated.