Bianca Seward
Cy-Fair ISD’s board president and vice president were losing their re-election bids after the early voting period, and a slate of nonpartisan newcomers was poised to break a politically conservative majority in the Houston-area school district, based on incomplete results released Tuesday night by the Harris County Clerk’s Office.
Lesley Guilmart in position 5, Cleveland Lane Jr. in position 6 and Kendra Camarena in position 7 were leading their races after the early voting period. Lane is trying to unseat board President Scott Henry and Vice President Natalie Blasingame — with Blasingame opting to run against her former ally Henry instead of seeking re-election in position 6.
Conservative board members have held a 6-1 majority since 2023. They will preserve that majority if at least one of the following candidates manages to win – either Blasingame or Henry in position 6, Radele Walker in position 5 or George Edwards Jr. in position 7.
There is no possibility of a runoff in the Cy-Fair ISD election as candidates do not need to garner more than 50% of the vote to win. Instead, the seats on the ballot will go to the leading candidates.
The board runs the third-largest school district in Texas and oversees 117,000 students as well as a $1.2 billion budget.
The trustees who win will serve four-year terms. Leadership roles on the board will be newly determined after the election.
RELATED: Cy-Fair ISD’s trustee election could be a referendum on conservative policies in suburban schools
Two years ago, political conservatives gained their 6-1 majority on the board and have since then implemented a number of right-wing policies, including aggressive book-banning practices, the addition of Bible-focused elective courses and deleting 13 middle school textbook chapters that touched on topics such as vaccines, diversity and climate change.
Over the last few years, a red wave captured several Houston-area school boards. In Katy ISD, Clear Creek ISD and Fort Bend ISD, conservative majorities took hold, but those same school boards have seen a recent swing back toward the center of the political spectrum.
Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston, said during early voting the Cy-Fair ISD race would say a lot about the shifting balance of power in big suburban school districts.
“It illustrates how the partisan dynamics that have shaped the rest of the country have crept into these nonpartisan races,” Rottinghaus said. “Although these school board elections are officially nonpartisan in Texas, this election is definitely replete with partisan influence outside money and ideological slates.”
Rottinghaus added that because it’s an off-year cycle with low voter turnout, looking at the tea leaves of the race can be “a bit opaque.”
“I think, that said, it’s certainly the case that I think most voters in school board elections prioritize pragmatism,” Rottinghaus said. “They want to see centrism in the sense that it helps to get things done. That’s where most people are. If one side of the other goes too extreme, then there could be an easy backlash to that.”
Blasingame, who previously held the position 5 seat, chose this year to run for the seat occupied by Henry, her former ally. Elected in 2021, Blasingame and Henry were united in pushing conservative policies, but over the last year the two have split on several votes and policies. Additionally, Blasingame was endorsed over Henry by the Harris County Republican Party.
Blasingame addressed their fallout on the Chris Heasley Show, saying, “We worked well together for a while, but [Henry] went left on me.”
The two conservatives in one race might have split that voter bloc and allowed Lane an easier path to victory.
“The ideological churn we’re seeing in these districts is that you’ve got a lot of internal competition,” Rottinghaus said before Election Day. “That internal competition can lead to a candidate who maybe isn’t aligned with one of the other of these dominant factions to have a chance to win.”
Blasingame ran alongside two other conservatives – Walker for the position 5 seat and Edwards ran for position 7. The three nicknamed their slate the “NRG” slate after the first initials of their first names. Henry campaigned separately.
In late October, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott held a “Get Out The Vote Event” to encourage residents to vote. He didn’t endorse the conservative candidates, instead speaking more broadly about his own educational reforms.