Sylvester Turner elected mayor of Houston, Texas

Sylvester Turner elected mayor of Houston, Texas
Houston hasn’t elected a Republican mayor in more than 30 years.

Houston elects Sylvester Turner (Democrat) as its next mayor.  Sylvester Turner defeated Republican businessman Bill King on 12 December 2015 to make him the next mayor of Houston, the fourth most-populous U.S. city (ranking by city limit population only, not by the metropolitan area population).

Turner won 51 percent of the runoff vote in the unofficial returns, defeating Bill King, a businessman and former mayor of Kemah, won 49 percent of the vote.

Turner ran for Mayor of Houston in 1991, losing in the runoff election. He lost again in 2003, falling in third place.

In 1984, Turner ran for Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 1 in the Democratic primary, but lost. Four years later, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in House District 139 in Harris County. Turner has served more than 25 years and was a member of the Legislative Budget Board, Vice-Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Chairman of the Subcommittee of Articles 1, 4 & 5 (General Government, Judiciary, Public Safety & Criminal Justice) and a member of the House State Affairs Committee.

Turner graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. degree in Political Science from University of Houston.
Turner later earned a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School.

Sylvester Turner is not the first African American to be elected mayor of Houston.

Lee Patrick Brown

In 1997, Lee Patrick Brown became the 59th Mayor of Houston and the first African American elected to serve as mayor of Houston. His term lasted from January 2, 1998 – January 2, 2004.

Other African Americans to serve as mayors of large Texas cities
Ivy Taylor

Ivy Taylor is the first African American to be elected mayor of San Antonio and the second woman to hold the position. Taylor assumed office on July 22, 2014.

Ronald “Ron” Kirk

From 1994 to 1995, Ron Kirk wsas the Secretary of State of Texas, until he was elected as the Mayor of Dallas from June 5, 1995 – February 20, 2002 and becoming the first African American mayor of Dallas. Ron Kirk was the 16th United States Trade Representative from March 18, 2009 – March 15, 2013.
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Houston, Texas

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City Limit Population
City population estimates for 2014 -released by the U.S. Census Bureau on May 21, 2015

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U.S. Census Bureau population estimates–Release Date: March 26, 2015
Some of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas by rank in 2014