Lucio Vasquez / Houston Public Media
State Sen. Molly Cook narrowly won the Democratic race for the Texas Senate District 15 seat against state Rep. Jarvis Johnson. Tuesday’s primary runoff for Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s former senate seat was a nail-biter, with Cook beating Johnson by 74 votes, according to results released by the Harris County Clerk’s Office.
Cook trailed Johnson by 364 votes before Election Day, based on early voting and ballot-by-mail tallies, but said she and her campaign remained confident during a race in which a total of nearly 18,800 votes were cast. Cook received 50.2% of the vote compared to 49.8% for Johnson, who has represented part of the district while serving since 2017 in the Texas House of Representatives.
“Everything went exactly as we expected it to,” Cook said Wednesday. “We worked really, really hard and we were confident in the turnout on Election Day.”
Johnson, who served on the Houston City Council before being elected to the Texas House, was not ready to concede defeat Wednesday because “the margin in this race is so small.” He also said he wanted to “ensure that each and every ballot is included in the final count,” since some mail-in ballots and provisional ballots can be tallied after Election Day.
“Our goal is not to further delay the official results. We are allowing the behind-the-scenes process to run its course,” Johnson said in a statement. “This exercise could move margins in our favor, or simply present an outcome that may not end favorably for us. We are in ongoing conversations with our legal team and political advisors.”
The Senate District 15 seat representing a portion of Houston was vacated for the first time since 1978 this year when Whitmire was elected as Houston’s mayor.
It was the second election win in a month for Cook, who beat Johnson by a much larger margin of 14 points in a May 4 special election to finish out Whitmire’s current term in the Texas Legislature. Tuesday’s primary was related to a full, four-year term that begins in 2025.
Cook, an emergency room nurse, activist and community organizer who is part of the LGBTQ+ community, must still face Republican Joseph L. Trahan, who ran unopposed in the primary, in the November general election. But the seat is considered safely Democratic.
Cook entered the political arena in 2022, when she challenged Whitmire in the Democratic primary and received about 42% of the vote. Her come-from-behind win Tuesday was an extension of that campaign, she said.
It also came on a day when many Houston-area residents lost electricity during a deadly afternoon storm that resulted in temporary power outages at more than a dozen voting locations. After winning, Cook said she was focused on responding to “the constituents who have again lost power or are still out of power and have needs on the ground.”
“You know, it was another Houston day with a surprising turn of events with the weather,” Cook said. “But we’ve done work over the last two-and-a-half years running for this seat. It culminates on Election Day, but there was quite a bit of foundation and bedrock we were operating from. And we did see pop in the afternoon. People turned out after the storm. There is so much hope and determination in our district and in Harris County, voters found a way to make their voices heard.”
House District 21
House Speaker Dade Phelan narrowly secured his own seat for another term. He took the win with roughly 50.7 percent of the vote against former Orange County GOP chairman David Covey, according to complete but unofficial results.
Phelan fought hard to keep his seat after angering Republicans for impeaching Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last year on allegations of bribery and dereliction of duty, and failing to support a plan to allow public money to be used for private school tuition.
RELATED: Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan narrowly wins Republican primary runoff in House District 21
Texas House District 139
Charlene Ward Johnson secured the Democratic vote for a vacant seat in the House for District 139. Ward is a Houston Community College board member and former wife of state Rep. Jarvis Johnson.
She is running unopposed because no Republican candidates entered the race.
House District 146
Lauren Ashley Simmons won a contentious Democratic race for Texas House District 146 against state Rep. Shawn Thierry, according to unofficial results.
Simmons, a 36-year-old labor organizer running for an elected office for the first time, received about 64.6% of the vote compared to 35.4% for Thierry, a four-term incumbent.
“I’m still a little shocked, to be honest,” Simmons said Wednesday. “I was very happy, very excited to see the margin.”
Thierry received blowback from fellow Democrats for voting in support of controversial Republican-backed legislation like a bill banning gender-transitioning healthcare for minors and another prohibiting certain books from school libraries.
Simmons and Republican Lance York, who was unopposed in his primary, will vie for the House District 146 seat in November.
Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector
Democrat Annette Ramirez appeared to take the lead for the County Tax Assessor-Collector position. According to unofficial results, Ramirez led the race with 55.85 percent of the vote, or 24,376 votes against Desiree Broadnax.
486th Criminal District Judge
Vivian King won the Democratic race for the 486th Judicial District. She secured 54.55 percent of the vote, or 23,719 votes against Gemayel “G” Haynes, according to unofficial results.
The court was created last year by the Texas Legislature, in order to help alleviate case backlog in Harris County.
