Early voting is set to kick off in Dist. G
Flooding, crime are top campaign topics
The candidates running to represent west Houston on City Council in a special election this month are focused on flooding and crime as they campaign for the seat.
Election day for the District G contest is Jan. 25, and early voting begins Monday at four locations. Councilmember Greg Travis resigned to run for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, triggering the special election and the abbreviated, two-month campaign to replace him.
The candidates are: Mary Nan Huffman, an attorney for the Houston Police Officers’ Union and former candidate for Harris County district attorney; Piper Madland, a community organizer and volunteer; Duke Millard, a lawyer and former federal prosecutor; Raul “Roy” Reyes Jr., a retired Houston Fire Department assistant chief; and Houshang “Hank” Taghizadeh (though only ‘Taghi’ will appear on ballot), who said he works in construction.
In interviews, four candidates identified flooding and public safety as top priorities, though they offered different proposals to address them. Taghizadeh did not respond to several Chronicle inquiries and does not appear to have an active campaign site or social media account.
District G covers much of west Houston and is one of the city’s wealthiest and more conservative sectors. It mostly runs between the Interstate 10 and Westheimer, from a small stretch of Shepherd Road to just outside Texas 6. It includes River Oaks, Uptown and the Briarforest and Memorial areas, among other neighborhoods.
While city races are nonpartisan, three of the candidates — Huffman, Millard and Reyes — are campaigning as conservatives, and one, Madland, is seeking an upset as a progressive.
A list of early voting locations is available on Harris County’s website. Voters can check their voter registration status there and verify their council district on the city’s site.
Mary Nan Huffman, 38
Huffman grew up in Denton and made her way to Houston after attending St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio. She worked as a prosecutor in the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office before leaving in 2018 to join Houston’s police union. She lives near Buffalo Bayou just outside the Sam Houston Tollway.
She is one of four attorneys for the union who travels to the scenes of police shootings and defends officers facing disciplinary hearings, among other duties. Huffman said she intends to keep her job with the HPOU if she wins, but would recuse herself from voting on labor contracts between the city and the union.
Huffman said the city needs to hire more police officers and give them better resources. She suggested culling or even eliminating other city departments to pay for those objectives, although she did not identify which departments she had in mind.
“In order to get more money for fire and police, we need to look at city spending. What can be eliminated?” Huffman said.
The lawyer, fresh off a 2020 campaign for district attorney, has significant institutional backing, including endorsements from three conservative council members, Mike Knox, Michael Kubosh and Amy Peck; the police union she works for; the Houston Apartment Association; and the Greater Houston Builders Association, among others.
Huffman filed her initial campaign finance form more than a week after the deadline and still has not submitted it electronically as of Friday, which she attributed to password issues. A copy provided to the Chronicle showed Huffman had raised $28,700 and spent $10,000 as of Dec. 20. The money almost entirely was raised from individual donors, save for $2,500 from the Texas Apartment Association. Her average donation was $870.
Piper Madland, 54
Madland bounced around growing up, and came to Houston to attend Rice University. She now lives in River Oaks.
She has worked for the Houston Food Bank, neighborhood magazines and nonprofit groups. She later stayed home to raise her children and got involved in grassroots organizing and Democratic politics.
If elected, Madland said she would work with neighborhoods to help direct resources to their desired flood and drainage projects.
“I’m not a flood engineer, but that’s my ability, to help shepherd these projects to get the funding they need,” Madland said.
On crime, she said she would like to continue to invest in the city’s mental health crisis response teams, which deploy health professionals without law enforcement, to certain calls. Boosting those teams would free up more officers to patrol the district for “crimes of opportunity,” such as burglaries, she said.
Madland could face long odds in a district that often deploys conservatives to City Hall. She expressed confidence in her chances, however, noting the unusual circumstances of a special election and the fact President Joe Biden narrowly carried the district, 51 percent to 49 percent, in 2020.
She was able to raise $17,000 as of Dec. 25. Her average donor gave $174.
Duke Millard, 63
Millard grew up in Miami and played football at Harvard University. He went to law school, worked for former Gov. Bill Clements, and moved to Houston to work for the U.S. Attorney’s Office as a federal prosecutor. He lives in the Tanglewood area.
He did civil defense work after leaving the U.S. a Attorney’s Office. He later bought and operated a massage business. He sold that in 2018, and has been “lying low” for a couple of years.
Like Huffman, Millard said the city needs more police officers on the streets. He said there “has to be” waste in the $5.1 billion budget to free up more resources for the department, which typically absorbs about a third of the city’s operating budget. The fire department usually takes in another 20 percent.
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way,” Millard said.
He also would like to see more of the revenue from the drainage fee used directly on drainage projects. The city uses some of that revenue to rebuild streets, which often includes rebuilding the drainage pipes underneath them.
Millard mostly is self-funding his campaign. His first financial disclosure showed a $10,000 loan of his own money and $325 in contributions.
Roy Reyes Jr., 70
Reyes was born in Corpus Christi, but his family moved to Houston when he was a child during Hurricane Carla. He served in the Houston Fire Department for 28 years and lives just inside the Beltway, near Briar Forest Drive.
He retired from the fire department in 2008 as an assistant chief overseeing staff services, community relations and specialized operations. He since has worked as an emergency management consultant and real estate agent.
If elected, Reyes said he would seek to place a police storefront in the district, which he hopes would help prevent crime. He also would like to see a roving task force, made up of police officers, sheriff ’s deputies and constables, when needed.
Reyes said his experience in the fire department separates him from his opponents.
“My learning curve would be very small, because I understand the politics of the city; I understand City Hall,” he said.
Reyes filed a campaign finance form online, but it was corrupted. One was not available as of Jan. 7, and he did not provide a copy to the Chronicle.
Hank Taghizadeh, age unknown
Taghizadeh lives near the Tanglewood area, according to his ballot application. He did not file the required campaign finance report.