Developer Defeats Legislator in Runoff for Houston Mayor
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HOUSTON — Wealthy developer Bob Lanier defeated black state lawmaker Sylvester Turner in a runoff election Saturday to become mayor of the nation’s fourth-largest city.
With 99% of the vote counted, Lanier had 151,932 votes, or 53.8%, to Turner’s 130,666, or 46.2%, election officials said.
Lanier, 66, a longtime government insider and former Texas Highway Commission chairman, was making his first run at elective office.
Turner, 37, a two-term legislator and an attorney, was attempting to become the first black mayor of the city.
Lanier succeeds the incumbent mayor, Kathy Whitmire. She finished third in balloting on Nov. 5 as she tried for a record sixth consecutive two-year term.
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