Charlene Ward Johnson Leads House Race in Northwest Houston Texas

Charlene Ward Johnson, a member of the Houston Community College Board of Trustees, took a slight lead over Angeanette Thibodeaux, an affordable housing consultant, in Tuesday’s Democratic primary runoff election to fill a vacant Texas House seat in the northwest of Houston. Early vote totals showed Johnson leading with about 52% of the votes cast, compared to Thibodeaux’s 48%.

Johnson is the former partner of state Rep. Jarvis Johnson, who resigned his seat to run for the Texas Senate.

Thibodeaux and Ward Johnson come from a field of five candidates in this year’s Democratic primary.

The two share similar platforms, although Ward Johnson was more explicit in an interview with Hearst Newspapers about her opposition to vouchers, while Thibodeaux said she wanted to understand why some Republicans pursue this policy.

The district, which stretches from Spring southwest to Acres Heights and ends in Independence Heights, is a liberal stronghold held for decades by a black Democrat. Before Jarvis Johnson, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner represented the district for 27 years.

There are no Republicans running, meaning the winner of Tuesday’s race will effectively win the seat.

“This district is about as safe as it gets for Democrats,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. “This means that the person who represents 139 – not only in 2025, but potentially for the rest of the decade – will be chosen in the May runoff, making participation all the more important. »

This isn’t Thibodeaux’s first attempt to represent District 139. She ran against Jarvis Johnson in 2020 and won about a third of the vote.

Thibodeaux works as a consultant for the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, a nonprofit organization that helps historically disadvantaged people become homeowners. She is also a former vice president of the Home Retention division of Bank of America and a former chair of the Acres Homes Super Neighborhood Council.

Ward Johnson said being married to that district’s former state representative gave her insight into the legislative process. Jarvis Johnson said he “supports her 100 percent.”

Earlier this month, Jarvis Johnson, who was seeking to fill a vacant Texas Senate seat left by current Houston Mayor John Whitmire, lost in a special election to emergency room nurse Molly Cook . That means Cook will serve out the remaining months of Whitmire’s term, but she and Johnson will face off again in a runoff to determine who serves the next four-year term.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Morgan Severson contributed to this report.