Houston Mayor-elect John Whitmire & Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee take different paths into 2024

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The Houston mayoral race is over. One candidate begins the process of governing while the other starts a new campaign.

John Whitmire now has the enviable task of running a city at the edge of a financial cliff. Sheila Jackson Lee, in the meantime, is running for reelection to Congress.

Whitmire won Saturday night with what some might call a mandate to deliver on his campaign promises. To do that, he has to put behind the challenges of a long campaign and build bridges.

"Campaigns are tough, and you have to distinguish the campaign from the job," Whitmire told ABC13 on Sunday. "I don't make campaigns personal."

New Controller-elect Chris Hollins, who easily won his runoff bid over Orlando Sanchez, is among those whom the mayor-elect will work with. Hollins, the city's chief financial officer, said the job ahead won't be easy.

"You can't spend more than you have over and over again," Hollins said. "But at the same time, we know that we want to make a safer Houston. We know that we want to invest more in critical infrastructure across the city, safer and smoother roads, making sure that clean water is flowing into our homes. "

While Hollins and Whitmire begin the process of governing, former mayoral candidate Sheila Jackson Lee filed Tuesday to run again for her congressional seat.

"As an incumbent, I thought there was more work to be done," Jackson Lee said during a press conference Monday afternoon, "and there was more work to finish... and that I wanted to join the members of Congress who I know work every day to build a better quality of life for all Americans."

But she is not unchallenged. She faces another former mayoral candidate, Amanda Edwards, who said Monday she is ready to challenge Jackson Lee with new ideas for the 18th Congressional District.

"I entered this race with the belief that it is now time for the 18th Congressional District to be represented by someone who can both bring a fresh, innovative approach to solving our lingering challenges and help the community reach its full potential," Edwards said via a press release after Jackson Lee filed to run.

And it could be a real challenge for Jackson Lee, according to TSU political science professor Michael Adams.

"I think we may be headed for a kind of highly competitive or highly contested race in the 18th Congressional District, and that will be in March on Super Tuesday, headed into the primaries," Adams said. "Amanda Edwards, basically, if she's able to message and to present herself as a kind of different kind of candidate, or a fresh face, or what have you, there could be some fallout."

Forty-eight hours after the votes were counted, two political veterans are already working toward 2024, albeit in very different ways.

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