With votes in from all voting centers in Harris County, union organizer Lauren Simmons has won the Democratic primary runoff election against incumbent representative and attorney Shawn Thierry for Texas House District 146.
Simmons, the challenger in the race, finished with 64.63% of the votes, or 4,248 votes, to Thierry's 2,325 votes.
All results are unofficial until canvassed.
Updated 10:20 p.m. May 28
With votes in from 77 of 313 voting centers in Harris County, Lauren Simmons has held onto her strong lead over incumbent Shawn Thierry in the runoff election for Texas House District 146 with 60.78% of the votes.
With 2,473 votes to Thierry's 1,596, Simmons declared victory in an election night speech.
"I’m so proud of the work that we did," she said. "I had no idea how any of this was going to turn out almost a year ago when I set out to do this, but I knew I wasn’t happy with what was going on around me, and I wanted to be the change that I wanted to see."
The winner of the runoff will face off against Republican Lance York in the November election. The winner of that November race will be the next District 146 representative for a two-year term beginning in January.
As results continue to come in overnight from Harris County, this story will be updated May 29.
Posted 7:30 p.m. May 28
With early vote results in from Harris County, Lauren Simmons has taken the lead against incumbent Shawn Thierry in the Democratic runoff election for Texas House District 146 with 60.29% of the votes, or 2,365 votes.
Thierry trails with 1,558 votes.
The takeaway
Simmons and Thierry were put into the runoff election after emerging as the top two candidates, among a field of three, during the March 5 Democratic primary election.
Simmons narrowly missed her chance to skip the runoff altogether, earning 49.39% of the votes in that race. Thierry earned 44.53% of the votes, while the third candidate, Ashton P. Woods, earned 6.07%.
The winner of the runoff will face Republican Lance York in the November general election. York ran unopposed in the Republican primary in March.
The backstory
Thierry, the incumbent in the race, first took the District 146 seat in 2016 after earning the support of the majority of precinct chairs in her bid to succeed Borris Miles, who left the seat to take over as state senator for District 13.
Thierry then won re-election in 2018, 2020 and 2022. In the most recent election in 2022, Thierry ran unopposed in both the primary and general election.
Digging in
In a March Q&A with Community Impact, Thierry described herself as an "effective advocate, negotiator and true voice for the voiceless." She said her priorities include improving health equity and decreasing health care disparities faced by the African American community.
"Throughout my tenure, I've championed Texas Coalition of Black Democrats-Harris County Chapter, addressing issues such as combating voter suppression, expanding health care (Medicaid) for women, safeguarding the elderly from abuse, opposing slumlords and mitigating property tax hikes due to gentrification, eliminating human trafficking, and advocating for public education," she said.
In a March Q&A with Community Impact, Simmons, a union organizer with the Texas State Employees Union, said her opposition to the Texas Education Agency's takeover of Houston ISD was among her main motivators for running, in addition to wanting to provide support for public education in general.
"State funding is wholly insufficient," Simmons said. "The most recent fix has already run short, and Texas is still ranked among the lowest in the country in per-pupil spending. I will fight for sustainable revenue streams so public schools can serve all children, regardless of their needs, backgrounds, neighborhoods or abilities."
Simmons said her other priorities include expanding access to health care; restoring freedom for people to make health care decisions without government interference; and fighting for issues relevant to working class families, such as higher minimum wages, better working conditions and better family leave policies.
The context
District 146 covers parts of south and southwest Houston and Harris County within Beltway 8, including Westbury, the Willowbend area, Brays Oaks and Sunnyside.
All results are unofficial until canvassed. For more information about voting in Harris County, visit www.harrisvotes.com. Visit communityimpact.com/voter-guide/election-results to see results from all local elections in your community.
