Updated: 4:30 p.m. May 9
With all Harris County voting centers reporting in, Jolanda Jones has won the Texas House District 147 race with 52.29% of the vote, or 2,305 total votes, with Danielle Keys Bess garnering 47.71% of the vote, or 2,103 total votes.
Jones did not respond for requests for comment as of press time.
All results are unofficial until canvassed. Read more election coverage here.
Updated: 7:45 a.m., May 8
As of 7:45 a.m. on May 8, the special election race for Texas House District 147 has grown narrower. Jolanda Jones remains ahead, with 52.17% of the vote, or 2,247 total votes, and Danielle Key Bess with 47.83% of the vote, or 2,060 total votes. According to Harris County election data, 452 of 465 voting centers are reporting.
All results are unofficial until canvassed. Read more election coverage here.
Updated: 11 p.m., May 7
As of 11 p.m. on May 7, Jolanda Jones remains ahead in the Texas House District 147 election with 54.52% of the vote, or 1,675 total votes. Danielle Keys Bess is behind by 278 votes with a total vote count of 1,397. According to Harris County election data, 119 of 465 voting centers are reporting.
All results are unofficial until canvassed. Read more election coverage here.
Updated: 9:45 p.m.
Jolanda Jones on track to win Texas House District 147 election with 55.34% of the vote, or 1,570 total votes. Danielle Keys Bess is behind by 303 votes with a total vote count of 1,267. Three of 465 voting centers are reporting, according to Harris County election data.
All results are unofficial until canvassed. Read more election coverage here.
Posted: 8:04 p.m., May 7
With early voting results in, Jolanda Jones is leading in the race for Texas House District 147 in the May 7 election, according to early voting results from Harris County. Jones leads with 55.37% of the vote, or 1,561 total votes, against Danielle Keys Bess, who has 44.63% of the vote, or 1,258 total votes.
Should results be confirmed, Jones will immediately begin serving as representative for District 147. The seat is currently vacant after Rep. Garnet Coleman retired in February and did not complete his full term, which runs through January 2023.
The May 7 special election is the first of two elections between Jones and Bess for determining who finishes the rest of Coleman's term. The second, set for May 24, is a runoff election related to the March primaries, where Jones and Bess emerged as the top two vote-getters among a field of seven Democrats.
Jones finished as the frontrunner in the March Democratic primaries with 41.8% of the vote, while Bess earned 19.9%. A runoff is required any time no candidate in a race receives more than 50% of the vote.
The winner of the runoff will face Republican candidate Rashard Baylor in the November general election. The winner of that race will then be sworn in for a full two-year term that begins in January 2023.
Due to the timing of when new district maps take effect, the voters who are eligible to vote for District 147 differ slightly between the May 7 and May 24 elections.
Although district boundary changes are minor for District 147, voters in the 77005 and 77098 ZIP codes are being removed from the district and will not be eligible to vote May 24. A section of voters in the 77007 ZIP code along I-10 will likewise become eligible to vote in the May 24 election even though they were not eligible in the May 7 election.
All results are unofficial until canvassed. Read more election coverage here.
Shawn Arrajj contributed to this report.
