Incumbent Suzanne Whatley reclaimed her spot as the Sugar Land City Council District 1 representative with 64.19% or 1,147 votes, over challenger Muzaffar Vohra with 35.81% or 640 votes.
What they’re saying
Seeing over 64% of votes, Whatley said she decided to run for re-election because residents asked her to continue to serve the city.
“It feels great because the confidence that the community had in me is confirmed and to know that we were doing a good job and continue to do a good job—there is nothing like that feeling,” she said.
During her campaign, Whatley said there was one area of the district she identified who said they believed they were unseen or unheard. To address concerns, she plans to host town halls to ensure she can see that residents' needs are met.
“Anytime you see that as an incumbent, you need to address it right away,” she said. “We want to find out why other people voted against an incumbent. It’s not a personal thing, it’s a matter of [telling] us what your concerns were that I was not meeting so that we can rectify that. We should never have anybody who feels that their needs are not being met or heard.”
Through her next term, Whatley said her focus will remain on items addressed in her first term, including public safety and infrastructure; however, a new focus area will be her work on the Finance/Audit Committee as the committee moves forward with proposing a general obligation bond for the November election.
Posted 11:10 p.m. May 4
Incumbent Suzanne Whatley reclaimed the spot as the Sugar Land City Council District 1 representative with 64.19% or 1,147 votes, over challenger Muzaffar Vohra with 35.81% or 640 votes.
Whatley began her time on Sugar Land’s City Council when she was elected to the District 1 spot in 2021. In a questionnaire with Community Impact, Whatley said she hopes to build upon the foundation of her first term and that the constituents remain her top priority.
What happens next?
Election results are set to be canvassed at a special City Council meeting May 14, and newly elected positions will be sworn in at the meeting, pending finalized results.
What else?
The city also saw three uncontested races with incumbents being reelected, including:
- Sugar Land City Council District 2: Naushad Kermally
- Sugar Land City Council District 3: Stewart Jacobson
- Sugar Land City Council District 4: Carol McCutcheon
All results are unofficial until canvassed.
Community Impact reached out to Whatley for comment, but the request was not returned by press time.
Posted 7:25 p.m. May 4
Fort Bend County has released early voting results for the May 4 uniform election featuring a variety of local races, including a contested race for Sugar Land City Council District 1.
What you need to know
According to unofficial early voting results, Suzanne Whatley leads with 60.71%, or 720 votes, followed by challenger Muzaffar Vohra with 39.29%, or 466 votes.
In a questionnaire with Community Impact, incumbent Whatley said if elected, the constituents remain her top priority and added there’s still work to do since her election for the position in May 2021.
Meanwhile, challenger Vohra said his top priority is to encourage safety and sustainable growth as well as address increased traffic issues for residents.
At the polls
Fort Bend County saw 11,678 early voters visit the polls between April 22-30, representing only 2.13% of the county’s 535,160 voters, according to the county. During the early voting period, the county saw a 34.14% decrease in the turnout of voters compared to May 2023 elections.
The polls closed at 7 p.m., although voters who were in line before closing will still be able to cast their ballots.
Stay tuned
Community Impact will update this article as more election day totals are released. All results are unofficial until canvassed.
Visit communityimpact.com/voter-guide/election-results to see results from all local elections in your community.
