Low Awareness of Upcoming City of Houston Elections

A couple of unknowns have filed in the City of Houston At-Large 4 and in District F races since my last update. I don't see Lane Lewis on the City's website, so I wonder if his paperwork made it in OK. I got a Facebook update from him on Friday saying he had filed. For now, I'll leave him as on the ballot until I hear otherwise. You have to wonder if these "no names" might have a chance, since there is such a low awareness that there is an election coming up. Lee McGuire's story about the large number of undecided voters in the Mayor's race is enlightening. Until the major mayoral candidates start some serious voter outreach via TV, I'll still be hearing, "Isn't Mayor White running again?" Very few at-large and district candidates had enough cash on hand on their June 30th financial reports to indicate they were prepared to mount an aggressive mail campaign. Has that changed? We won't know until the Oct. 4th 30-day out reports. Until and unless the mail campaigns begin, most of those races are anybody's guess - unless it's a hard to unseat incumbent. Speaking of Mayor White, Mary Benton reports that he will hold a news conference today at 3:30 PM to talk about the projected City budget shortfall, which is $20 million according the Mayor's office, and $100 million according to the Controller's office. The balanced City budget we heard about just last month included $50 million from the reserves. I wonder what's changed and how this will affect Controller Parker's bid for Mayor. The filing period to be on the ballot closes this Wednesday at 5 PM. Everyone is invited to attend Melissa Noriega's event right after the filing period closes - September 2nd, 5:30 PM, Cafe Adobe on Westheimer. No RSVP required. Remember, my "still to file" lists are people who have been seen on the campaign trail or who filed a June 30th financial report. New names since my last update are in red. I've got just about everyone linked to their campaign website, where I could find one. Mayor: Gene Locke, Charles Cupp, Amand Ulman, Annise Parker Still to file: Peter Brown, Roy Morales Controller: Pam Holm, Ron Green Still to file: MJ Kahn At-Large 1: Brad Batteau, Karen Derr, Rick Rodriguez, Steve Costello, Herman Litt Still to file: Lonnie Allsbrooks, Donald Cook At-Large 2: Sue Lovell (i), Andrew Burks Still to file: Rozzy Shorter, Griff Griffin At-Large 3: Melissa Noriega (i) At-Large 4: C.O. Bradford, Noel Freeman, Curtis W. Garmon At-Large 5: Jack Christie, Jolanda Jones (i), Carlos Obando, Davetta Daniels A: Jeff Downing, Alex Wathan, Amy Peck, Brenda Stardig, Bob Schoelkopf, Lane Lewis B: Jarvis Johnson C: Anne Clutterbuck (i) Still to file: Alfred Molison D: Larry McKinzie, Wanda Adams (i) E: Wayne Garrison, Mike Sullivan (i) F: Mike Laster, Al Hoang, Robert Kane, Peter Acquaro, Khalid Khan Still to file: Joe Chow, Lewis Cook G: Oliver Pennington, Dexter Handy, George Foulard, Mills Worsham Still to file: Richard Sedita H: Ed Gonzalez (i) I: James Rodriguez (i) You can view the latest candidate filings on the City of Houston website.