Research
Election 2023: Priorities and Concerns of Houston Residents
This report identifies the city's current challenges and opportunities and what issues residents would like to see the next mayor address.

Commissioned by Houston Endowment, this study examines the state of civic health in Greater Houston (the Houston MSA) to better understand civic attitudes and behaviors as well as political participation.

The State of Local Democracy in Houston and Harris County
This report looks at local elections in Houston and Harris County.

Who Runs for Mayor in America?
This report looks at mayoral elections in California, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota and Virginia.

Mayoral Elections in Indiana: 2003-2015
The report examines a host of indicators regarding mayoral elections in Indiana, including mayoral races in 474 general elections and 706 primary elections in more than 120 Indiana cities.

Mayoral Elections in Kentucky: 2010-2014
This report looks at local elections in Kentucky, including how often mayoral races go unopposed or feature an incumbent.

Mayoral Elections in California: 1995-2014
This report examines local elections in California, including the impact of off-cycle elections on turnout.

Urban Edge
Amid all the high-profile constitutional amendments in this year’s Texas election (no COVID restrictions for religious services, property tax breaks for families of veterans and the disabled), one seemingly nerdy amendment stood out as important for urban and suburban areas such as unincorporated Harris County. That was Proposition 2, which allows counties to issue tax-increment bonds for transportation and other infrastructure.

Two ballot measures—and no change to policing in Austin and Minneapolis
Roughly one and a half years after George Floyd’s murder and the global protests that followed, local votes affecting local police forces came to the ballot box last week. In Austin, Proposition A would have mandated higher police staffing levels, but it failed by a very large margin, with 69% of voters rejecting the measure. Farther north in Minneapolis, a more narrow but still decisive vote rejected the disbandment of the Minneapolis police department (56% opposed).

What Seattle and Boise got right about Hispanic representation in city politics
Houston, Boise, and Seattle share a strong-mayor form of government, and its voters tend to favor progressive-leaning candidates. But these two majority-White cities have lifted Hispanic candidates into office in recent years, while representation has dwindled in Houston.

In 2011, Houston created a district to boost Hispanic council representation. What happened?
In November 1979, Houston City Council went from being almost exclusively male and white to being dramatically more diverse, literally overnight, as voters elected the council’s first two women and its first Mexican-American, and tripled the representation of African-Americans. The new council was also on average 10 years younger. It was a new day in city politics—thanks to federally required reforms that led to single-member districting—and Houston never looked back.

Here’s how the Biden administration will be a boost for American cities
From an eviction moratorium to support for infrastructure, transportation and affordable housing, there are many moves President Joe Biden may make that will benefit cities. Here’s a look at some of them.

Physical Address
Rice University
Kraft Hall
6100 Main Street, Suite 305
Houston, TX 77005-1892