We’re going to have to do this the hard way.
With a fundraising haul of more than $75,000, incumbent Houston ISD trustee Bridget Wade has outraised all declared candidates who are running for the five trustee seats up for election.
Houston voters will elect HISD trustees in five districts — District I, V, VI, VII and IX — to four-year terms in the upcoming Nov. 5 election. HISD’s nine elected trustees don’t currently have any power in the district under the ongoing state takeover, but they will gradually resume oversight of the district once the Texas Education Agency ends the intervention after June 2027.
Each candidate was required to file a campaign finance report outlining if they had raised or spent money from Jan. 1 to June 30. Wade — a conservative running for a second term to represent District VII — reported raising more than double than the combined total of all the other declared candidates.
Wade reported $75,115 in total contributions, including $5,000 from Melinda Hildebrand, a Houston philanthropist and the U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica; $5,000 from Peter Wareing, chairman of a Houston investment firm; and separate $5,000 donations from Houston oil executive Jim Flores and his wife Cherie Flores.
Audrey Nath, who is also running for the District VII seat, has reported more than $32,000 in political contributions, including $1,000 donations from several Houston physicians.
Nath has spent about $1,576, which includes $710 on credit card fees, $466 on Act Blue fees, $330 on printing expenses, $40 for her website domain and $29 for advertising expenses.
Maria Benzon, a candidate for the District V seat, reported $161 in political expenditures, which have all been spent on advertising or a website domain. She has $32.50 left in political contributions, according to her report.
Incumbent trustees Kendall Baker and Myrna Guidry reported zero total political contributions or expenditures in their July report. Both trustees, who represent District VI and IX, have told the Chronicle that they’re seeking reelection to their seats in the November election.
Felicity Pereyra, a candidate for District I, and Michael McDonough, a candidate for District VI, told the Chronicle they did not file a campaign finance report because they did not file their campaign treasurer appointment until after June 30.
Sue Deigaard, the trustee representing District V, has reported $1,296 in campaign expenditures since January, including more than $1,007 on NGP VAN, a voter database used by the Democratic party; $138 on Google services and $150 to Paragon Payment Solutions for payment processing services. She has $736 left in political contributions.
Deigaard has not publicly stated whether she plans to seek another term in her role. She told the Chronicle she would make an announcement about her decision to run in August.
Elizabeth Santos, the HISD trustee representing District I, did not publish a July campaign finance report. She did not respond to a request for comment about whether she plans to run.
The embedded image is what you will see right now if you try to follow any of those links in the story. On Monday morning, the usual “Trustee Elections” page that had a listing of filings for everyone running was up. After lunch, the new website design kicked in, and away went every useful bit of information about the elected Trustees, with nothing at all to be seen about the other candidates. What terrific timing, let me tell you. I’ll check back and post an update when I can find things again. And while I know this cannot possibly be Mike Miles’ fault, I am nevertheless shaking my fist in his direction and cursing his name. So you know, another normal day.
Anyway. You can see the January filings here. Wade may be the fundraising leader, but four years ago as a new candidate, she had raised $141K and had $123K on hand. Different times, obviously. There’s always the 30 day reports, so one way or another I hope to have more info for you eventually.
PREVOIUSLY:
Harris County
Senate and Congress
City of Houston