Houstonians wade through crowded field of mayoral candidates

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - 41 days until the Houston mayoral election and a collection of public and private polls reviewed by FOX 26 have Mayor Sylvester Turner drawing the most support, but not enough to avoid a December run-off. Those surveys indicate anywhere from a quarter to a third of those likely to cast ballots have yet to make their choice - a pool of undecided voters deeply coveted by those seeking the office.

Today the challengers were back on the stump battering the incumbent.

"It's time to rally around the flag and beat this Mayor because if we don't this City is going into the ditch," said mayoral candidate Tony Buzbee.

"Imagine a city where you don't have a Mayor who is constantly whining at you that his failures are your failures, because you don't pay enough property taxes," said mayoral candidate Bill King.

Others seeking the City's top job see the next six weeks as a chance to harvest the undecided with ideas and unique qualifications.

"When you look at the fact that a large part of the people have not received their Harvey funding," said mayoral candidate Johnny Taylor.

"Decriminalizing cannabis, ending the drug war, talking about the 5G rollout which is really important to a lot of Houstonians," said mayoral candidate Derrick Broze.

"The leadership we have in this city is greedy for money, greedy for power, and they are not listening to the voice of the people," said mayoral candidate Demetria Smith.

"Most of the people I talk to, from every walk of life, wants a change and that change will be me," said mayoral candidate Kendall Baker.

"I'm attending as many events as I can, shaking hands with as many people as I can," said mayoral candidate Victoria Romero.

"My biggest issue is the corruption in the City, because we are giving contracts to the wrong people," said mayoral candidate Naoufal Houjami.

Candidates Turner, Sue Lovell and Dwight Boykins were invited to the Village Republican Women's Club forum, but did not appear.