After winning a May 7 special election over Bess by 202 votes, Jones was sworn in to assume interim duties as the representative for HD 147 under the district’s previous geographic boundaries.
With slightly shifted boundaries under redistricting, Jones took first in the March primary election with 41 percent in a seven-way primary but came away with a 493-vote margin of victory in Tuesday’s runoff against Bess.
A former Houston ISD trustee, Jones touted endorsements from Rep. Al Green (D-TX-09), Coleman, and state Sen. Boris Miles (D-Houston), but Bess held competing endorsements from her former employer Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX-18), state Rep. Harold Dutton (D-Houston), and Houston ISD trustee Elizabeth Santos.
Jones outraised and outspent Bess, and enjoys the support of the LGBTQ Victory Fund and Planned Parenthood Texas Votes political action committees along with numerous labor and teacher union groups.
With a rating of D-79% from The Texan’s Texas Partisan Index, as the Democratic Party nominee Jones is heavily favored to win, although controversial figure Damien Thaddeus Jones will appear on the ballot as the Republican nominee.
Damien Jones, who previously worked for both then-state Sen. Rodney Ellis (D-Houston) and Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 Senate campaign, defeated Rashard Baylor in the Republican Primary but has ceased to campaign for the HD 147 seat.
Tied to the investigations and indictments of conservative activist Steven Hotze and former Houston police captain Mark Aguirre, Damien Jones is himself under indictment on misdemeanor charges after he allegedly threatened to expose then-state Rep. Gina Calanni (D-Katy) accusing her of personal matters if she did not resign from her seat in December 2019.
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Holly Hansen
Holly Hansen is a regional reporter for The Texan living in Harris County. Her former column, “All In Perspective” ran in The Georgetown Advocate, Jarrell Star Ledger, and The Hill Country News, and she has contributed to a variety of Texas digital media outlets. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Central Florida with a degree in History, and in addition to writing about politics and policy, also writes about faith and culture.
