Three HISD incumbents prevail on election night, one open seat filled, and two open seats head to runoffs

Houston Independent School District Board President Wanda Adams and Trustee Anne Sung were re-elected to the Board of Education Tuesday, while Trustee Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca won a seat she was previously appointed to, and Sue Deigaard won the open District V seat.  The District I and District III seats will be decided in a runoff election.

Adams, a graduate of Kashmere High School and Texas Southern University, won a second term as the trustee for District IX. President Adams defeated Gerry Monroe and Karla Brown.

Sung, a Bellaire High School and Harvard University graduate, won her first full term as the trustee of District VII. She was elected in December of 2016 to fill the unexpired term of Harvin Moore. Trustee Sung defeated John Luman.

Vilaseca, a product of public schools with degrees from the University of Michigan and Columbia University, defeated two opponents to win her first full term as the trustee for District VI. She was appointed to the Board of Education in January of 2017 by a unanimous vote to complete Greg Meyers’ unexpired term. Vilaseca defeated Daniel Albert and Robert Lundin.

Deigaard, an education advocate, won a seat on the HISD Board of Education for the first time. She defeated three opponents to replace Mike Lunceford. Lunceford announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election. Deigaard went to public schools and graduated from Rice University.  She defeated Kara DeRocha, Sean Cheben, and Susan Shafer.

Elizabeth Santos and Gretchen Himsl will be in a runoff for the open District I seat being vacated by Anna Eastman, who decided not to seek re-election. Santos is a teacher and Himsl is a policy analyst.

Jesse Rodriguez and Sergio Lira will be in a runoff for the open District III seat, formerly held by the late Manuel Rodríguez Jr. Lira is an assistant principal. Rodriguez is a customer service professional and radio personality.

The runoff election is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 9.

The Nov. 7 results are unofficial vote totals until the votes are canvassed by the Board of Education this month.

The HISD Board of Education is composed of nine trustees. Each will serve a four-year term, which formally begins when they are sworn in during the first 2018 Board of Education meeting in January.