HOUSTON — Hispanic culture is colorful, vibrant, and known for its traditions, food, and music. While you may see and feel that influence all around Houston, you don’t see it as much in our city government.
In Houston, the fourth largest city in the U.S., Latinos make up nearly half of the population. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, In 2020 Hispanics or Latinos accounted for nearly 45% of the population, which is more than one million people.
To date, there’s never been a Latino mayor. For the past eight years, Robert Gallegos has been the only Latino on the Houston City Council. Gallegos, a native Houstonian whose parents came from Mexico, represents District I. His term is over at the end of 2023. The last time there were two Latino council members was when Gallegos took office in 2014. That’s when Ed Gonzalez, who's now the Harris County Sheriff, was representing city council District H.
“I'm proud to be the Latino on the city council,” Gallegos said, “but then again, I'm embarrassed to be the only Latino on the city council.”
Gallegos said he feels as if he has to represent more than just his district.
“Your representative on the city council works with the mayor to get things done, and when you only have one out of 16, it's difficult,” Gallegos said.
So, why isn’t there equal representation on the Houston City Council?
Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University said there are several factors as to why there’s such a low voter turnout among Hispanics in the city of Houston.
"Almost half of Houston residents are Hispanic, only about 15% to 18% of the people who actually turn out to vote in city elections are Hispanic,” Jones said, “and that explains a lot of it."
According to Jones some of the factors for the low voter turnout also include:
Many Hispanics are not eligible to vote
Many Hispanics are younger than 18
Others are either undocumented or non-citizen permanent residents
Of those who are eligible to vote, many are not registered
Of those registered, not many turnout for local elections
"There is perhaps a lack of awareness of the importance of local government for the day-to-day lives of the city's residents. So understanding that the quality of the police service and the fire service and the roads and the parks, all of that hinges on the city government," Jones said.
Dr. Sergio Lira, the president of the Greater Houston LULAC said his organization works to get the Hispanic community more involved, and said it’s difficult when not much changes.
“If you don't have folks that look like you that reflect your culture or your identity, you're less likely to get involved,” Lira said.
There is another factor to the lack of representation on city council. According to Jones and Lira, the at-large city council seats historically work against groups that have a small percentage of voters. Houston is the only major city in Texas with at-large seats.
"In Houston, we elect 11 of our representatives from single-member districts, but five from at-large districts. That's the city wide," Jones said." Hispanics haven't won a citywide at-large race for 20 years.”
LULAC wants to change that. The organization filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Houston in December 2022. The lawsuit asks the court to discontinue at-large elections for city council.
"We're fighting for modern-day independence and representation," Lira said. "The struggle continues. Let's not forget."
As far as when the Hispanic community could see more representation on the council, Jones said we’ll see in this upcoming November election.
“The best we could hope for this election cycle would be three of 16, and it's probably more likely to be two, than three,” Jones said.
There is a future where we could see the Hispanic community be a larger share of registered voters, according to Jones, and in turn some changes in the way Houston is represented. However, it may be years down the line before that happens.
The LULAC lawsuit asking for at-large seats to be done away with isn’t scheduled until next year. In a court filing, the City of Houston denies “that the city’s at-large districts dilute the electoral strength of Hispanics.”