Andrew Friedberg elected Bellaire mayor

By Charlotte Aguilar
Bellaire voters have overwhelmingly selected Andrew Friedberg, 35, to be their new mayor. He defeated perennial candidate Robert Riquelmy 2,500 votes to 321.
Friedberg grew up in Bellaire, graduated from Bellaire High School and returned nine-and-a-half years ago.
He has spent most of that time in city government, as chair of the city’s Sunset Review Committee, a member of the Planning & Zoning Commission, then being elected to City Council in 2008. He announced he was resigning his council seat to run for mayor after incumbent Phil Nauert said he would not seek re-election.
With four council seats up for grabs, Friedberg stressed “continuity in leadership” as a theme in his bid.
He has been involved as a committee chair with the Houston Bar Association and was a participant in the Houston Young Lawyers Association Leadership Academy. He is also an active member of the Bellaire Historical Society, serving as webmaster.
Friedberg holds a B.A. in economics in government and a BBA in finance from the University of Texas at Austin, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He served six years in the U.S. Army National Guard.
An attorney in the oil and gas industry, he has been married to wife Jennifer for 10 years. They have two young children.