By Charlotte Aguilar
In-person voting tallies released just after midnight Sunday (Dec. 10) aligned with early results, and it appears Gus Pappas has easily won election as Bellaire mayor in Saturday’s runoff.
Pappas served eight years as a city councilmember — four of those as mayor pro tem — before term limits kicked in. His runoff campaign for mayor emphasized that experience as he faced Aaron Perry, who had never before served in a city government volunteer or elected capacity. Perry, who trumpeted his involvement with Bellaire Little League, attracted and spent more than $60,000 for direct mail, signs, and ads, including videos on social media, to introduce himself to voters — an amount unprecedented in a Bellaire municipal election.
In the runoff, Perry earned the endorsement of the third candidate in the general election, incumbent Councilman Nathan Wesely, and two other councilmembers, Catherine Lewis and Jim Hotze.
Five hours after the polls closed Saturday, 950 Bellaire runoff ballot results were released and other votes trickled in — and Pappas’ lead over Aaron Perry held at about 58-42 percent, 1,666-1,211 votes.
Because voters could cast their ballot at any of the county’s 450 polling places, it was unclear how many Bellaire votes might still be uncounted in the 116 locations that still hadn’t reported as of 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
Results posted shortly after the polls closed at 7 p.m. tallied 90 mail-in Bellaire ballots, and another 1,749 cast by those who had voted early in person. At the 1:30 a.m. mark, 1,038 in-person Bellaire votes on runoff day had been tabulated, bringing the turnout in the runoff to 2,879 out of 13,539 registered voters — about 21 percent.
Bellaire is getting its first new mayor in eight years, replacing Andrew Friedberg, who was term limited. Installation of the mayor along with three councilmembers elected Nov. 7 — incumbent Lewis, Cindy Cohen Taylor and Jackie Georgiou — will take place on Jan. 8, 2024.
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