Pappas in lead for Bellaire mayor, but Wesely, Perry jostle for a runoff

By Charlotte Aguilar

With early results reported Tuesday night (Nov. 7) in Bellaire, former Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem Gus Pappas is in the lead for mayor but the two other candidates — newcomer Aaron Perry and incumbent Councilmember Nathan Wesely — are in a close race to force him into a Dec. 9 runoff.

Here are the results, with 2,071 early in-person votes and mail-in ballots counted at the close of polls at 7 p.m.:

Mayor

Aaron Perry                   586      28.30%

Nathan Wesely              619      29.89%

Gus Pappas                   866      41.82%

In contests for the three council seats up for grabs, incumbent Catherine Lewis leads Mike Stanton 1,412-480 in her bid for a second four-year term in Position 2, with Cindy Cohen Taylor ahead of Elan Tavor 1,073-889 to gain the Position 4 seat, and Jackie Georgiou outpolling Kevin Newman 1,259-639 in the Position 6 race.

The proposition to authorize Bellaire to sell the former Ruffino Hills landfill appears to be passing easily, 1,642-373. Bellaire shared the property in far southwest Houston with the city of West University Place, which recently sold a similar-size portion for $10 million to the city of Houston for flood mitigation.