With the Houston Metropolis Council At-Giant Place 4 heading to a runoff, voters face a transparent selection between two candidates providing sharply completely different approaches to citywide management.
Former councilmember Dwight Boykins and legal professional Alejandra Salinas emerged as the highest finishers in a crowded subject and are actually vying for a seat that represents all Houstonians, not a single district. The seat grew to become vacant after Letitia Plummer resigned in July 2025 to run for Harris County Decide.
Town of Houston has set the run-off date for the open at-large council seat, At-Giant Place 4, for Dec. 13, 2025 (Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.). Early voting will run from December 1–9 (Monday by way of Saturday: 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.; Sunday: 12:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m.).
Within the November 4 common election, no candidate exceeded 50% assist, prompting a run-off. Salinas led with roughly 21% of the vote, adopted intently by Boykins with about 20%.
To assist readers evaluate their priorities and governing philosophies, The Houston Defender posed the identical set of inquiries to each candidates: on citywide failures, funds constraints, public belief and what distinguishes them from each other. Their solutions reveal contrasting views on expertise versus recent management and their concepts on tackling long-standing infrastructure and public security challenges at Metropolis Corridor as Houston heads towards the runoff election.
Query 1: At-large members should serve your complete metropolis, not one district. What are the highest three citywide points you consider Houston has failed to handle successfully and what particular legislative or funds actions would you soak up your first 12 months to alter that?
Boykins: Very first thing I’m going to do is meet with the mayor, the council members and the agenda director to make sure I perceive the place we’re on a vital initiative for the town known as the East Water Purification Plant. That is the place 73% of the ingesting water and bathing water used within the restroom comes from. Town is attempting to find out in the event that they don’t construct a brand new plant or renovate the present plant, which is already aged, then the query turns into, how are we going to pay for it? Will we challenge bonds that create new debt or convey the personal sector in?
The second factor I wish to do is make sure that the ReBuild Houston infrastructure program that we handed, which I used to be part of in 2011, has the funding for that program keep in place in a lockbox. I wish to set up an advert hoc committee to supervise the safety of that fund, making certain that avenue and drainage repairs, in addition to pothole replacements, are in place all through the town.
The third factor, I wish to increase my seniors help fund to assist seniors with minor house repairs without charge. Presently, we’ve repaired over 607 properties for seniors and I wish to proceed that city-wide.
Salinas: This marketing campaign has began from a spot of listening and studying. I’ve had a number of conversations and a number of completely different espresso outlets, sat down with engineers and likewise did a police ride-along, the place I sat in a automotive and understood the expertise from regulation enforcement.
Based mostly on these conversations, three main points rose to the highest. The primary is inexpensive and dependable metropolis companies, simply getting the fundamentals proper as a metropolis, choosing up the trash on time and recurrently choosing up the recycling and truly going to recycling, fixing the potholes and the fundamental infrastructure of our streets, after which it on the subject of a robust infrastructure, ensuring that we’re making good selections about defending our communities and our properties from flooding.
We’re shedding billions of gallons of water underground as a consequence of leaky pipes, which is inflicting sinkholes across the metropolis and we all know what occurs when energy doesn’t work. We will’t enable that to occur with our water infrastructure, so making the investments we have to treatment.
Then, public security. That’s an above-all strategy to giving regulation enforcement the sources they want. For instance, ensuring they’ve sufficient automobiles to patrol the town, but additionally turning to recognized community-based approaches to policing. In Boston, they’ve had large success with specializing in scorching spot areas, not simply with elevated enforcement, however by bringing in additional psychological well being sources, extra Job Corps sources, extra drug rehabilitation sources, giving individuals an choice to interact in a brand new life slightly than partaking in recidivism. I wish to champion a few of these applications proper right here in Houston.
There are budgetary limits to doing all this. So how will we pay for these applications? I feel one step is being extra proactive within the grants that we’re searching for from our state, federal and personal companions. Proper now, there are departments within the metropolis of Houston that don’t have devoted grant writers who aren’t targeted on bringing in further {dollars}.
So, one of many first issues I wish to do is rent some devoted grant writers to simply be targeted on, how will we herald further {dollars} to the town of Houston, so cities like New York, LA and Chicago don’t get all of it, however that we’ve a preventing likelihood at a few of these {dollars}, after which different ways in which we will herald further income to the town, however I feel earlier than we herald further income from taxpayers, we’ve to begin with extra communication and transparency about how your {dollars} are being spent.
Query 2: Residents persistently cite points like public security, unlawful dumping and ageing infrastructure as their issues. Which challenge will you prioritize first while you assume workplace and the way will you fund enhancements with out straining the town’s structural deficit?
Boykins: As an at-large council member, you’re employed with the district council members which have the 13 district council members which have a $1 million allocation known as a council district service fund. You meet with every one to find out which one has the unlawful dumping points and see what they’ve allotted funding for. In different phrases, they’ve a HOT (Homeless Outreach Crew) workforce that will exit and decide up unlawful dumping, or they’ve cameras that could be serving to. I wish to get with them and never get in entrance of them, to see what they’ve in place.
Then my expertise being that I’ve labored with federal businesses prior to now, go to Washington, DC, arrange a gathering with the Division of Justice and see if there’s further funding that can be utilized to usher in safety strategies to assist with public security initiatives in all through the town of Houston, and divide that cash among the many 13 districts that we get funded.
You should have a balanced funds in keeping with the town constitution, however you wish to make sure that you simply’re not leaving out fundamental metropolis companies that can assist with the standard of life, from choosing up trash, recycling and ensuring that seniors have entry to the multi-service facilities.
Salinas: The problems which can be priorities for me are inexpensive, dependable metropolis companies, safer neighborhoods and a robust infrastructure, getting inventive about how we’re bringing in further {dollars} for the town of Houston.
Unlawful dumping is a vital challenge within the metropolis of Houston. It’s as a lot of a public security concern as among the issues that our regulation enforcement has to cope with due to the nuisance that it causes in communities. A really pure place for us to begin in combating that’s utilizing the ability of the purse that the town has. There are a number of contractors, lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} that we dole out to present to corporations to do work for the town. Let’s be sure that these corporations have a transparent plan in place as to how they’re going to deal with the dumping the dimensions related to their initiatives, and let’s maintain them to account. If corporations usually are not following by way of, we’re going to do not forget that the following time they arrive up for one more metropolis contract.
It’s not simply company unhealthy actors. Typically there are individuals in these communities, or individuals across the communities who’re coming in and interesting on this. How we problem deal with that challenge must be a dialog we’re having with people in the neighborhood. Is it elevated fines? Is it being extra stringent on when the town takes motion, and elevated enforcement? We will’t go too far and have all of the surveillance that the neighborhood doesn’t need, but when the neighborhood needs further surveillance, let’s assist the efforts that folk in the neighborhood are amenable to.
Query 3: In what methods do you distinguish your self out of your opponent and this seat’s predecessors?
Boykins: I don’t know my opponent. I simply met her throughout this marketing campaign for the primary time. So I don’t wish to say I do know something about her. I do know that I’ve expertise. I’ve the endorsements of each single business, from the police division, the fireplace division, the town of Houston staff, the sheriff’s division, former mayor Lee P. Brown, each Mayor Professional Tem you may consider, and now the Harris County sheriff.
What separates me is that each single enterprise, business and regulation enforcement and neighborhood enterprise teams assist my marketing campaign as a result of they know I can hit the bottom working. I demonstrated that after I was on the council for six years, I introduced a high quality grocery retailer right into a neighborhood, a model new multi-service middle and a fireplace station to the Sunnyside space. Expertise issues and I’m able to hit the bottom working.
Salinas: I used to be very honored to obtain the endorsement of the Houston Chronicle on this runoff election.
I’m somebody new, somebody with recent concepts. My opponent served on council over a decade in the past, and I’ve a lot respect for his service, however I’m attempting to convey a brand new, kind of recent expertise to council.
I spent 20 years of my life taking over huge fights in each advocacy, whether or not it was organizing college students at my native highschool and nationally for President Barack Obama, and as a trial lawyer proper right here in Harris County, taking over some huge corporations and holding them to account.
In my professional bono observe, representing individuals like Teneshia Hudspeth and Lina Hidalgo when the Republicans tried to overturn our election, and representing college students in Magnolia ISD after they have been being kicked out of sophistication simply due to the model of their hair, I’ve taken on these fights, I’ve gotten issues completed for the neighborhood and I wish to take all these classes of being a companion at among the best regulation companies in America, studying the way to set up nationally and at an area degree, to convey that advocacy and consensus constructing to council. That’s what units me aside on this race.
