Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) suffered a blowout defeat Saturday night in Houston’s mayoral runoff election against Texas Sen. John Whitmire (D-15).
Whitmire, 74, focused his campaign on reducing crime in the city, the Associated Press reported, noting that he heavily outspent Jackson Lee.
With 57% of the expected votes counted, Whitmire was up 86,734 votes to 49,075 votes, 63.9% to 36.1%, NBC News reported.
Jackson Lee’s campaign was embroiled in controversy after an audio recording was released back in October in which Jackson Lee was allegedly berating staffers.
On the secret recording, obtained by Current Revolt, Lee could be heard allegedly berating a staff member because they did not know the exact date of an event.
“I don’t want you to do a g**d*** thing. I want you to have a f***ing brain,” she said. “I want you to have read it. I want you to say, ‘Congresswoman, with such and such date.’ That’s what I want. That’s the kind of staff that I want to have. So some stupid other motherf***er did it. And, and I don’t have the information. Nobody sent me the information. I need to, uh, ensure my, um, schedule and, uh, you know, if, if Boo Boo did it, s*** a** did it, f*** face did it. And nobody knows a g**d*** thing in my office. Okay? Nothing. I gave it to you. Your job was to get it on the calendar, imprint it in your brain, or send me the information back saying, ‘Congresswoman, I made sure that the Ovide Duncantell event that you gave me, uh, for a so-and-so date at seven is on the f***ing calendar.’ Not to, ‘oh, Jerome has it.’”
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“So when I called Jerome, he only sitting up there like a fat a** stupid idiot talking about, uh, what the f*** he doesn’t know,” she allegedly continued. “He doesn’t know. Okay? Both of y’all are f*** ups [inaudible]. It’s the worst s*** that I could have ever had put together. Two g**d*** big a** children f***ing idiots serve no g**d*** purpose. Ain’t managing nobody. Nobody’s respecting them. Nobody gives a s*** about what you’re doing and you ain’t doing s***. And this is an example of it. I gave it to Jerome. This is not child’s work.”
Lee responded to the recording by claiming in a statement that she “strongly believes that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” including her staff.
She said that she was “not perfect” and that she had a lot of “zeal” for serving her constituents.
“To anyone who has listened to this recording with concern, I am regretful and hope you will judge me not by something trotted out by a political opponent that worked to exploit this, and backed by extreme Republican supporters on the very day that polls open, but from what I’ve delivered to Houstonians over my years of public service,” she said as she avoided giving a direct apology.
She then claimed that many who have worked for her have gone on to “bigger and better opportunities” and dismissed the leaked tape as a “political attack and stunt.”