Houston City Council swears in newest member, says goodbye to Travis

The Houston City Council has sworn in its newest member, Mary Nan Huffman, and said goodbye to Huffman’s predecessor.

Huffman, 38, who was an attorney for the Houston Police Officers’ Union, was sworn in on Feb. 2 after winning a special election for the District G seat in west Houston. She won with 54% of the vote, and won the seat without needing a runoff. Huffman replaced Greg Travis, who resigned last year to vie for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives.

“I will miss council,” Travis said upon leaving the city council. “I will miss everyone around this horseshoe.”

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner swore Huffman in, with Huffman’s husband and sons in attendance.

Huffman thanked her family and supporters for helping her win the runoff, then said she was eager to begin her work.

“I plan to jump right in to work without missing a beat,” Huffman told the Houston Chronicle in an article posted Feb. 2, adding that she planned to retain Travis’ District G staff.

Among Huffman’s first priorities were to provide responders more resources, improve the local infrastructure and flood protection and she also wants to ensure that tax dollars would be spent responsibly, she said.

Huffman added that she plans to keep her job with the union, but she told the Chronicle that she would recuse herself from labor contract votes.

Other members of the council saluted Travis before he left the panel, with Turner noting that he and Travis entered the council at the same time in 2016.

Turner praised Travis for the work he had done for west Houston residents.

“I would say in most instances, we worked on those things together and moved things forward for this city,” Turner said.

Huffman is the Houston Council’s 10th female member in its history, the Chronicle reported.