Chris Bell (Texas)

Chris Bell

Nonpartisan

Prior offices

U.S. House Texas District 25

Successor: Lloyd Doggett

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Elections and appointments

Last election

March 3, 2020

Education

Bachelor's

University of Texas, Austin

Law

South Texas College of Law

Personal

Profession

Attorney

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign YouTube

Chris Bell was a member of the U.S. House, representing Texas' 25th Congressional District.

Bell (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Texas. He lost in the Democratic primary on March 3, 2020.

Biography

Bell was born in Abilene, Texas, and grew up in Dallas. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. from South Texas College of Law. While attending law school, Bell worked as a journalist and tv and radio reporter. His professional experience includes working as an attorney in private firms. He became a partner at Berg Feldman Johnson Bell, LLP in 2014.

Bell's political experience includes serving on the Houston City Council, following his election in 1997. He was elected to Congress in 2002 and served one term. He ran for Governor of Texas in 2006, winning the Democratic primary and losing the general election to Governor Rick Perry.

Elections

2020

See also: United States Senate election in Texas, 2020

United States Senate election in Texas, 2020 (March 3 Republican primary)

United States Senate election in Texas, 2020 (March 3 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Texas

Incumbent John Cornyn defeated Mary Jennings Hegar, Kerry McKennon, David B. Collins, and Ricardo Turullols-Bonilla in the general election for U.S. Senate Texas on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John Cornyn (R)	53.5	5,962,983
		Mary Jennings Hegar (D)	43.9	4,888,764
		Kerry McKennon (L)	1.9	209,722
		David B. Collins (G)	0.7	81,893
		Ricardo Turullols-Bonilla (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	678

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 11,144,040
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Arjun Srinivasan (Independent)
• Cedric Jefferson (People Over Politics Party)
• James Brumley (The Human Rights Party)
• Tim Smith (Independent)

Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for U.S. Senate Texas

Mary Jennings Hegar defeated Royce West in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. Senate Texas on July 14, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mary Jennings Hegar	52.2	502,516
		Royce West	47.8	459,457

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 961,973 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Texas

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Texas on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mary Jennings Hegar	22.3	417,160
✔		Royce West	14.7	274,074
		Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez	13.2	246,659
		Annie Garcia	10.3	191,900
		Amanda Edwards	10.1	189,624
		Chris Bell	8.5	159,751
		Sema Hernandez	7.4	137,892
		Michael Cooper	4.9	92,463
		Victor Harris	3.2	59,710
		Adrian Ocegueda	2.2	41,566
		Jack Daniel Foster Jr.	1.7	31,718
		D.R. Hunter	1.4	26,902

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,869,419
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• John Love III (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Texas

Incumbent John Cornyn defeated Dwayne Stovall, Mark Yancey, John Castro, and Virgil Bierschwale in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Texas on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John Cornyn	76.0	1,470,669
		Dwayne Stovall	11.9	231,104
		Mark Yancey	6.5	124,864
		John Castro	4.5	86,916
		Virgil Bierschwale	1.1	20,494

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,934,047
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Green convention

Green convention for U.S. Senate Texas

David B. Collins advanced from the Green convention for U.S. Senate Texas on April 18, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		David B. Collins (G)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. Senate Texas

Kerry McKennon advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. Senate Texas on August 3, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Kerry McKennon (L)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Wes Benedict (L)
• Rhett Rosenquest Smith (L)

2015

See also: Houston, Texas municipal elections, 2015

The city of Houston, Texas, held elections for mayor and city council on November 3, 2015. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was August 24, 2015. In the mayoral race, the candidates were former Congressman Chris Bell, Houston Councilman Stephen C. Costello, Joe Ferreira, Adrian Garcia, Ben Hall, Bill King, Victoria Lane, Marty McVey, Rafael Muñoz Jr., Nguyen Thai Hoc, Demetria Smith, Dale Steffes and Representative Sylvester Turner. Sylvester Turner and Bill King advanced from the general.

Sylvester Turner defeated Bill King in the runoff election.

Mayor of Houston, Runoff election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Sylvester Turner	50.2%	104,639
Bill King	49.8%	103,961
Write-in votes	0%	0
Total Votes (100% of precincts reporting)		208,600
Source: Harris County, Texas, "Runoff Election Results," December 12, 2015

Mayor of Houston, General election, 2015
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Sylvester Turner	31.3%	81,735
Bill King	25.3%	65,968
Adrian Garcia	17.1%	44,758
Ben Hall	9.5%	24,805
Chris Bell	7.4%	19,345
Stephen C. Costello	6.7%	17,546
Nguyen Thai Hoc	0.9%	2,325
Marty McVey	0.5%	1,378
Demetria Smith	0.5%	1,234
Victoria Lane	0.3%	908
Rafael Muñoz Jr.	0.2%	515
Dale Steffes	0.1%	302
Joe Ferreira	0.1%	240
Write-in votes	0%	0
Total Votes (100% of precincts reporting)		261,059
Source: Harris County Texas, "Official general election results," accessed November 16, 2015

2006

Bell ran for governor of Texas in 2006. He was defeated in the general election by incumbent Rick Perry (R).

Governor of Texas, General Election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Rick Perry Incumbent	39%	1,716,792
	Democratic	Chris Bell	29.8%	1,310,337
	Independent	Carole Strayhorn	18.1%	796,851
	Independent	Richard Friedman	12.4%	547,674
	Libertarian	James Werner	0.6%	26,749
	Write-in	James Dillon	0%	713
Total Votes				4,399,116

Governor of Texas, Democratic Primary, 2006
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Chris Bell	63.9%	324,869
Bob Gammage	28.5%	145,081
Rashad Jafer	7.6%	38,652
Total Votes		508,602

2004

Bell ran for re-election to the U.S. House in 2004. He was defeated in the Democratic primary by Al Green.

U.S. House, Texas District 9 Democratic Primary, 2004
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Al Green	66.5%	18,034
Chris Bell Incumbent	31.3%	8,492
Beverly Spencer	2.2%	607
Total Votes		27,133

2002

On November 5, 2002, Chris Bell won election to the United States House. He defeated Tom Reiser (R), George Reiter (G) and Guy McLendon (L) in the general election.

U.S. House, Texas District 25 General Election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Chris Bell	54.8%	63,590
	Republican	Tom Reiser	43.1%	50,041
	Green	George Reiter	1.2%	1,399
	Libertarian	Guy McLendon	0.9%	1,096
Total Votes				116,126

Bell advanced past the Democratic primary with 36.1% of the vote. He defeated Carroll Robinson in the primary runoff with 54.3% of the vote.

2001

Bell ran for mayor of Houston in 2001. He was defeated in the general election on November 6, 2001. Lee Brown won the race in a general election runoff.

Mayor of Houston, General Election, 2001
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Lee Brown	42.5%	120,108
	Nonpartisan	Orlando Sanchez	40.9%	115,526
	Nonpartisan	Chris Bell	16.1%	45,575
	Nonpartisan	Luis Ullrich Jr.	0.2%	570
	Nonpartisan	Larry DeVoy	0.2%	484
	Nonpartisan	Anthony Dutrow	0.1%	233
Total Votes				282,496

1999

In 1999, Bell won re-election to the position 4 seat on the Houston City Council.

1997

In 1997, Bell won election to the position 4 seat on the Houston City Council. The general election was held on November 4, 1997, and the general election runoff took place on December 6, 1997.

Houston City Council, At-Large Position 4 General Election Runoff, 1997
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Chris Bell	63.1%	154,039
	Nonpartisan	Richard Johnson	36.9%	90,128
Total Votes				244,167

Houston City Council, At-Large Position 4 General Election, 1997
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Chris Bell	49%	109,973
	Nonpartisan	Richard Johnson	29.3%	65,717
	Nonpartisan	Bill Wiener	21.8%	48,940
Total Votes				224,630

1995

Bell was a candidate for Houston City Council in 1995.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Chris Bell did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2015

Bell's website highlighted the following campaign themes:

Streets and transportation

• Excerpt: "We need to take a modern approach to fixing our infrastructure. That's why I'll create a new Streets and Traffic Management department to cut the bureaucracy at City Hall and make fixing our streets and sidewalks a real priority. We need a new, efficient system using new technology in innovative ways to synchronize our lights, fix our streets and share information with all Houstonians."

Public safety

• Excerpt: "I'm committed to using the most advanced techniques to keep our citizens safe. Everything from computerized tracking of crime, to body cameras on police, and CCTV in high crime areas. Technology can be our biggest weapon."

Education

• Excerpt: "We need an innovative approach, and one possibility is to put the unused space in our public libraries to work hosting pre-kindergarten programs. Pre-K for all children who want it is not just a political bandwagon. It can be the key toward a child's long-term success in the classroom."

Mobility

• Excerpt: "In addition to the light rail, I will work with METRO to consider the feasibility of a new modern system, Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) for areas not covered by rail."
• Excerpt: "BRT uses state of the art electric buses that run on dedicated lanes, and BRT systems are considerably less expensive than light rail and have the added advantage of being able to be built in a fraction of the time. BRT is working well in Cleveland, Las Vegas, and many cities around the world. Federal money may be available, and I will work with my former colleagues in Congress to make it happen."

Finances and city pensions

• Excerpt: "Advances in technology, especially as they are used in financial management, can make government more efficient and as cost-effective as possible."
• Excerpt: "My administration will conduct audits throughout the city in every department to reduce costs and create a new, modern government. If government is closer to you, with more interaction through technology, we create efficiencies and improve accountability. I recognize our pension challenges will not be solved overnight, but I'll bring all parties to the table and work toward a system based on the fiscal realities we face."

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Bell and his wife, Alison Ayres Bell, have two sons. The family lives in the Meyerland neighborhood and attends Christ Church Cathedral Episcopal Church.

See also

2020 Elections

What's on the ballot? U.S. President U.S. Congress U.S. Congress special elections State executives State legislatures State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards Election analysis hub

Government

Who represents me? U.S. Congress State executives State legislators State courts Ballot measures Municipal government School boards

Newsletters

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External links

Suggest a link

• Search Google News for this topic
• City of Houston - November 3, 2015 General Election Candidates
• Official campaign website
• Chris Bell on Facebook
• Chris Bell on Twitter

Footnotes

[show]

Texas' current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

John Cornyn (R)

Ted Cruz (R)

Representatives

District 1

Nathaniel Moran (R)

District 2

Daniel Crenshaw (R)

District 3

Keith Self (R)

District 4

Pat Fallon (R)

District 5

Lance Gooden (R)

District 6

Jake Ellzey (R)

District 7

Lizzie Fletcher (D)

District 8

Morgan Luttrell (R)

District 9

Al Green (D)

District 10

Michael McCaul (R)

District 11

August Pfluger (R)

District 12

Craig Goldman (R)

District 13

Ronny Jackson (R)

District 14

Randy Weber (R)

District 15

Monica De La Cruz (R)

District 16

Veronica Escobar (D)

District 17

Pete Sessions (R)

District 18

Vacant

District 19

Jodey Arrington (R)

District 20

Joaquin Castro (D)

District 21

Chip Roy (R)

District 22

Troy Nehls (R)

District 23

Tony Gonzales (R)

District 24

Beth Van Duyne (R)

District 25

Roger Williams (R)

District 26

Brandon Gill (R)

District 27

Michael Cloud (R)

District 28

Henry Cuellar (D)

District 29

Sylvia Garcia (D)

District 30

Jasmine Crockett (D)

District 31

John Carter (R)

District 32

Julie Johnson (D)

District 33

Marc Veasey (D)

District 34

Vicente Gonzalez (D)

District 35

Greg Casar (D)

District 36

Brian Babin (R)

District 37

Lloyd Doggett (D)

District 38

Wesley Hunt (R)

Republican Party (27)

Democratic Party (12)

Vacancies (1)