Marvin McNeese Jr.

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Marvin McNeese Jr.

Nonpartisan

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2019

Education

Bachelor's

College of DuPage, 1995

Graduate

University of Texas, Austin, 1999

Ph.D

Rice University

Personal

Birthplace

St. Louis, Mo.

Religion

Christian: Baptist

Profession

Professor

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Marvin McNeese Jr. ran for election to the Houston City Council to represent At-large Position 5 in Texas. McNeese lost in the general election on November 5, 2019.

McNeese completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

McNeese was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended the College of DuPage in Illinois and Albion College in Michigan. McNeese graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with an M.A. in Latin American studies and an M.P.Aff. in public affairs in May 1999. He received a Ph.D. in political science from |Rice University.

McNeese worked for 13 years as a professor of government and the chair of general education at the College of Biblical Studies. As of 2019, he was a deacon at Houston's First Baptist Church.

Elections

2019

See also: City elections in Houston, Texas (2019)

General runoff election

General runoff election for Houston City Council At-large Position 5

Sallie Alcorn defeated Eric Dick in the general runoff election for Houston City Council At-large Position 5 on December 14, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sallie Alcorn (Nonpartisan)	52.8	90,456
		Eric Dick (Nonpartisan)	47.2	80,774

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 171,230
= 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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General election

General election for Houston City Council At-large Position 5

The following candidates ran in the general election for Houston City Council At-large Position 5 on November 5, 2019.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sallie Alcorn (Nonpartisan)	22.8	42,803
✔		Eric Dick (Nonpartisan)	20.3	38,146
		Sonia Rivera (Nonpartisan)	11.1	20,939
	Submit photo	Catherine Flowers (Nonpartisan)	10.0	18,727
		Marvin McNeese Jr. (Nonpartisan)	8.5	15,906
		Michelle Bonton (Nonpartisan)	7.8	14,693
	Submit photo	J. Brad Batteau (Nonpartisan)	7.0	13,094
		Ashton Woods (Nonpartisan)	6.3	11,859
	Submit photo	Ralph Garcia (Nonpartisan)	6.3	11,812

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 187,979
= 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.

Campaign themes

2019

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Marvin McNeese Jr. completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by McNeese's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Marvin McNeese Jr. is a man of faith, a husband, father, and friend compelled to use his political science knowledge to serve the Houston community. He is currently the Chair for the General Education Department at College of Biblical Studies in Houston where he has taught Texas and American government for more than 15 years. He earned masters degrees at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the Teresa Lorenzo Long Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. After UT, he served for two-years with Avant Ministries in Panama, Central America and has done Christian missionary work in six other Latin American countries. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from Rice University in 2015. Most of Marvin's career has been spent in higher education, though he has worked in over seven industries. He also consults with churches on faith-based community development and social service. Marvin is a Deacon at Houston's First Baptist Church where he, his wife and four children have been members since 1993.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Solving More Crime. We need to hire more police officers, to make more of them into investigators to follow up on the increased amounts of evidence and solve more crime.
• Drainage. We need to use local, City drainage revenues to expedite the completion of the County/Federal bayou projects so that the entire City will drain faster.
• Budget. We need to rework our spending so that it no longer outpaces our revenues. This will involve more the moving of money into priority areas than the cutting of services (for example, more "payback" from the airport system).

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

We are not solving enough crimes.

Houston Police Department (HPD) has had to do MORE with TOO LITTLE. They have been forced to prioritize violent crime over other crime, but their shorthandedness still has HPD half of the time sending just one police officer per patrol car when responding to a dangerous call. Also, the rate at which HPD has been solving crime is decreasing. HPD solved only 51% of murders in 2017, the lowest rate of the past ten years (from a high of 90% in 2011). This leaves rapes and non-violent crimes getting too little attention. HPD has only solved on average 38% of rapes, 13% of thefts (larceny), 7% of burglaries and only6% of stolen car cases. (Giving credit where credit is due, the Police Chief recently reported that the homicide clearance rate rose dramatically in 2018 to 72%.) These rates are horrible.

We need more police, especially more crime investigators. We need more cadets and more cadet classes, AND we need more senior officers to be moved over from patrol and administration to crime investigation. But more than the number, it's about the focus on the task (the measure) of solving more crime.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

City or municipal government is one of two governments (other is county) that are directly responsible for public safety through a police force. As such, we must make sure to get that right and keep folks safe and protected, since it falls squarely on our shoulders. As a City Council Member, I have the responsibility to make sure that our Mayor and the Police Chief have all the resources they need and are doing all they can with those resources to keep Houston safe. I get to do that by reflecting citizen feedback to police officials, ensuring that public safety is adequately funded within the budget, and advocating that police officers be respected and assisted by citizens.

City government also has the privilege of assisting its residents with quality of life services: roadways, sanitation, utilities, recreation, etc. We are the stewards of the taxes that we citizens pool together for these services, again reflecting citizen feedback to city workers and ensuring that each service is adequately funded.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Sacrifice. Good elected officials resist the temptations towards personal profit at the expense of policy decisions favored by the majority of citizens or of benefit to the most disadvantaged citizens. Unfortunately, those groups offering profit sponsor candidates or otherwise woo susceptible officials away.

Investigation. Good elected officials must be willing (and good at) investigating claims, whether from interest groups, government workers or citizens. They need to put in the work to figure out what's really going on, and they need to commission or craft solutions that benefit as many as possible or at least don't hurt the most vulnerable.

Respect the citizenry. Good elected officials avoid acting paternalistic toward citizens. Instead of thinking or acting "I know what's best; you all just quiet down and go along with what I have for you," good elected officials instead give citizens the benefit of the doubt, believing at first glance what those citizens claim to be true, and taking it seriously enough to investigate to verify what was said and then begin to look for a remedy.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I want Houstonians to be satisfied with the performance of their city government. I want my participation leads to that end.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My very first job was ushering in a movie theater. I had that job for 9 months (one school year).

What is your favorite book? Why?

The Girl Who Owned A City. A 12-year old girl leads the kids in her neighborhood to re-establish society in an Chicago area high school after a plague kills all people 13 and older. She exhibits exceptional insight, courage, and leadership.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

He's Able by Darwin Hobbs.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2019 Elections

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