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Mike Knox (Texas)
Mike Knox was a member of the Houston City Council in Texas, representing At-large Position 1. He assumed office on January 2, 2016. He left office on January 2, 2024.
Knox (Republican Party) ran for election for Harris County Sheriff in Texas. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Knox completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Knox is from Houston, Texas. He received an associate degree from Houston Community College and a bachelor's degree from the University of Houston – Downtown. He served in the U.S. Air Force and was a Houston police officer for over 15 years. Knox wrote the book Gangsta in the House; Understanding Gang Culture, which was published in 1995. After that, he began a consulting business to help communities, law enforcement and school districts to better understand and deal with gangs. He was Spring Branch Management District's director of community service for three years and has served as the president of Yupon Estates Homeowners Association for seven years.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Municipal elections in Harris County, Texas (2024)
General election
General election for Harris County Sheriff
Incumbent Ed Gonzalez defeated Mike Knox in the general election for Harris County Sheriff on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ed Gonzalez (D) | 53.2 | 789,828 |
 | Mike Knox (R)  | 46.8 | 693,524 | |
| Total votes: 1,483,352 | |||
| = 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 Harris County Sheriff
Incumbent Ed Gonzalez defeated Dana Wolfe, Vergil Rochelle Ratliff, and Joe Inocencio in the Democratic primary for Harris County Sheriff on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ed Gonzalez | 67.0 | 108,718 |
| Dana Wolfe | 16.3 | 26,384 | ||
 | Vergil Rochelle Ratliff | 12.2 | 19,760 | |
 | Joe Inocencio | 4.5 | 7,340 | |
| Total votes: 162,202 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Harris County Sheriff
Mike Knox defeated Joe Danna, Glenn Cowan, and Paul Day in the Republican primary for Harris County Sheriff on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mike Knox | 56.4 | 95,671 |
 | Joe Danna | 17.2 | 29,179 | |
 | Glenn Cowan | 16.9 | 28,713 | |
 | Paul Day | 9.5 | 16,052 | |
| Total votes: 169,615 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Knox in this election.
2019
See also: City elections in Houston, Texas (2019)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Houston City Council At-large Position 1
Incumbent Mike Knox defeated Raj Salhotra in the general runoff election for Houston City Council At-large Position 1 on December 14, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mike Knox (Nonpartisan) | 56.5 | 99,643 |
| Raj Salhotra (Nonpartisan) | 43.5 | 76,738 | ||
| Total votes: 176,381 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
General election
General election for Houston City Council At-large Position 1
Incumbent Mike Knox and Raj Salhotra advanced to a runoff. They defeated Yolanda Flores, Georgia Provost, and Larry Blackmon in the general election for Houston City Council At-large Position 1 on November 5, 2019.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mike Knox (Nonpartisan) | 36.5 | 73,657 |
| ✔ | Raj Salhotra (Nonpartisan) | 22.1 | 44,545 | |
| Yolanda Flores (Nonpartisan) | 18.3 | 36,906 | ||
| Georgia Provost (Nonpartisan) | 13.7 | 27,648 | ||
 | Larry Blackmon (Nonpartisan) | 9.4 | 18,962 | |
| Total votes: 201,718 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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.[2] In the race for At-Large Position 1, Mike Knox and Georgia Provost defeated M. "Griff" Griffin, Lane Lewis, Tom McCasland, Chris Oliver, James Partsch-Galván and Jenifer Rene Pool in the general election. Knox defeated Provost in the runoff election on December 12, 2015.[3][4]
Mike Knox defeated Georgia Provost in the runoff election.
| Houston City Council At-large Position 1, Runoff election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Mike Knox |
51.7% | 87,191 |
| Georgia Provost | 48.3% | 81,507 |
| Write-in votes | 0% | 0 |
| Total Votes (100% of precincts reporting) | 168,698 | |
| Source: Harris County, Texas, "Runoff Election Results," December 12, 2015 | ||
| Houston City Council At-large Position 1, General election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Mike Knox |
24.8% | 47,529 |
| Georgia Provost |
14.8% | 28,438 |
| M. "Griff" Griffin | 12.9% | 24,763 |
| Tom McCasland | 12.6% | 24,220 |
| Chris Oliver | 11.4% | 21,951 |
| Lane Lewis | 10.5% | 20,096 |
| Jenifer Rene Pool | 8.6% | 16,448 |
| James Partsch-Galván | 4.5% | 8,557 |
| Write-in votes | 0% | 0 |
| Total Votes (100% of precincts reporting) | 192,002 | |
| Source: Harris County Texas, "Official general election results," accessed November 16, 2015 | ||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Mike Knox completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Knox's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I believe elected officials should stay in their lane and do the job they were elected to do. The two jobs of a County Sheriff, according to the Texas Constitution, are to operate the County Jail and enforce the laws of the state of Texas in the unincorporated areas of the County. It is the responsibility of the Sheriff to protect the rights of all the citizens of Harris County, which includes both the victims of crime and those accused of committing a crime. It is also the responsibility of the Sheriff to speak out regarding matters of public safety and to be the voice of the citizens of Harris County to the Harris County Commissioners Court, the Texas Legislature and the Federal Government.
The Sheriff ought to develop strong alliances with all the surrounding law enforcement agencies, federal and state law enforcement partners to secure the safety of the people of Harris county.- Stop preventable deaths in the county jail. The current mortality rate, under the current sheriff, is 2.5 persons per month. These deaths are largely the result of illegal drug overdoses and the inability of inmates to obtain life sustaining medication while in custody.
- Improve internal morale. The Sheriff's office is among the lowest paid and least educated law enforcement agency in the county. I intend to double the minimum training requirement from the current state mandated 40 hours of bi-annual in-service training to 80 hours for all deputies and detention officers. I intend to pursue substantial increases in pay and will press the Commissioners Court to provide funding for additional staff in both the law enforcement and detention areas of the Sheriff's Department. I will develop a sense of pride among the employees by promoting from within and rewarding professionalism.
- Accountability and Transparency The Sheriff should be Transparent and accountable to the people of Harris County. As Sheriff, we will work with individuals, institutions and community groups to ensure we are transparent with our operational and disciplinary policies and procedures. Under my administration the Sheriff's Department will not shirk from its responsibilities to the citizens of Harris County.
I am absolutely opposed to the practice of appeasing criminals. The implementation of so-called bail reform and the current practice of extremely lenient sentencing by judges has been a catalyst for increased crime throughout the county.
District Attorney Johnny Holmes taught my police academy class the importance of following the code of criminal procedure. Among the lessons, which resonated with me to this day, is the concept peace officers should have no opinion as to whether any law is good or bad. It is our job to enforce the law as written. It is the function of the state and federal legislatures to write the law and the role of the appellate courts to interpret the law. When each piece of the law enforcement community do their respective jobs, then our system of justice functions as it should.
The power they possess, by virtue of their elected position, is on loan to them by the people. That power should only be exercised for the benefit of the citizens and never for personal gain or profit.
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.
2019
Mike Knox did not complete Ballotpedia's 2019 Candidate Connection survey.
2015
Knox's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[5]
Budget
- Excerpt: "I would like to see Houston change its budgetary process away from its current habit of using “projected” revenue and move toward a zero based budget process. The projected revenue model, currently used by the City, relies on anticipating increases in sales tax and property tax increases, which may or may not actually occur, and then uses this “guestimation” to determine the amount of available revenue on which to base the coming year’s budget. A zero based budget process relies on proven revenue from the previous year."
Pensions
- Excerpt: "One option that I would entertain is the movement of the city away from defined benefits packages for employees toward a self directed defined contribution retirement program, similar to a 401K type of plan."
Transportation
- Excerpt: "While I do believe in exploring the possibilities I am, at present, opposed to light rail for Houston. I am not aware of any plan utilizing light rail that does not require a large commitment to subsidize the endeavor with tax dollars."
Infrastructure
- Excerpt: "Our property and sales taxes are correctly used for the purpose of providing city services and infrastructure. Had our past city leaders taken this issue seriously and dedicated a small percentage of these tax funds to infrastructure and drainage repair and replacement, instead of raiding these funds for other programs and expenses, we would not have this issue to discuss today."
Public safety
- Excerpt: "Recognizing we are not likely to be able to substantially increase the number of officers in the near term, I plan to work with HPD to explore advanced and technological options for responding to crime."
Houston Equal Rights Ordinance
- Excerpt: "This ordinance, in my opinion, unnecessarily expands the scope, size, and cost of government. It places our local business owners in an untenable position, exposed to either civil or criminal penalties, and requires customers to forfeit the expectation of privacy in certain areas of public accommodation."
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Harris County Sheriff |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Mike Knox campaign website, "About Mike Knox," accessed September 15, 2015
- ↑ Harris County, "Important 2015 Election Dates," accessed January 12, 2015
- ↑ City of Houston website, "November 3, 2015 General Election Candidates," accessed August 27, 2015
- ↑ Harris County Texas, "Unofficial general election results," accessed November 3, 2015
- ↑ Mike Knox campaign website, "Issues," accessed September 15, 2015
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Stephen Costello |
Houston City Council At-large Position 1 2016-2024 |
Succeeded by Julian Ramirez |
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