2011 is a City of Houston election year and the pundits are all abuzz.

Will Mayor Parker have an opponent? Where will the new Council Districts be and who will seek those seats?

What about the term-limited seats? People are lining up for those too.

Fundraising for the 2011 elections officially begins on February 1. Watch out for those letters and invitations to start flooding your mailbox and inbox asking for money.

Many people are talking about potential opponents for Mayor Parker. I just want to point out that since we adopted term-limits , no incumbent Mayor has been defeated. Lee Brown was seriously opposed in two election cycles but was not defeated. Most of the others have coasted to re-election with only minor opposition.

This has been true of Council Members as well. We have not seen turnover with term-limits. We have seen some District Council Members decide to run At-Large and thus vacate a seat before their 6 year allottment. They can still only serve on Council for 6 years, though.

There’s much discussion that Jolanda Jones will earn another significant opponent this cycle. She won with a squeaker in 2009. She’s a tough competitor but we should keep watch on this race.

The most interesting aspect of the election for me is redistricting. Due to the nature of the process, we may not know the lines of the districts until April or May. This provides incumbents in District seats an advantage as they can raise money clearly defining their seat. Speculative candidates, in the meantime, may file Treasurers and create “Friends of” type organizations without specifying the office they are seeking. Filing deadline is not until September.

It should all make for a fun Houston political season. A general election with the chaos of redistricting thrown in for good measure and oh, did we mention, the City is broke?

Be sure to let Ponderings know if you are seeking election to a City office in 2011.