KTY-10-2025-Final

Government

BY TOMER RONEN

Council seats up for May 2026 election as Fulshear redistricts

All Fulshear City Council seats—including the mayor’s—will be up for election in May after City Council approved a new district map at a Sept. 16 meeting. Ocials voted 7-0 to approve plan 3C, which unies the Bonterra community within District 4 and puts District 2 council member Patrick Powers and District 5 council member Abhijeet Utturkar in the same district. City Manager Zach Goodlander said the plan also “generally follows” school district lines, as: • Districts 1, 4 and 5 are entirely in Lamar Consolidated ISD. • District 3 is entirely in Katy ISD. • District 2 splits the boundaries, “but only very slightly.” “I think it’s hard to get a perfect map, but I believe the one that council selected is probably the one that balances interests the most in terms of geography and population,” Goodlander said. “Hopefully it sets us up well for the 2030 census.”

District 1 District 2 District 4

District 3 District 5

City of Fulshear Council Districts

2022

2025

359

MAIN ST.

1093

359

JAMES LN.

MAP NOT TO SCALE N

SOURCE: CITY OF FULSHEARCOMMUNITY IMPACT

The context

Looking ahead

The study showed the city’s current districts had a 153.22% standard deviation between the largest and smallest district, which is signicantly above the court-interpreted requirement of 10%, attorney Sydney Falk said at a Sept. 2 City Council meeting. Falk said he estimates the city’s population at 38,724, an average of 3.4 people per housing unit, which puts the average district size at 7,745 people.

Redistricting was rst brought up in February 2024 with City Council members voicing concerns about underrepresentation for Districts 1 and 4, due to population growth. The new map approval comes after a study conducted by law rm Bickersta Heath Delgado Acosta LLP showed the city has nearly doubled its population since the 2020 census.

Filing for the May 2 election will open Jan. 14, 2026, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s website. The law rm aimed to keep incumbents in their districts and subdivisions together, Falk said. Ahead of the election, the city must determine how it will fairly stagger the seat terms ahead of the required redistricting in 2031.

Fulshear estimated district populations

Important May 2026 election dates

A study by law rm Bickersta Heath Delgado Acosta LLP showed at the city’s current population, the maps approved in 2022 no longer support the city’s population.

Jan. 14: Feb. 13: April 2:

Filing opens Filing closes Voter registration deadline Early voting period Election Day

District 1

District 2

District 3

District 4

District 5

2025 map

8,022

7,809

7,944

7,561

7,390

April 20-28: May 2:

2022 map

13,233

3,238

4,492

14,814

2,947

SOURCE: TEXAS SECRETARY OF STATECOMMUNITY IMPACT

0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000

SOURCE: CITY OF FULSHEARCOMMUNITY IMPACT

KATY FULSHEAR EDITION