Incumbent Bianca Valerio wins Pasadena City Council coin flip after runoff election ends in tie

PASADENA, Texas (KTRK) -- Pasadena City Hall was packed Monday morning for a coin flip. That toss determined the winner of the city's council seat for District B.

After a runoff election on June 7, the vote was a tie. A recount by Harris County netted the same rarest of rare results. Both candidates, Bianca Valerio and Bruce Leamon, had 272 votes each.

SEE PREVIOUS STORY: Pasadena's district B election ends in a tie between Bianca Valerio and Bruce Leamon, ABC13 confirms

It's hard to make heads or tails of it. But as the state election code dictates, the two candidates cast lots. In this case, a toss of a coin.

And just like that, months of campaigning, two elections, and a recount were up in the air.

Valerio won when the coin landed on "heads." The two-term city council member keeps her seat.

"It's a meaningful moment, definitely," Valerio told ABC13. "I'm excited to have won this coin toss. It wasn't easy to prepare for it. It's not something you can really work toward."

RELATED: 'It's an odd situation': Coin flip could determine Pasadena City Council seat

And for Bruce Leamon, who previously represented the 6,000 constituents of District B from 2013 to 2021, the chances are better than 50/50 he won't run again.

"It's unfortunate that a city election had to be decided by the toss of a coin," Leamon said. "That just shows everybody here that it's very important to vote in all elections."

For a city built on energy and honky tonks, Pasadena, Texas, is also the place where the saying "every vote counts" actually means something.

"One person voting either way, either not showing up, or an extra person showing up," Mayor Pro-tem Ruben Villarreal said. "We would have avoided all of this, and we would have had a clear winner. Our votes count."

This was a first for the City of Pasadena. However, the Secretary of State's office told ABC13 that while it's not common, ties do happen, especially when voter turnout is low. In this race, fewer than one in 10 registered voters cast a ballot.

For updates on this story, follow Tom Abrahams on Facebook, X and Instagram.