12.16.09
On Saturday Houston elected a new mayor, bodes well for Democrats in Texas
Last Saturday in Houston elected a new mayor Annise Parker. It’s a big deal for several reasons. First she is the first lesbian to be elected Mayor of a major US city. Kuff has a wrap of how many from around the country and state are viewing her election.
But there are a couple of other reasons why this is a big deal too. As Harvey Kronberg pointed out in his New 8 commentary this week, Houston reflects bigger picture for Texas, Parker’s election hopefully points to an electoral shift, of sorts, in Houston and Texas.
…a far more important reason [Parker's victory was significant] to political tea-leaf readers like me, Parker was the first mayoral candidate in decades to win without the support of the Houston business establishment.
Winning without the blessing of the “bidness” community in Houston shows that it’s no longer the city it once was. Houston is now a more international and cosmopolitan city. Here’s what the DC based Politico had this to say, Houston election signals key trend.
(Much more in the extended entry):
It also signals an unmistakable evolutionary step in national politics, one that provides further evidence of a trend that helped make Barack Obama president: growth-oriented communities like the Texas metropolis, rather than aging big cities or nostalgia-inducing small towns, are setting the course of the country’s political direction.
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“As people become more comfortable with ethnic diversity they also become more comfortable with sexual diversity,” said Stephen Klineberg, a professor of Sociology at Rice University.
That tolerance, he noted, isn’t equivalent to across-the-board social liberalism. His research has found a dramatic increase in tolerance of homosexuality over the last decade in Houston even as the view that abortion is “immoral” grew slightly more widespread.
Yet the election of an out lesbian who made her name initially as a gay-rights activist, one who embraced her partner on stage on election night, nevertheless reveals a breakthrough in the country’s march toward what could be called either tolerance or just plain apathy toward homosexuality.
Indeed, save for an 11th-hour flurry of mailers paid for by allies of Parker’s opponent, Gene Locke, her sexual orientation mattered little in a race dominated by conventional municipal issues such as crime, jobs and education. What was remarkable about the contest was just how unremarkable the voters found it that Parker was a lesbian.
Longtime observers and participants in Houston politics agreed that, if anything, the attacks on Parker hurt her rival.
“It backfired without any question,” said former Mayor Fred Hofheinz, a Democrat and establishment pillar whose father built the Astrodome. “We don’t care that she’s a lesbian here, it’s just not a big deal.”
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Gibson Gayle Jr., a former managing partner at the city’s white-shoe Fulbright & Jaworski law firm and a longtime civic leader, said that it was less Parker’s lesbianism or Locke’s roots as a student radical (he once called for “dehonky-fying” Houston) that turned the race than something more mundane.
“The fact that he was a lawyer held was held against him,” said Gayle of Locke. “They don’t win popularity contests down here or anywhere else.”
Rice’s Klineberg, too, suggested that the identity politics that mattered were those of insider and outsider—categories that Obama, too, used to his advantage.
“In the end, it was better to be a homosexual than a lobbyist,” he said.
Or maybe as Dr. King dreamed they were both judged on the content of their character and the best candidate won. Rick Casey wrote this about how Texas, Electing gays is as Texas as oil. Essentially Casey makes the case that while Texans may voter overwhelmingly against gar marriage, they’re much more accepting of electing a homosexual.
This is not another story about Houston electing a gay mayor, something that seems to have astonished much of the rest of the world.
What I’d like the rest of the world to know is how very Texan it is for Houston to elect a gay mayor — as Texan as Dallas, as Texan as San Angelo.
Actually, Dallas hasn’t elected an openly gay mayor, although three-term gay City Councilman Ed Oakley made the runoff in 2007.
But Dallas has elected and re-elected a Latina lesbian sheriff and a gay district clerk for Dallas County.
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The West Texas town of San Angelo (pop. 92,000) didn’t know for sure it was electing a gay mayor back in 2003 when it gave the job to 26-year-old J.W. Lown. But by last spring, when 89 percent of the voters backed him for a fourth term, much of the town either knew or assumed he was gay.
As John Spong put it in a Texas Monthly piece, “An unmarried 26-year-old running for office had not raised speculation. But a 32-year-old mayor who escorted his sister to city functions was probably gay.”
Lown’s sexuality was confirmed last spring when on the eve of his swearing-in ceremony he quietly stole off to Mexico with the man he loved — a Mexican who had overstayed his student visa and was in the United States illegally.
Lown left a note saying he couldn’t swear to uphold the laws and constitution of the United States while harboring an illegal alien. He said he hoped to return with his partner, but it would probably be at least 10 years before the pair could return to the United States under current federal law.
The town’s response: They wished he could come back the next day. Many thought he was the best mayor they’d ever had.
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So how can a state so resolutely against same-sex marriage grow so comfortable with homosexual public officials?
I think the answer is simple. In the last several decades, the closets have nearly emptied. Most people now know that they know gay people.
And they like them.
It’s hard to demonize people once you get to know them.
This is not the end of bigotry to be sure but, it’s a very positive step. The political changes in Houston may also be pointing to more political changes in Texas, which include the city’s current Mayor and Democratic candidate for governor of Texas Bill White. More from Kronberg:
While we really don’t know if Bill White can transition from a successful big-city mayor to a successful statewide candidate, he does neutralize Perry’s Houston advantage and raises the stakes in other battleground areas like the Metroplex and Central Texas.
I don’t want to read too much into the Houston mayoral election.
It was a low turnout run-off between two moderate Democrats. It appears that Republicans were unmoved by the last minute gay-bashing mailers that tried to stampede so-called “values voters” to the polls.
We are nearly a year away from the November election and both Perry and Hutchison will be formidable opponents in a state that still typically gives Republicans an eight to 10 point advantage.
The winds of change are in the air.
After all, if voter-rich Houston can elect a gay mayor largely opposed by the business community, something significant is going on.
And if it is that significant is may point to White upsetting the eventual GOP nominee in November 2010, The Hill: Dems could take Texas.
The coming election for governor of Texas could be a surprisingly tight race with the real possibility of a Democratic upset. The result could determine whether a future Congress is controlled by Democrats or Republicans, with a reapportionment that will give Texas a number of new seats and a potential gerrymandering swing that could move from five to seven seats from one party to the other.
For Texas Democrats, it is only a matter of time before Texas turns blue because of game-changing demographics, especially the huge wave of Hispanic population growth.The odds still favor Republicans keeping the governorship of Texas, but Democrats now have a fighting chance to achieve a stunning upset.
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Houston Mayor Bill White leaves office as one of the most popular Democrats in the state. He is one of the most interesting political figures in Texas and may have the ideal qualities for the political moment. He is reminiscent of my former boss and mentor, Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas), with a can-do style, the ability to unite Democrats and strong appeal to independents.
As mayor of Houston, White attained great popularity across the political spectrum. He is backed by the Democratic base, respected by moderate Republicans and admired by an entrepreneurial business community that makes Texas unique. This is the formula for a Democrat to win in the Lone Star State.
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The Texas battle intersects with a major national redistricting following the census. Texas will gain a number of new House seats, including districts with surging Hispanic populations.
The last redistricting was “fixed” by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas). If Democrats elect a governor and lieutenant governor and control either house of the State Legislature, there could be a party swing of five to seven House seats, especially with a Justice Department friendly to the Voting Rights Act.
Watch for the White House and the House Democratic leadership to take a major interest in Texas. Watch for a surge of Democratic donations and activism as this high-stakes election approaches.
That last sentence is interesting. But Democrats in Texas have heard that many times before. We’ll believe it when the checks are cashed. That being said these are all good signs for Democrats in Texas. And hopefully the success in Houston along with the momentum from 2008 bodes well for Democrats in Texas and can be used to bring about more gains in 2010.