How Does Annise Parker’s Election Compare to Other First-Time Winners in the City of Houston?

With Mayor-Elect Annise Parker preparing for her inauguration in a few days, I thought it might be interesting to look at past elections that brought a new chief executive into Houston’s City Hall.  Since Louie Welch retired in 1973, Houston has elected seven new mayors – all in runoffs as was the case on December 12, 2009.  The vote totals for the finalists are listed below, along with the winners’ and losers’ percentages in the runoff.

Year     Winner             Vote      %             Loser              Vote        %

1973  Fred Hofheinz    123,593   50.6     Dick Gottlieb      120,695     49.4

1977  Jim McConn      134,307   66.6     Frank Briscoe      67,353      33.4

1981  Kathy Whitmire  170,693   62.5    Jack Heard         102,446     37.5

1991  Bob Lanier         152,792   53.1    Sylvester Turner  135,173     46.9

1997  Lee Brown         156,307   52.7     Rob Mosbacher  140,449     47.3

2003  Bill White           136,618   62.5     Orlando Sanchez  81,830    37.5

2009  Annise Parker       82,165   52.8    Gene Locke          73,484    47.2

The most striking thing about the December 2009 runoff was the small number of voters who cast ballots – less than 156,000, compared to the average turnout of 253,709 in the six earlier runoffs.  Since the city has grown steadily in recent years, the absolute decline in voters is all the more striking.  Because of the very low turnout, Annise Parker was able to win the big job with the smallest vote total of any recent mayor.  On the other hand, Ms. Parker’s winning percentage – 52.8 – was not unusual in comparison to past runoffs.   

Does Annise Parker’s small total vote weaken the new mayor’s clout at City Hall?  Not much in my opinion.  Houston’s charter concentrates great power in the chief executive, so the incumbent can usually dominate city government in ways presidents and governors cannot at the national and state levels.   If there is a downside to winning by a relatively small margin in a low turnout election, it will likely manifest itself outside City Hall in interactions with other local governments like Harris County and, most especially, in the Texas Legislature. 

The City of Houston has been playing defense in Austin in recent legislative sessions, and that will almost certainly continue under Mayor Parker.  A few Texas legislators like State Representative Garnet Coleman supported Annise Parker for mayor, but more opposed her, including the three Democratic State Senators whose districts include most of the city. 

Mayor Parker is fortunate in that the Texas Legislature does not meet in regular session for more than a year, which gives her some time to settle into the job, get new staff  in place, and reach out to legislators and other government officials in the metropolitan area. Of course, if retiring Mayor Bill White can win the governorship next year, the City of Houston’s prospects in Austin, (and Mayor Parker’s) will dramatically brighten.  But for that to happen, Bill White will have to achieve what few big city mayors in the United States have done – move from the executive job at city hall to the same position in the state capitol. 

We won’t know for nearly a year whether Bill White can beat the odds in his statewide race.  Meantime, a top priority for the new Parker administration will be getting a new legislative relations person in place.  Mayor White reached across party lines and hired Ann Travers out of then-Congressman Tom Delay’s office six years ago.  That worked out pretty well.   Now Mayor Parker faces a greater challenge than her predecessor on the Austin front, so getting the right person in this post is very important. 

Dr. Richard Murray

Comments

[John C]

Ann Travis, not Travers.