Mayor Bill White will formally enter the race for governor today, instantly becoming the Democrats’ best hope of winning a statewide office in seven years.
White, a three-term mayor who is balding and known for something of a bland personality, is expected use self-deprecating humor to tell a Hilton Americas crowd of supporters that he knows he is not a “perfect candidate” but is someone who can get things done.
White has said he wants to end “strident partisanship” in Austin. He will tell supporters he wants to improve high school graduation rates and slow the rising costs of insurance and college tuition.
He will build his campaign on a record as Houston mayor, claiming lower crime rates and successful battles with polluters to clean the city’s air even while being opposed by the state’s environmental protection agency.
White will face four opponents in the Democratic primary, and the winner of that contest will take on the victor of the Republican fight between Gov. Rick Perry, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and activist Debra Medina.
Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history, officially filed to run Thursday for an unprecedented third full term.
Perry said he has a conservative record of holding the line on state spending and keeping the state’s economy from sagging as badly as the rest of the nation. He said it is up to the states to stand in the path of a federal government “run amok” over national health care and climate change legislation.
An addition to lineup
Hutchison plans to file for the primary on Monday.
While the Hutchison-Perry battle has been brewing for a year, White’s move into the governor’s race is new.
White had been planning to run in a Senate special election when Hutchison resigned her seat to run against Perry, but the dynamic changed last month when she announced she will not resign until after the March primary. Then-Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Schieffer agreed to drop out to help clear White’s path to the governor’s race.
White now faces teacher Felix Alvarado, humorist Kinky Friedman, rancher Hank Gilbert and businessman Farouk Shami in the Democratic primary.
Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson said White is perceived as the Democrat with the best chance of winning a statewide office since former Comptroller John Sharp took on Republican David Dewhurst in the 2002 lieutenant governor’s race. A Democrat has not won a statewide office since 1994.
Jillson said voter turnout still favors Republicans in statewide races, but said White’s history as the mayor of the state’s largest city and the fact he can raise money makes White a credible candidate with the potential to win.
“He’ll have enough money to make a credible race,” Jillson said. “But he’s still got a pretty steep hill to climb.”
Republican Party of Texas Chair Cathie Adams said White’s candidacy is strong only until voters learn of his overall personal and political history as a trial lawyer and a member of the Clinton administration with a record in Houston that can be questioned.
“His rhetoric is a threat, but when people learn what his record is, he’s not a threat,” Adams said.
The party started running a Web ad this week that showed White with the musical backdrop of The Great Pretender. The video claims Houston is a “sanctuary city” with “exploding crime rates” and that White ran up $1.5 billion in deficits.
Crime rates in the city actually are down, and Houston is not officially a sanctuary city, though some police policies have left the city open to that charge.
On the budget, the city’s general fund surplus has grown under White, but critics say he has borrowed money to cover deficits in the city’s pension funds rather than working to operate them in the black.
Other races
In other state filings, Barbara Ann Radnofsky filed as a Democratic candidate for attorney general. Radnofsky lost a 2006 challenge to Hutchison’s re-election. The current attorney general is Republican Greg Abbott.
Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, a Republican, also filed for re-election in the San Antonio district he represents in the Legislature.
Senate Finance Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, had announced earlier this fall he would not seek re-election, but he filed for another four-year term Thursday. Walker County businessman Ben Bius also filed to run in the GOP primary for the seat.
