Hello, December
It is already December. Christmas Day is three and a half weeks away. It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. I have started my shopping.
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Everyone knows Commentary is going to be helping my good friend, The Dean, in his race for H-Town Mayor. After today, I won’t be spending a whole lot of time over the next year dissecting the race on my Commentary.
I will chime in from time to time, but no deep analysis.
The Chron said yesterday that The Dean was a “moderate Democrat,” whatever that means.
Last year, Rice political scientist Mark Jones put out his rating of the 13 Democratic Texas state senators from conservative to liberal. Here is the order: Eddie Lucio, Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, Beverly Powell, Judith Zaffirini, Royce West, José Menéndez, César Blanco, John Whitmire, Roland Gutierrez, Carol Alvarado, Nathan Johnson, Borris Miles, and Sarah Eckhardt.
Mark never puts out his criteria for his ratings. The Dean is either the 8th most conservative Democratic state senator or the 6th most liberal.
Here is from yesterday’s Houston Public Media story:
State Sen. John Whitmire has identified as a Democrat for decades and is not changing his stripes as he bids to become the next mayor of Houston.
He still seems to have been identified by some Republicans – and those have supported GOP candidates – as the city’s best choice in 2023.
Whitmire, the longest-tenured member of the Texas Senate, formally launched his mayoral campaign Tuesday with a fundraising event at the Post Oak Hotel. The event was hosted by Houston billionaire Tilman Fertitta, who has made previous donations to both Democratic and Republican political candidates and is serving as the finance chair for Whitmire’s campaign.
Other members of the fundraiser’s host committee – a diverse collection of business owners, community members, political action committees and current and former elected officials – include Gallery Furniture owner Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale and Silver Eagle Beverages CEO John Nau. Both donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the campaign of Republican Alexandra del Moral Mealer, who earlier this month lost a close race against incumbent Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.
“I don’t take a back seat to any Democrat. I’ve been a very active force in the Democratic party for a long time,” Whitmire said Wednesday in an interview with Houston Public Media. “I just want to fix things. If I receive Republican support, that’s great. If I continue to get support from our diverse community, I shall. I’m putting together a pretty strong coalition of people that love the city, that are concerned.”
The political players know The Dean well. His Democratic cred is as good as any. If you look at how he ran this past November, The Dean and Beto were the top vote getters, percentagewise, among Democratic candidates in Senate District 15 precincts.
Good luck.
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Nothing from The Yard yesterday.