Sen. John Whitmire
State Sen. John Whitmire, the longest serving member of the Texas Senate, told supporters at a campaign rally Wednesday that he intends to run for mayor of Houston in 2023.
“I’m no longer considering it, we’re not asking people, we’re running for mayor and we intend to win,” Whitmire told supporters in a video later posted to Twitter by journalist Jose de Jesus Ortiz. “We’re planning to win with your help.”
Whitmire long has been rumored to be interested in the seat, but the remarks make him the first candidate to publicly declare he is running for the office to succeed Mayor Sylvester Turner.
He intends to run for re-election to the Senate in 2022, serve in the 2023 legislative session, and then run for mayor in the November 2023 municipal election.
Whitmire told the Chronicle Thursday he is focused on the Senate for now.
“I shared with supporters my plans for future,” Whitmire said. “There will be official public announcement at future date… But it’s no secret I plan to run for mayor.”
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Whitmire, a Democrat, has represented Houston in the Texas Legislature since 1973, first as a state representative and then in the Senate beginning in 1983.
He has an $11 million campaign war chest, which alone would make him a formidable candidate in a city election. No city official currently has more than Turner’s $522,058 in the bank.
I at least became aware of those rumors back in May. I will just say that Sen. Whitmire’s proposed schedule for 2022 and 2023 sounds awfully busy, and may or may not be practical depending on what other candidates do. There are a number of other potential candidates out there, and I will be interested to see how they react. Whitmire will be a formidable contender, but we’re a long way off from November of 2023. As I usually say in these instances, let’s get through the next elections first. Campos, who knew this was coming, and the ,Trib have more.
Another old white guy, yawn. Houston needs a mayor to represent the diversity of the city.
D. R.
Tiger Woods?
I’ve heard he is cablanasian. Checks a lot of diversity boxes!
D.R.
Check your records and look at the last 4 out of 6 Houston mayors and let me know if you see any racial, gender, orientation diversity and report back.
D.R. yes, we have a president that’s an old White guy, and that has been a terrible failure. However, he also appointed a cabinet based on diversity and they are all failures, too. I’m not sure if your racism is the way to determine who is best for the job. I’m not sure if your facile world view is even accurate. White people are not one kind of person. There are many White nations, languages, tribes, religions. Did you know that White people even enslaved other White people throughout history? Did you know that Black people are also comprised of many nations, languages, tribes, and religions? And that they have gone to war with each other and enslaved each other throughout history? And Asians as well! This is why Voter Suppression must be a priority, and it is essential to stop people from voting on racist ideas that are unaware of human history, and sociology and anthropology and world cultures. Also, you should be operating out of a lab with a high BSL, of greater than 12, before you are allowed to vote.
Frederick, are you serious ?
African American male.
Caucasian lesbian.
Old white guy.
Old black guy.
Old white guy.
Middle aged white lady.
Middle aged white guy.
Young white dude.
Middle aged white guy….
I’m supporting ex-Marine and current HPD officer Robin Williams for Mayor. She’s running and would be a great mayor. Houston has been improving since a non old white guy has been mayor (Parker, Turner). Time to continue the progress.
C.L.
Yes, I am serious. You make it sound like its been an male Aryan parade of geriatric mayors. Facts are the facts. I’ll take the diversity we’ve seen in our recent mayors any day of the week.
And please don’t forget, that a candidate must be a talented, public service minded person for this job irrespective of their age/ethnicity. Example: intellectual light-weight Orlando Sanchez was not a suitable person for the job mayor of Houston back in the early 2000’s. Just because he was Latino immigrant
doesn’t cut the mustard.
If older, white guy Ed Emmett had beaten Lina Hidalgo for county judge I would’ve been very happy. He is a smart, pragmatic, public servant, just like Hidalgo.
Emmett v Hidalgo was a no lose proposition for me.
Frederick, re: “Check your records and look at the last 4 out of 6 Houston mayors and let me know if you see any racial, gender, orientation diversity and report back.”
That’s EXACTLY what I’ve seen over the last eight + administrations.
Emmett and his Astrodome hard on will never get my vote for anything.
CL,
We can agree that the Astrodome idea was completely stupid. And to this day I don’t know why Emmett entertained the idea.
Other than that hare-brainedness, Emmett was a very good county judge and solution-minded person.