As I said last week, I have decided to wait until the runoff to do Mayoral candidate interviews. The size of the field and the limited amount of time I had available to try to schedule probably seven interviews with candidates who themselves are very busy and will have limited availability was just too much. I’ve made this choice before with large fields, and it is what works for me.
As it happens, of the candidates that I would have wanted to interview for November, I had already done interviews with nearly all of them in the past. So, if you’re really hankering to hear me speak to some of the more prominent Mayoral hopefuls from back when they were doing something else, here’s your chance.
I interviewed Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in 2010 when she drew two primary challengers. Remember when that pretty-boy Republican won that special Senate election after Ted Kennedy died, and all of a sudden Democrats were getting wobbly about pushing Obamacare across the finish line? Those were…interesting times. That interview, which happened during that time, is here.
I have interviewed Sen. John Whitmire a couple of times, at least twice for when he had primary challengers. The most recent time was in 2022, and that interview is here.
Gilbert Garcia has not run for office before, but he was the Chair of Metro under Mayor Parker, and I interviewed him twice during that time, including once with Board member Christof Spieler about the Metro sales tax referendum in 2012. That interview is here.
I spoke with CM Robert Gallegos in 2013 when he first ran for City Council. That interview is here.
I interviewed then-CM MJ Khan in 2009 when he was one of three term-limited Council members running to succeed soon-to-be-Mayor Annise Parker as City Controller; the other two were Pam Holm and eventual winner Ronald Green. I actually interviewed all three of them for that race, and the interview I did with Khan is here.
Finally, Jack Christie is the winner of the “which one of these Mayoral candidates has Charles interviewed the most” contest. I spoke with former CM Christie four times in total, once for each of his Council candidacies, beginning with his unsuccessful run in 2009 and culminating with his last re-election bid in 2015. For the last two, in 2013 and 2015, I was working downtown and his chiropractic office was right there in the tunnels. Super convenient. Anyway, that 2015 interview is here.