Probably not. Doesn’t mean that other candidates like him can’t do well, however.
Bill King
Bill King’s near-upset over Sylvester Turner in the Houston mayoral runoff stoked the hopes of some Republicans that the party soon could break Democrats’ 34-year hold on City Hall.
Political experts, however, attributed King’s success more to his unique profile as a moderate fiscal conservative than a Republican resurgence in the Bayou City.
“King pretty skillfully positioned himself. He didn’t run as a Republican but happily accepted the support of Republicans,” University of Houston political scientist Richard Murray said. “You might get elected with support from Republicans, but that’s not enough to win unless the turnout is extremely skewed.”
Murray estimated Republicans make up about 35 to 40 percent of the city electorate, just 21 percent of whom cast a ballot in last Saturday’s runoff election to replace term-limited Mayor Annise Parker.
[…]
Kingwood Tea Party co-founder Jim Lennon said King’s bid instilled new confidence in Houston Republicans.
“With the results of this race being so close, I think there’s a change in attitude,” Lennon said. “We know we can win. We know we can put together a coalition.”
Nonetheless, Lennon acknowledged that the former Kemah mayor’s bid may be difficult to replicate.
“I don’t think there’s a deep bench of Republican politicians that can duplicate that,” Lennon said.
As you know, I largely agree. King was a decent candidate who took advantage of the opportunities he had and ran a good campaign. He was also lucky – again, I don’t think we’d be having this conversation if Oliver Pennington had not dropped out of the race. I think we’d be talking about why Adrian Garcia fell short against Turner in the runoff. That’s the way it goes, and every successful politician, like every championship sports team, gets a bit of luck here and there.
Republicans may not be able to win a Mayor’s race in Houston, but they’ve done a lot better in At Large Council races. Steve Costello, Jack Christie, Michael Kubosh, and now Mike Knox have all won citywide since 2009. Of course, the first three all won with the support of a significant number of Democratic voters – Costello (who basically profiled and governed as a moderate Dem) and Christie have done well with Anglo Dems, while Kubosh has solid support among African-American voters stemming from his previous work on the red light camera referendum. Only Knox won based on Republican votes, and that comes with a bit of an asterisk, given how low profile his runoff election was. The real test will be in 2019, when Christie is termed out and Knox will have to run without the backdrop of a King candidacy. If the Dems could unite on a single candidate against Knox (I know, I know) then that person ought to be favored. But let’s worry about that later, like maybe after the current electeds get sworn in and figure out where their offices are.
Finally, however swell the GOP establishment may feel about their near-miss with Bill King, it should be noted that they also had a good chance to win the Controller’s office as well, but missed that by a wider mark. Bill Frazer was a well-qualified candidate who was much more clearly identified with the Republican Party and who was as focused on pensions and fiscal matters as King. He was also Chron-endorsed and led the field in November after running a strong race in 2013, yet he wound up more than 10,000 votes behind Chris Brown (remember to add in the Fort Bend votes when you tally it all up). Brown had a bit of a financial edge, he had a bunch of ads running on cable TV, and he definitely made this a D-versus-R race. At a guess, I’d say that he had the support of a lot of Anglo Dems who had gone with King. All of which is a longwinded way of saying what Jim Lennon said: It’s hard for them to duplicate what King did.
The Dems keeping handing the at-large seats to the far right by having a cattle-call of candidates for each position, splintering the vote.
First, I believe that Mr. Turner’s experience in the lege will be invaluable in negotiating pension reforms. His experience, combined with his endorsement by the firefighters should offer the opportunity for all sides to come to a financial decision that will benefit Houston. Additionally, Chris Brown’s experience as Deputy City Controller give him a head start on the city’s budget.
Second, I believe Mr. King gained votes due to the heavy coverage of conservatives in the national news, which of course filters into the local news. This means that anti-hero voters felt more comfortable with his soft-pedaling of any support or solutions to assuring equal rights for all Houstonians. Campaign literature sent to our house by those virulently opposed to HERO, supported Bill King. I believe too many voters bought the ‘fix the budget’ message without considering the position of Houston’s debt burden compared with the debt burdens of other large Texas cities. (We are about the same, to a little high) Mr. King’s push for bonds, to me, seems to add debt service to debt service. It was as though he was speaking as a stern father. Surprisingly, I saw his signs in front of houses of people in the Heights, who I always though were liberal.
Thanks, I always appreciate your comments and your website.
Eastender,
You’re spot on.
Even worse, none of them have ideas or platforms.