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Nov. 2,
2010 Governor
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TX
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Notes: Gov. Rick Perry (R), who started his tenure on Dec. 21, 2000 following the resignation of President-elect Gov. George W. Bush (R), was elected to a third term, defeating former Houston Mayor Bill White (D) and two third party candidates. Perry had a long career in politics, starting with his election to the Texas House as a Democrat in 1984. He switched to the Republican Party in 1989 and was elected to two terms as Agriculture Commissioner and, in 1998, to Lieutenant Governor. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison looked likely to post a significant challenge to Perry. She formed an exploratory committee on Dec. 4, 2008 and formally launched her campaign in Aug. 2009. Hutchison garnered a number of high profile endorsements, but her position as a Senator did not help in a year when candidates were running against Washington. Hutchison, who had said she would resign from her Senate seat in the Fall to focus on her gubernatorial campaign—setting off a lot of speculation about a possible special election to fill the remainder of her term—backed away from that in November, which did not help matters. The third Republican candidate, libertarian-minded Debra Medina, had a nursing background and was a former chair of the Republican Party of Wharton County. The three candidates debated on Jan. 14, 2010 at the University of North Texas in Denton (>). Texas Observer writer Bob Moser described Perry's performance as "mystifyingly horrendous" and "jaw droppingly lousy." Nonetheless, in the Mar. 2, 2010 Republican primary, Perry won with 759,296 votes (51.15%) followed by Hutchison at 450,087 (30.32%) and Medina at 275,159 (18.53%) of 1,484,542 votes tallied (>). White formally announced his candidacy on Dec. 4, 2009 (>). He served as Mayor of Texas' largest city from Jan. 2004-Jan. 2010. Previously he was president and CEO of an energy, construction and real estate company (1997-2004), chairman of the Texas Democratic Party (1995-98), U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy (1993-95), and an attorney in Houston. Seven candidates were on the Democratic primary ballot. White won by a wide margin, gaining 517,487 votes (76.04%); his nearest competitor, businessman Farouk Shami, obtained 87,411 votes (12.84%). In the general election Perry refused to debate unless White released his tax returns going back to the 1990s. White, Glass and Shafto debated at KLRU-TV studios at University of Texas in Austin on Oct. 19. This was one of the most costly gubernatorial races of the cycle; according to followthemoney.org, the Perry campaign raised $39.3 million and the White campaign $26.3 million (>). Campaign Managers: Rick Perry: Rob Johnson Chief of staff to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (TX); managed Dewhurst's 2001-02 campaign for Lt. Governor. Chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Jay Dickey (AR). Bachelor's degrees in political science and public relations from Southern Methodist University, 1997. Bill White: Michael Moore Chief of staff to Mayor White, 2004-10; campaign manager on Bill White for Mayor, 2001-03. Director of government relations at TManage in Austin, 1999-2001. Special Assistant to Deputy Secretary White at the U.S. Department of Energy, 1993-95. Lead advance on the national advance team for Clinton Gore '92. B.S. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin. See also: Staff Writer. "Democratic candidate Bill White says Perry's investments politically connected." Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Oct. 19, 2010. April Castro. "Perry: I'll Debate White If He Releases Taxes." Associated Press, Sept. 2, 2010. Ross Ramsey. "2010: Perry: White Should Resign [Updated]." Texas Tribune, June 9, 2010. --. "Texas Titans Battle for GOP Nod in Governor's Race." ABC News, Mar. 2, 2010. Bob Moser. "Perry-Hutchison: The Debate That Wasn't." Texas Observer, Jan. 15, 2010. Reeve Hamilton, Elise Hu, Ross Ramsey, Abby Rapoport and Matt Stiles and Ben Philpott. "KBH won't resign to run." Texas Tribune, Nov. 13, 2009. Ross Ramsey. "Third Time's the Charm." Texas Tribune, Aug. 24, 2009. Josh Kraushaar and Manu Raju. "Hutchison to resign to run for gov." Politico, July 29, 2009. Josh Kraushaar. "Hutchison gears up for governor." Politico, July 29, 2009. |
 
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