Sheriff would bring firsts to race for state governor

Good morning, class. From the following list, please choose the one you’d least expect the Great State of Texas to be the first state to do. Remember, we’re looking for the one you’d least expect Texas to be the first to do:

1. Officially recognize football as a religion. 2. Make it illegal to be poor. 3. Declare education optional.

4. Make football the official religion of the state.

5. Elect a Hispanic lesbian governor.

Easy, right? But it looks as if we might get a shot at being the first state to knowingly elect a gay governor of any ethnic or gender persuasion.

Before the filing deadline Monday, we’re expecting Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez to file and become a (the?) leading Democratic gubernatorial candidate. Her candidacy would invite some interesting firsts and precedents. I’m saving the most surprising for last, so stick around to the end.

Valdez, the nation’s only Hispanic female sheriff, would be trying to leap from county official to governor. She’d also be the first Hispanic governor of Texas, the first child of migrant farmworkers elected governor of Texas and the first openly gay person elected governor in the U.S.

That last one needs an asterisk or two:

* In 2004, then-New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s coming out came in a resignation speech after some official unpleasantness involving an unqualified man McGreevey put on the state payroll. Back then, a good joke was that McGreevey was a governor with a man date.

** Oregon Gov. Kate Brown