Garcia backs Turner over King in mayor runoff
Third-place finisher asks Latinos to ‘stay at the table’ in mayoral race
Days after finishing third in the election for Houston mayor, Adrian Garcia throws his weight behind former rival Sylvester Turner in next month’s runoff with Bill King.
Standing next to his rival of just a few days ago, Adrian Garcia on Friday publicly threw his support behind Sylvester Turner’s mayoral bid as it heads toward a December runoff.
Garcia, who finished third in Houston’s mayoral race Tuesday, asked the Latino community to “stay at the table” and support Turner. Collectively, the two of them received almost half of all votes — 49 percent — cast for mayor.
As the first-place finisher Tuesday, Turner faces businessman and former Kemah mayor Bill King in a December runoff. The runoff is expected to be around Dec. 12, but cannot be set until last Tuesday’s vote is canvassed.
“Our beginnings get us to this point where it makes sense that my goal, my vision for the city as a candidate for the mayor of Houston is now to be manifested in Sylvester’s campaign,” Garcia
said at Turner’s campaign headquarters in southwest Houston.
Garcia, who left his job as Harris County sheriff to run for mayor, pledged his support to Turner, saying he would volunteer, knock on doors and make phone calls for the 25-year state representative making his third attempt at the mayor’s office.
Asked if his endorsement could lead to a position in a Turner administration, Garcia answered that “nothing was asked; nothing was promised.”
Citing their similarities growing up in Houston from humble beginnings, Turner said he is depending on Garcia to help him move the city forward.
‘Political juggernaut’
“There’s no question about the contribution he has made to the city and made to this county,” Turner said. “I’m extremely gratified for him to be standing with me, having been in the mayor’s race together. To help move this city forward, and to join not just a campaign, but to join in making sure we do everything possible to create a city whose future will be brighter than its past, that will be respectful for everyone, where every neighborhood will have value and meaning.”
Friday’s announcement is expected to help both men, local observers said.
It can help Turner court Latino voters who may not otherwise turnout for a runoff election, said Michael Adams, political science professor at Texas Southern University.
In fact, he said, it could signal the start of a “black and brown” coalition of African-American and Hispanic voters that could become “a political juggernaut.”
At the same time, Adams said, the endorsement can help Garcia regain credibility and support among Democrats upset at his decision to resign his sheriff ’s post, where he was the highest ranking elected Democrat in Harris County, to run for mayor.
His endorsement of Turner will help “boost his chances of running again, and winning a partisan office,” Adams said.
As Rice University political science Professor Mark Jones put it, “He has aligned himself with someone, if victorious on Dec. 12, who will be most influential Democrat in Harris County.”
For Turner, the endorsement further “solidifies his status as the Democratic Party’s candidate, without question,” Jones said.
That enables Turner to define the election in partisan terms, identifying second-place finisher King as a Republican in a city where Democrats outnumber the GOP almost two to one, he said. Houston municipal races officially are non-partisan.
Rights law’s impact
Jones said King is likely to want the runoff to remain a nonpartisan race, which could put him in the unusual position of insisting the race is not about party while signaling to social conservatives who came out to vote against the Houston equal rights ordinance on Tuesday to come back next month to cast another vote for him.
King’s campaign had no comment on Garcia’s endorsement. King spokesman Jim McGrath said his candidate had not yet received endorsements from the other candidates in Tuesday’s elections, but had heard from supporters of some of his rivals who expressed interest in his campaign.