It might not be your grandpa’s Dist. 10 now

Clayton Perry is the lonely conservative on a fairly liberal City Council.

Even before council contrarian Greg Brockhouse gave up his seat last year to launch an unsuccessful bid for mayor, Perry often provided the lone vote against council-approved resolutions and ordinances.

Perry opposed all three sales-tax ballot initiatives — workforce development, early education and public transit — approved by voters last month and widely supported by his council colleagues.

He delivered the lone dissenting vote on the council’s resolution supporting the Paris climate accord and its decision to remove a Confederate memorial from Travis Park.

He was one of only two council members who opposed a local ban on the sale of tobacco products to anyone under

21. He also opposed the council’s controversial decision to drop Chick-fil-A from an airport concessions contract.

Seven months ago, Perry so angered Black Lives Matter activists at a council meeting with what they perceived as disrespectful body language, they held a protest in front of his home.

If Perry, 65, is an outcast on the council, he has taken comfort in the evidence that he is in tune with his Northeast Side district, perennially one of the most conservative in the city.

A year and a half ago, Perry earned nearly 64 percent of the vote in a race against four challengers.

“I’ll stand on my record, and I’ll say that my last election validated how I’m voting for District 10,” the retired Air Force civil engineer said. “I look at that as an affirmation of what I’m doing.”

One of the big questions going into the May 2021 municipal election is whether this still is your grandfather’s District

10; whether the influx of young, progressive voters is tilting this district; whether Perry’s 2019 landslide win was a mandate for conservative governance or a reflection of soft competition.

We’re about to get an answer to that question.

Ezra Johnson, the vice chairman of the board of trustees for VIA Metropolitan Transit, has decided to challenge Perry. Johnson plans to file a treasurer appointment report Wednesday.

Johnson, 44, tangled with Perry once before, in the 2017 election, when an open seat in District 10 motivated 10 candidates to enter the fray.

In the general election, Johnson received a plurality of the vote (21.7 percent) with Perry a close second (21.5 percent). Perry won the runoff by 6 percentage points.

Johnson stayed out in 2019, largely because he wanted to focus on helping VIA expand public-transit service in this community. In October 2019, however, as Perry flirted with a run for Commissioners Court, Johnson made it clear that in the event of a council vacancy, he wanted to be considered for the District 10 appointment.

Ultimately, Perry decided against leaving the council and Johnson continued his work on the VIA board. Along the way, however, Johnson sought feedback from District 10 residents about a possible council campaign in 2021. He says he received an “overwhelmingly positive” response.

Johnson will be competing in a district that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden carried by nearly 7 percentage points over Donald Trump last month; a district that supported the three ballot propositions opposed by Perry.

“With one notable exception, the members of the City Council have taken steps toward a people-first approach to local government,” Johnson said. “I think it’s clear from the overwhelming majority support of those priorities in District 10, that District 10 voters agree with that approach.

“I’m concerned that the current leadership in the district is out of touch with the clear signals that are being sent by the voters in District 10 and I think it’s time to present them with a choice that better reflects the priorities they’ve set for us.”

Perry, who perpetually conveys a kind of amiable nonchalance, had a muted response to the news that Johnson plans to challenge him.

“He can run,” Perry said. “I’m sure there’s going to be other people running. Anybody can run anytime and I’m not going to try to talk them out of it or anything.”

Johnson will frame the election as a choice between a willingness to make long-term investments in the city’s future and a belief that the city should limit itself to core functions such as streets, sidewalks and public safety.

“This is going to be a very consequential election,” he said. “COVID recovery is on the ballot. Managing workforce development over the next five years is going to be on the ballot. Equal protection under the law is on the ballot. Protecting local control is on the ballot.”

Complicating matters slightly is the fact that Perry is not yet willing to slam the door on a possible mayoral campaign.

Barring that unlikely move, however, District 10 voters will have a stark choice between Perry’s small-government vision and Johnson’s call for an assertive approach to solving the city’s problems.

Ten years ago, it would have been easy to predict which way District 10 would go. Not anymore.

Perry