Davis out to woo fellow Texans
HOUSTON— Thewoman whowants to be the next Texas governor stood at a lectern in an inner- city community center this month and invoked her rags- to- riches narrative.
“The promise of Texas is that where you start does not determine where you go,” state Sen. Wendy Davis said.
Davis, a Democrat, is trying to sell Texas voters on her transformation from single mother in a Fort Worth trailer park to Harvardeducated lawyer and state lawmaker gracing the pages of Vogue. The story has been picked apart by her opponent — it’s been dubbed Trailergate in news reports about inconsistencies in the pitch — but she continues to champion it.
“I want every Texan to have the same opportunities that I had,” Davis said at her appearance recently. “God bless you all, and God bless Texas.”
Davis rose to national prominence in June during her filibuster of Republicanbacked legislation that sought to curb access to abortion statewide, holding the floor for 11 hours in her trademark pink sneakers. In October, she announced her bid for governor and began fundraising, headlining events in Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Washington.
Though much of Davis’ money has come from Texas, hundreds of thousands of dollars have come from outsiders, including performer Barbra Streisand and tennis champion MartinaNavratilova.
Still, to win, Davis must sell herself inside the state.
Democrats have not won statewide office in Texas in a decade. Davis’ opponent in the November election, stateAttorney General Greg Abbott, has raised more than twice the amount of money she has, about $ 30 million, and Davis lingers about 10 to 15 percentage points behind him in recent polls. Her success is likely to hinge on her ability to motivate Latinos and moderate suburban women, who are remaking the state’s political landscape.
Texas is increasingly Latino— the bloc accounts for 19 percent of registered voters, according to a Gallup poll released this month. But 43 percent of Latinos are registered to vote, compared with 77 percent of African- Americans and 82 percent of whites, Gallup found.
Argelia Cardenas, 75, lives near theHoustoncommunity center where Davis spoke. The retired medical interpreter is registered as a Democrat but is also ardently against abortion rights and is a fan of current Gov. Rick Perry. She considers herself an independent.
She had planned to vote for Abbott, whom she has met, but was inspired by Davis’ strength during the filibuster and her compassion for immigrants — a major issue for Cardenas and one she says Republicans have neglected.
“She’s a woman I admire,” Cardenas said.
Then criticisms of Davis’ personal narrative surfaced, and Cardenas said shewondered, “Why did you lie?”
Last month, The Dallas Morning News published a front- page story noting that Davis divorced her first husband at 21, not 19 as she had claimed. After they separated, she did not live in a trailer for very long, the story said. It also implied that Davis used her second husband for his money, leaving him to raise their two daughters while she was at Harvard University, then returning to divorce him before embarking on her career.
Days later, Davis the issue at Austin fundraiser.
“I pursued my education not instead of being a good mother, but because being a good mother required that I build a better life for my family, and a better education made that possible,” she said.
Davis, 50, is not native Texan. She was born in West Warwick, R. I., and moved to Fort Worth with her family at age11. Shehas a
can addressed an lilting accent, not the Texas twang of self- styled good ol’ boys like Perry and former President George W. Bush. The last Democratic governor, Ann Richards, was cut from their cloth, a Waco native and mother of four who liked to hunt, fish and drink.
But if Davis is no Richards, Texas is also not what it was when Richards held sway in the early 1990s. It has become a more urban state asDallas, Houston and San Antonio have mushroomed. Texas grew more than any other state last year with an estimated 400,000 new residents, according to the Census Bureau.
Davis’ effort has required distancing herself from more liberal supporters who flocked to her after the abortion rights filibuster. During the appearance in Houston, she expressed support for allowing people licensed to carry concealed handguns to carry them openly as well, though as a member of the Fort Worth City Council she supported gun control measures.
She also said she would not oppose a ban on abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and backtracked on past support for legalizing marijuana.
It’s not clear whether these policy shifts will motivate or repel voters.