Austin showdown

Andrew White once again shows he’s better prepared to face the incumbent governor.

As the Astros played the Rangers in downtown Houston Friday night, an arguably more important but far less entertaining Texas rivalry played out in Austin.

Former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez and Houston businessman Andrew White faced each other in a marginally broadcast debate, days before Democrats begin casting early runoff votes for their party’s nominee in the race for Texas governor.

We haven’t seen the overnight ratings — even the television station involved decided it merited only internet livestream coverage — but we’re guessing the ballgame attracted more viewers.

Unlike Jose Altuve and Carlos Correa, Valdez and White aren’t exactly Hall of Fame material. But the candidates for Texas governor had no problem making contact with the mostly softball questions thrown out during this debate.

Valdez summoned plenty of passion at points. Particularly impressive was an inspired closing statement about the state’s failure to look out for working-class Texans.

A few sparks aside, Valdez couldn’t match White on education, taxes and even the criminal justice issues where you’d expect the sheriff to excel. He had solid answers where she often appeared to struggle.

White also offered something Valdez couldn’t: a path to victory. As a selfproclaimed conservative Democrat, he can appeal to the business-oriented core of Texas politics.

“The Joe Straus side, the old George Bush side, those guys, they don’t recognize their party anymore,” White said.

Valdez’s lackluster performance shouldn’t have been all that surprising to anyone who’s followed her campaign. When she spoke to our editorial board earlier this year, she demonstrated startlingly little expertise on any subject outside her law enforcement wheelhouse. Her hometown newspaper, The Dallas Morning News, cited her “gross unfamiliarity with state issues” and “an almost incoherent attempt to discuss state financing.”

During the debate, Valdez brushed off the newspaper endorsements by quipping that she speaks “people language,” not “newspaper language.”

Maybe all anybody needs to know about this race is that members of the Houston GLBT caucus wanted to endorse Valdez, who’s openly gay, but decided instead to endorse White.

We don’t care much for political dynasties, but this newspaper has endorsed White simply because he’s the best candidate in the primary. He’s never before served in an elected office, but then again, neither had George W. Bush or John Connally before they moved into the governor’s mansion. Indeed, in many ways, White is comparable to Bush, a businessman whose greatest political asset is his famous last name. His father was Mark White, the former governor and renowned education reformer whose passing last August inspired his son to run for office. White’s top priority is public education, the funding for which has suffered dramatically under the leadership of the incumbent governor and lieutenant governor. He wants to give every public school teacher a $5,000 a year raise, and he proposes to pay for it by closing loopholes that are allowing big businesses to dodge paying their fair share of property taxes.

And, most important, he’s maintained a constant focus on rebuilding after Hurricane Harvey. In his closing statement, White lambasted Gov. Greg Abbott for his failure to call a special session after the hurricane.

“This is a man who called a special session for a bathroom bill,” White said.

Unlike fans at Minute Maid Park, Democrats who tuned in for Friday night’s debate didn’t see much fireworks. Nobody hit any balls out of the park, but one player dominated the game.

Andrew White once again proved himself the better Democratic candidate to face incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott in November.