Annise Parker
This week and next week we move into county races, starting with the primary for Harris County Judge. Our first candidate needs no introduction, and that’s Annise Parker. She served six years (the maximum allowed at the time) on Houston City Council, as Controller, and of course as Houston’s Mayor. Since then she has served as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for BakerRipley and spent seven years as CEO and President of the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund and Leadership Institute. She was the first person to announce her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for County Judge, before Judge Hidalgo announced her intention to not run again. I’ve interviewed her multiple times, most recently at the end of her last term as Mayor. Here’s what we talked about this time:
PREVIOUSLY:
Terry Virts – CD09
Leticia Gutierrez – CD09
Melissa McDonough – CD38
Theresa Courts – CD38
Marvalette Hunter – CD38
You can find links to all my interviews and Q&As at the world famous Erik Manning spreadsheet, which has other information about candidates and races. I have two more interviews for County Judge this week and will then have interviews for County Attorney. Let me know what you think.
Annise Parker is certainly an impressive candidate, but one thing about her most recent work really bothers me. She has helped LGBTQ+ candidates advance to office regardless of political party, which in practice means she has helped a lot of MAGA Republicans gain office. The gay Republicans I knew were all Republicans first, and seemed to use their conservatism as a way to redeem themselves from the shame they felt for being gay. I strongly doubt they would ever vote for LGBTQ+ supportive policies if they had gotten elected to office. Many of them had very conservative religious small-town backgrounds, and used the gay bars as meeting places to discuss virulent opposition to progressive groups and policies. They also used the bars to meet potential partners as well, disregarding the profound irony of the situation as a whole.
So she helped a lot of Republicans gain office. Does anyone see any Republican supporting diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) policies? I don’t. So she can take the LGBTQ+ part out of the equation, and just say that she helped a lot of Democrats and Republicans gain political office. If I had helped a bunch of Republicans gain office I would not be bragging about it.
Regardless of her politics or sexual preferences, Houston needs a 70 year old Mayor like I need another hole in my head.