If you read one thing: State Sen. John Whitmire is emerging as the de facto choice of Republican voters and donors, who appear to view the veteran Democrat as the most viable Houston mayoral option they can stomach.
What challenges does Whitmire face?
Whitmire's campaign strategy is a test of whether he can assemble a coalition of conservatives and right-leaning moderates without ceding too many Democrats — the biggest partisan voting bloc in an increasingly blue city — to his main rival, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
Both longtime fixtures of Houston Democratic politics, Jackson Lee and Whitmire each were backed by more than 30 percent of likely voters in a citywide poll last month, while no other candidate surpassed 3 percent.
What is Whitmire's platform?
Whitmire, the longtime chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, has vowed to bolster the police presence in Houston, making crime the top issue in his campaign. He attracted early support from some of the city's most prolific GOP donors and power brokers and outpolled the rest of the field 3-to-1 among Republican voters in a recent citywide survey.
Who is donating to Whitmire's campaign?
The GOP support has helped fuel Whitmire's enormous fundraising advantage, with more than $50,000 coming from donors who helped bankroll last year's campaign of Alexandra del Moral Mealer, the Republican nominee for Harris County judge.
Billionaire casino and Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta, Gallery Furniture owner Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale and real estate developer Richard Weekley are among the major Republican donors helping Whitmire raise money.
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