Open Lesbian Parker Leads Houston Mayor's Race

Rod 2.0 alerts me to this poll released yesterday which shows that Houston City Controller Annise Parker leads former Houston City Attorney Gene Locke in Saturday's run-off mayoral election by thirteen points, 49-36.

Previous polls had shown the race to be close, but Stein said Parker opened up a double-digit lead because her message of fiscal responsibility has helped her gain support among a variety of voting groups: white Republicans, African-Americans, Hispanics and independents.

Both Locke and Parker are Democrats in the nonpartisan race. Houston is a predominantly Democratic city and is about 25 percent black and one-third Hispanic. It has about 60,000 residents who identify as gay or lesbian.

The poll, commissioned by television station KHOU and radio station KUHF, is based on telephone interviews earlier this week with 442 registered voters in Houston. It has an error rate of plus or minus 4.7 percent.

If Parker wins, she will make history as the first openly gay head of a major American city, Houston, which with an estimated population of 2.2 million is the United States' fourth largest, behind New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.