Hear, hear! A rare species in Texas politics – the white Democratic woman – is back in the Legislature after a four-year drought.
This footnote in the annals of gender politics was understandably forgotten last Thursday, even as the first woman to emerge from extinction – newly elected Austin Rep. Donna Howard – was sworn into office in the House chamber. The room was filled with folks still cheerfully awed by the fact that a Democrat managed to pull off an upset in a Republican district. That’s the real story, they said. That and the fact that Pete Laney, the former Democratic House speaker, looked happier than he has since being dethroned and relegated to the back of the chamber four years ago. The former speaker worked the room with the ease of his former self.
Even former state Rep. Ann Kitchen was so delighted over the Democrats’ rare win in the House that the “white girl factor” had escaped her notice. Kitchen herself was among the last handful of Anglo Democratic women targeted and effectively removed from office in the 2001 redistricting dustup. She and Houston Rep. Debra Danburg lost their 2002 re-election bids to Republican newcomers – Kitchen to Todd Baxter (whom Howard succeeds, serving out the remainder of his term), and Danburg to Martha Wong, who will face Democrat Ellen Cohen in November. Three other female reps who served with Kitchen and Danburg – Harryette Ehrhardt of Dallas, Patricia Gray of Galveston, and Judy Hawley of Portland – opted for retirement after being “paired” with other incumbents in the redistricting.
“Donna will do a great job,” said Kitchen, after watching GOP Speaker Tom Craddick swear Howard into office. Howard’s victory, Kitchen observed, “is significant from the standpoint of getting a Democrat back here.” Narrowing her criticism of the redrawn map that put her out of office, Kitchen said, “The redistricting was really a gerrymander that wiped out some of the gains that women had made over the years.”
While Democratic women of color maintain a relatively healthy presence in the House, including the dean of all female legislators – Rep. Senfronia Thompson, an African-American icon from Houston – the GOP redistricting effort has nonetheless taken a toll on the Democratic process, former Rep. Gray said of the map that forced her into retirement. “I said at the time that the Republican plan was not just a plan to make Democrats the minority party, but to make the minority party a party of minorities.” Gray, who chaired the House Committee on Public Health, continued, “I used to admire what George Bush said about the soft racism of low expectations. [Ed. note: Bush’s phrase was “soft bigotry.”] I thought that was a very fine phrase. But then his own party turns around and deliberately marginalizes minority voices in the political process, and I just found that dismaying.” Another source of dismay for Gray is the map’s elimination of competitive House seats, although Howard’s victory could portend favorably for other Democrats in swing districts. “It’s hopeful to see someone like Donna Howard win,” Gray said, “because it means that in those competitive seats you’re getting candidates who are a cut above. I have high hopes for Ms. Howard. She carries a lot of weight on her shoulders.”
It’s uncertain what impact Howard’s win will have on other, dare we say, white women running as Democrats. Last month, Dallas Co. resident Katy Hubener had hoped to follow Howard’s lead in winning a special election to fill the unexpired term of former GOP Rep. Ray Allen. But she lost to Re-publican Kirk England by a mere 350 votes, meaning she’ll be running against an incumbent when she makes another attempt in November. And Austin’s Valinda Bolton won a spot in Dist. 47’s April 11 runoff on Tuesday.
Gray, for one, is heartened by the prospect of other Democratic women, regardless of color, winning in what few competitive districts exist in the state. She’s not holding her breath for a dramatic change any time soon, however. “I hope there will be more Donna Howards out there, but until we get back to drawing [district boundary] lines on a somewhat less partisan basis – more around communities of interest, as opposed to parties of interest – I still think they are going to be few and far between.”
Howard, for one, could barely contain her excitement as she took her oath in the House chamber last week. “I’m so excited to be a part of this,” she said. Even Craddick, possibly the only Republican in the House chamber that day, seemed touched by Howard’s enthusiasm. “You’ll do a good job, I’m sure, representing your constituents,” he said.
This article appears in March 10 • 2006.
