Parker, Locke in Run-Off Election

HOUSTON - Houston won't know who it's new mayor will be until next month. 

City controller Annise Parker and former city attorney Gene Locke are headed to a runoff to become mayor of America's fourth-biggest city.

Parker collected nearly 31 percent of the vote Tuesday. Locke, with 25 percent, topped architect and urban planner Peter Brown, who had nearly 23 percent.

The candidates were vying to succeed Bill White, who is term-limited after six years in office.

A runoff is needed because no one received 50 percent of the vote. An unofficial date has been scheduled for Dec. 12.

Parker, 52, would be the first openly gay woman to become mayor of a major U.S. city, while Locke, 61, would be the city's second black mayor. 

At about 10:05 p.m. Tuesday, Parker took the stage with her family behind her, said a quick thank you to her supporters, then started campaigning again.

"I want to ask voters one question. Who do you trust to lead our city through these tough economic times and give our children the future they deserve?"

Now in the runoff, Parker isn't changing her strategy.

"I was the only candidate who truly understood the budget and the finances of the city. That's going to be a major element of the campaign going forward. I am the most fiscally responsible candidate in this race," said Parker.

By 10:30 Tuesday night, Locke felt good enough to claim a second place spot and continue his push to win the title of mayor.

"You know my life has been an uphill battle and so I kind of like where I am right now I'm on my own home turf trying to make sure I come from behind and go ahead," Locke said.

Locke says his biggest issues are the same ones echoed in homes all across the city.

"I want to make sure this city is safe and we get business growing, jobs."

And Locke says he knows he doesn't have an easy road ahead facing Parker. He easily admits he will reach across the aisle to the mayoral candidates who didn't make it and ask for their support.

But not all the candidates were making the speeches they'd hope to deliver Tuesday night.

At the end of Morales' campaign watch-party, he sent his supporters home but refused to concede until every vote was counted.

Morales, who would have been the city's first Hispanic mayor, acknowledged he would not be in the run-off election, but hinted he may run for office in the future.

"I want everyone to go home tonight and say a prayer, saying, "We will get there. Remember it took Lincoln six times."

Morales emphasized he ran his campaign with less money than the top three candidates and is proud of the nearly 36,000 votes he earned.

Brown, however, did concede the race in which he spent about $3 million of his family fortune.

"This is not a speech I wanted to give or that you want to hear, but the people have spoken and we certainly honor that."

Brown did not immediately throw his support behind either of the two candidates who did make the runoff, Parker or Locke.

Except for Brown's expenditures -- bankrolled primarily from the fortune of his wife, oil-field services heiress Anne Schlumberger -- the race was noteworthy for its lack of fireworks.

Brown's cash stockpile had allowed him to boost name recognition because he was able to run broadcast ads far earlier than his chief opponents, then blanket the city of nearly 2 1/2 million with mailings and more commercials as the election neared.

Parker said her six years on City Council, followed by six years as city controller where she reviewed city spending, would allow her to immediately step into the top job.

Locke attracted endorsements and financial backing from business leaders, cashing in on his three-year tenure in the 1990s as city attorney under popular mayor Bob Lanier, who supported him. Locke cultivated city insiders since then as legal counsel to several government agencies.

Morales' minuscule campaign fundraising kept him off TV and radio.

The race was nonpartisan, although Brown, Locke and Parker are Democrats. Morales, a retired Air Force officer, offered himself as an alternative, a conservative Republican in a city that's largely Democratic, about 25 percent black and one-third Hispanic.

Incumbent White, who did not endorse a successor, plans to seek the Democratic nomination to succeed U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison if she resigns as expected this year to run against Texas Gov. Rick Perry.