Bonnie Parker is undertaking one of the hardest tasks in Texas politics: trying to unseat an incumbent in the Texas House. It has been done but rarely. I sat down with her to discuss the race and her motivations for challenging Rep. Sarah Davis.
Background
After graduating high school in El Paso, Parker came to Houston to attend the University of Houston. She knew that she wanted to be a teacher and received BA in History. It was at UH that she met her future husband Bill. She and Bill were married 25 years and had two children before he passed away in 2007. She taught social sciences and math for twenty five years and is currently involved in economic development in Uganda.
Political activity
She grew up in a Republican household, her grandparents having been Calvin Coolidge supporters. She recalls her parents support of Barry Goldwater and the conservative values they instilled in her. The first campaign she was active in was Ronald Reagan’s run for the president in 1976. She’s attended every precinct convention since 1978, every senatorial convention since 1982, and every state convention but one since 1994. She currently serves on the HCRP Training and Development Committee and has run for office once before – in 2010 for the same position she is currently running.
Reasons for running
Most of the analysis of this race has focused exclusively on Rep. Davis’ pro-choice position on abortion.. And that is certainly one aspect of Parker’s campaign. But what I found as we discussed the reasons she was running is that Parker is running a multiple issue campaign and focusing on Davis’ relatively moderate record on fiscal issues. The Texas budget has grown at a pace higher than population plus inflation and Parker wants to stop that budget growth.
She told me that she wasn’t happy with Davis’ first legislative session but gave her the benefit of the doubt and helped her win a second term in 2012. But when Davis did not change and support free markets and reduced regulatory burdens, she decided to give the voters a clear choice this year.
Political philosophy
She is passionate about government overregulation of business. She told me that when people ask her what she wants to do, she tells them she wants the legislature to quit introducing new legislation and start eliminating the thousands laws that are on the books already. Why, she asks, does anyone need a license to be an interior decorator? For the fees that are brought in and to keep people from entering the business. She has countless examples of this. She wants to return to economic liberty/market economics in Texas and get rid of crony capitalism. In that vein, the politician in Austin that she most admires is Susan Combs and her passion for transparency in government.
Issues
The main issue for the state is the unsustainable growth in spending. She thinks the legislature has been overly optimistic and that is why the budget has grown so fast. Tough decisions have to be made and we must eliminate all non-core spending – she mentioned the millions in subsidies to movie studios, and picking winners and losers with targeted tax breaks. Let the market work.
As a former teacher, she is especially passionate about education and how to fix it. Voters are myopic about eduction – everything is about “my child” when it should be about the future of the state. She thinks that a sales tax, driven by population, is a much better alternative to funding education than the current property tax. The current “Robin Hood” system of finance is ridiculous on face value when cities like Houston, which have very difficult populations to educate, are forced to send money to suburban districts.
The third issue is something I mentioned above, regulations. She is adamant that regulations are constricting the growth of the Texas economy and that she will work to eliminate them and not listen to the lobbyists who want to create barriers to entry and protect their clients.
On the race
I asked her about blockwalking for Davis after the 2010 primary to defeat Ellen Cohen and for Davis in 2012 against Ann Johnson. She told me that she is a Republican and that Davis was the better choice. She doesn’t regret helping Davis and if voters reject her again this year, she will do the same. That is refreshing to hear from a candidate in the Republican primary.
She thinks that if she can get enough financial support to get her message out, she can beat Davis and bring a free market oriented approach to the legislature, as well as using her experience as a hands on teacher to put common sense into education bills. She doubts that Davis will engage in debates, knowing she can’t win them in front of conservative voters.
Commentary
It was refreshing to talk to a candidate with a solid conservative political foundation. I laughed again when she told me that she is so clear on her policies that some people wouldn’t vote for her – they are used to politicians using talking points and not in-depth discussion on free market economics.
Texas House District 134 includes Bellaire, Memorial, River Oaks, and West University. Over 70{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the adult population has a Bachelor’s degree or higher. The per capita income of $72,370 is one of the highest in the state. It is 70{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Anglo, 13{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Hispanic, and 5{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} Black with a significant Asian community as well.
Perhaps those numbers are why pundits say a pro-life candidate can’t win this district. But Parker is far more than a single issue candidate and I continue to say that this race will be closer than people think. One thing that Davis’ pro-choice position does is give Parker a natural constituency from which to launch an effective campaign. If that group provides financial muscle, Parker could very well win this race.
Parker did give me one anecdotal story about one of the voters she met while blockwalking. The voter answered the door and told her that she couldn’t vote for Parker because she (the voter) was pro-choice and Parker was not. Parker asked her if they could talk for a few minutes about education and economic issues – by the time they finished talking, not only was the woman going to vote for her but she was going to volunteer in the campaign.
I don’t think that is going to be unusual in this race. Remember this: in 2012, HD134 was far more Republican than other districts in Harris County. Former HCDE Trustee Mike Wolfe got a higher vote percentage than Sarah Davis did in this district. That should tell you a lot about the district and its supposed liberal social leanings.
Website: BonnieParkerforTexas.com
Twitter: @BonnieParker4TX
UPDATE
Added Election Analysis from Greg Wythe’s Texas Political Almanac:
