White, Sanchez advance in mayor's race

03:29 PM CST on Wednesday, November 5, 2003

From 11 News Staff Reports

Click to watch Bill White interview

HOUSTON -- The candidates for Houston mayor spent the evening watching the returns, each with expectations of a runoff position. As the precincts reported in, it showed that the two favorites Bill White and Orlando Sanchez advanced in the mayor's race.

The people at Bill White headquarters were pretty happy Tuesday evening. They started out expecting to be the front-runners because that's where he stood in the first poll. That's where White stood in the last poll. And that's where he stood at the end of Tuesday night.

Quick Poll Who will you vote for in the runoff election? Orlando Sanchez Bill White Neither View Results Vote in other Polls

"We're appealing to all Houstonians, not on a basis of what they look like or what political party they vote in for the national level, but what we ought to do for our city," said White. "Fixing the streets, getting jobs here, making our neighborhoods safer."

Early returns showed a neck-and-neck race between White and Sanchez.

However, White said he wasn't worried. "I think it's about in line with what we expected. We've been building every week as people get to know me and more and more people come to my side," said White.

White spent the night in his hotel suite watching the returns with his family. And the numbers for him got better throughout the evening.

Later in the evening White addressed his supporters. "I cannot wait to get started. I want to thank you for being a part of a campaign for Houston's future. You are making history tonight," he said. "It hasn't been easy. We've competed against seasoned politicians. People told us in the beginning that somebody having a positive campaign, appealing to folks in all neighborhoods couldn't win. But you know what? We proved them wrong, haven't we?"

People at the Orlando Sanchez headquarters at the Hyatt Regency achieved their ultimate goal Tuesday by advancing to the runoff, but as the second-place finisher.

Sanchez spent the evening in a hotel room keeping tabs on the returns, but he did make an appearance earlier in the evening to deliver a pep talk to his supporters telling them they were the campaign.

Sanchez told reporters that win or lose he would not change a thing. "Absolutely nothing. We raised every penny from small, generally small contributors. Literally thousands and thousands of people volunteered on our campaign," he said. "This is genuinely a grass-roots, Houstonian-driven campaign, as was the last one. And that's what makes me so excited about this."

Sanchez addressed his supporters. "You are the best people and the hardest working people. Give yourself a big hand," he said. "Tonight we've been through a rough fight here in this city and I'm going to tell you something, when you're fighting for change things do get rough. But I'm telling you I think Houston is worth it. Don't you? We're fighting this campaign because our taxpayers are being squeezed. They're getting a double whammy. They're taxes are going up and they're services are declining."

This is Sanchez's second run for mayor. If he wins, he'll be the city's first Hispanic mayor.

At the George R. Brown Convention Center, Sylvester Turner was hoping his second try for the top spot in the city of Houston would be a successful one.

The phrase going around the Convention Center Tuesday evening was, "What time is it? It's Turner time." Despite pulling a higher percentage than polls predicted, Turner could not overtake Sanchez.

The polls had Turner as an underdog in the race.

The one thing Turner's campaign did not have a surplus of was money. He spent $1.5 million for the campaign, compared to White who spent $6 million. His campaign focused on a grass-roots effort to get people to the voting polls.

11 News asked Turner if he should not make that runoff spot, would he throw his support to the front-runner, Bill White?

"I don't deal in negatives, I only deal in positives. And right now I'm feeling very positive," he said.

This was also Turner's second run for mayor of Houston.