San Angelo Pastor Brings Motley Crew of Gubernatorial Candidates to Debate in San Angelo Tonight

OPINION— Tonight is the night when Tom Green County Democratic Party Chair David Currie invited eight Democrats to debate one another as they all vie for the Democrat Party nomination for Governor of the State of Texas. Considering that Texas is a Republican state, I think it’s safe to say that each will find that they’re in for an uphill battle.

Currie is also a local Christian pastor and author. We went over that before here.

Here’s what we know so far about the candidates.

Jeffery Payne offers his success in business as a qualifier. “He owns five diverse businesses: a court reporting firm, a land holding company, a property management company, a retail clothing outlet, and a gay night club.”

Payne’s is “a grass roots campaign.” He’s never held public office.

You’ll see that as a tiresome admission for many of these candidates.

Adrian Ocegueda. His campaign is less than grass roots, and his message is not encouraging. “… the decision [to enter the race] largely came down to considering our message and approach.”

“We really don’t know what we have here. “

Worst campaign message ever. 

Andrew White. “He’s never been elected to anything. But “as a successful entrepreneur whose experience is “taking care of customers,” he feels that qualifies him to be the governor of Texas.

Demetria Smith. (Remember, I’m talking about strategy and qualifications.)

Smith’s campaign photo is a little on the sultry side, hair coyly covering one eye. She has another photo of herself with arms crossed, the power pose. And while I and others are guilty of a misspelled word, or a noun and verb mismatch, the website is rife with errors. I couldn’t really get past the homepage.

We’ll just have to wait for the debate to get a better picture of this candidate.

Joe Maybach is another candidate who never ran for office.

But there is one thing about his campaign that stands out and that is the notion that while pro-choice is law, “New Pro-Life also means promoting quality public education and access to basic health care, and opposes widespread poverty, euthanasia, capital punishment, and most wars.”

This is a more inclusive definition of what pro-choice and pro-life means, and it softens the notion of pro-choice being synonymous with pro-abortion.  It’s a start, but a little lukewarm.  Maybach also dedicates one entire section that begins, “We will once again learn unconditional love.”  I have no idea what that means in the political arena.

Cedric Davis, Sr. Davis strikes a commanding pose on his campaign home-page, with the state capitol as a back-drop. His appeal is to the middle-income earner who is disenchanted with the rise of wealth, and the lack of concern for their own strife.

“Blue-collar leadership for the common good of all Texans,” is his slogan.

And he has a lot of things in his favor. He is the former mayor, and the first African American mayor of Balch Springs, Texas. He is a family man, and a Desert Storm veteran, educated and involved in the community.

It appears there is substance in his opinion on the issues.

His website contains several embedded videos of him involved in other political debates, and in interviews. As a sales strategy that’s pretty good.

Lupe Valdez. Her website consists of one page that has no bio but more than one place to click to donate. Enough said.  Valdez was the first openly gay sheriff of Dallas County.

Tom Wakely.  Because of his strong Catholic upbringing—not to stereotype—but there isn’t much mention of the pro-life, pro-choice differences. Other than that, he is the left of leftists. According to the bio on his website: “He worked for Cesar Chávez for a little over two years, helping organize the Grape Boycott in San Antonio. He was arrested several times and jailed for picketing outside HEB stores.  He also published a bi-weekly underground newspaper, the San Antonio Gazette.

When he moved to Denver, Colorado from Texas, and then in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was deeply involved in union activity.  But the question is whether or not Texas is the place for a former anarchist who is also a Democrat. Maybe anarchist is too harsh a word, but I have a sense that word might be used to describe him anyway.

The event will be at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, 1 Love St. from 7 until 9 p.m. Monday night. It will face fierce competition, though. The College Football National Championship between Alabama and Georgia begins at 7 p.m. too. It will be broadcasted on ESPN.

Monday night should be interesting. Stay tuned.