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Perry leads against opponent with 59 percent reporting

Written by Chris Piper

Wednesday, 06 November 2002 12:00 AM

Despite heavy rain in parts of the state, voters turned out in record numbers to confirm what recent polls have shown, electing incumbent Rick Perry to the governor’s office Tuesday.

As of 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, Perry led at the polls with 59 percent of the vote and 5,187 of 8,554 precincts reporting.

Perry thwarted Democrat Tony Sanchez’s claim that Texans didn’t elect him and didn’t have to keep him, defeating the challenger in what many analysts called the nastiest and most expensive gubernatorial race in the state’s history. Perry took office in December 2001 after George W. Bush won the White House.

Perry announced victory with only 14 percent of precincts reporting.

“This has been a competitive campaign, because we faced a worthy adversary,” Perry said. “We must now shift our focus from our campaign to the future of Texas.”

He said he would reach out to legislators and citizens of all political parties to encourage sound fiscal policies and financial discipline and create new jobs. He said he would work to lower homeowner’s insurance, a highly-touted issue over the course of the race, and make Texas schools the best in the nation.

“We must reach common ground to achieve common good and stand on virtues that are timeless: faith, family and freedom,” he said.

Just minutes after Perry’s announcement, Sanchez spoke to a crowd of supporters in Laredo and said the incumbent’s victory speech was premature. He said he would not admit defeat until all the votes were counted, a process that could last until early Wednesday morning because of voting machine problems in Tarrant and Bexar counties.

“I’m still gonna’ give him hell until the last vote is counted,” Sanchez said.

The two candidates engaged in a bitter ad campaign leading up to the election.

One of Perry’s ads connected Tesoro Savings and Loan, a now-defunct Laredo bank owned by the Sanchez family, to alleged drug-money launderers from Mexico. Perry indirectly linked the bank to the murder of drug enforcement agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena because the same cartel that laundered the money was responsible for his death.

Sanchez said he had no knowledge of the money laundering and mentioned the government cleared him and bank officials of any criminal activity. He accused Perry of exploiting the agent’s death for political gain.

Recent polls showed a dramatic rise in the percentage of voters who have negative impressions of both candidates. Perry’s approval rating in last week’s Scripps-Howard Texas Poll were the lowest of his two-year tenure. Only a third of those surveyed believed that the candidates were talking about important issues.

Despite mudslinging and different backgrounds, the two candidates shared an essentially conservative platform.

Sanchez, 59, is a multi-millionaire entrepreneur who supported George W. Bush for governor and president. Perry, 52, served as Texas coordinator for the presidential campaign of then Democratic Sen. Al Gore.

During the race, both candidates opposed new gun restriction measures and were against a moratorium on the death penalty. Neither spoke of plans to resolve the predicted $5 billion to $12 billion budget deficit, but both promised not to raise taxes.

The two candidates split along partisan boundaries on issues such as affirmative action and school vouchers.

Perry supported a test school voucher program, whereby students in low-performing public schools could receive taxpayers’ money to attend a private school. Sanchez opposed vouchers.

The race broke all state spending records, costing the candidates more than $88 million. Sanchez dropped approximately $63 million, outspending his front-runner opponent two-to-one. Sanchez is the biggest-spending candidate to lose a race in U.S. political history.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 31 August 2009 05:21 PM )

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