HOUSTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Houston City Controller Annise Parker became the first openly gay person elected mayor of a major U.S. city in Saturday's runoff race.
With almost all the vote counted, Parker led former City Attorney Gene Locke by about 8,000 votes, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Turnout was low for the runoff, a non-partisan race pitting two Democrats against each other.
Parker, a veteran city official, soft-pedaled her sexual identity during the campaign and emphasized her experience, The New York Times reported. Parker was the top vote-getter in the first-round election.
"I am not running to be a role model," she said in a debate. "I am running to be the mayor of Houston."
Locke was endorsed by the police union and ran on a law-and-order platform. Locke, who is black, was also expected to win the majority of black votes.
"White liberal Democrats are behind Parker, and African-Americans are going to go with Locke," Marc Campos, a Locke consultant, told the Times. "Moderate Republicans, fiscal conservatives -- they're going to be the ones who decide this."
While the candidates did not talk publicly about Parker's sexual orientation, others did. Shortly before the election, a group of black ministers said she had a homosexual agenda, and the Chronicle reported earlier this week two Locke campaign officials helped a group that sent out an anti-gay mailing.
