Competition heats up for governor’s race in Texas

Incumbent Gov. Rick Perry is drawing competition from all directions in his bid for re-election.

Perry officially filed as a candidate in the March 7 Republican Primary Monday.

Candidates from several parties have filed for the gubernatorial race.

Democrats Chris Bell, Bob Gammage and Felix Avarado have joined Republicans Larry Kilgore and Rhett R. Smith in entering the governor’s race. Libertarian James Werner and Independent Richard “Kinky” Friedman have also filed.

State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has indicated she will file sometime before the Jan. 2 deadline.

Bell, a former congressman, could become the first former U.S. House member to serve as governor since Samuel Willis Tucker Lanham, whose gubernatorial term ended in 1907. Two former U.S. senators have been governor.

He was born in Abilene and grew up in Dallas, attending public schools. He went to the University of Texas at Austin, earning a journalism degree in 1982.

After graduating, he worked as a television and radio journalist, being named "best radio reporter in the state" by the Texas Associated Press in 1990. He left journalism after receiving his law degree from South Texas College of Law in 1992.

The former TV newsman has a 4-4 campaign record. He lost a 1984 bid for the Texas House from Amarillo and lost his first try for the Houston City Council. He won a council seat in 1997 that he held through two elections before losing for mayor in 2001.

After five years on the Houston City Council, Bell was elected to Congress in November 2002. Bell was defeated in his bid for reelection after his district was redrawn.

He has served on the board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Gulf Coast Region and the Houston/Harris County Joint Commission on Children.

He also served on the boards of the Downtown Houston Association and American Diabetes Association and the advisory boards for the Houston Area Parkinson Society and Taping for the Blind. Bell was also a longtime volunteer at the Palmer Memorial Episcopal Church Way Station.

Bell currently lives in Houston with his wife, Alison Ayres Bell, and their two children, Atlee and Connally.

Bell feels Democrats and Republicans need to work together to improve health care for low-income women and to develop a comprehensive sex education curriculum for public schools to reduce the number of abortions in the state.

Gammage, a native of Houston, is a graduate of Houston's Milby High School. Gammage earned degrees from Del Mar College, the University of Corpus Christi, Sam Houston State University, the University of Texas School of Law and the University of Virginia School of Law.

He completed advanced legal and judicial education programs at the New York University School of Law, the Harvard Law School, Northwestern University School of Law, the National Judicial College and the U.S. Naval Justice School.

He served with the U.S. Army Infantry Human Research Unit and the Korea Military Advisory Group, and is in the U.S. Naval Reserve, where he served in both the Intelligence Service and the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps.

An attorney in private practice in Houston from 19691979, Gammage was elected from the Houston/Gulf Coast area to the Texas House of Representatives, the Texas Senate, the Texas Constitutional Convention and the United States House of Representatives. He also served as an Assistant Attorney General of Texas and as a special consultant to the U.S. Department of Energy.

After practicing law and legislative consulting in Austin from 1980-1982, he was elected to the Texas Court of Appeals from the 24-county Austin/Central Texas area in 1988. He won statewide election to the Supreme Court of Texas in November 1990.

In 1995, Gammage resigned from the Supreme Court of Texas to return to private life, to practice law, teach and try to do some writing, r. In addition to his legal and educational work, he serves as a consultant, arbitrator and mediator.

“This campaign is about reform. It is about opening state policy-making to public scrutiny. It is about restoring the public trust,” he said. “We desperately need the citizens of Texas to take charge of their state government.

Alvarado is a native of Orange and is currently a middle school assistant principal in the Fort Worth Independent School District. He received a bachelor of science degree in business and management from the University of Maryland. He obtained a master of public administration from Troy State University. Alvarado received his teacher administrator certifications from the University of Texas at Arlington.

He has taught Social Studies at Trimble Technical High School in the Fort Worth Independent School District since 1994. He is retired from the armed services.

Republican Kilgore was born in Amarillo in 1964. He has been involved with politics since 1988. He believes that God's word, the Bible, is the foundation for all law.

Larry and his wife Valerie have been married 16 years and have three children ages .They enjoy camping, canoeing, playing games, taking vacations and serving in their church.

During his service with the United States Air Force in 1984-1988, he served in Azores, Portugal and at NORAD in Colorado. His training in the Air Force gave him the necessary background to enter in the telecommunications industry where he has worked for 18 years.

"The most important decision in all my life occurred when I was five.” he said. “I asked Jesus to save me from hell. My family and Sunday school teachers had told me the fate of those who reject Christ. Heaven sounded pretty cool too. I did not realize the tremendous impact following Christ would have on my life here on Earth."

Smith, who is also running in the Republican Primary is from Eastland but now resides in Austin. He received a BA degree from University of Texas at Austin in 1973. He worked as auditor/accountant in what used to be the Texas Department of Public Welfare from 1973-1977.

Smith served in the US navy from 1979-1983 and has been employed in private security since 1983.

“I am a very conservative candidate for the office of Governor of Texas,” Smith said. “For those of you in my generation and older, I think you know the importance of leadership.”

Werner announced his candidacy during the Libertarian Party of Texas “Weekend for Winners” campaign seminar.

Werner is a software analyst from Austin and he received 1.7 percent of the vote in a race against Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett last year.

Friedman, a humorist, performer, mystery writer and Texas Monthly columnist, is running as in Independent.

"The professionals gave us the Titanic, amateurs gave us the Ark. Career politicians are ribbon cutters. They see the governor’s office as a job; I see it as an opportunity to make that Lone Star shine again," Friedman said. "I’m an Independent, which is the party of George Washington, Teddy Roosevelt, Sam Houston, and Davy Crockett.”