Right now, Texas is being ruled by Governor Greg Abbot, who’s doing everything in his power to pass a “bathroom bill” requiring transgender people to use the bathroom that corresponds to the sex on their birth certificate. LGBTQ-friendly, he is not.
Enter Dallas businessman Jeffrey Payne, who declared his candidacy for the 2018s governor’s election shortly after Abbott announced his bid for re-election last week.
Payne calls Abbott “a disaster for Texas.”
“Texas needs a governor who believes in real Texas values, like integrity, honesty, freedom and independence,” the openly gay Payne told the Dallas Voice. “It’s time we stopped wasting our time and money on silly legislation and start investing our time finding ways to help Texans, their families and businesses prosper.”
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Payne owns the popular Dallas gay leather bar The Eagle and was crowned International Mr. Leather in 2009, and he has no intention of trying to hide his past during his candidacy.
For the record, he’s also been massively successful in real estate, law, and philanthropy.
Winning won’t be easy: This is Texas we’re talking about, where a Democratic governor hasn’t been elected since 1991.
He hopes the state is ready for a change.
“It’s time we stopped letting the Republican Party run unopposed in this state,” he says. “We need a governor who is not a career bureaucrat, but one with real world experience and dedication to making Texas a better, safer and healthier place for all Texans.”
Brody
He’s right—Republicans shouldn’t have a monopoly on TX voters.
And Democrats shouldn’t have a monopoly on voters in CA, WA, OR, NY, VT, CT, RI, CO, IL, MN, NV, DE, NJ, MD, or MA.
So let’s just throw out the whole election process and appoint gay liberals to run everything.
Kangol
You do realize that Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, and Massachusetts have Republican governors, right now, don’t you? And that California, Washington, Oregon, New York, etc. have Republican legislators at the state and federal level, right?
Brody
My goal, Mr. Kangol, was to highlight how condescending it is to expect all citizens of one state to be completely single-minded (as was the implication of the article).
GayEGO
“Texas needs a governor who believes in real Texas values, like integrity, honesty, freedom and independence,” That does not sound like single minded to me. Congratulations to Payne for standing up to improve the lives of Texans.. Abbott is a bigot and should be removed from office.
ProfessorMoriarty
You just listed states in union with top-tier stats by and large in per-capita income, health of the population, crime rates, etc.
So, you know, thanks for undercutting your own argument.
ProfessorMoriarty
States in THE union. (Dammit)
benwa
well I’m in Texas and I can tell you this election will be interesting especially if the Castro Bros run. I also have heard someone from El Paso may run or even the mayor of Houston. So, if enough excitement during the primaries can be drummed up, we could have a decent challenger. Not say it will be Mr Payne, but someone strong. The problem with strong past candidates is their campaigning. They ALL assume their base will go vote for them and never or hardly at all visit their districts, and voters get pissed over this and vote third party. We will see who is left standing after the primaries.
jhon_siders
Sadly he does not have a chance in hell of winning I ran as a write in for county sheriff of course people brought out the gay thing and I started a big mud sling I did not win but opened a lot of eyes with the dirt I let fly about every one !!
Dwight
Anyone been able to locate his campaign site? I’d like to make a donation.
JLAD1105
Here’s his Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Jeffrey4Texas/?ref=br_rs
JLAD1105
Actually a Democrat hasn’t been elected Texas governor since 1990, when the great Ann Richards took the mantle. She always told it like it was, but lost her reelection bid because she had the audacity to support equal rights for everybody, including – God forbid! – queer people. A Democrat hasn’t won statewide office in Texas since 1994, when Gary Mauro won reelection as state treasurer. That was, of course, the same year George W. Bush won his first term as governor, and Texas began an even faster slide into right-wing madness.
Texas isn’t as extremist conservative as it appears. For one thing, the majority of Texans don’t bother to vote. But recently, analysts have confirmed what the state’s Democratic Party, voting rights activists and others have suspected for a long time: the Republican Party has deliberately reconfigured districts to give them an advantage. Known as gerrymandering, it’s a violation of the Voting Rights Act, which most Republicans hate and which they’ve been trying to eliminate ever since its inception.
More companies are moving here because of the tax benefits the state provides, including the lack of a state income tax. But the Texas miracle isn’t all that, when you realize that most of the jobs created here in the past decade have been temporary, contract, or part-time – hardly life-sustaining enterprises.
While Greg Abbott and the GOP are preoccupied with public bathrooms and defunding Planned Parenthood, roughly half of all Texas children are uninsured. Texas schools, once among the best in the nation, are now ranked among the worst. The idiotic abstinence-only sex education instituted by the Bush gang has failed.
Democrats have done plenty of harm to themselves, though. In every recent election cycle, their ads have always gone negative from the start. If you can’t say something positive about yourself and produce the good results of your own record, why trash someone else? Payne doesn’t stand much of a chance, but he’s got my vote.
ggore
That lack of a state income tax as a lure just baffles me considering the horrific property taxes Texans pay. $8000 per year for a modest house, are you kidding me? Here in Oklahoma I pay $200 per year in property taxes and around $6000 per year in state income taxes. If a state doesn’t have a state income tax, rest assured that they are going to get the same cut of your money by some other means.
As to this guy’s chances at winning, they are slim to none, sad to say. Gerrymandering doesn’t have anything to do with a state-wide office, but in radical rightwing Texas, this just ain’t gonna happen. I wish Ann Richards could be brought back from the grave, she would tell those people how the cow ate the corn!
seaguy
He’d get my vote if I lived in TX what a sexxxy man.
jag4313
Here in Houston we had a Lesbian Mayor for 6 years and she did a wonderful job with the LGBT community. I would love to see an openly gay man as Governor.
Good Luck to you!
Sluggo2007
Good luck. I used to live in Texas (Austin). Although there were many, many, many gay people, many were in the closet (to protect themselves from the rednecks and bubbas).