Brown Takes Close Houston Mayoral Win
Lee P. Brown, the nation’s former drug policy director, became Houston’s first black mayor Saturday, narrowly defeating businessman Rob Mosbacher.
With all precincts counted, Brown had 156,169 votes, or 53%, to Mosbacher’s 140,321, or 47%.
Recent polls had put Brown 3 to 10 percentage points ahead of Mosbacher, son of Robert A. Mosbacher, a former Bush administration Commerce secretary, in a race that attracted the attention of President Clinton and former President Bush.
Many believed that the race would hinge on the turnout of black voters. About one-third of Houston’s 1.8 million residents are black, one-third are white and one-third are Latino.
The campaign was dominated by attacks on the candidates’ pasts.
Mosbacher had accused Brown of being a career bureaucrat and lousy administrator. He attacked Brown’s record as police commissioner of New York City.
Brown labeled Mosbacher a tax dodge because a company in which he was a minority investor moved out of a Texas county to avoid higher taxes.
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