Ahead of mayoral bid, state Sen. John Whitmire faces unexpected test in primary Senate race

Instead, Whitmire drew a last-minute challenge from Molly Cook, an emergency room nurse and progressive activist who appears to be the incumbent senator’s most formidable opponent in decades.

The longest-serving member of the Senate, Whitmire is heading into Tuesday’s election with clear-cut advantages over Cook, having outspent her roughly 3-to-1 and represented the district since nearly a decade before she was born. Still, Whitmire’s declared — and potential — mayoral opponents are keeping a close eye on the contest, which poses a fresh test of the senator’s electoral strength in a district that takes in a large chunk of the Houston electorate.

Whitmire said he takes “each and every opponent very seriously,” including Cook. He has shaped his re-election bid around his 39 years of experience in the Senate, arguing that his knowledge of the legislative process and presence on key committees — as chair of the Criminal Justice Committee and a member of the budget-shaping Finance and Business & Commerce committees — give him clout even in the Republican-dominated chamber.

“I think my chairmanship of Criminal Justice is reason alone for people to support me,” said Whitmire, 72. “Experience matters. … I don’t even think it’s a close call on who is prepared, from Day One, to represent Houston.”

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Though Cook, 30, is making her first run for elected office, she entered the race after spending more than a year as a lead organizer behind Stop TxDOT I-45, the group opposing the state transportation agency’s controversial $7 billion plan to remake Interstate 45 north of downtown Houston. She said her deep ties to grassroots organizing would shape her approach to serving in the Senate, vowing to seek input from community advocates through “bottom-up planning.”

At the same time, Cook argues that Whitmire — who was elected to the House in 1972, while a senior at the University of Houston, before moving to the Senate a decade later — has lost touch with the district through his nearly half-century in office. She has also accused Whitmire of “running for two offices at once” by way of his early mayoral announcement.

Cook blasts Whitmire over private prison donors

At a forum in late January, Cook said Whitmire’s “way of doing things is no longer serving our district or our state. She touted her own “fresh perspective and public health and policy expertise.”

“Sen. Whitmire has been in the Legislature since he was 23,” Cook said. “I have the experience of being a health care worker, making sacrifices to afford my health care, renting my home, and grassroots organizing. Sen. Whitmire is weighed down by experience, decades of campaign contributions, backroom deals and protecting personal political capital.”

Whitmire insists that he is completely focused on his current election, and dismissed charges from Cook that he would already have one foot out the door during the 2023 legislative session. He noted that Mayor Sylvester Turner also ran for re-election to the state House in 2014, even as he was gearing up for a mayoral run the following year.

“Nothing matters more to me right now than the Senate race. Any future race, we’ll take up after this race. I see no conflict,” Whitmire said. “So, that’s just a smokescreen. My opponent had to say something. She’s not going to say I’m a good guy. She should, but, you know, there’s no core Democratic issue to talk about. I voted nearly exactly like (state Sens.) Borris Miles and Carol Alvarado. We work very closely as a delegation.”

Whitmire has particularly emphasized his role in criminal justice policy, characterizing his philosophy as “tough, but smart on crime.” He has touted the closure of state-run lockups and heightened focus on treatment and rehabilitation during his time chairing the Criminal Justice Committee.

But during the January forum, Cook said the prison closures were largely a result of budget shortfalls. She also bashed Whitmire for receiving campaign contributions from private prisons up to 2016, while saying she would reject such donations.

Whitmire said he wasn’t aware of the contributions and said they were “not relevant,” because he no longer takes donations from the for-profit prison industry. He argued that private prisons still under contract with the state “are largely treatment facilities” that provide “psychiatric and emotional assistance that the state has been unwilling to do.”

A bellwether for 2023 mayoral race

In some ways, the outcome of Tuesday’s election may offer lessons to Whitmire and his opponents in the 2023 mayoral contest, said Keir Murray, a Houston-based Democratic strategist.

“If there are one or more candidates in the mayoral race next year who are trying to run as a more progressive alternative to Sen. Whitmire, then depending on how Ms. Cook does in this race, that might offer some lessons for them on how they want to prosecute their campaigns,” Murray said.

But Murray also noted the electorate that will decide next week’s primary will look much different than the one that typically turns out for citywide mayoral contests, which are nonpartisan and take place during off years, drawing a more conservative crowd.

During redistricting last year, state lawmakers preserved most of Whitmire’s Senate District 15, which includes Montrose, The Heights, Humble, Atascocita, Bush Intercontinental Airport and most of northwest Houston.

Whitmire is also campaigning in unfamiliar territory, however, with some 200,000 new residents added to the district from Bellaire, Meyerland, West University Place and other areas.

Even if Cook loses, a strong showing could establish her as a frontrunner in what would likely be a crowded race to replace Whitmire if he wins the November 2023 mayoral race, said University of Houston political science associate professor Jeronimo Cortina.

“Perhaps what she wants to do is get on the ballot early and claim that particular space that is going to be opened,” Cortina said. “I think it’s a smart move on her behalf.”

If she comes up short next week, Cook said she would likely run for the seat again if the opportunity arises in 2024.

“I don’t like to make promises or commitments looking forward, because anything could happen,” Cook said. “But I would say that there’s a high likelihood.”