No Gay Mayor For Dallas

Openly gay Dallas mayoral candidate Ed Oakley lost today in that city's runoff election, defeated by retired businessman Tom Leppert. Surprising poll workers, today's runoff seems to have had higher turnout than last month's general election. Oakley, who is CFO of a company that owns several Dallas gay bars, called Leppert late today to concede and congratulate him on his win.

Despite Oakley's loss, the election was a notable landmark in LGBT politics because neither candidate made Oakley's sexuality a major issue. However, early in the month Oakley did say that he suspected that Leppert's campaign had prior awareness of an anti-gay phone campaign launched by the right-wing Heritage Alliance. Leppert denied knowing of the phone campaign and publicly called for its end. This was the most expensive mayoral campaign in Dallas history with over $5 million spent by all candidates. Oakley's campaign was supported in part by the Victory Fund, who issued a statement congratulating him on his historic campaign.