US: Houston Mayor Annise Parker wins third and final re-election
Annise Parker was re-elected on Tuesday to her third and final term as mayor of Houston, Texas.
According to Associated Press, Parker received more than 50% of the vote, which was enough to avoid a run-off in December.
The openly gay mayor was first elected in 2009 with 53.6% of the vote, where she was celebrated as showing that Texas was not as much of a conservative monolith as critics may suspect.
She won her second term in 2011 in a close election in which she managed to hold off five challengers.
Now in her third re-election, she faces her final run as mayor, an administration which has so far seen Houston triumph through the recent recessions better than most major cities.
During her stay, Parker also managed to keep Houston’s overall crime rate down 8% compared to three years prior to 2010.
Houston is the fourth largest city in America and is to continue to be the largest to have an openly gay or lesbian mayor throughout Parker’s third term.