Ann Johnson
Lesbian attorney Ann Johnson lost her bid to replace freshman incumbent state Rep. Sarah Davis in Houston’s House District 134.
Johnson trailed in votes throughout election night, ending with 45 percent of the vote to Davis’ 56 percent with about 7,500 votes separating them.
Johnson would have been the second openly LGBT woman elected to the Texas Legislature after El Paso’s Mary Gonzalez.
But while Davis’ record appears to be anti-gay because she voted to ban LGBT resource center at state universities, Equality Texas has said that she expressed an interest in working with them again after collaborating with them on the anti-bullying bill last session.
Johnson told Dallas Voice that she was proud of her campaign and volunteers. She said her campaign deserved credit for the shift in focus to public education and healthcare in the race, two items which Davis started to speak more about because of Johnson.
“I think we ran a great race. We had a tremendous outpouring of support from volunteers who were out phone banks, block walking and standing out at the polls in support of our campaign,” Johnson said. “There was a great shift, I believe, that happened in this district and even Rep. Davis began to speak about trying to be independent and make these issues that we were discussing a priority. I think that’s a credit to the support that we had and the campaign that we ran. I’m excited with what we’ve been able to do and creating a new conversation for priorities in Texas.”
