The other day we reported that openly gay candidate James Nowlin had failed to congratulate Angela Hunt after she defeated him in the District 14 Dallas City Council race. In response to our post, commenters on Facebook suggested that Nowlin did congratulate Hunt — during a concession speech at his election night watch party. So today we contacted Nowlin — who hadn’t returned our phone calls from Saturday night — seeking clarification.
Nowlin explained that he did “wish [Hunt] the best” during his speech at the watch party. However, he said he doesn’t plan to contact her directly or congratulate her.
“I will not be congratulating somebody who does not want the job,” Nowlin said. “I will not be reaching out to her directly because I don’t believe that that’s where her heart is. Her heart is in being mayor, not being councilwoman for the 14th district. And I don’t believe in congratulating somebody who does not want the job.”
Well, it’s either the truth or a bitter queen showing some Dallitude. I don’t know either of them personally, so I really don’t care.
Yet another disappointing comment from James Nowlin. Had Hunt not run, I would have supported him. After his campaign’s conduct these past weeks, I will be unlikely to support him in the future.
Congratulations, Councilwoman Hunt!
There is never an excuse for poor manners, which speaks volumes in the type of character and person Mr. Nowlin has shown himself to be lately. Very sad that he is representing the worse type of Dallitude that we see in our community, but more sadly, this is not that shocking.
Bitter, party of one? I’m taking his comment to mean that he thinks the overwhelming majority of voters in that district are too stupid to know what he does about Ms. Hunt. Go home, you classless buffoon!
This information helps underscore why I’m glad I voted for Councilmember Hunt.
No class, James, no class. Good luck running for something else far from Dallas – you’re pretty much finished here. You could have waited until Angela was term-limited out, but you didn’t. You could have run a clean and issues-based campaign, but you didn’t. You could have shown some dignity when you were defeated, but you didn’t. Hit the road – please.
Zero class. Nowlin continues to embarrass himself and the Dallas Stonewall Democrats who endorsed him. Both are a sad joke at this point.
I really wish James would allow the community to heal and just not say anymore.
I don’t recall @ Angela’s watching party that she had any regrets of again winning District 14. Only a huge hug and a thank you. Classy.
What a jaw-dropping statement. Good-bye, Mr. Nowlin.
Wow…just when I thought he couldn’t make it any worse.
Nobody likes a sore loser.
Some unsolicited advice: Follow Superintendent Hinojosa’s lead and find greener pastures.
Even though I didn’t have to, I still left Ron Natinsky a message in 07 congratulating him when he beat me. The same occured with Myra Crownover in 08, and at least she actually returned my call unlike good ol’ Ron. You can’t get your feelings hurt too much if you run for office and lose. One day you’ll be elected like me and have to let a lot roll off. So might be time for James to show a good public face unless he doesn’t want to be councilman when Hunt terms out.
Mr. Nowlin, if Angela Hunt didn’t want the job she wouldn’t have run for the office. I haven’t seen such classless behavior since Clayton Williams’ gaffe-filled “Good Old Boy” campaign for Texas Governor against Ann Richards in 1990. Just as Texas was lucky that Williams lost in 1990 Dallas is most fortunate that James Nowlin lost in 2011. Congratulations Angela. You have served our community well and I know that you will continue to do so.
I would hope that the misguided voters that tried to put Mr. Nowlin on the City Council now see him as the arrogant, classless and catty sore loser he evidently is.
I apologize to Mr. President for calling Nowling Obama Jr…I called him that in reference to Mr. Nowling’s smooth style, similar to Obama, that rubbed me the wrong way…our president has more class.
Can this guy just keep putting his foot in his mount? I would have supported him initially, but after his campaign turned ugly I supported Hunt. But now, there is no way in HECK, I will EVER vote for this guy. He just needs to get out of politics all together, he’s an embarassment to the gay community. And while your at it, take the Stonewalls with you, they have created a mess for the gay community and its time they go too.
I have to laugh at those who blame Stonewall for the James Nowlin running for City Council. It amazes me how many people forget that we live in a Democracy. Stonewall conducts Endorsement screenings in which all members can take part and that’s exactly what happened. Not all members showed up and James’ followers turned his people, members, out the day of the endorsements. He won the endorsement by two votes.
As I see it the problem doesn’t lie in Stonewall it lies in the fact that the Angela supporters who are Stonewall members didn’t turn out to ensure that she got the endorsement. The second part of the problem is the fact that more GLBT citizens of Dallas are not Stonewall members and don’t take part in the process. The people blaming Stonewall like Kevin B above weren’t there that day and don’t show up and take part. It also cracks me up how many people use pseudo names while placing the blame on everyone else but themselves.
The way to fix the problem is to get involved instead of either running away from Stonewall or just shooting your mouth about how “they” screwed up. I’m very glad Angela won the race.
P.S. How many of you showed up to speak about the redistricting that is going on right now. They are trying to move some of the biggest GLBT voting precincts in Oak Lawn and they could end up in a Tea Party District. How many showed up to the City Redistricting meetings? Without input from the community Oak Lawn could end up in ONE district instead of two and we could chance losing our allies on City Council.
James Nowlin is a sore loser. He comes across as inexperienced and his comments as foolish. Folks generally choose their battles in order to win the war. James has already lost any war he fights in the future. To say “I will not be congratulating” or ” I will not be reaching out to her” are the words of a spoiled child. I was also personally offended by Steve Graves’ ad in the Dallas Voice. My hope is that Angela Hunt, whom I supported with a donation (although I do not live in her district), will be aware that many other members of the gay community value her actions on Council.