# White republican wins election by fooling black voters
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [November 11, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667 "2013-11-11T19:51:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/41 "2013-11-12T03:12:38Z")
[This piece says Wilson won by a margin of 50.1% to 49.9%, by the way.](http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=56937)
> [@Terr](#):
>
> I really didn’t see anywhere in the articles that touched on the matter whether Wilson presented himself as a “conservative” or not.
You can find a few images of his campaign materials online, but it’s hard to form a clear impression. [Here’s one page](http://progressivepopulist.org/2013/11/09/conservative-white-republican-wins-texas-election-over-black-man-by-pretending-hes-black-video/), and [here you can see parts of a few pages.](https://www.blackmediascoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Screen-shot-2013-11-11-at-11.27.53-AM.png) While he talks about family values and hits his opponent for being single, I’m thinking [he probably didn’t emphasize his criticism of the mayor of Houston](http://davewilsonformayor.com/DaveVsAnnise.htm) (she’s a lesbian). It probably did help Wilson that the board has been hit by some scandals, so perhaps his opponent was seen as having some baggage. But I think the fake endorsement probably helped a lot.
> [@](#):
>
> So - exactly how his being white is supposed to be relevant to the election, unless the color of the skin influences people’s voting?
He pretended to be someone else. I don’t think this could be any simpler.
> [@](#):
>
> I would think his opinion on why he lost counts more than someone’s who is outside the district and has not followed the election - wouldn’t you.
It’s not stopping you.
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### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/42 "2013-11-12T03:34:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Another piece of direct mail had the words “Endorsed by Ron Wilson” on it, which KHOU points out could be misconstrued by voters to mean that Wilson was endorsed by former state representative Ron Wilson — an African-American.
>
> But in the mailer’s fine print Wilson noted that “Ron Wilson” was his cousin.
Personally I think this is fucking hilarious.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/43 "2013-11-12T03:35:44Z")
> [@Iggy](#):
>
> \
> 43 white male vice presidents. [Charles Curtis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Curtis), VP under Herbert Hoover, was of mixed European and Native American ancestry. He was an enrolled member of the Kaw tribe.
> \
>
> If Obama, of mixed European and African ancestry, doesn’t count as white then neither does Curtis.
Well, white American attitudes to blacks and Indians have historically not been quite the same. E.g., Thomas Jefferson looked forward to the amalgamation of whites and Indians into a single American race by intermarriage – and to the emancipation and deportation of all blacks to prevent the same (not that **he** shied from a little white-black miscegenation at home).
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/44 "2013-11-12T03:40:46Z")
Besides which, nobody here is saying that we know why the race went the way it did, just possible reasons which might be why the race went as it did. Well, nobody here except you, **Terr**. You’re the only one in this thread who’s claiming to know absolutely what was going on there. Care to share how you know?
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### Author:  [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/45 "2013-11-12T03:55:17Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> He pretended to be someone else.
Who is the “someone else” he pretended to be, exactly? I didn’t even see him pretending to be black. He just didn’t emphasize that he was white.
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### Author:  [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/46 "2013-11-12T04:00:31Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Besides which, nobody here is saying that we know why the race went the way it did, just possible reasons which might be why the race went as it did.
I know. Let me throw out another possibility - maybe the black voters that cast the ballot for him actually wanted the “white, anti-gay Republican” for the office. After all, lots of whites voted for Obama, and no one finds anything weird about that. And quite a big proportion of blacks in this country are quite “anti-gay” as well.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/47 "2013-11-12T04:01:03Z")
> [@Terr](#):
>
> Who is the “someone else” he pretended to be, exactly?
He implied an identity distinct from his real one: he implied he was a black candidate with the support of Rep. Ron Wilson, and as far as I can tell he didn’t acknowledge his own run for mayor in 2011. People who are not clinging desperately to a “nuh uh!” argument will recognize that this was misleading and lying by omission. The candidate himself is open about the fact that he deceived people.
> [@Terr](#):
>
> After all, lots of whites voted for Obama, and no one finds anything weird about that.
Black voters have been voting for white candidates since they received the franchise. White people who voted for Obama were clear on who they were voting for.
> [@](#):
>
> And quite a big proportion of blacks in this country are quite “anti-gay” as well.
Time to emphasize that Wilson was running for a seat on the local community college board- not someplace his views on gays are likely to have much effect. After all he could have run on his own anti-gay record as white guy David Wilson.
---
### Author:  [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/48 "2013-11-12T04:03:01Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> He implied an identity distinct from his real one
“Implied an identity” does not mean “pretended to be” - does it? One is an omission while the other is an affirmation.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/49 "2013-11-12T04:09:05Z")
> [@Terr](#):
>
> “Implied an identity” does not mean “pretended to be” - does it? One is an omission while the other is an affirmation.
He implied an identity distinct from his own. Yes, that’s pretending to be a different person.
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### Author:  [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/50 "2013-11-12T04:09:42Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> He implied an identity distinct from his own. Yes, that’s pretending to be a different person.
Wrong.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/51 "2013-11-12T04:20:05Z")
> [@Terr](#):
>
> Wrong.
And now your argument has devolved to one-word rejoinders. Anyway Wilson is open about the fact that he was trying to trick people, so you may as well admit the same. [Here, by the way, is Wilson’s latest website.](http://www.davewilsonforhcc.com) There are no pictures of the candidate and no references to his anti-gay views or any other background. [He was quite proud of his own history when he was running for mayor in 2011.](http://davewilsonformayor.com/DoWhatsRight.htm) And on the About Dave page there’s another photo that could be taken to imply he is a black man.
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### Author:  [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/52 "2013-11-12T04:38:39Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> And now your argument has devolved to one-word rejoinders. Anyway Wilson is open about the fact that he was trying to trick people, so you may as well admit the same.
Of course he was. But he wasn’t trying to pretend he was someone else.
> [@](#):
>
> Here, by the way, is Wilson’s latest website. There are no pictures of the candidate and no references to his anti-gay views or any other background.
Right. So - if you have a web site where you do not enumerate every one of your views and don’t have a picture of yourself, you’re pretending to be someone else?
> [@](#):
>
> And on the About Dave page there’s another photo that could be taken to imply he is a black man.
You mean the picture that is labeled “ **Students and Supporters of Dave Wilson** ”? Exactly how does it imply he is black?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/53 "2013-11-12T04:43:30Z")
> [@Terr](#):
>
> Of course he was. But he wasn’t trying to pretend he was someone else.
He pretended he was a black guy named Dave Wilson, not the conservative white Dave Wilson who ran for mayor in 2011. This is not complicated, much as you might like it to be so.
> [@](#):
>
> You mean the picture that is labeled “ **Students and Supporters of Dave Wilson** ”? Exactly how does it imply he is black?
A less than careful reader might think the lower picture has the students and supporters. Or they might simply assume the top picture is Dave Wilson with supporters even though it doesn’t say so. After all, what candidate wouldn’t put a picture of himself on his own website?
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### Author:  [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/54 "2013-11-12T04:55:50Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> He pretended he was a black guy named Dave Wilson, not the conservative white Dave Wilson who ran for mayor in 2011.
Show me where he “pretended” to be black. This is not complicated, much as you might like it to be so.
> [@](#):
>
> A less than careful reader might think the lower picture has the students and supporters. Or they might simply assume the top picture is Dave Wilson with supporters even though it doesn’t say so.
Ah. Assume. Even though it doesn’t say so. So some people (a bit on the less-than-brilliant side of the spectrum) assume he is black. He doesn’t say he’s black - anywhere on his web site or elsewhere. How exactly is that him “pretending he was a black guy”?
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### Author:  [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/55 "2013-11-12T04:58:30Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> After all, what candidate wouldn’t put a picture of himself on his own website?
One that doesn’t want voters to decide not to vote for him because of his skin color?
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/56 "2013-11-12T05:03:34Z")
> [@Terr](#):
>
> One that doesn’t want voters to decide not to vote for him because of his skin color?
How do you know they weren’t going to vote for him based on his skin color? He obscured his entire political track record as well as his race.
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### Author:  [@Terr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terr)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/57 "2013-11-12T05:12:30Z")
> [@Marley23](#):
>
> How do you know they weren’t going to vote for him based on his skin color? He obscured his entire political track record as well as his race.
I don’t “absolutely know” - as I pointed out above, maybe his district’s majority black voters just decided they wanna vote for the white guy. My opinion is if they knew he was white they wouldn’t. But he didn’t want to give them the choice not to vote for him because of his skin color. Is that a problem for you?
As for “obscuring his entire political track record” - isn’t that what every person running for political office does, depending on what positions they deem to be favorable for re-election? It’s the standard MO - what is your problem with this particular case?
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### Author:  [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/58 "2013-11-12T05:14:44Z")
> [@Iggy](#):
>
> \
> 43 white male vice presidents. [Charles Curtis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Curtis), VP under Herbert Hoover, was of mixed European and Native American ancestry. He was an enrolled member of the Kaw tribe.
> \
>
> If Obama, of mixed European and African ancestry, doesn’t count as white then neither does Curtis.
Have you ever seen pictures of Charles Curtis?
Yes, he may have been part Native American, and played it up for the sake of politics since Americans have ever since the Last of the Mohicans had a huge thing for white people with some negligible amount of Native American ancestry, but he didn’t look any more Native American than Chuck Norris, Kevin Costner, Quentin Tarantino or Elizabeth Warren\*.
If Obama looked like this guy, who’s apparently also part sub-Saharran African you’d have a point, but he doesn’t so you don’t.
[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/11/craig-cobb-white-supremacist-black\_n\_4256360.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000038](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/11/craig-cobb-white-supremacist-black_n_4256360.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000038)
\*. Yes, those names were chosen for a reason.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/59 "2013-11-12T05:18:00Z")
> [@Terr](#):
>
> But he didn’t want to give them the choice not to vote for him because of his skin color. Is that a problem for you?
Still not what he did. And yes, I don’t approve of lying and bullshitting voters. The nice thing about not being a modern conservative is that I don’t have to choose between losing and stunts like this - either misleading voters by lies, omissions and fine print or trying to stop them from voting altogether. Unlike the Dave Wilsons of the world, I think people might actually willingly vote for the stuff I like. It’s a nice feeling.
> [@](#):
>
> As for “obscuring his entire political track record” - isn’t that what every person running for political office does, depending on what positions they deem to be favorable for re-election?
No. That’s a good Dave Wilson impression, though!
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### Author:  [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2013, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-republican-wins-election-by-fooling-black-voters/673667/60 "2013-11-12T05:18:33Z")
> [@Nobody](#):
>
> Now maybe the KHOU TV station that the Gawker article cites got it wrong. Maybe because blacks in that area vote overwhelmingly Democrat, seeing a mailer with black faces and thinking he was endorsed by Democrat Ron Wilson made the voters think that they were voting for a democrat. It’s possible. But wouldn’t a D or R appear on the ballot?
The position is non-partisan, so no a D or R wouldn’t appear next to his name.
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