Path to Power
A native son of Texas, Kirk grew up in Austin where his mother taught and his father became the first African-American to work in the city’s post office, turning down two chances to go to medical school because he couldn’t afford it.
As a child, Kirk attended a newly integrated school. This brought many racial slurs Kirk’s way, not just from the white kids in school, but also from black kids who lived near him, who labeled him an ‘Uncle Tom.’ This range of insults would follow Kirk through college and even during his mayoral run.
After graduating from law school at the University of Texas at Austin in 1979, Kirk went into private practice for a few years before joining Sen. Lloyd Bentsen’s (D-Texas) Washington office. In 1983, he went back to law, serving as the top lobbyist for the city of Dallas in Austin before jumping to the corporate side again as a lobbyist for a prominent law firm in Dallas. And in 1994, Kirk joined Texas Gov. Ann Richard’s (D) office as her secretary of state.
Kirk must have liked the feel of politics because he decided to run for Dallas mayor in 1995. He ran on a pro-business platform in a highly segregated city between between North Dallas, where most whites lived, to South Dallas, where most blacks made their home. During his campaign, blacks doubted his loyalty to his community, and whites could easily see he was black.
As no mayor of any major Texas city had been black, a win for Kirk in a city as highly divided as Dallas was considered historic. Kirk was running against two other candidates, and although favored, the race was expected to go into a run-off because no candidate would get the majority of the votes. Unexpectedly, Kirk won with 62 percent of the final tally.
As mayor, Kirk finalized a deal for a new stadium to house the Dallas pro basketball and hockey teams, an important win for the small-business owners in the area. Plus, he secured $543 million in funding for a revitalizing project near the flood-prone Trinity River. By 1999, the end of his first term, Kirk had helped create 40,000 jobs.
Kirk easily won his re-election bid, and in 2001, as Phil Gramm (R-Texas) announced he was stepping down as Senator, Kirk resigned as mayor and attempted an historic run for the open Texas Senate seat.
Running against Republican
John Cornyn, Kirk faced an uphill climb. Former Texas governor and President George W. Bush had a cult-like status in the Lone Star State at the time. For a Democrat to win in Bush’s backyard, where no Democrat held any of the 27 statewide offices, would be a slap in the face to the highly popular president. But Kirk ran as a pair with the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Tony Sanchez. They were labeled the ‘Dream Team,’ and were attempting to take advantage of a growing number of minority voters in Texas.
Sanchez and Kirk put up a great fight. Kirk’s senatorial bid became one of the most intriguing contest in the 2002 election cycle. Despite being outspent by three-to-one at times, polls near the end showed a dead heat. President Bush, First-Lady Laura Bush and President George H.W. Bush all went to the aid of
Cornyn. But it was a strange race because both candidates attempted to present themselves as close to President Bush, who had nearly a 70 percent approval rating in Texas.
“I'm not here to go and do battle with the president,'' Kirk said. ''This election is not a referendum on George Bush -- there is not anybody in America that is unclear about where Texas stands in terms of its love and respect for George Bush.”
Kirk’s downfall may have come two months before the election when he quipped that
Cornyn might be less likely to support the war in Iraq if well-to-do whites were fighting on the front line, as opposed to minorities. His support dropped in the polls immediately after he made the comment. Kirk lost, 43 to 55 percent.
After the failed bid, he joined two different law firms — Gardere Wynne Sewell and Vinson & Elkins — as a lobbyist.
