Polls here close in less than six hours, and Annise’s volunteers are out in full force, including Victory Fund president and CEO Chuck Wolfe (pictured center), who’s at the polls urging voters to vote for Annise Parker for mayor and Sue Lovell and Lane Lewis for city council–all Victory Fund-endorsed candidates.

Victory’s deputy political director, Shawn Werner, who confessed to getting no sleep last night, was at Annise Parker headquarters making maps for volunteers until well after midnight.  Today Shawn’s distributing literature urging supporters to vote before 7pm.

I’m at the Hilton adjacent to the convention center where more than 1,500 people are expected tonight for Annise’s election results party.  Turnout is said to be low across the city, perhaps because of the gray, drizzly fog hanging over the city this morning.  I can’t even see out my 19th floor window.  If skies clear later, there could be a jump in voting.

So when will we know who won?  Impossible to say right now.  Some are predicting an early call, and others say the race will be too close to call until late.  We’ll have a press release, blog post, Facebook post and tweet ready to go as soon as we hear.  And if you haven’t already, urge your Houstonian friends, family members, colleagues and co-workers to vote before 7pm!

–Denis

Palm Springs, Calif., Mayor Steve Pougnet, who is running for Congress next year, is among 15 new endorsements of openly gay and lesbian political candidates announced today by the Victory Fund.  The other 14 candidates are:

Toni Atkins–California State Assembly, District 76 (2010 election)

Jay Barth–Arkansas State Senate, District 34 (2010 election)

Adam Brackman–Atlanta City Council

Todd Connor–Water Reclamation District of Chicago Commission (2010 election)

Michael Gongora–Miami Beach Commission

Rob Holland–Seattle Port Commission

Sharyn Keiser–New Hope City Council, Pennsylvania

Jeff Kingsbury–Olympia City Council, WA

Sandra Kurt–Akron City Council, OH

Sue Lovell–Houston City Council, TX

Sherry Roberts–Miami Beach Commission

Mark Tumeo–Cleveland Heights City Council, OH

Kyle Williams–Decatur City Commission, GA
Jack Zatz–Marlboro Township Council, NJ

LGBT superdelegates David Cicilline, Tammy Baldwin and Heather Mizeur.

The end of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination is nowhere in sight, with Barack Obama slowly pulling ahead of Hillary Clinton.

As the likelihood of either candidate securing the required 2,025 state delegates decreases, the votes of superdelegates are becoming an increasingly large focus. Yesterday, GayPolitics.com brought news of Jason Rae’s star turn as the nation’s youngest superdelegate at 21 (Rae served as a Victory Fund intern in 2006).

Today, The Advocate has presented a list of the 21 LGBT superdelegates (the total number is almost 800). According to the article, 12 have declared their intention to vote for Hillary Clinton, two plan to vote for Barack Obama and seven remain undecided.

Of the 21 LGBT superdelegates, six are elected officials:

• Wisconsin Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin
• Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank
• Providence, Rhode Island Mayor David Cicilline
• Houston Vice Mayor Sue Lovell
• California state Senator Carol Migden
• Maryland state Delegate Heather Mizeur

In addition, Mirian Saez serves as the San Francisco Housing Authority interim director. Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed her to the post.

When Houston’s new City Council took the oath of office today, openly lesbian councilwoman Sue Lovell was named the city’s vice mayor pro-tem. Lovel was nominated and unanimously voted in by her fellow council members.
The former Victory-endorsee is beginning her second term as a Houston City Council member in an at-large position.