WASHINGTON -- Hispanic candidates made a good showing in Tuesday's elections, including mayoral wins in Austin, Texas, and Hartford, Connecticut.

Gustavo "Gus" Garcia, a former city councilman, was elected Austin's first Hispanic mayor, after defeating a field of six candidates by a wide margin.

In Houston, Texas, next month's mayoral run-off between a Hispanic Republican candidate and his African-American rival will mark the first time a mayoral race in one of the 10 largest U.S.
cities does not include a white non-Hispanic candidate in the running.

In the Houston race, Cuban-American Orlando Sanchez received 41 percent of the vote, while incumbent Mayor Lee Brown earned 43 percent. The run-off is scheduled for Dec. 4.

Voters in Hartford, Connecticut also made history in the city's mayoral race by electing Puerto Rican-American Eddie Perez, who moved to the United States when he was 14 years old.

In New York City, Republican multi-millionaire Michael Bloomberg defeated Democrat Mark Green with the help of the city's significant Hispanic community.

Bloomberg got help in the Latino community with the endorsement of former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, who lost to Green in the Democratic primary.

In addition, three of the city's Spanish-language dailies backed Bloomberg, who received nearly 44 percent of the Hispanic vote.

In the Bronx, New York City's borough with the largest Hispanic population, Puerto Rican-American Adolfo Carrion was elected borough president. Carrion became just the third Hispanic to lead the Bronx.

A run-off election will also determine the outcome of Miami's mayoral race, which is now between veteran politician Maurice Ferre, a former Miami mayor, and attorney Manny Diaz, a political newcomer who was one of the attorneys who represented the family of Elian Gonzalez.

Ferre, a Puerto Rican, and Diaz, a Cuban-American, defeated current Mayor Joe Carollo, also of Cuban descent, who is known by his detractors as "Loco Joe."

Ester Aguilera, a member of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said the Democratic party will focus on 140 electoral districts with large Hispanic populations in next year's congressional elections.

Democrats will focus largely on the states of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada and Florida, Aguilera said.

"The Latino vote is very important. Last year, 63 percent of Hispanic voters voted Democratic and, despite the heavy influx of Republicans in this community, we hope to surpass that amount next year," Aguilera said.

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