Houston mayoral candidate gets risky endorsement from controversial Mexican soccer star

Adrian Garcia wants to be the first Hispanic to get elected mayor of Houston, Texas.

But the sheriff-turned-Democratic candidate, who is tied for second place in the polls, is going to need all the help he can get. And now he’s hoping to get a boost from an unlikely personality: controversial former Mexican soccer star Cuauhtémoc Blanco, the new mayor-elect of Cuernavaca.

Blanco endorsed García this weekend at a campaign fundraiser during a U.S.- Mexico soccer watch party in Houston’s Club Tequila.

Blanco, who’s on a U.S. tour to promote ties between Cuernavaca and several U.S. cities, including Houston, encouraged a crowd of Latino supporters to vote for García.

“We must vote for Adrian, for my friend Adrian, who has always been with me,” Blanco said in Spanish.

Having an endorsement from Blanco could be a double-edge sword.

In some respects, the beloved and popular former soccer player could help energize the Mexican American vote. According to census data from the City of Houston, about 73 percent of the city’s hispanic population is of Mexican origin. Houston is one of the most diverse cities in the U.S.

On the other hand, Blanco has always been a controversial figure on and off the soccer field. During his soccer days, Blanco was known to incite brawls and as an upstart politician he has already been involved in several scandals, including the discovery that he copy-pasted his resume from Wikipedia to register his candidacy for mayor.

But judging by the photos that García has put all over his social media accounts posing with Blanco, the mayoral hopeful doesn’t seem to be concerned by the Mexican soccer star’s antics.

Fusion reached out to Garcia’s campaign but did not receive a response.