Tag Archives: Texas Republicans

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For whom will Dewhurst vote?

My mind is wandering as I sit at my computer, so I thought I’d share this idle thought.

Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst is still suffering emotional wounds from his loss to state Sen. Dan Patrick in the lieutenant governor’s Republican runoff.

He knows Patrick well, having worked with him in the Texas Senate, over which Dewhurst presides as lieutenant governor.

Dewhurst also knows Democratic state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, who is running against Patrick in the general election for lieutenant governor.

My idle thought? Who will get Dewhurst’s vote this fall?

I’m really in no position to ask Dewhurst directly. Even if I did, he wouldn’t answer. He does get to vote in secret, just like the rest of us. Heck, he might even lie about who he’ll vote for. None of us ever would know the difference.

My trick knee, though, suggests that Van de Putte stands at least a decent chance of getting at least one crossover vote from a Republican.

Patrick said some pretty mean things to and about Dewhurst in the primary and then in the runoff. That’s the nature of campaigns in many cases. Patrick, though, tried to suggest in so many words that Dewhurst is a closet liberal or moderate — or something other than a staunch conservative, which is how Dewhurst sought to portray himself.

Do these harsh things just disappear when all the votes are counted? I think not.

Just wondering out loud …

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New guy joins GOP Senate nut brigade

It looks like Steve Stockman has company in the nut house corps seeking to unseat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.

The new guy is Chris Mapp, a Port O’Connor businessman who is running for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate, right along with Stockman.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/GOP-Senate-candidate-from-South-Texas-slammed-for-5255976.php#src=fb

Mapp said that South Texas ranchers should shoot “wetbacks” and called President Obama a “socialist son of a bitch.”

Well.

Cornyn said this in response: “I recognize this is a free country but that’s not the sort of way to gain people’s confidence that you care about them and you want to represent their concerns in the halls of Congress.”

Do you think, Sen. Cornyn?

I almost am speechless. But not quite.

It seems as though the debate keeps taking these intermittent radical right turns. Candidates keep popping up — and popping off — with these off-the-wall comments. They want us to take them seriously.

It’s impossible to believe they expect Texans or any Americans for that matter to believe they have the country’s best interests at heart when they advocate such idiocy in public.

As Robert Stovall, Bexar County GOP chairman, said of Mapp’s comments: “That is way out of bounds and I can’t imagine many people in Texas, much less Texas Republicans, voting for that guy.”

I hope he’s correct.

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What did I learn from candidate forums?

It’s an interesting exercise to try to explain what one can learn from interviewing candidates for public office.

I’ve noted already that election cycles have taught me things about my community — whether it’s back home in Oregon, or in Beaumont — where I learned that Texas politics is a contact sport — or Amarillo, where I’ve lived more than 19 years.

This past week I had the honor of taking part in a Panhandle PBS-sponsored series of candidate forums. I was among six local journalists who asked questions of candidates for the 13th Congressional District, Texas Senate District 31 and Potter County judge.

At some level every single one of the candidates — we talked to 10 of them overall — had something interesting and provocative to say in response to questions from the panel.

My single biggest takeaway from this series of interviews?

I think it’s that I learned that West Texas is not immune to the tumult that’s under way within the Republican Party.

In recent years I had this illusion that West Texas Republicans all spoke essentially with one mind. Wrong.

The campaigns for all three offices are showing considerable difference among the candidates.

The Texas Senate race between Sen. Kel Seliger and former Midland Mayor Mike Canon perhaps provides the most glaring contrast. Seliger is a mainstream Republican officeholder who knows the intricacies of legislating, understands the dynamics that drive the Senate and is fluent in what I guess you could call “Austinspeak.” His answers to our questions were detailed and reflected considerable knowledge gained from the decade he has served in the Senate. Canon also is a smart man. However, he tends to speak in clichés and talking points.

I asked the two of them their thoughts on term limits for legislators: Seliger said voters can discern whether their lawmaker is doing a good job and that there’s no need for term limits; Canon vowed to impose a two-term limit for his own service and said fresh faces mean fresh ideas. Of the two, Seliger provided the more honest answer.

The congressional race pitting incumbent Rep. Mac Thornberry against Elaine Hays and Pam Barlow provided more of the same. Both challengers are seeking to outflank the incumbent on the right and for the life of me I cannot fathom how they can get more to the right than Thornberry. They, too, used talking points to make their case, with Barlow asserting that she is a true-blue “constitutional conservative,” whatever that means.

Even the county judge race provided differences among the five Republicans seeking that office. Nancy Tanner, Debra McCartt, Bill Bandy, Jeff Poindexter and Bill Sumerford all spoke clearly to their points of view. They differed dramatically on several questions, ranging from whether the county should take part in a taxing district aimed at helping downtown Amarillo rebuild itself to whether they could perform a same-sex marriage ceremony were it to become legal in Texas.

You’ll be able to hear for yourself this week. Panhandle PBS is airing the congressional and state Senate forums Thursday night, beginning at 8 p.m. Each runs for 30 minutes. The county judge forum airs Sunday at 4 p.m., and will last an hour.

West Texas Republicans’ political bubble has burst.

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Let’s just skip Texas governor’s primary

Can’t we just move right into the Texas general election campaign for governor?

How about just skipping these meaningless primaries? We know who’s going to be nominated: Republicans will pick Attorney General Greg Abbott; Democrats are going to nominate state Sen. Wendy Davis.

The Texas Tribune notes that the new year will see a significant spike in campaign activity from both candidates. Rest assured, they won’t talk about the primary. They’re going to talk — a lot — about each other.

http://www.texastribune.org/2014/01/01/texas-governors-race-getting-more-heated/

I’m ready for a rumble.

Abbott has been the prohibitive favorite to become the next governor ever since he announced his candidacy. Davis is the underdog, given the state’s decidedly Republican tilt.

Some folks have wondered where Davis has been lurking in recent weeks. She hasn’t been as visible as some have said she should be. Never fear, says Jim Henson, a Texas Tribune pollster. She’ll get in the game quickly, as will Abbott.

He told the Tribune: “I’m looking for both of the campaigns to get very aggressive as soon as they find it strategically sound. I would expect that ethics and character are going to be big parts of both of those efforts.”

Henson told the Tribune that Abbott will focus on Davis’s private law practice and her connection with firms dealing with the Legislature; he adds that Davis will train her sights on Abbott’s role in a cancer research outfit’s involvement with someone indicted for allegedly lax tax procedures.

Who needs primaries when you have two candidates many voters know already and who are loading up for a donnybrook that won’t end until — gulp! — next November?

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Party switch gives Democrats hope

Texas Democrats shouldn’t read too much into a recent party switch of a statewide elected official who’s now one of them.

Court of Criminals Appeals Judge Larry Meyers has made the leap from Republican to Democrat, becoming officially the only statewide elected official with the label “Democrat” next to his name.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/12/20/party-switch-gives-democrats-something-build/

Meyers, who hails from Fort Worth where he served as a trial judge, was elected as a Republican, so Democrats will have to be careful to avoid labeling him in a manner that implies he was elected as a Democrat.

Perhaps the most important element of this switch, from a Democratic standpoint, is that it marks the first such switch from “R” to “D” in many years. The inter-party movement in Texas has been in the opposite direction, with Democrats switching to the Republican Party. The late Potter County Sheriff Jimmy Don Boydston made the switch some years back; Texas Tech Chancellor Kent Hance got his political start as a Democrat, then switched to Republican after losing a bid to become a U.S. senator in 1984. The roster of Democrat-to-Republican across the state is virtually endless.

Now, though, comes this switch in the other direction. It has statewide Democratic Party officials borderline giddy. They need to take care in going overboard here.

Texas Democratic Party chairman Gilbert Hinojosa is quite happy with the news.

As the Texas Tribune reported: “With this and the candidates that we are fielding in this election, I think people are saying, ‘Wow, this is a totally different Texas Democratic Party,’” Hinojosa said. Hinojosa said Meyers had told party officials he was a big fan of state Sen. Wendy Davis, the Democratic candidate for governor, and indicated that he had grown uncomfortable with the rightward shift of the Texas Republican Party. Hinojosa said the party had been in talks with Meyers about the switch for about three months. “He just said, ‘I can’t do this anymore,’” Hinojosa said. “He’s been thinking about this for quite some time.”

Meyers is the senior member of the state’s highest criminal appellate court, which gives some added boost to his party switch. Will this move be the catalyst that produces a truly competitive political climate in Texas? Time will tell.

That’s my hope, anyway. Texas needs two vibrant parties to compete vigorously for votes. Democrats have been rolled in this state by a muscular Republican Party.

It appears Democrats finally have lifted themselves off the floor and started punching back.

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Tea party faces big test in Texas next year

Ross Ramsey has put together another fascinating analysis for the Texas Tribune about the upcoming Republican Party primary race for the U.S. Senate in Texas.

It involves the incumbent, John Cornyn and a loudmouthed challenger, U.S Rep. Steve Stockman of Friendswood.

Stockman is a tea party favorite who’s decided to give up his House seat for a shot at Cornyn’s Senate seat. Good luck with that.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/12/13/senate-race-sound-and-fury-signifying-what/

Ramsey puts forth the view that Stockman’s candidacy may provide significant data on just how strong the tea party is in Texas. He notes that Ted Cruz knocked off Lt. David Dewhurst in 2012 to win the GOP nomination to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Stockman could do the same with Cornyn. I doubt it’s going to happen. At least I hope it doesn’t happen.

I’m trying to imagine Texas being represented by Ted Cruz and Steve Stockman in the same Senate chamber. Have mercy on us.

I didn’t have the honor of covering Stockman back in the mid-1990s when he was serving his first term in the House. He won that seat in 1994 by knocking off the legendary Democratic stalwart Jack Brooks of Beaumont. After watching the campaign from my post in Beaumont, I left the Gulf Coast for the Texas Panhandle in January 1995. My successor at the Beaumont Enterprise, Tom Taschinger, had the distinct pleasure of watching Stockman up close during his single term in Congress; he lost his seat in 1996 to Democrat Nick Lampson. My pal has written an equally interesting commentary detailing the folly of electing Stockman to the Senate.

Here it is:

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/opinions/columns/article/THOMAS-TASCHINGER-Stockman-faces-gigantic-odds-5063347.php

I’ll go out on a limb here and suggest that Texas Republicans know better than to knock off a senior GOP senator with substantial conservative credibility in favor of a goofball who didn’t distinguish himself the first time he served in the House — and who has done even worse during this second tour of duty in Congress.

It is true that David Dewhurst got blindsided by Ted Cruz in 2012. I’m pretty sure John Cornyn will keep his eyes wide open as he hits the campaign trail against Steve Stockman.

Look for the mud to start flying soon.

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Women lead the way for Democrats

Juan Williams, writing for The Hill newspaper, says that women might be the saviors for the Democratic Party.

I scanned through the piece and noticed a critical omission: no mention of Texas.

Take a look:

http://thehill.com/opinion/juan-williams/191675-juan-williams-dems-are-now-party-of-women

Williams, a frequent contributor for the Fox News Channel (as one of the network’s handful of token liberals), looks at the rise across the nation of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and of course former first lady/Sen./Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

These all are legitimate powerhouses on the national political stage.

However, out here in Texas there is another possible surge in the making — courtesy of women.

State Sens. Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte are running for Texas governor and lieutenant governor, respectively. They both are being seen by the state Democratic establishment as being critical to their party’s possible resurgence.

Is it probable? Well, many experts around Texas don’t think so. Republicans have cemented their grip on the state’s political infrastructure. They occupy every statewide office and they keep winning with impressive margins. The state has gone through a fundamental political personality transformation since, oh, about 1978, when it elected its first GOP governor since Reconstruction. It’s been downhill ever since for the Texas Democratic Party.

Davis and Van de Putte, though, represent two key constituencies that Democrats will need. Women — of course — and Hispanics, given Van de Putte’s ethnic heritage. The Hispanic vote remains solidly Democratic in Texas, although Gov. Rick Perry has fared well among that group of voters in recent election cycles. Perry, though, is not running. That creates a significant opening for Hispanic activists to get out the vote.

The female vote centers on abortion rights. The Texas GOP has enacted strict rules prohibiting a woman’s right end a pregnancy. That battle in the Legislature propelled Davis to the national stage earlier this year. Davis certainly cannot run on that issue alone, but the passion she stirred among women across the state could serve as a key driver in her bid to become governor next year.

I am not predicting a victory for Democrats next year. I am hopeful, though, that renewed interest in the two Democratic candidates at the top of the state’s ballot can create buzz among voters and deliver a lively campaign that requires Republicans to explain themselves as they campaign across the state.

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Women hold key to Democrats’ future?

Leticia Van de Putte has become the latest candidate for Texas lieutenant governor.

The biggest news of all simply might be that she isn’t a Republican. She’s a Democratic state senator from South Texas who now stands as the prohibitive favorite to win her party’s nomination in next spring’s primary.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/11/24/women-led-ticket-shows-where-democrats-pin-hopes/

Van de Putte will face a tough challenge if she hopes to break the GOP’s vise-grip on statewide offices. She joins another prominent Democrat, state Sen. Wendy Davis, at the top of the ballot; Davis is an equally prohibitive favorite to be the Democratic nominee for governor.

As the Texas Tribune points out in the link attached to this blog post, Democrats may be targeting suburban women as their essential voting demographic group. Women, Democrats hope, just might be upset enough at Republicans’ view of abortion that they’ll turn out in sufficient numbers next year to elect fellow women to high office.

It’s a big risk. Texas Republicans have good reason to be confident as election year approaches.

Their candidates — namely Attorney General Greg Abbott — are flush with money. Abbott is the clear favorite to win the GOP governor’s primary and he is in strong position to win the big prize next November. Davis presents Democrats with their strongest gubernatorial candidate in many election cycles. Van de Putte joined Davis this past spring in battling legislative Republicans over a restrictive GOP-sponsored abortion laws.

Will these two candidates be able to parlay that notoriety into votes this coming fall?

Democrats hope so. In a state that remains solidly in Republican hands, their hope might resemble a pipe dream.

I do know this: A most interesting lieutenant governor’s race just got even more so with Leticia Van de Putte’s entry.

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Let the Abbott v. Davis polling commence

The polling has begun and it shows a competitive race for Texas governor next year.

You know what they say, though, about politics: A week, or month, let alone a year, can be a lifetime or two … or three.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/10/02/abbott-leads-davis-eight-points-poll/

A Texas Lyceum poll shows Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott leading Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis of Fort Worth by 8 percent in a theoretical matchup. Davis is expected Thursday to announce her candidacy for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, infusing enthusiasm into a state Democratic Party that has been in a virtual coma for two decades.

Abbott is the prohibitive favorite to be nominated by the Republicans next spring, although I’m not yet willing to count out my old pal Tom Pauken, a Dallas lawyer and commercial real estate developer (with interests in Amarillo), who’s also running for the GOP governor’s nomination.

Abbott has lots of money, lots of support among mainstream Republicans and lots of name identification.

Davis is no slouch in name ID or support among mainstream Democrats. Her problem, though, is that Republicans outnumber Democrats in Texas by a large margin. Therein lies the obstacle she faces.

The Lyceum poll says Davis does much better among women; she’s in a statistical tie with Abbott. She does better among minorities. Abbott, though, does better among independents.

I’ve noted before that the governor’s race needs some excitement. Wendy Davis is going to provide it.

Whether excitement translates to votes, though, will be the operative question going forward.

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Sen. Davis almost comes clean on ’14 plans

Evan Smith gave it the old college try as he tried to wheedle a statement from state Sen. Wendy Davis about whether she is running for Texas governor.

The Fort Worth Democrat didn’t take the bait at the TribFest, saying only that she plans to make her announcement on Thursday.

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/09/29/tribune-fest-wendy-davis-on-running-for-governor/

Still, it is interesting to see the interest beginning to swirl about Davis’s plans.

She took the state — and the nation — by storm when she filibustered an anti-abortion bill into temporary oblivion during the first special session of the Texas Legislature earlier this summer. She gabbed for 13 hours until the clock ran out. Gov. Rick Perry called legislators back into another special session and Republicans managed to get the bill approved.

Davis’s star, though, still shines brightly. National Democrats have collected lots of money for her campaign. She’s actually beginning to energize a moribund state Democratic Party, which has been pounded senseless for the past two decades. Democrats won their latest statewide race in Texas in 1994. It’s been slim pickings ever since.

I’m not sure Davis is going to break the Democrat’s losing streak.

She certainly is going to brighten the political landscape Thursday when she announces her race for Texas governor.