Governor’ s effort to oust‘ normal’ Republican ahead-scratcher

It’s a special occasion when the governor, Greg Abbott, gives his opinion.

During his 12 years as attorney general, he was forthcoming enough, with a few notable exceptions. He did not, for example, endorse any candidate in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in 2012, even though one of the options was his onetime solicitor general, Ted Cruz. Since being sworn into the state’s top office, however, Abbott has become increasingly discreet about his perspective on a number of issues. That’s one of several reasons his decision to weigh in on the Republican primary in state House Dis- trict 134, which encompasses West University, Bellaire and the Texas Medical Center, has raised eyebrows around the state.

In a video message released Monday, Abbott endorsed Susanna Dokupil, the CEO of a Houston-based strategic communications firm, in her challenge to Sarah Davis, the Republican incumbent. Davis, an attorney by background, was first elected in 2010 and now serves on Appropriations and Calendars, as well as chairing the House General Investigations and Ethics Committee. That stature, combined with her independent streak, has earned Davis some ire from certain segments of the right. Thewoman is fiscally conservative but socially temperate. She is in a position to act on her demonstrably moderate beliefs and has a record of doing so. In our era of polarization, that was bound to make her a target.

Dokupil, meanwhile, once worked for Abbott as an assistant solicitor general. And the governor had warned legislators, at the outset of this summer’s special session, that he would be keeping a list of those who supported his agenda and willing to support primary challenges to Republicans who did not.

Still, it was weird of Abbott to make such a threat in the

first place, much less to single out Davis. She has, as noted, plenty of critics. Last week, it was reported that nine conservative members of the Harris County Republican Party had submitted a resolution calling for Davis to be censured for insufficient fealty to the party line on issues such as abortion, vouchers and vaccines. Censure effort fails

“I think her record is just not one a Republican should have,” explained Scott Bowen, one of the authors of the resolution, when I collared him at the Harris County headquarters Monday evening, just before the start of the quarterly executive meeting.

“Something more Roy Moore-like, perhaps?” I asked.

Bowen was quiet for a few moments, perhaps contemplating the sorrow at hand— that in an era when Republican leaders are openly divided about whether serious accusations of sexual assault should disqualify a candidate for high office, citizens involved with the party have to expect questions like that, and be stoical when asked to field them.

“I understand the need for disagreement within the party,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I think there are certain principles that unite all of us.”

Still, Davis has plenty of supporters; the resolution was quietly withdrawn, apparently because conservatives realized it would probably not pass. And Abbott’s argument against her re-election is unlikely to resonate in her district. “You know, we need leaders in Austin who will join meto build an even better future for Texas,” he said, in the video message endorsing Dokupil; he did not explicitly criticize Davis for failing to support his agenda, but the implication was clear enough.

On Tuesday, Davis told methat she thought Abbott’s animus against her might date back to 2011, her first session in the Legislature. That year she authored a bill seeking to limit the amount of damages the attorney-general’s office could collect from businesses under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Break with governor

The tension became explicit this year, in any case. Davis was among the handful of Republicans who explicitly opposed the bathroom bill, for example, and she did not support his call for legislation pre-empting local tree ordinances during the special session. The latter, she told me, struck her as being in conflict with conservative principles about local control andwould have adversely affected “the beautiful canopy” that covers much of her district.

And in July, Davis — along with Lyle Larson, a Republican state representative from San Antonio — called onAbbott to add ethics reform to the call for the special session. The issue is, as it happens, one that Abbott campaigned on in 2014. Still, his office clearly did not appreciate their efforts to bring it up. John Wittman, an Abbott spokesperson, accused Davis and Larson of “showboating over proposals that are not on the governor’s call.”

“Their constituents deserve better,” Wittman added.

After Abbott’s endorsement of Dokupil, the Texans that Davis represents might be wondering what he meant by that. HD134 is, as one conservative source put it to me, “the best district for a moderate Republi- can in the entire state.” Election results bear that out; Davis, a moderate Republican, has consistently outperformed the rest of the ticket. In 2014, for example, Davis was re-elected by a 22-point margin, whereas Abbott carried the district by less than 2 percent. In 2016, Davis was re-elected by a 10-point margin, although Hillary Clinton carried the district by 15, and Harris County overall by 12. ‘Normal Republicans’

There is, moreover, little reason to think that Republicans are poised to take Harris County back in next year’s midterms, or that Dokupil can help them do it. “It’s going to be a huge fight next year, and the Democrats are energized,” noted Paul Simpson, chairman of the Harris County GOP, at the Monday night meeting. If Dokupil wins the primary, in fact, Democrats would have a good chance of flip- ping the district.

Furthermore, Davis posited, her absence in the general election might hurt the party’s prospects on the downballot. Republicans can win statewide office, even if they lose in the greater Houston area; Rick Perry did so in 2010. But her district has the highest turnout rate in Harris County, and her presence on the ticket has some upsides for the beleaguered GOP beyond that.

“I help get people to vote Republican,” she told me, “by showing people that there are normal Republicans.”

That might not matter to Abbott, who does not, as yet, have a serious opponent. But Davis has a point. And although conservatives may disagree with her on certain issues, they should see the value in that. erica.grieder@chron.com twitter.com/EricaGrieder