Abbott puts ad into play for House challenger
AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott waded deeper into a testy Houston state House race Thursday by running a TV ad supporting a challenger who hopes to oust Republican Rep. Sarah Davis in the March election.
The 30-second TV spot features Republican primary candidate Susanna Dokupil, who accuses Davis of making “empty promises” and blames her in part for the Legislature failing to pass a property tax reform bill in 2017.
“Our representative was a part of the problem,” Dokupil said in the ad that Abbott’s campaign said would begin airing Thursday, featuring her shaking hands with the governor and walking neighborhoods. “I refuse to believe that
empty promises are the best we can do.”
The ad is the latest act of political aggression by Abbott against Davis, a four-term representative from West University Place and a member of the House leadership team. Abbott is targeting Davis after she last year refused to support most of his special session agenda, earning the ire of several social conservatives.
Although Abbott has spent much of the Republican primary campaign season hammering Davis and promoting her opponent, the CEO of communications company Paladin Strategies, the ad represents the first time the governor has used his $43 million campaign war chest for a TV ad for any candidate this year.
“Not even the governor’s millions can prop up Dokupil’s dangerous opposition to vaccinations, her phony rhetoric on property taxes and her whacky idea to build colonies at sea,” Davis said via text message, referring to Dokupil’s membership on the board of trustees for the Seasteading Institute, which studies how to build communities on water.
The intense contest has become a political soap opera. The district sits in Southwest Houston in an area that went decidedly for Hillary Clinton — by 15 percentage points — in the 2016 presidential election but elected a mix of Republicans and Democrats down-ballot.
Parents and others opposed to vaccinations — organized as Texans for Vaccine Choice — have walked neighborhoods and thrown a fundraiser for Dokupil to spite Davis, who unsuccessfully pushed for foster children to get vaccines that prevent cancer, such as the HPV vaccine.
Other conservatives, including Republican state Rep. Jonathan Stickland of the Dallas-Fort Worth area, have egged on opposition to Davis, sparking sharp battle on Twitter.
‘Out of character’ for him
Abbott, who endorsed Dokupil early in the election season, later told attendees at a fundraiser that Davis tried to raid the state’s emergency disaster fund, which would have made it harder to react to Hurricane Harvey. While she carried the bill, she actually opposed pulling money from that fund.
Abbott’s campaign declined to say how much money he is spending in running the TV ad in the Houston area, how long it will run, and whether the governor plans to place more ads between now and the March 6 election.
“It’s out of character for him. He’s not one of those politicians who’s really boisterous,” said Victorial DeFrancesco Soto, who teaches government at the the University of Texas in Austin and suggested the governor may be trying to beef up his conservative bonafides.
Other political analysts say Abbott is trying to purify the ranks in the Texas House. Nearly two of every three state representatives are Republicans, but fissures within the party have created factions of moderate and pro-business GOP members who have blocked many of the governor’s proposals and social conservatives who have pushed to tighten limits on local spending and set blanket bathroom polices for transgender students in schools
If Abbott wants to politically bury Davis, who is well-known in her district, he’ll likely have to continue investing in more ads, and other resources, said Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University.
“One way to show your power and control is to punish your adversaries,” he said. “You have to spend enough money to get the job done, because otherwise you just have a very angry incumbent.”
The winner of the primary election will go on to run against the winner of the Democratic primary race between Allison Lami Sawyer and Lloyd Wayne Oliver.
Congressional race
The governor weighed in on yet another intensely competitive GOP primary in the Houston area this week, declaring support for longtime GOP fundraiser Kathaleen Wall who is running in a nine-person Republican primary for the 2nd Congressional District.
“Kathaleen Wall has been a champion for the conservative cause for many years,” Abbott said in a press release. Abbott is no stranger to Wall and her husband Holloway Frost. Since 2010 the couple has combined to give Abbott over $745,000 for this Texas For Greg Abbott, the Republican governor’s political action committee. Frost’s last donation to Abbott was in July when he sent the governor’s committee $100,000. Wall’s last donation to Abbott was $10,000 on the day before U.S. Rep. Ted Poe announced he would not seek re-election.
Wall and eight other Republicans are running in a March 6 primary to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, the Humble area Republican who announced last year he won’t seek re-election. Besides Wall, the race also includes health care CEO David Balat, state Rep. Kevin Roberts, heart surgeon Jon Spiers, Navy veteran Dan Crenshaw, attorney Jonny Havens, investment banker Justin Lurie, attorney Malcolm Whittaker and businessman Rick Walker.