Crenshaw, Roberts get testy in runoff race
Candidates joust over Christianity, military service
What started off as a relatively cordial campaign between two Republicans who want to represent parts of Houston in Congress has gotten downright testy as early voting looms.
Eight weeks ago, Republicans Dan Crenshaw and Kevin Roberts were publicly declaring their respect for each other and making plans to visit a gun range together. Now both men are accusing each other of twisting words to score political points as early voting begins Monday. The primary election is May 22, two weeks from Tuesday.
Meanwhile, former Gov. and current U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry jumped into the race on Monday, formally endorsing Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL, in the race. It’s the most significant Republican endorsement from a Texas politician for Crenshaw to date.
Perry isn’t the first Cabinet member backing Crenshaw. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, also a former SEAL, contributed $5,000 to Crenshaw in March.
Over the last several days, Crenshaw and his supporters have accused Roberts of disrespecting the experience of his and all U.S. military veterans — something Roberts called “an absolute lie.”
That comes just days after Roberts said Crenshaw demeaned Christianity in a Facebook post years ago — a claim Crenshaw called false and a
“new low even for a politician like Kevin.”
The heightened intensity between the two shows how in a tight Republican primary, in which candidates hold many of the same core philosophies, personalities inevitably become a key part of the race.
The latest tension in the 2nd Congressional District race stems from the closing arguments in a candidates’ forum hosted by the Associated Builders & Contractors of Greater Houston last week. After Crenshaw talked about his Harvard University master’s degree and work on public policy, Roberts fired back on what it takes to make good public policy.
“You want to get bad policy?” Roberts asks the crowd of business leaders. “Send a bunch of people who have never worked in the real world. For you to be able to pass good policy, you need real world experience.”
A few days later, Crenshaw was on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter taking offense at Roberts’ comments suggesting that being a former Navy SEAL is not real world experience.
“This latest attack by Kevin Roberts deserves a response,” Crenshaw says in an intro to the YouTube clip. “I will not let Kevin tell service members that their experience isn’t part of the ‘real world.’”
In his video response, Crenshaw talks about real world experience confronting danger in the dead of night and having to go to funerals of the men and women who fought by his side. All the while in the video, images of Crenshaw in his Navy SEAL uniform in Iraq and Afghanistan flash, as well as pictures of a veterans cemetery.
Old Facebook post
But Roberts, 52, said Crenshaw is taking the debate comments out of context. He said he was talking about real world business experience and had prefaced the comments by talking about his 30 years in business stacked against Crenshaw’s Harvard education. Roberts has worked for 17 years in the Lanier Law Firm, where his is currently the CEO of the business operations. Roberts is not an attorney.
“I would never disparage those who served,” Roberts said, noting his father is an Army veteran.
Crenshaw, 33, spent almost 10 years in the Navy, before an improvised explosive device nearly killed him Afghanistan. Crenshaw lost his right eye in the blast and now wears an eye patch.
The tables were flipped days earlier when Roberts and his allies were highlighting a portion of comments Crenshaw made on Facebook in 2015 — two years before he became a candidate for office. In it, Crenshaw says he takes issue with people trying to suggest Christianity is as shocking and as violent as Islam.
“The worst thing modern Christianity stands for is anti-homosexual marriage, which is a far cry from sex slaves, sharia law and beheadings,” Crenshaw wrote then.
In social media posts, Roberts’ campaign highlights Crenshaw’s statement in bold letters, except for the part about Sharia, and calls Crenshaw’s comments demeaning to Christians.
Attack called ‘new low’
Crenshaw said Roberts is drastically taking his comments out of context. He said he’s clearly making a vociferous defense of Christianity in the post. He called Roberts’ attack a “new low” for questioning his faith.
Roberts said he’s not questioning his faith and that he’s pointing out how demeaning it is to Christians to have their belief in traditional marriage called the “worst thing.”
The sharp exchanges show how high the stakes are in the 2nd Congressional District battle. Roberts and Crenshaw finished as the top two candidates in the March 6 primary in a crowded nine-person primary. That field included Republican Kathaleen Wall, who put $6 million of her own money into the race but was eliminated when she failed to finish ahead of Crenshaw or Roberts.
Crenshaw and Roberts are battling in a heavily gerrymandered district that includes part of west Houston, stretches north to pick up northern edges of Harris County, then ropes east to pick up all of Atascocita and Humble. U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, a Republican from Humble who has held the seat since 2005, is not seeking re-election.
The winner of the May 22 election advances to the general election to face Democrat Todd Litton. Congressional members serve two-year terms in the House and earn $174,000 annually.
The Crenshaw-Roberts race is not the only local contest in Texas that Perry has made an endorsement in recently. He also has announced support for Texas House candidate Thomas McNutt of Corsicana in the GOP runoff for the seat being vacated by Republican state Rep. Byron Cook.