A puzzling candidacy ended before it started
Matthew Dowd and Mark Mckinnon are old friends who have followed similar paths.
They both got involved in Democratic politics in the 1980s, worked for Democratic Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock in the ’90s and, through Bullock’s connection to Republican Gov. George W. Bush, switched party allegiances and joined Team Bush.
In 2004, Dowd was the chief strategist for Bush’s presidential re-election campaign, while Mckinnon served as chief media adviser.
Eventually, both of them got gigs on television, with Dowd working as a political analyst for ABC News and Mckinnon cohosting Showtime’s political series “The Circus.”
A fundamental difference between Dowd and Mckinnon, however, was that Dowd, unlike Mckinnon, always craved center stage. He wasn’t content to be the person advising candidates. He wanted to be a candidate himself.
“He has had the bug for years,” Mckinnon said in a 2004 interview.
In 2004, Dowd flirted with a Republican candidacy for Texas comptroller. In 2017, he hinted at an independent run for U.S. Senate against Ted Cruz.
Two and a half months ago, he finally stepped out on the stage, announcing his candidacy in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.
The bug, however, must have worn off. On Tuesday, Dowd pulled the plug on his candidacy.
His rationale was puzzling and patronizing.
Dowd cited a September 2018 op-ed he wrote for ABC News, in which he argued that progress most often comes from underserved groups pushing for a seat at the table.
“Instead of waiting for the diverse population of America to keep pushing and prodding,”
Dowd wrote in the 2018 op-ed, “I would humbly suggest that we as white male Christians take it upon ourselves to step back and give more people who don’t look like us access to the levers of power.”
Dowd explained his withdrawal by saying that when he entered the race in September, he was running against a fellow white male Christian, Mike Collier. Now, with a “diverse field” emerging, he didn’t want to stand “in the way of the greater diversity we need in politics.”
Last month, state Rep. Michelle Beckley, D-carrollton, announced her candidacy for lieutenant governor. In addition, Dr. Carla Brailey, an African American educator who serves as vice chair of the Texas Democratic Party, has expressed an interest.
Dowd’s explanation suggests he doesn’t believe a woman or a person of color has any chance of beating him and could achieve success only if he stepped aside.
Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson, a Democrat who is African American, tweeted that he was “confused and a little disturbed” by Dowd’s reasoning.
“For white male candidates to stop running as Democrats to ‘give us a chance’ feels wrong to me,” Johnson added.
I haven’t spent too much time considering whether Dowd’s stated rationale was an act of generosity or condescension. Because I don’t buy the rationale.
When Dowd launched his
candidacy in late September, we were still a month and a half away from the beginning of the filing period for the 2022 primaries. Are we really supposed to believe that this savvy operator with 35 years of political experience never considered the possibility that a woman or minority candidate would enter the race?
All he had to do was take a look at recent history.
In 2018, Michael Cooper, an African American pastor from Beaumont, finished less than 5 percentage points behind Collier in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor.
In 2006, 2010 and 2014, Democrats nominated Latina candidates for lieutenant governor.
Given this history, it doesn’t make much sense to believe that
Dowd was prepared, all along, to drop out of a race he entered with great fanfare at the first sign that a woman or minority candidate might run.
Back in September, Dowd defined his candidacy not merely as a slightly different flavor of white male Christianity but as a unifying antidote to the culture wars divisiveness of current Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
As recently as Monday, Dowd was retweeting messages of support for his candidacy. That same day, he touted a planned campaign stop in Mckinney next Tuesday. A little more than 24 hours later, his campaign was kaput.
Collier supporters would say Dowd backed out because he had come to the conclusion that he
couldn’t win.
To be sure, Collier’s strong run against Patrick in 2018 has earned him some loyalty with the Democratic base. A week ago, 26 members of the State Democratic Executive Committee endorsed him.
State Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa also delivered a pretty clear statement of support, saying, “Mike Collier has been a champion for our Democratic values, and I’m proud to call him my friend.”
Dowd had nearly 10 times as many Twitter followers as Collier and infinitely more star power. But he didn’t have a fraction of Collier’s commitment.