Patrick spending $1M on campaign TV ads
AUSTIN — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick may act like he’s not worried by his Republican primary challenger, but he is spending more than $1 million on TV ads in the Houston area between now and the March 6 election.
Some 975 ads are booked to run during the Olympics, morning shows, afternoon programming, and prime-time evening news hours, according to television station public inspection records filed with the Federal Communications Commission.
“The lieutenant governor is very proud of what he has accomplished in his first term,” said Allen Blakemore, Patrick’s chief campaign strategist. “He is using this advertising opportunity to introduce himself to new voters and remind those who elected him that he has presided over the most conservative and productive Senate in Texas history.”
Patrick’s campaign is spending $1,049,640 on the TV ad spots in the Houston area, according to a review of FCC records. CBS affiliate KHOU-Channel 11 will run the most ads before the primary election, agreeing to air nearly 300 spots that will run 30 seconds each.
Other stations airing the TV spots include NBC affiliate KPRC-Channel 2, ABC affiliate KTRK-Channel 13, and FOX affiliate KRIV-Channel 26.
The ads were scheduled to slowly begin appearing this week, but will increase frequency in mid-February, popping in during commercial breaks for shows like “The Good Doctor” during prime-time slots. The ads will run even more often right before the March 6 election day.
The Houston-area media buy is one piece of a larger TV strategy for Patrick. He has booked the 30-second spots to run in Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin. In Dallas, Patrick is spending at least $840,000 on TV spots, according to a review of the records.
Patrick, a Houston Republican and social conservative, last reported having more than $17 million in his political war chest to fund his re-election campaign.
The lieutenant governor is elected statewide and assumes gubernatorial duties when the governor is out of the state. But most people know Patrick for his role running the Texas Senate. The powerful Republican sets the chamber’s agenda, controlling which bills are assigned to committees and are taken up on the floor.
Patrick last year championed several conservative ideas that failed to become law, such as requiring transgender students to use the bathroom that correlates with the sex on their birth certificate. He has also pushed for property tax reform and wants parents to be able to send their children to private schools with state financial help.
Patrick is running statewide for a second term. He is running in the GOP primary against former Rockwall Councilman Scott Milder. The winner will face off against the winner of the Democratic primary election, which includes retired Kingwood accountant Mike Collier and Fort Worth auto sales manager Michael Cooper.