Davis victory appears to show limits of Abbott’s influence
AUSTIN — Victorious from winning a primary election race the governor wanted her to lose, Rep. Sarah Davis stood before dozens of her fans in Houston and called for a change of direction in the Republican party.
Gov. Greg Abbott, the state’s leading Republican, had spent more than $200,000 running TV ads against her, casting Davis as too liberal to be in the GOP. He used the same line of reasoning in targeting two other Republicans, one in Galveston and another San Antonio.
“It’s time to end the party purges and start building bridges. It’s time to be a party that welcomes all and includes all because want to be worthy of leading all,” Davis said in her victory speech.
By the end of the night, Abbott lost two out of those three races he bet his money and political capital on, failing to convince voters to dump moderate Republicans in the Legislature and replace them with conservatives who pledge loyalty to his conservative agenda.
His efforts are part of the ongoing fight for the heart and soul of the Texas Republican Party. Tuesday’s election led voters to abandon seven incumbents, narrowly keep others, reject the governor’s efforts to oust moderate members while picking up other avowed conservatives. The election not only displayed continuing divisions within the GOP, but re-
vealed the governor’s finite political power.
“(Abbott’s) political influence is pretty limited and his ability to be able to direct Republicans in a primary is pretty limited,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “The fact that he went one for three in the raced he backed with money suggests that his influence is not as significant as governors past.
The governor invested time and money to back Susanna Dokupil, a businesswoman, to defeat Davis in Houston. He also endorsed Chris Fails to unseat Rep. Lyle Larson in San Antonio. The governor’s favorites lost both races.
But Mayes Middleton, Abbott’s candidate to run against Rep. Wayne Faircloth, won. The governor also endorsed a series of incumbents who all emerged victorious in contentious races, including Houston state Sen. Joan Huffman who ran a tough race against Fort Bend ISD President Kristin Tassin.
Republicans of various stripes are declaring victory, including Michael Quinn Sullivan, the leader of Empower Texans, a group that has slowly helped conservative candidates gain power in the state’s capitol.
“It’s easy to get caught up scoring the quick wins, but our job is to change the culture of Texas government,” Sullivan wrote in an email blast Wednesday. “Make no mistake: the House and Senate have moved right.”
“Michael Quinn Sullivan is a liar. A damn liar,” Rep. Charlie Geren, a Fort Worth Republican, said in an interview with the Fort Worth Star Telegram the day before. Empower Texans helped fund his opponent and sent attack mailers against Geren, a longtime incumbent aligned with House Speaker Joe Straus, a moderate. Geren won.
Straus, who has found himself attacked by the conservative wing of the party, including by Abbott, poured $350,000 into House legislative races to fend off challenges from tea partyaligned candidates, along with $50,000 into Davis’ race.
The group also lost in its attempt to push out former Amarillo mayor and state Sen. Kel Seliger, but managed to pump off Sen. Craig Estes of Wichita Falls. Voters reelected all its favorites who already serve in the Senate, including Sen. Bob Hall of Edgewood, who faced a tough challenge from Rep. Cindy Burkett of Sunnyvale.
In all, voters booted seven sitting members of the Legislature, dumping one state senator and six representatives.
Rep. Jason Villalba, a Dallas Republican long targeted by conservatives, lost his seat in the Texas House.
The rest of the candidates who lost are Democrats, including Austin Rep. Dawnna Dukes who has been dogged by allegations she misused her public office; San Antonio Rep. Tomas Uresti whose brother in the Senate was convicted of 11 felonies; San Antonio Rep. Diana Arévalo; and Dallas Rep. Roberto Alonzo.
“I don’t think it’s a trend by any means,” Rep. César Blanco, an El Paso Democrat, said about the loss of Democratic incumbents. Blanco chairs the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee that is targeting 20 districts it aims to flip in the November election, including Davis’ in southwest Houston.