Ken Paxton Backs Texas Senate Hopeful
Before Patrick Reloads after Fallon Snub
Capitol Inside
November 16, 2023
Attorney General Ken Paxton threw his support behind Frisco Republican Carrie de Moor on Thursday for an open Texas Senate race that Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick hoped to control before a bizarre snubbing by the candidate who he endorsed with substantial fanfare the previous day.
Patrick
issued an endorsement early this week to U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon of Frisco for the Senate District 30 post that State Senator Drew Springer of Muenster planned to seek again before pulling the plug on a re-election campaign abruptly without a real explanation for the decision. Patrick declared Fallon to be the strongest possible candidate for the upcoming Senate opening. Fallon filed for the SD 30 contest one day and announced the next that he would run again for Congress instead.
The timing of Patrick's anointing of Fallon - coupled with the sudden nature of Springer's retiring - raised the specter that the lieutenant governor had been a force behind the scene in the current SD 30 incumbent's unexpected departure.
Patrick cleared the path for GOP State Senator Mayes Middleton of Galveston to win a seat in the upper chamber last year after dropping his support for the Republican incumbent Larry Taylor. Patrick had been the chief force behind the elections of both Fallon and Springer in SD 30. Patrick turned against Republican Craig Estes of Wichita Falls when he rallied behind Fallon for the Senate seat in 2018. Springer replaced Fallon in a special election in 2020 with Patrick as his most valuable supporter.
Patrick removed a graphic from his X page on Thursday that showed him with Fallon and the news about the powerful state Senate leader's endorsement of the Denton County legislator. But Patrick hasn't offered any public comments on the Fallon overnight turnabout that left him holding an empty bag in SD 30.
But Paxton didn't wait for Patrick to find someone else to run in the wake of the Fallon spurning - announcing his support for de Moor
on Thursday afternoon in a social media post.
"I’m proud to endorse Dr.
@cdemoormd
for Texas Senate District 30," Paxton said on X. "She is a strong conservative we can trust to protect individual liberty, secure our border and lower property taxes. Carrie will take on the liberal Austin establishment and fight for our values."
GOP State Rep. Jared Patterson of Frisco has been testing the waters for a SD 30 bid himself in conversations behind the scenes. Patterson said that he'd received substantial encouragement for a congressional race when Fallon appeared to be shifting his sights back to Austin. But Patterson ruled out a U.S. House race before Fallon resurfaced as the incumbent with plans to try to defend the position.
After Patrick called Fallon the superior contender in SD 30, Paxton made the same claim about de Moors. "Carrie is an emergency room doctor you can count on in a crisis," Paxton said. "She is the best candidate to address the many emergencies created by the woke liberals."
Paxton's stock has soared in the aftermath of the Texas House's failed attempt to impeach him this year. Paxton was acquitted of corruption charges in a trial in the Senate in September. Paxton is backing challengers in two dozen GOP primary fights for the House if not more with representatives who voted for his impeachment,
The de Moor endorsement could have turf war potential if Patrick sees it as interference.
more to come ... |
