Abbott Making $20 Million Pitch
for Rick Perry Name Game Aid
Capitol Inside
December 24, 2021
It's the night before Christmas - and Governor Greg Abbott has a potent new fundraising weapon for a re-election race in 2022 as a possible springboard to the presidency. Abbott has been telling donors in the business lobby that he's going to have to spend $20 million or more on the primary election now that Rick Perry is in the race.
Abbott isn't worried about his predecessor Rick Perry - the longest serving governor in Texas history before a stint as Donald Trump's first secretary of energy. Abbott and Perry had apparently talked last recently when the former governor told the current version that all of the Republicans in competitive Texas races would be toast if the electricity grid fails again between now and the next general election.
Abbott can make the case that he needs more campaign cash than expected nonetheless because one of seven primary challengers who he's facing in the primary election on March 1 happens to be known as Rick Perry as well.
Abbott is in position to milk contributors for more with the need to funnel a sizeable sum of money to clear up confusion among some of the party's newer and less intelligent voters who might not realize that the Rick Perry in the governor's race isn't the famous one.
With Beto O'Rourke waiting in the wings, the Republican governor has ample cause to save as much money as possible for a general election battle with his strongest Democratic opponent yet. So Abbott is ramping up the pressure to give to him with a December 31 deadline looming for the current reporting period that will cover the second half of 2021.
Some of Abbott more austere givers might wonder if he could afford to play the primary name game with a cut of $55 million that he reported in cash on hand back on June 30. But Abbott has had six months to spend liberally from that.
Abbott's big contributors - especially those with pending business in Austin - will probably agree that it would in theory cost more to run with a Rick Perry in the field than it did with former Texas Senate member and ex-state GOP Chairman Allen West as his only well-known primary rivals until the one with the old governor's name threw his hat in the ring right before the filing deadline December 13.
Perry the last-second gubernatorial contender is a computer programmer who lives in the Parker County hamlet of Springtown. He appears to be little more than a prank by right-wing Abbott critics aimed at giving Huffines a boost by throwing the race in disarray. |
