Patrick Plug for Stormy May Be Too Late
in Bid for Ride on Abbott Revenge Train
Texas House and Senate Fundraising
Capitol Inside
February 22, 2024
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick sought to hitch his star again to Governor Greg Abbott's school choice retribution tour with his fourth copycat endorsement so far this week in a pitch for Stormy Bradley for a fight with veteran State Rep. Drew Darby on the GOP primary ballot in March.
Sensing blood in one of 10 Texas House races that Abbott is targeting with support for challengers against representatives for the GOP, Patrick served up a plug for Bradley in House District 72 where Darby is seeking a 10th term in 2024. Bradley is based in Big Spring while the incumbent is a resident of San Angelo.
Patrick is making a belated attempt to capitalize on the momentum that Abbott appears to have in a monumental bid to reshape the House into a chamber where he can expect every Republican to vote the way he demands on issues that he deems to be personal priorities like taxpayer subsidies for Christian academies and other private schools.
Patrick doled out endorsements on the eve of early voting this week to Liz Case Pickens of Tuscola, Helen Kerwin of Glen Rose and Alan Schoolcraft of Universal City in bids to unseat GOP State Reps. Stan Lambert of Abilene, DeWayne Burns of Cleburne and Steve Allison of San Antonio in the primary.
But Patrick has yet to endorse any House challengers who already had the governor's seal of approval and his help with fundraising and appearances at rallies in the districts they are vying to represent. The same could be said for Donald Trump last week when he threw his support to Schoolcraft, Kerwin, Pickins and Mike Olcott of Aledo for a first-round clash with State Rep. Glenn Rogers of Graford.
Patrick's involvement in House contests on behalf of challengers is a first in almost 10 years as the president of the Senate. But Patrick has only tossed his massive muscle behind one candidate who;s taking aim at an incumbent Republicans who the governor supports.
The lieutenant governor endorsed Barry Wernick last week for a round one duel with Republican State Rep. Morgan Meyer of Dallas. Patrick accused Meyer of claiming credit that he didn't deserve for a record property tax cut that lawmakers adopted in special session last summer. Patrick said Meyer tried to kill the homestead exemption at the heart of the plan repeatedly before voting for the final package as the House sponsor in his role as the Ways & Means Committee chairman. Abbott is backing Meyer - however - and heaping kudos on him for the property tax reductions last year.
But Patrick praised Bradley for embracing positions on guns, abortion and border security that Darby taken on major conservative issues with an extensive voting record to back it up.
"Stormy Bradley is a dedicated, conservative fighter who is committed to protecting Texas values," Patrick declared today in a post on X. "As a mother and a Christian, Stormy is a proud pro-life conservative as well as a staunch defender of the 2nd Amendment. She will fight alongside Republican legislators to secure the border. That’s why I’m endorsing @StormyForTexas for House District 72."
But Patrick didn't articulate on why he'd waited until the third day of the early voting period before finally deciding to follow the Abbott lead with an endorsement for Bradley. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz was a latecomer to the Bradley campaign as well when he endorsed her for the state House last week.
Abbott - for reasons that aren't completely clear at this point - was the only major Texas official to recommend votes for Bradley in HD 72 in the early stages of the primary battles before the latent emergence of Cruz and Patrick in her camp.
But Patrick had never gone out on a real limb before in races for the Senate or the House like Abbott did last fall when he launched an effort to punish Republicans who helped Democrats defeat his coveted school choice bill in special session in November.
Paxton was already targeting all but one of the House Republicans who Abbott set out to eliminate as retaliation for votes for his impeachment last spring. The Trump and Patrick endorsements could be game-changers if the fights that the governor is waging were destined to go the wire. But Abbott would deserve the lion's share of credit if his attempt to overhaul the House with Republicans who will march in lockstep 100 percent of the time is successful.
Seven of the 10 House fights could go to runoffs with more than two candidates on the ballot.
more to come ...
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