That's simple. There was a Democrat in the race, and Republicans were afraid of a split vote leading to a plurality for the Democrat. Just like the Recall election that elected the RINO who recently appointed a Lesbian Communist to be his Chief of Staff!.
Mr. Campbell faces his rather short term in office with this onus on him: if he votes for an amnesty, or any other illegal alien giveaway, he will face a very visible hard line anti-illegal alien candidate in the next Primary - where no one will have to worry about splitting thier vote and electing a Democrat.
This, BTW, is the reason Mr. Kolbe of Tucson has now retired and is heading to Rump Ranger Heaven (commonly known as the Congress Hotel in Tucson, for those of you considering that lifestyle), and the seat will now be Randy Graf's seat to lose.
Mr. Gilchrist just took away tens of thousands of votes from a generic Republican in the most Republican of Districts in the country, forcing the Annointed One to win on a plurality (in some places, you can't do that - it would force another runoff). That alone is a political earthquake that is already causing headaches in DC, no matter what happy face they want to put on it.
Or ridiculous gloating as the lightweight and enchephalo-oxygenated Hugh Hewitt is engaging in.
Either that, or most of them realized that Gilchrist was a one issue noisemaker who had absolutely nothing else to offer...
In my district Ken Bentsen "was a friend of ours", then we got wrung with Chris Bell, but then lo and behold, he got the Hammer and now we've got a solid man who understands it's a war on the border and we aren't fighting it, John Culberson.
I hate to say this, but this border war that isn't is going to be George Bush's version of Bill Clinton's refusal to face off with al-Queda. It may be before he gets out of office, it may be after, but sometime we're going to get blasted from SOTB, and it's all going to blow back on him and his legacy, the legacy of the presidents who failed to protect America in her time of crisis.
I'm way too close to the front lines of this war for my comfort and good nights sleep.
Horse puckey! There are always registered independents and other people in every election who vote third party. Gilchrist also drew some votes from Dems who knew their guy wouldn't win in a heavily Republican district, so they voted for him just to cause mischief.
Even running in a heavily Republican/conservative district, with the benefit of truly huge free media coverage for Gilchrist from KFI radio, and the $500,000 his campaign spent, Gilchrist still couldn't finish 2nd. He was beaten handily by an underfunded Dem candidate who was all but ignored by the media.