Lieutenant Governor Loses Texas Runoff as Tea Party Holds Sway

NY Times ^ | MAY 27, 2014 | MANNY FERNANDEZ

[SoConPubbie]

HOUSTON — Dan Patrick, a state senator who has taken outspoken stands against abortion, same-sex marriage and illegal immigration, won a Republican runoff for lieutenant governor on Tuesday, handily defeating David Dewhurst, the longtime incumbent, in a race that illustrated the continuing power of the Tea Party in Texas.

Mr. Patrick, 64, a radio talk show host from Houston who received widespread Tea Party support, had been expected by many political strategists to defeat Mr. Dewhurst. He finished well ahead of Mr. Dewhurst in the March primary, though he failed to get enough votes to avoid a runoff.

“The people of Texas have given us a mandate tonight,” Mr. Patrick told supporters at a hotel ballroom here, adding: “Tea Party folks love America. They love the Constitution. They love free markets. And they love the Second Amendment. And they love Texas. And they love the liberty that is granted to them by God and not government.”

He now faces the Democratic nominee, State Senator Leticia Van de Putte, in November. . . . .

Mr. Dewhurst, 68, had served as lieutenant governor since 2003 but had never fully recovered from his loss to Ted Cruz in a 2012 runoff for a United States Senate seat. Analysts said Mr. Dewhurst, an establishment and business-friendly Republican, struggled to find his footing as the political landscape shifted from the “compassionate conservative” style of former Gov. George W. Bush to the more ideological and uncompromising approach of Mr. Cruz.

[SoConPubbie]

"If we must have an enemy at the head of Government, let it be one whom we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible, who will not involve our party in the disgrace of his foolish and bad measures." - Alexander Hamilton "We don't intend to turn the Republican Party over to the traitors in the battle just ended. We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates wouldn’t make any sense at all." -- President Ronald Reagan "A thing moderately good is not so good as it ought to be. Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice." - Thomas Paine 1792 "It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men." - Samuel Adams "If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen." - Samuel Adams

[SoConPubbie]

Mr. Dewhurst:

[ZULU]

THANK GOD!

Is this our first national victory? I was so ticked off that Boehner and McConnell were re-elected. But maybe in THEIR case, the mere fact that they were challenged was significant as it may have pushed them a little further to the right.

[thackney]

Lt. Gov is a state, not national office.

[fwdude]

It may soon be a national office when Texas secedes, as it must, when the federal government exercises increasingly fascistic measures against it.

[MNnice]

Leticia Van de Putte

*Sniff* I smell a limousine liberal.

[uncommonsense]

You nailed it:

"Van de Putte became a Kellogg Fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1993."

[ZULU]

It has national importance.

[musicman]

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[thackney]

Then it would not be the first would it?

[ZULU]

I don’t know. That is what I was asking.

[thackney]

Cruz for starters. This isn’t the first Tea Party election cycle.

[TexasRepublic]

“Leticia Van de Putte”

Rhymes with butt?

[ZULU]

Cruz for President.

[BobL]

“In the lieutenant governor’s race, political strategists said there was little difference between Mr. Dewhurst and Mr. Patrick on policy...”

Oh, there were HUGE DIFFERENCES. Patrick means what he says regarding conservative positions - Dewhurst did ALL HE COULD to block those goals. It’s night and day, the difference between them.