Posted on 07/29/2021 5:27:47 AM PDT by lasereye
Tuesday was election day in a special race to select a successor to Rep. Ron Wright in Texas’ Sixth Congressional District. Wright died from the Wuhan coronavirus.
The candidates were Wright’s widow, Susan Wright, and Texas state Rep. Jake Ellzey. Both are conservative Republicans.
Susan Wright was the favorite and the leader in polls. She won the most votes in the primary, in which Ellzey barely finished second, just 354 votes ahead of the leading Democrat. In addition, Wright had the endorsement of former president Trump.
But Ellzey won the race by a margin of 53-47.
How did he do it? It must have helped that Ellzey had the backing of key Texas Republicans. Among them were former Gov. Rick Perry, Rep. Dan Crenshaw, and Joe Barton who represented the district in Washington until a sex scandal forced him out. However, Sen. Ted Cruz endorsed Wright.
Ellzey is a graduate of the Naval Academy, He served as a fighter pilot, doing tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq. From 2012 to 2018, he was a commissioner of the Texas Veterans Commission. He was elected to the state legislature last year. In 2018, he ran a close race against Ron Wright for the same House seat he won this time around.
Although Trump endorsed his opponent, Ellzey did not run as an anti-Trump candidate. Even so, the fact that he pulled off an upset victory over the Trump-endorsed candidate can be viewed as evidence that the ex-president’s influence among Republicans is waning, at least in this particular Texas district.
Trump’s team doesn’t see it that way. It blames the Club for Growth for inducing Trump to back a low-energy candidate against a proven vote-getter.
I should also note that there was no Democrat in the runoff race. Many Democrats simply stayed home — turnout for this election half of what it was for the primary. However, some Dems voted, and it’s likely that Ellzey fared better than Wright with this cohort.
But Mark Davis, a conservative talk show host in Dallas said:
The Trump base in District 6 paid little attention to the fact that Susan got his endorsement. They know that Trump had no familiarity with her and no familiarity with this race.
When, for whatever reason, the Trump base pays little attention to a Trump endorsement, that’s evidence of a loss of influence.
The Sixth District includes suburbs of Dallas/Fort Worth. Trump’s endorsements probably carry greater value in more rural districts. But any sign of waning Trump influence among Republican voters has some significance and, from my perspective, is good news.
the guy died of a heart attack not Wuhan
In elections where both parties are Trump supporters, Trump would be wise to stay neutral. He doesn’t need to make a choice in every election. Often, silence is golden.
NeoCon.
Wrong.
78000 people voted in the primary.
Only 38000 people voted in the general.
The top 6 GOP candidates from the primary had 43000 votes between them. More than the entirety of the vote in the general.
Two conservative candidates. One conservative candidate beats the other conservative candidate.
And the problem is?
“Leftists have a hard time understanding that the right doesn’t always exhibit herd behavior like they do.”
This is both virtue and vice. The left is dedicated and disciplined in their pursuit of agenda, regardless of whether it appeals to either the law, logic, or the general welfare.
R’s have lives. Better things to do.
Your comment nails it. I hope the left take from this the notion of ‘loss of influence’. If they think people are going to line up behind a Biden/Harris endorsed anything, or anything ‘reset-based’, they are in for a situation that will make 2016 seem mild.
People of all political stripes but communists have had it.
Had any other President announced that he had had his butt wiped, they’d be instantly talking about 25A. There’s a ruling globalist junta in the US, and the globalist press appears to be part of it.
In today’s political environment there are no absolutes. Even an Eagle will miss his prey every now and then. Paul M. is a
lawyer, an elitist/globalist and a Trump hater. Three strikes your out.
First, I will state I know nothing about these candidates. However, I do not vote families, at least not anymore. (Yeah, I did the Bush thing 4 times.) Being a widow is not a qualification. Then there is the entire issue of Trump's pick of people. They haven't always been the greatest. That doesn't mean I don't support Trump. It means I evaluate candidates based on their merits. In fact, I have never put much emphasis on anyone's endorsement. I voted for Trump twice and he was endorsed by who? Hell, I'm sure there some, but it didn't mean a damn thing to me.
You’re a jerk. Try to have some class.
BINGO
Paul Bushy Psych M
is a
A Liz Cheney DemoRAT .
Why post anything written by a Phony DC Chenite .
You simply are wrong. The vote totals show it. The media sets the narrative because they were devastated that the GOP locked the Democrats out of the general election.
Once again, 78000 people voted in the primary, 38000 people voted in the general.
Wright won 15000 votes in the primary and won 18000 votes in the general.
Ellzey won 10000 votes in the primary and 20000 in the general.
The next GOP candidate from the primary had 8000 votes in the primary a few more had 10000 votes between them.
The vote totals make clear that Democrats didn’t show up. The drop off from the jungle primary was remarkable. It’s clear that the 18000 voters who voted for other GOP candidates in the primary preferred Ellzey to Wright and split their votes accordingly.
But hey, let the media lie to you and tell you this was about Trump.
Perry and Crenshaw are Bush League Republicans, that’s not good.
Or maybe . . . Trump chose poorly. He can feel free to stop blaming the CFG, space aliens, etc. for each one of his candidates or, previously, department picks who turned out to be a dud.
There isn’t one. The moron class is letting the media set a false narrative without looking at any facts.
I’m tired of morons. The media is playing the moron class like a fiddle.
Or maybe, just maybe, they figured that . . . wait for it . . . Trump chose poorly.
Lesson: Trump should be smarter about his endorsements and advisors. Taking responsibility for your choices demonstrates character. Blaming the Club for Growth, and trashing the candidate you endorsed for running a weak campaign is childish.
The good news is that both candidates were ok, and it appears that the better one prevailed.
Just keep in mind the guys at powerline are far more comfortable with the establishment wing of the R party than the Trump Deplorable wing. They rarely miss a chance to claim that Trump is losing his grip on the R party. It’s all wishful thinking. Also the dynamic that played out is simple, Occam’s Razor says it most likely the locals knew the candidates better than Trump did.
Agreed. I get the impression that Trump never gave a reason for his endorsement. It was just “Vote for Susan”. If he had said something about Ellzey taking the wrong positions on the issues, or being too cozy with the GOPe types, that would be different.
I’m sure the Democrats did show up, in the form of the Democrat media that controlled the narrative to cause the splitter strategy to work. This always happens to stupid low information Rs, abetted by RINOS who want to hold power
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