Posted on 03/02/2022 2:09:13 AM PST by cotton1706
Every candidate endorsed by former President Donald Trump in Texas’s Republican primaries have either won or are substantially leading their races as of 11:00 p.m. ET, potentially solidifying Trump’s kingmaker status in the first primaries of 2022.
The 45th president gave his stamp of approval — a much coveted prize among Republican hopefuls — to 33 candidates. Polling out of Texas has already shown that GOP voters are more likely to support candidates who have passed Trump’s muster.
The former president released a statement celebrating his late night victory:
Big night in Texas! All 33 candidates that were Trump endorsed have either won their primary election or are substantially leading in the case of a runoff. Governor Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick have won in a landslide. Thank you, and congratulations to all!
Trump’s endorsement secured the nomination of incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who faced fierce primary opposition from former State Sen. Don Huffines and former State Party Chairman Allen West. He also lifted two of House Republicans’ top recruits to the nomination without a runoff: Monica De La Cruz and Wesley Hunt, who are both at 56 percent with well over half the votes counted.
The Texas primaries are the first regularly scheduled primary elections in the 2022 cycle, making it the first opportunity to test the power of Trump’s endorsement post-presidency. As Breitbart News previously reported, how Trump fares on these races could influence how aggressive he gets in future primaries elsewhere in America.
“After incredible success with President Trump’s endorsements up and down the ballot last year, all 33 of President Trump’s endorsed candidates came in first tonight – an unprecedented start to the 2022 midterms,” President Trump’s former White House Political Director Brian Jack told Breitbart News.
(Excerpt) Read more at clarion.causeaction.com ...
Marjorie Taylor Greene had a state of the union rebuttal of her own. First 10 minutes were terrific.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4042955/posts
West wasn't in the race when Trump endorsed Abbott.
OMG! Do admire this woman. She and Lauren B. clearly made
known their opinions of Brandon last night. LOL the two heckled him at the podium. Thanks!
Trump is a pragmatist, he is not always going to do the most “Trumpian” thing, he does what he thinks is most practical given the situation, it puts off some people that expect him to choose the most “Trump-Like” candidate, but he sees it more as the closest to Trump that can win. Of course it’s always a crapshoot.
Probably the same reason he did endorse the bimbo in TN, i.e., poor choices.
Wrong.
West wasn't even in the race when Trump endorsed Abbott.
Good points.
True. He typically endorses a sure thing. Not long shots.
All 33 candidates that were Trump endorsed have either won their primary election or are substantially leading in the case of a runoff... Trump’s endorsement secured the nomination of incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott (R), who faced fierce primary opposition from former State Sen. Don Huffines and former State Party Chairman Allen West. He also lifted two of House Republicans’ top recruits to the nomination without a runoff: Monica De La Cruz and Wesley Hunt, who are both at 56 percent with well over half the votes counted.
Ken Paxton won plurality in his reelection bid, now faces a runoff against number two, George P. Bush. (Paxton 43%, Bush 23%, Guzman 17%, Gohmert 17%)
During the campaign Paxton ran ads showing Trump extolling Paxton's virtues, so he was the "Trump candidate". However, George P. Bush's ads constantly iterated that Bush would "finish Trump's Wall". So the runoff is between the Trump candidate and the candidate who campaigned as wannabe Trump candidate. Guzman ran a lot of ads but distanced herself from Trump, and Gohmert was invisible. So I would say the Trump candidates, whether real or fake did well in the AG race.
Santorum always struck me as a low IQ Boy Scout type who ran on Reagan’s coattails.
Ronald Reagan was such a great President that he single-handedly restored trust to the Republican brand - trust that was largely undeserved.
Unfortunately, a ton of undeserving politicians figured out they could win by calling themselves Reagan Republicans.
I was even fooled for a while - I thought if a Republican politician spoke highly of Ronald Reagan, that was a good sign.. but alas, “Republican” is just a name.
We somehow have to do a better job of learning who these people really are.
I think President Trump has reminded us of an important lesson:
If the entire media, the entire DC swamp, academia, Hollywood, the globalist elite, Wall Street - if they all hate and fear a person so much that they will go to any length to destroy him -
- then that is exactly the kind of person we need to elect to public office.
So far, Donald Trump is the only one hated that much by the establishment - but if anyone else can get themselves hated that much - they will have my vote too.
Thx. Paxton may have a harder time because of the smears and lawfare against him, and the media will be all-in on Demagogic Party candidates. I think it would be foolhardy to trust a Bush.
The giving of endorsements is a delicate business.
On the one hand, President Trump has a certain amount of political capital, which he can spend on worthy candidates by giving them his endorsement - to help them win.
On the other hand, President Trump risks winning or losing his political capital - depending on whether the candidates he endorses win or lose.
If they win, people believe it was his endorsement that made it happen, and his political capital is increased. If they lose, his political capital is reduced.
Also, if the candidate he did NOT endorse is elected Governor of Texas, he has made a serious tactical error.
For these reasons, if President Trump wants to remain a “kingmaker”, he must pick good candidates, but he must pick winners.
Ideally, I imagine that President Trump would have preferred Allen West as Governor, but didn’t believe his chances were good of winning against the popular incumbent.
If I lived in Texas, I’d vote for West, but I think President Trump made the right endorsement choice.
By picking 33 winners, he makes his endorsement more valuable and can tip the scales toward the MAGA candidates in close races elsewhere.
Great! Good to know. (Your AG is amazing. Love hearing him interviewed.)
I’m not sure about West. He reminds me of Colin Powell a little bit.
Huffines says good words — words I like — but is just “too much” so I wonder if he’s trustworthy.
Hope Abbott ha a come-to-Jesus moment and actually does something about the TX border.
I think that with the desire to turn Texas blue that people are very stupid to not imagine that the pressure on the Texas governor is tremendous Not that he should give in but what makes people think that west would not have pressure. Nor huffines. And what makes these two better at not giving in to it than Abbott has been? I think either one would fold like a cheap suit
Don’t people learn from trump that anyone pushing back is terribly maligned and framed, his assistants dragged in
Anyone running for such a position needs to be trump like. DeSantis like. Otherwise leave well enough alone
Abbott is terrible on the border. Horrendous
These two talk and that’s all.
It’s interesting that a million people voted for Dem governor, but only 600,000 voted for dem lieutenant governor. Shades of Biden only votes in 2020. I think Paxton should or the Secretary of State should investigate. We don’t need 400,000 fake votes come November.
There were 994,754 votes for all Demonicrat Lt. Gov candidates, compared to 1,057,662 votes for the Demonicrat Gov. candidates.
Thanks for that correction. I didn’t scroll down far enough.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.