Posted on 03/06/2024 7:57:45 AM PST by 11th_VA
The shockwaves rippled up and down the ballot as incumbent state House members, judges and other state leaders were forced into runoffs or defeated outright
Texas voters on Tuesday handed more power to the insurgent wing of the Republican Party in an expensive and vengeful primary election, punishing GOP lawmakers, judges and a House speaker who defied hard-right state leaders and their supporters in recent years.
The shockwaves rippled up and down the ballot. Most notably, Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, was forced into a runoff with a well-funded challenger, David Covey, after being targeted by ultra-conservative donors and activists, who faulted the second-term speaker for declining to stop the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton last May.
Paxton backed Covey in the primary, along with many other conservative challengers targeting House members who voted for his impeachment. Joining him in a fight against House incumbents was Gov. Greg Abbott, who targeted those opponents of his signature school voucher program...
Few who landed in the crosshairs of Abbott and Paxton emerged from the bruising primary unscathed.
“What a HORRIBLE night it has become for the corny establishment in Austin,” Michael Quinn Sullivan, publisher of the ultra-conservative Texas Scorecard, wrote on X as the returns came in.
Abbott said in a statement that the election “sent an unmistakable message” that Republican primary voters are in favor of school choice and vowed to continue helping those candidates as they continue their trek to Austin.
“When school choice opponents lost every argument on policy, they resigned to campaign lies—but they couldn’t fool Texas voters,” Abbott said.
Six Texas House Republicans who fought Abbott’s attempt to create a school voucher program in Texas lost their primaries to pro-voucher candidates, while another four were forced into runoffs to defend their rural districts.
Voters also ejected three Republican judges from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state’s highest criminal court, including Chief Justice Sharon Keller, who garnered less than 40% of the vote. Paxton sought to oust the three judges after they ruled in 2021 that his office didn’t have the power to unilaterally prosecute voter fraud.
"Tonight, Texans have spoken loud and clear,” Paxton said in a statement after judges he campaigned against lost their primaries.
Three Republican members of the Texas State Board of Education were struggling late Tuesday as well, with incumbents Tom Maynard and Pam Little being forced into runoffs and Pat Hardy poised to lose her seat altogether...
The primaries were a mix of ego, personality and policy — and in many cases it was hard to suss out how much each factor played in individual campaigns. In some races, such as the defeats of GOP House members Hugh Shine, Glenn Rogers and Steve Allison, the incumbent was opposed by both Paxton and Abbott.
In others, loyalties were mixed. Paxton, for instance, backed a candidate who forced out state Rep. Jacey Jetton, a Richmond Republican and voucher supporter whom Abbott had endorsed. Paxton also backed Dallas salon owner Shelley Luther, who made a name for herself during the pandemic when she was arrested for defying Abbott’s COVID-19 orders. She won her primary against state Rep. Reggie Smith, R-Sherman, who was targeted both by Paxton and by pro-voucher groups...
LA
Yeah, no BI-ASS. Haha.
’ “... the insurgent wing of the Republican Party”
I think the term is “Republican Base”, otherwise RINOs would have easily been re-elected.’
Bingo
The article injected adjectives throughout. A bit of bias.
Ooooooo I likey! 😂
Nah, I don’t get that impression at all. Certainly not in the opening sentence, that’s for sure.
Did Cap’n Ron Cringeshaw win?
We is cleaning house!
Local County Commissioner is fighting her predecessor over picking up brush (Vote buying by predecessor) versus fixing the terrible roads left by the former. Majority of residents see what is happening. I have had arguments with a lot of people even though that is not my county (My place is 1/4 mile from the county line). Commissioner is going into a runoff (Republican). Former Commissioner is a D (Dud).
The panic is starting to set in across the board - hard left, left and Rinos are all starting to realize that Trump may just have a LONG coat tail.
Fantastic! Time to finally get rid of the RINOs in this state. What’s the point of being a Republican if you’re going to vote with the Dems. I am particularly happy about those judges - how can the government NOT prosecute voter fraud?
No, because people like the writer only consider *their* views and their chosen reps as “our democracy” - when they really mean “my view of democracy.” Just like how leftists are all for free speech when it’s speech that supports them and their views, but when it isn’t...
Exactly right. I was being sarcastic. Of course they won’t recognize the Texas victories as “democracy works” because it begins to repel their communist project.
HOW ABOUT PAXTON BEING....TARGETED?
What a total BS amateurish article.
Paxson needed to oust those 3 judges.
Now the Texas vote will be secure and Texas will stay red.
Please let the demoncrats waste their blood money in Texas.
Yep😡
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