At least four Democratic congressional challengers will report raising at least $1M each during the second quarter of 2018:

  • Colin Allred, challenging U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Dallas), will report raising $1.1M and having $900K on hand
  • Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, challenging U.S. Rep. John Culberson (R-Houston), will report raising more than $1M and having $800K on hand.
  • J. Hegar, challenging U.S. Rep. John Carter (R-Round Rock), will report raising $1.1M, of which around $750K was contributed after her web ad, “Doors,” went viral; and
  • Gina Ortiz Jones, challenging U.S. Rep. Will Hurd (R-San Antonio), will report raising $1.2M.

Not included above is U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-El Paso), whose campaign has not released quarterly fundraising information. His campaign said he raised more than $3.5M online during the first two months of the quarter.

In 2016, the Democratic general election challengers to incumbent Republicans raised $2.5M collectively over the entire two-year election cycle. Former U.S. Rep. Pete Gallego (D-Alpine) was responsible for 86% of that total during his rematch against Hurd. No other Democrat challenging a Republican raised more than $67K during that election cycle.

In 2014, the Democratic challengers collectively raised $280K (U.S. Senate nominee David Alameel (D) contributed $4.3M to his campaign.) during the entire two-year election cycle.

Gravis Poll: A new poll promoted as an exclusive by Breitbart Texas largely tracks with recent polls showing relatively close races for several statewide offices:

  • Gov. Greg Abbott (R) over Lupe Valdez (D), 51%-41%
  • U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R) over U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-El Paso), 51%-42%
  • Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) over Mike Collier (D), 46%-44%; and
  • Atty Gen. Ken Paxton (R) over Justin Nelson (D), 45%-41%.

In each race, self-identified “independents” or people affiliated with “another party” support the Republican over the Democrat (Abbott 60%-31%, Cruz 53%-39%, Patrick 52%-35% and Paxton 42%-37%), as to Hispanic respondents (Abbott 50%-40%, Cruz 59%-32%, Patrick 44%-36% and Paxton 50%-39%). The poll did not include the Libertarian candidates seeking those offices.

According to the poll, 30% of Texans support “a ban on the ability to obtain an abortion in Texas” while 57% oppose a ban, including a majority of self-identified Republicans (56%). Just over a quarter of Texans oppose “laws that would stop LGBTQ individuals from being discriminated against” while 52% support such laws, including a plurality (45%) of Republicans.

The poll of 602 “likely voters” was in the field July 3-7 using “an online panel of cell phone users and interactive voice responses.” Its stated margin of error is ±4.0%.

SD19: “A vote for Pete Gallego is the same as voting for a Republican,” tweeted Rep. Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) as he shared a TribTalk piece from Rice Univ.’s Mark Jones discussing the candidates’ Lib-Con scores during the two sessions they served together in the House. According to Jones, Gutierrez was the fourth most liberal member of the House and “significantly more liberal than Gallego” during that time.

SEN: Jonathan Jenkins, a former independent candidate whose petition drive came up short, has filed a complaint with the Secretary of State alleging interference in his effort to obtain signatures. In an account posted to Medium, Jenkins accused “politicians and their operatives” of “unethical and potentially criminal activities to sabotage our ability to get on the ballot by bribing, harassing and threatening our petition circulators.” He also accused the vendor he hired to collect signatures of giving his campaign invoices for signatures that were not collected and “false reports to stymie any chance” the campaign would hire a different firm.

CD27: U.S. Rep.-elect Michael Cloud (R-Victoria) will be sworn in at 5:30 p.m. CDT tomorrow (Tuesday) by U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Ill.).

©2018 Texas Election Source LLC