A new poll commissioned by Defend Texas Liberty PAC shows its endorsed candidates easily winning, or at least leading, their respective runoff opponents, by at least 24 percentage points.
- Gen. Ken Paxton (R) leads Land Comm. George P. Bush (R), 50%-39%, with undecided respondents generally leaning more toward Paxton than Bush.
- Dawn Buckingham (R) leads Tim Westley, 42%-18%, with a majority of undecided recipients more favorable to her than him; and
- Railroad Comm. Wayne Christian (R) leads Sarah Stogner, 50%-24%, with about two thirds of undecided respondents having a more favorable opinion of Christian than Stogner.
The PAC has endorsed Paxton, Buckingham and Christian.
The poll demonstrates “Texas voters are hungry for conservative leadership,” said former Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford), who leads the PAC.
Defend Texas Liberty PAC spent more than $5.2M leading up to the primary election, including $3.6M in contributions to former Sen. Don Huffines (R-Dallas), who received 12% of the vote running against Gov. Greg Abbott (R). Aside from a $50K contribution to Paxton, it does not appear that the PAC directly supported the candidates polled.
The poll found former President Trump leading a theoretical field of Republican presidential candidates with 46% of the vote, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (20%) and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (10%). U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R) had the support of 8% of respondents, and 6% of respondents favored Gov. Greg Abbott (R). If Trump were excluded, DeSantis received 48% support followed by Cruz (19%), Haley (13%) and Abbott (10%).
The CWS Research poll of 678 of “likely primary runoff voters” was conducted via IVR and text messages and was in the field March 29-April 2. The stated margin of error is ±3.76%.
LTGOV (Lean R): Planned Parenthood Texas Votes endorsed Mike Collier (D) in the runoff over Rep. Michelle Beckley (D-Carrollton).
AG (Lean R): Planned Parenthood Texas Votes endorsed Rochelle Garza (D) in the runoff over Joe Jaworski.
COMP (Likely R): Planned Parenthood Texas Votes endorsed Janet Dudding (D) in the runoff over Ángel Luis Vega.
LAND (Likely R): Planned Parenthood Texas Votes endorsed Jay Kleberg (D) in the runoff over Sandragrace Martinez.
HD52 open (Lean R): Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) endorsed Caroline Harris (R) in the runoff over Pat McGuinness.
HD63 open (Likely R): Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) endorsed Ben Bumgarner (R) in the runoff over Jeff Younger.
HD73 open (Safe R): Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) endorsed Barron Casteel (R) in the runoff over Carrie Isaac.
HD100 open (Safe D): Planned Parenthood Texas Votes endorsed Venton Jones (D) in the runoff over Sandra Crenshaw.
HD122 open (Likely R): Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) endorsed Elisa Chan (R) in the runoff over Mark Dorazio.
HD147 open (Safe D): Planned Parenthood Texas Votes endorsed Jolanda Jones (D) in the runoff over Danielle Keys Bess.
CD28 (Lean D): U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-XX) endorsed Cassy Garcia (R) in the runoff over Sandra Whitten.
Interim Charges: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) released his interim charges for Senate committees. With respect to election-related issues, He charged the State Affairs Committee to study:
- The impact of the Stephens decision concluding the Office of Attorney General lacks jurisdiction to prosecute election law cases
- Ways the Secretary of State “can respond promptly to reports of Election Code violations”
- The process election reports and results are provided to the state, “including any internal processes to verify the results reported” by county officials
- Improving “the accuracy and timeliness of election results reported” on Election Day
- The allocation of polling locations and “report whether current law provides for an equitable distribution.”
- “Protocols and scheduling of proper maintenance and calibration of election equipment”
- The history of a holiday falling within the early voting period and “methods to ensure that early voting always has the required number of days”
- Whether the state “should shorten the primary election runoff period … to allow voters to know who their candidate is sooner”; and
- Ways to “allow consistent enforcement of election laws across the state” and “ensure it is easy to vote and hard to cheat.”
The Local Government Committee was charged with studying how to “make ballot propositions more easily understood by voters.”
