Gov. Greg Abbott (R) leads Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, 50%-43%, according to a new Spectrum News/Siena Coll. poll. It finds Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R) leading Democratic challenger Mike Collier, 49%-40%, and Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton (R) leading Democratic challenger Rochelle Garza, 47%-42%. These topline results are consistent with nearly all recent polls.

Respondents were almost evenly split on their opinion of Abbott (47/46) but a majority views O’Rourke unfavorably (39/52). Patrick (33/36) and Paxton (29/41) are a little underwater with the respondents, but three quarters of them don’t know enough about Collier (13/12) and Garza (13/12) to have an opinion of them.

This poll’s small sample size (n=651) carries a ±4.4% margin of error. Subsets of the full sample have larger errors, so we are not going to look too closely at them.

GOV (Likely R): Nearly $70M has been committed to advertising in the governor’s race, according to AdImpact Politics, a national tracking firm. Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke has spent $16.9M to date, while Coulda Been Worse PAC has spent $10.4M opposing Gov. Greg Abbott (R). Another $16M has been reserved by O’Rourke and the PAC to date. Abbott has spent $19M and reserved an additional $6M.

LTGOV (Lean R): Former Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff (R-Mount Pleasant) endorsed Democratic challenger Mike Collier over Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R). Ratliff previously endorsed Patrick’s 2018 primary challenger Scott Milder.

HD34 (Likely D): Gov. Greg Abbott (R) endorsed challenger Carolyn Vaughn (R) over Rep. Abel Herrero (D-Robstown).

HD35 (Likely D): Gov. Greg Abbott (R) endorsed challenger Oscar Rosa (R) over Rep. Oscar Longoria (D-Mission).

Realtors’ Endorsements: The Texas Assoc. of Realtors TREPAC released its list of endorsements for the general election. The group endorsed in every statewide and legislative race except for Agriculture Comm., Railroad Comm., the Court of Criminal Appeals and HD116.

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