Posts Tagged ‘Jason Gibson’

Texas Statewide Race Roundup for October 2, 2013

Wednesday, October 2nd, 2013

Time for another (no doubt incomplete) roundup of statewide race news:

  • Holly Hansen interviews Greg Abbott.
  • Wendy Davis expresses enthusiasm for gun control, because that will go over so well in Texas. Next up: Wendy David calls for banning BBQ, Tex-Mex, football and Christmas.
  • Davis is expected to announce for Governor tomorrow.
  • Politico previews the Abbott-Davis fight as “bruising.” Well, yeah. It’s going to bruise Democratic egos and wallets to accomplish very little. Also contains this gem: “Republicans control more than 60 percent of statewide offices.” Well, yes, 100% is indeed more than 60%…
  • Left-leaning Texas Monthly just goes ahead and says Abbott will be the next governor. And here’s an excerpt of their cover profile of Abbott.
  • Unless Debra Medina runs as an Independent. Is she trying to elect Wendy Davis? Also, “I couldn’t raise money for a Comptroller race, so I’m going to run for governor” doesn’t make a lot of sense.
  • A roundup of Abbott vs. Davis fundraising between June 17 and August 5.
  • There was a Lt. Governor candidates forum in Houston.
  • There’s another one in Houston tomorrow, October 3, from 5-8 PM at Grace Community Church, 14505 Gulf Freeway.
  • PJ TV Interviews Todd Staples:

  • Also Jerry Patterson:

  • And David Dewhurst (but I’m not seeing one for Dan Patrick):

  • Jerry Patterson slams his rivals as soft:

  • Three Attorney General candidates (Ken Paxton, Barry Smitherman, and Dan Branch) also had a debate.
  • They also clashed over who had endorsed who.
  • Paxton unveils a list of 100 important Texas Tea Party supporters.
  • Smitherman picks up a Right-to-Life endorsement.
  • George P. Bush visits Seguin and San Angelo.
  • Jason Gibson, who briefly competed in the 2012 Senate race, is considering running against John Cornyn in 2014, presumably (as in 2012) as a Democrat.
  • Dem State Rep. Mike Villarreal prefers not to lose a statewide race for Comptroller.
  • Three Joe Straus allies (Bill Callegari, Rob Orr and Tryon Lewis) decide that now is a good time to retire.
  • Texas Senate Race Update for April 26. 2012

    Thursday, April 26th, 2012

    We’re a little more than a month out from the elections, and the rhetorical blows are already raining down among the candidates:

  • The Dewhurst campaign doubles down on the Communist Chinese attack:

    The Dewhurst campaign also says the longer piece will be available to watch on Hulu “in exchange for viewing an entire program on Hulu without commercials.” I must admit that the idea of using hulu in this way for a political campaign never occurred to me. We’ll see if it’s cost effective…

  • The Cruz campaign hit Dewhurst for working with liberals to kill conservative legislation in the Texas Senate, the wage tax/income tax, his moderate tendencies, and for raising money from PACs that have supported liberal causes like ObamaCare and Cap-and-Trade.
  • Cruz gets profiled by the liberal Texas Observer. Though it covers everything you would expect it to cover, it’s actually a lot less of a hit piece than I expected it to be. And I didn’t know that Cruz was a pallbearer at William Rehnquist’s funeral. However, I think there’s one factual error (albeit one I’m sure the Cruz campaign won’t go out of their way top correct): As far as I know, Cruz has not been endorsed by Sen. Marco Rubio.
  • Tom Leppert calls his opponents “empty suits”:

    Craig James has to feel pleased that Leppert feels he’s worth of being attacked.

  • The Dewhurst campaign took time out of their busy Cruz-attack schedule to swat Leppert over the ad: “‘Tom Leppert is probably just using the same kind of creative math that got him into trouble when he raised property taxes and ran up Dallas debt,’ said Dewhurst spokesman Enrique Marquez.” Ouch!
  • Leppert picked up a passel of religious conservative endorsements.
  • Leppert appeared on KFYO in Lubbock.
  • Leppert will be visiting San Angelo on Friday.
  • Some behind the scenes tidbits on the Houston Chronicle‘s editorial board interviews with Cruz and Leppert. While it’s not the huge negative an endorsement by the Austin American-Statesman is, I’m not sure the Chron‘s endorsement is a net plus for a Republican candidate these days. (20 years ago it was.)
  • Craig James raised just over $1 million, but three-quarters of that was his own money.
  • The ground war has already started, as I got my first Cruz direct mail flyer yesterday.
  • A look at the air war. Interesting how Peggy Fikac calls Jim DeMint an “arch-conservative.” I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that she’s never labeled anyone an “arch-liberal” in print.
  • Trial lawyer and withdrawn democratic candidate Jason Gibson raised $25,980 between December 19 and when he dropped out February 2. I say “raised,” but every single donation he received was from himself…
  • Lela Pittenger raised $10,976 in Q1.
  • No Q1 FEC report up yet for Sean Hubbard or Addie D. Allen.
  • Texas Senate Race Update for January 31, 2012

    Tuesday, January 31st, 2012
  • A testy exchange between Ted Cruz and Tom Leppert at last week’s Texas Republican Assembly Biennial Endorsing Convention Biennial Endorsing Convention on Leppert’s gay rights parade and ACORN baggage that I, Matt Dowling and whoever was behind the now-silent Race to Replace KBH dug up.

  • Last week Ted Cruz was on the Glenn Beck Show:

    Glenn Beck: “There’s no way you’re ever going to get elected. You make too much sense.”

  • Cruz was also named as one of the Top Ten Conservative Challengers in Texas by New Revolution Now.
  • Craig James appeared on WFAA (again, apologies for their crappy, non-YouTube video embedding):

  • Ted Cruz, Lela Pittenger and Ben Gambini all appeared at the North Shore Republican Women’s forum in Montgomery County.
  • Craig James is just fine with a later date for the primary. That piece isn’t particularly information, but I thought I would put it up since they do actually manage to mention all the Republican and Democratic candidates filed for the race, a sharp contrast with other news stories I could name…
  • The Texas Association of Business will have another Senate candidate forum in Austin tomorrow from 200-3:30 PM. Scheduled to attend are Ted Cruz, David Dewhurst, Tom Leppert and Craig James. I’ve been sending email back and forth with the James campaign to try a find a time to interview him while he’s in town, but it doesn’t look like we’ll find one that matches both our schedules. (It’s a busy time for my day job.) So we might end up doing an email interview instead.
  • The National Association of Realtors endorses Dewhurst. I’m sure this is a shocking turn of events completely unforeseen by anyone following the race.
  • Texas Sparkle lends her blog to Kevin Jackson so he can make the case for Craig James. His upshot seems to be that James is a tough competitor. Well, great. But getting your chin stitched up without anesthetic is probably a skill that will never be needed on the senate floor, and Mr. Jackson’s piece seems to be devoid of any actual discussion of political positions.
  • The AP takes a look at three of the five Democrats in the race.
  • Of them, Paul Sadler gets endorsed by the AFL-CIO. So that’s a second traditional Democratic interest group Sadler has in his corner along with the legacy news media.
  • Profile of Democratic candidate Jason Gibson. “Gibson considers himself a mainstream Democrat who believes in lower taxes and efficient government and who supports the Second Amendment. He’s pro-labor, he said, with an abiding interest in worker safety, but still is working to fill in the blanks on most issues. Jobs and the economy, he said, are key. He has hired several well-regarded campaign consultants and has said he is willing to spend into the seven figures.”
  • Glenn Addison raised $17,606 in Q4. That’s down significantly from the $35,059 he raised in Q3.
  • Websites of the 2012 Texas Senate Candidates

    Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012

    Here’s an updated list of the declared 2012 Texas senate candidate’s websites, along with any subsidiary pages that change frequently (in-the-news, press releases, etc.), along with their Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and FEC fundraising report pages, plus any additional pages worth noting. (For example, Tom Leppert’s website provides links to his LinkedIn page, and his YouTube and Flickr streams, so I have included those here.) I’ve also tried to be flexible; Ted Cruz doesn’t have links for separate YouTube or Flickr sites, so I’ve included similar pages on his campaign page.

    Consider this a one-stop research stop for lazy efficient journalists and bloggers (as well as a handy cheat-cheat for myself, since I’ve been doing extensive coverage of the race).

    Where candidates have sign-up splash screens, I have omitted those to go straight to the website (or, for Facebook links, their wall).

    Websites for 2012 Republican Senate Runoff Candidates

    Ted Cruz

  • Ted Cruz Website
  • Ted Cruz Facebook Page
  • Ted Cruz Twitter Feed
  • Ted Cruz FEC Page
  • David Dewhurst

  • David Dewhurst Website
  • David Dewhurst Facebook Page
  • David Dewhurst Twitter Feed (Note that the old Dewhurst4Texas feed is no longer active)
  • David Dewhurst YouTube Feed
  • David Dewhurst Flickr Photostream
  • The Official Lieutenant Governor’s Page
  • David Dewhurst’s FEC Page
  • Websites for 2012 Democratic Senate Runoff Candidates

    Paul Sadler

  • Paul Sadler Website
  • Paul Sadler Facebook Page
  • Paul Sadler Twitter Feed
  • Paul Sadler FEC Page
  • Grady Yarbrough

  • Grady Yarbrough’s Facebook Page
  • Websites for 2012 Republican Senate Candidates Who Missed the Runoff

    Tom Leppert

  • Tom Leppert Website
  • Tom Leppert Facebook page
  • Tom Leppert Twitter Feed
  • Tom Leppert LinkedIn page
  • Tom Leppert Flickr Photostream
  • Tom Leppert YouTube channel
  • Tom Leppert FEC Page
  • Craig James

  • Craig James Website
  • Craig James News
  • Craig James Media
  • Craig James Twitter Feed
  • Craig James Facebook
  • Glenn Addison

  • Glenn Addison Website
  • Glenn Addison Twitter Feed
  • Glenn Addison Facebook Page
  • Glenn Addison FEC Page
  • Lela Pittenger

  • Lela Pittenger Website
  • Lela Pittenger Facebook Page
  • Lela Pittenger Twitter Feed
  • Lela Pittenger FEC Page
  • Curt Cleaver

  • Curt Cleaver Website
  • Curt Cleaver Facebook page
  • Curt Cleaver Twitter Feed
  • Curt Cleaver Vimeo Page
  • Curt Cleaver FEC Page
  • Ben Gambini

  • Ben Gambini Facebook
  • Dr. Joe Agris

    No website yet.

    Republican Dropouts

    Declared Republican candidates who have dropped out of the race:

  • Elizabeth Ames Jones: Dropped out November 8, 2011.
  • Michael Williams: Dropped out June 17, 2011.
  • Roger Williams: Dropped out June 28, 2011.
  • Andrew Castanuela: Emailed December 21, 2011 saying he was running as an independent write-in candidate.
  • Charles Holcomb: Dropped out March 7, 2012.
  • Websites for 2012 Democratic Senate Candidates Who Missed the Runoff

    Addie D. Allen (AKA Addie Dainell Allen)

  • Addie D. Allen Website
  • Addie D. Allen Facebook page
  • Addie D. Allen Twitter Feed
  • Sean Hubbard

  • Sean Hubbard Website
  • Sean Hubbard Facebook Page
  • Sean Hubbard Twitter Feed
  • Sean Hubbard YouTube Feed
  • Sean Hubbard FEC Page
  • Democratic Dropouts

    Declared Democratic candidates who have dropped out of the race:

  • Ricardo Sanchez: Dropped out December 16, 2011.
  • Jason A. Gibson: Dropped out February 2, 2012.
  • Stanley Garza: Sent an email January 20, 2012 saying he was giving up his 2012 campaign.
  • Virgil Bierschwale: Sent an email January 25, 2012 saying he couldn’t afford the filing fee.
  • Daniel Boone: Switched to Congressional race March 7, 2012.
  • Democratic candidates whose names briefly appeared on the offical list of Texas Democratic Senate candidates, but which have since been removed, with no explanation given:

  • Eric Roberson
  • John Morton
  • Others

  • Libertarian Jon Roland
  • Independent Mike Champion
  • Texas Senate Race Update for December 20, 2011

    Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

    With all the coming and the going and the filing and the GLAVEN, it’s been a crazy few days keeping up with the Texas senate race. I even went back today to see if their were any stragglers who hadn’t been updated on the Republican and Democratic candidate websites yesterday. There were no additions but, interestingly, there was one subtraction (see below).

    Of course, there may be another scramble when the filing period opens up again next year after a Supreme Court decision on redistricting. Keep watching the skies…

  • I evidently missed this back in October, but the Texas Home School Coalition PAC endorsed Ted Cruz.
  • I also missed this nice profile of Glenn Addison by Big Jolly Politics in November.
  • Addison also resigned from the Magnolia ISD board to concentrate on his senate race. Given that he stated the board was responsible for his gray hair at one of the candidate forums, maybe it wasn’t a hard decision…
  • A look at some of Craig James’ Republican connections.
  • David Dewhurst scoffs at the idea that Craig James’ entry in the race will force him into a runoff. As well he should. He was already headed for a runoff.
  • Dewhurst also shows up as attending a wild game luncheon. I’m willing to bet it was a bit ritzier than the one I attended in a high school cafeteria in Dripping Springs.
  • Newly minted candidate Paul Sadler gets some love from the Houston Chronicle. Of course, saying he was a big player in state legislative issues in the 1990s is pretty much tantamount to saying “Who?”
  • Indeed, some are already saying that the Democratic primary is a two man race between Sadler and Jason A. Gibson, ignoring the fact that Sean Hubbard has been running for most of the year, and that Daniel Boone has the tremendous asset of being named Daniel Boone. That article also notes that Gibson is president of the Houston Trial Lawyers Association, which would suggest access to a healthy amount of campaign funding.
  • A bit more on Sadler, who lost a runoff election to Republican Kevin Eltife in a 2004 state senate race.
  • Sadler also emailed back to say that he didn’t have a website up yet. “Hopefully, within a week or so.”
  • One oddity: Remember former Republican turned Independent turned Democrat Eric Roberson, who showed up on the list of candidates late yesterday? Well, his name was gone today…possibly because he also shows as a candidate for Place 11 on the 5th Court of Appeals.
  • I’ve sent emails to Andrew Castanuela, Stanley Garza, and Virgil Bierschwale, whose names do not appear the filing lists for the Republican and Democratic Senate primaries, to ask if they’ve abandoned their campaigns. I’ll let you know when I find out.
  • Conversely, if Ben Gambini, John Morton, or Addie Dainell Allen are reading this, you might send a comment or email to let me know who you are and why you’re running for the senate.
  • First interview with Craig James about his Senate run. My apologies for the crappy WFAA flash video implementation:

  • Finally, for commentator “John Doe”: No, I’m not going to post an un-sourced, laundry list of lurid accusations against a candidate (not even a Democrat) from an anonymous troll. Try again when you can cite a source for your accusations.
  • Brief Candidate Profile: Jason A. Gibson, Pistol Packing…Democrat?

    Monday, December 19th, 2011

    I just got off the phone with newly-filed Texas Democratic senate candidate Jason A. Gibson. (I called when his law firm’s email bounced for some reason.) He says his website, www.jasongibson2012.com, will be up live in a day or two.

    I asked him why he was running. He said he was “tired of Washington being dysfunctional” and “tired of being on the sidelines.” He also said “I get things done.”

    He says his family has a long history in the Democratic Party, and that his grandfather a union organizer. However, when I noted that my blog was on the conservative side of the spectrum, he mentioned support for two policies not often voiced among modern Democratic candidates: lower taxes and the right to bear arms. Indeed, he said he was a Texas CHL holder, which must surely be an uncommon thing among Democrats these days.

    There was a time, of course, when the Texas Democratic Party had numerous conservative politicians among their ranks. But by the 1980s, the party that had once been home to Allan Shivers and John Connally found itself to be captive to the ideological likes of Jim Hightower and Lloyd Doggett, causing the exodus of conservative Democrats like Phil Gramm, Kent Hance and Rick Perry to the Republican Party, which goes a long way toward explaining why it’s been over a decade since the Democrats held a single statewide office in Texas. The majority of Democratic partisans at both the state and national level have nothing but contempt for “Blue Dog Democrats,” and I doubt Gibson can buck the trend.

    But we’ll see.