Gov. Greg Abbott has donated $300K to Tarrant County state House races. Here’s why.
Gov. Greg Abbott has contributed almost $1.8 million to competitive Republican Texas House races, including $300,000 to key Tarrant County House races that Democrats have targeted in an effort to take control of the lower chamber, according to the latest campaign finance reports.
Overall, Abbott has contributed over $6 million from his war chest to help down-ballot campaigns and keep Texas red, said David Carney, Abbott’s general consultant.
The new finance reports come after Abbott went campaigning door to door with Rep. Craig Goldman on Oct. 21 in a Benbrook neighborhood. Goldman is considered an emerging Republican leader in the Legislature but is also locked in a tight re-election contest against his Democratic opponent Elizabeth Beck in District 97.
Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, said Abbott’s interest in Tarrant County is a sign he’s worried about losing control of the House.
Tarrant County is one of the last major urban counties to remain red but voted for Democrat Beto O’Rourke over U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, signaling to Democrats they might have success in other races in the Fort Worth area. They targeted Tarrant House seats 92, 93, 94, 96 and 97.
Carney said Abbott’s campaign saw the unprecedented amounts of money Democrats are raising in House races and decided they needed to step in.
“We are trying to level the playing field,” Carney said. “If you don’t fight back you have a less chance to win.”
Abbott’s campaign is being as aggressive as possible to get as many Republican wins as possible, Carney said.
Abbott has contributed to Rep. Matt Krause in House District 93, David Cook in District 96 and Goldman in 97. Krause faces Democrat Lydia Bean and Cook is up against Democrat Joe Drago.
Jones said Democrats have been mobilized by President Donald Trump, who is a polarizing figure among Democrats and Republicans alike.
“Trump has succeeded in doing something that no Democrat was ever able to do,” he said. “To get Democrats to turn out in a much higher number.”
In the latest finance report, Democrats raised $3 million during the period from Sept. 25 to Oct. 24, a 6,805% increase over the $43,445 they raised in 2016. That also tops the $2.6 million they raised from Nov. 1, 2018 until Oct. 7, 2020.
Republicans have raised $3.8 million during the same period. They raised about $3 million during the two-year period between November 2018 and Oct. 7, 2020.
The money for Democrats poured in after they saw they could be competitive, Jones said. He believes districts 92 and 96 have the best chance of turning blue. District 92 will be a battle between Republican Jeff Cason and Democrat Jeff Whitfield.
Whitfield, 46, is an Arlington lawyer who spent time as a legislative aide to state Sen. John Whitmire. Cason, 67, a former Bedford city councilman, has the support of Stickland and the political advocacy group Empower Texans.
Allison Campolo, founder of Tarrant Together — an organization dedicated to turning Tarrant County blue — said seeing Abbott come out to Tarrant County shows how competitive these races have become and that Republicans fear they might lose seats.
During this election cycle, Campolo and her organization have worked to register as many people as possible and have geared themselves toward voter education.
Rick Barnes, chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, said Tarrant County Republicans aren’t feeling any pressure. Abbott was simply in town to help out a friend when he campaigned with Goldman, he said. If there was pressure, Abbott would be going door to door with every candidate, he said.
“If they thought Tarrant County was in trouble, we’d see everybody in Austin’s government helping,” Barnes said.
Barnes said O’Rourke woke up Democrats in 2018, but he also woke up Republicans, and they haven’t stopped working since. Tarrant County Republicans have not stopped going door-to-door and will continue to do so.
Candidates
District 92: Covers most of Hurst, Bedford and Euless. Republican Jeff Cason is going against Democrat Jeff Whitfield.
District 93: Covers a slice of north Fort Worth, central Arlington, parts of Haslet and a portion of Haltom City. Democrat Lydia Bean is going against Republican Matt Krause.
District 94: Covers Dalworthington Gardens, Pangeto and south west Arlington. Democrat Alisa Simmons is going against Republican Tony Tinderholt
District 96: Covers most of Mansfield, Kennedale and Crowley. Republican David Cook is going against Democrat Joe Drago.
District 97: Covers Benbrook and a portion of southwest Fort Worth. Democrat Elizabeth Beck is going against Republican Craig Goldman.
