Beto baggage? In Texas, a Republican won with signs tying his opponent to O’Rourke.
For a peek at Texas Republican campaigns in 2020, look to Hood County.
A former soccer and wrestling coach unseated a Granbury school trustee who committed the unpardonable sin of backing Beto O’Rourke.
Giant signs assailing Trustee Rhonda Rezsofi dwarfed the others last week in Granbury, 40 miles southwest of Fort Worth. They shouted in blue letters: “Rhonda Rezsofi [hearts] Beto.”
The heart in the middle was in rainbow LGBT-flag colors.
The message was bigger than challenger Bob Swearingen’s own bright red Republican Party elephant symbol.
“I don’t think I got beat because of my record,” said Rezsofi, 47, a Granbury real estate agent and three-year trustee. “I think it was because of Beto.”
Swearingen, 58, who lives in the Country Meadows subdivision of rural north Hood County, won with 58% of the vote in what could be a textbook example for Republican campaigns in 2020.
Instead of campaigning on education or the three R’s, he hammered away against the three S’s — socialism, sex and gender issues, and the system.
Door-to-door and on Facebook, Swearingen promised to “stand guard” against Washington and “what is going on ... in Austin and in Fort Worth,” which is Democratic.
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When a Facebook commenter pointed out that Republicans run everything in Texas — it’s been that way since 2003 — Swearingen called those elected officials “the RINOs [Republicans in Name Only] or moderates who are killing the country.”
Hood County Republican Party Chairman David Fischer said Swearingen, a party precinct chairman, won because the county is 80% Republican and for his “positive message about not teaching socialism.”
The “Rezsofi [hearts] Beto” signs were put up by another member of the party, Fischer said. But Swearingen “was very anti-Beto,” he said.
In small-town Texas, where Sen. Ted Cruz won 73% of the vote in his 2018 victory over O’Rourke, backing Beto already carried baggage.
The backlash only grew Sept. 15, when O’Rourke told a presidential debate crowd, “Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15.”
The Granbury election drew 23% of voters. That was the highest voter turnout in Dallas-Fort Worth and among the highest in Texas.
“The voters here are against socialism and very much pro-Second Amendment,” Fischer said.
Hood County commissioners recently passed a “sanctuary county” resolution supporting Sheriff Roger Deeds if he chooses not to help enforce any new federal gun laws.
“We are very pro-Trump,” Fischer said. “We love the president here. She was very pro-Beto.”
Swearingen did not return calls and messages.
In a victory statement posted on Facebook, he credited the victory to prayer, work, endorsements, “evil agenda items being pushed into our public schools, and a clown named Beta [sic] coming after our guns and Churches.”
In another post, Swearingen referred to sex education as the “sexualization agenda.”
He also cited a recent poll showing that 19% of American millennials believe Karl Marx’s 1848 Communist Manifesto “guarantees freedom and equality” better than the Declaration of Independence.
“YOU CAN THANK THE EDUCATION SYSTEM,” he wrote.
Rezsofi said she plans to file a Texas Ethics Commission complaint about the Beto signs. They had several different taped-on disclaimers. The signs do not appear to be reflected on any campaign finance report filed by the legal deadline.
(Swearingen’s biggest campaign gift was $250 from Mel Birdwell, the spouse of state Sen. Brian Birdwell. Rezsofi’s biggest check was from the Texas Association of Realtors, $500.)
“They went after me because I was the only one in office really advocating for public education at the state level,” Rezsofi said.
“What bothered me the most was that rainbow heart on that ‘Rhonda [hearts] Beto.’ That’s how they get people stirred up.”
That’s the plan for 2020.
This story was originally published November 8, 2019 at 12:05 PM.
