Burnt Orange Report

Don Evans for Governor?

By Andrew Dobbs

Capitol Inside (subscription required) is reporting that Secretary of Commerce and longtime friend of George W. Bush is considering a run for Governor of Texas in 2006.

Commerce Secretary Don Evans might be interested in the job his best friend used to have. Texas governor.

The Texas oilman and former University of Texas regents chairman has reportedly made calls about a possible gubernatorial bid to Midland, where he ran an oil and gas company before joining President George W. Bush's cabinet three years ago.

It's not clear whether Evans might be looking at a potential race for governor in 2006 or 2010. He's expected to keep his current job in the Bush Administration if the president wins a second term this fall. Under that scenario he wouldn't be free to embark on a statewide race for another four and a half years. If Bush loses, Evans could hit the ground running for governor early next year.

I have it on good authority that KBH will definitely run if Perry can't fix school finance but probably won't if he fixes it. I think that even if she does run Perry could easily win. I think that Dewhurst runs for her open Senate seat giving Strayhorn an opportunity to run for that while Perry and KBH duke it out for governor. I really think that Perry could take her from the Right- pro-choice women usually don't do so well in Texas GOP primaries. If Evans were to throw his hat in the ring it really could liven things up. I think he takes away KBH's business conservative base while still appealing to Perry's social conservative base as a result of his Bush connection. It'd almost certainly go to a runoff (a governor, a senator and a prominent cabinet secretary all in the race) and Evans would likely win the nomination.

The question then is, could Democrats beat him? Perhaps. Evans recieved a call from an Enron executive around 3 months before the giant's collapse asking for help as the company was about to go under. Evans did nothing to try and prevent the collapse or to help investors avoid calamity. Furthermore, his ties to the Board of Regents could be used to highlight his support for "tuition deregulation"- one of the largest middle class tax hikes in Texas history. Finally, Republican stewardship of the state government over the past two years hasn't been so great (to say the least) and Evans would inherit that reputation. Still, he'd be awfully formidible.

We'll see how this pans out as time goes on but on some level I hope we do face him, as it will mean the end of Bush. Evans offers the Republicans something they desperately need though, a legitimate successor to Bush as the focal point of their party. As a result, his emergence should be taken very seriously by Democrats across the state.