State Rep. Dan Branch (R-Dallas) will announce tomorrow that he will seek re-election, the Austin American-Statesman reports. Branch had been considering running for Attorney General, a position that will be open if Greg Abbott runs for higher office as expected.
“I’m running for re-election because I want to continue my work to make Texas the higher learning and research powerhouse our future economy will demand,” Dan Branch, the chairman of the Higher Education Committee, said in a statement that will go out to reporters Thursday. “Our campaign will offer thoughtful solutions that build on a record of results and reflect my vision for an effective and limited state government.”
Even had Branch decided to run, former solicitor general Ted Cruz may been the favorite to win the Republican nomination for Attorney General. Now with Branch out of the race, Cruz, who announced early and has already posted impressive fundraising numbers, will almost certainly be the Republican nominee.
Former U.S. Senate nominee Barbara Ann Radnofsky, who launched her website earlier this week, is the only Democrat to have entered the race so far.
It's only the first day after the July 4th weekend and campaign finance reports don't technically have to be reported until mid month. But that's not stopping the teasing of fundraising numbers from candidates considering running statewide for various offices.
A brief collection of reports so far...
Kay Bailey Hutchisonreleased a YouTube video to say that she has 6,500 donors. No work if that is "to date" or "this quarter" or "total" or "in Texas". I suppose it's time for her to start diversifying from her multi-million transfers of cash from her federal account which made up most of her last report.
Republican Ted Cruz, former Texas solicitor general, reports that he has now raised more than $1 million from over 500 donors across 20 states in a bid for Texas Attorney General. Of course, that's only in the event that incumbent Greg Abbott vacates the seat to run for, say, Lt. Governor which may or may not only happen if incumbent David Dewhurst gets appointed to or runs for Kay Bailey Hutchison's senate seat which may or may not become open depending on when or if she resigns her seat to run for Governor.
According to Quorum Report, Republican Rep. Dan Branch of Dallas says he'll be reporting over $1 million on hand, having raised $600,000 in just seven days (from only 200 donors) during the limited amount of time post session he could fundraise. He's also maybe exploring a run for Attorney General with the same caveats as listed in the above point.
In January, McCaul said he would "seriously consider" running for Attorney General if the office became vacant. Though current AG Greg Abbott has not annoucned his intentions, he is widely expected to run for either Lt. Governor or U.S. Senator.
After McCaul's presumed Democratic opponent Jack McDonald posted very impressive fundraising numbres, some (including myself) speculated that McDonald's strong reportmight push McCaul towards running for Attorney General.
While he could always change his mind, that doesn't seem to be the case. As Matt reported today, McCaul only has about $62,000 on hand with over $500,000 in debt. However, the business relationships of his father-in-law, Clear Channel founder Lowry Mays, could make it very easy for McCaul to raise a large amount of money in a short time.
Two candidates, former solicitor general Ted Cruz, a Republican, and former U.S. Senate nominee Barbara Radnofsky, a Democrat, have filed papers to run for Attorney General next year.
I am focused on serving the people of the 10th Congressional District of Texas for a third term. I am humbled that so many people have encouraged me to run for Texas Attorney General. But as of right now that office is not vacant and I support Greg Abbott for re-election. If it becomes vacant, I will seriously consider whether that is the best way for me to continue to serve the state of Texas.
Of course, if McCaul does opt to run for Attorney General, the Tenth Congressional District, which runs from Austin to Houston, would be an open seat.
Selby lists 2008 primary candidate Dan Grant and Jack McDonald, a CEO of an Austin-based company, as two Democrats considering the race.
Update: Lorenzo Sadun, a former candidate for TX -10, wrote in the comments:
I know (and admire) Dan Grant, but don't know anything about Jack McDonald. Can anyone fill us in?
Dan Grant ran against Larry Joe Doherty in the 2008 primary and enjoyed the support of many Democratic activists in Austin.
I didn't know anything about McDonald, but judging from the biography on his company's website, he could be a formidable candidate.
Jack McDonald is chairman and chief executive officer of Perficient, a leading information technology consulting firm serving Global 2000 clients throughout the United States. McDonald joined Perficient in 1999, led its initial public offering (NASDAQ: PRFT) and built and led a team that has transformed the company from a startup to an award-winning industry leader with $240 million in annual revenues and 1,400 professionals in 19 major North American markets and global locations in Eastern Europe, India and China.
...
McDonald serves on the boards of several nonprofit organizations that provide economic, education and healthcare opportunities for Central Texans and work to protect our land, air and water ...
TEC reports show that McDonald contributed $3,000 to the campaign of State Rep. Chris Turner.
If McCaul does ultimately decide to enter the AG's race, expect contested Republican and Democratic primaries in TX-10.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is using $1.5 million in federal grant funds to prosecute Texas citizens who help senior citizens apply for ballot applications and cast their vote by mail. Most of the Texans being prosecuted by Abbott are senior citizens, African American or Hispanic, and ALL are Democrats.
Abbott has taken his job to such extremes as to recently spy on Senior Citizens like 69 year old Gloria Meeks. Meeks’ sworn statement says that Abbott sent two men to interrogate her because she was legally casting her through the mail. Once she had been asked to wait, the men began snooping around the house to accidentally see Meeks bathing and drying off on two separate occasions.
Why is Abbott so passionate to violate the Voting Rights Act?
Because of these targeted voter suppression tactics, the Lone Star Project in conjunction with the Texas Democratic Party have files suit against the flawed ballot statute.
[Lone Star Project] assert(s) that the challenged statutes enacted in Texas in 2003 violate both the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act by denying senior citizens and community activists the ability to receive and provide legally protected assistance to participate in elections and, in the case of challenged ballots, the very right to have their vote counted. The suit further asks the Court to block Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s current efforts to prosecute community activists and other individuals who assist senior citizens and the disabled in completing the mail ballot process and then help insure that completed ballots are mailed or delivered properly to election offices. It is a narrowly drawn complaint that seeks to correct a technical flaw in the Texas Election Code that is being exploited by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to selectively prosecute and suppress elderly, minority, disabled, and Democratic voters.
