GOP Establishment Safe in Texas Primaries as Tea Party Falters
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Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Two years after Ted Cruz upset the political establishment in the Lone Star State, Texas voters helped two major Republican establishment candidates secure their posts in the state’s primaries on Tuesday.
Sen. John Cornyn, the second-highest-ranking Republican in the Senate, crushed his primary opponents with well over 50 percent of the vote needed to avoid a May 27 run-off.
Cornyn’s closest challenger was Rep. Steve Stockman, who gave up his House seat to run against the two-term senator. Stockman, a well-known Tea Party firebrand, entered the race on the day of the filing deadline but quickly disappointed many conservative activists hoping to uproot Cornyn from his Senate office.
In another establishment vs. Tea Party test, Rep. Pete Sessions, chairman of the House Rules Committee, beat his Tea Party opponent Katrina Pierson in the primary for his seat representing Texas’ 32nd congressional district. Tea Party activists had their eye on the Sessions race as a potential upset, but Pierson’s candidacy fizzled out despite endorsements from Sarah Palin and Rafael Cruz, the father of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
The success of Cornyn and Sessions in Texas could offer hope to other establishment candidates across the country in 2014. The mid-term election is teeming with establishment vs. Tea Party matchups — from the Republican primary in the Kentucky Senate race between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Tea Partier Matt Bevin, to the Mississippi primary race between Sen. Thad Cochran, who is seeking a seventh term, and Tea Party favorite Chris McDaniel.
The primary results come as a new ABC News/Washington Post poll released Tuesday showed that 47 of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents called it a bad thing for Tea Party candidates to challenge Republican incumbents.
But the Tea Party did see success in one statewide contest — the Republican primary for lieutenant governor. State Sen. Dan Patrick secured more votes than current Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst, but did not clear the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a run-off. Dewhurst, who has served as lieutenant governor for over 10 years, was already politically wounded after losing to Ted Cruz in the Republican run-off for the Texas Senate race in 2012.
The oldest member of Congress will also face a run-off later this spring. At age 90, Rep. Ralph Hall failed to receive the 50 percent needed to secure his party’s nomination for his seat in Texas’ 4th congressional district which he’s held since 1981. Ralph will face John Ratcliffe, a 48-year-old former U.S. attorney in the May run-off.
Hall recently tried to combat charges that he is too old for elected office with an ad playfully highlighting the wrinkles on his face he said he acquired after fighting against liberals.
Gubernatorial candidates Attorney General Greg Abbott and state Sen. Wendy Davis easily coasted to win their respective party’s nominations as did George P. Bush, who is running for Texas Land Commissioner and is the newest Bush family member to seek political office.
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