I noted before that HD138 incumbent Dwayne Bohac reported zero cash on hand as of June 30. I'm still not sure what that's about, but whatever it is, it's also the case that he's been out-fundraised through the midyear point by Democratic challenger Mark McDavid. Not too surprisingly, the McDavid campaign is crowing about this a bit. Click the More link for the press release.

Houston, TX - The Mark McDavid campaign is proud to announce that the Texas Ethics Commission reports for the semi-annual period from 1/1/06 to 6/30/06 show that Mark McDavid's donations exceeded the fundraising of his 2-term Republican rival, Dwayne Bohac. In addition to outpacing his opponent in fundraising, the McDavid campaign ended the period with cash on hand, in deep contrast with Bohac's 0 account balance at the end of the period. "We knew Bohac's fundraising was in trouble when our first TEC Report, due mid-May at the end of the Special Legislative Session, showed that we raised twice as much money as Bohac over the same period. This semi-annual report just confirms our suspicions that his campaign is in trouble," remarks McDavid.

A detailed comparison of each candidate's Contributions shows that McDavid's donor base was 5 times as large as Bohac's and largely consists of individual donors, in contrast to Bohac's 22 contributors over the 6-month period, 12 of which were Political Action Committees and other entities. "The results speak for themselves. My donor base represents the grassroots, and his represents business as usual in Austin. You'd think that Bohac would have known better than to spend 2 dollars for every dollar raised and in the process empty his campaign account," comments McDavid. He further muses: "I can only surmise one or a combination of things happening: 1) Bohac takes his seat for granted, 2) he's lost the political will to fight for his seat, or 3) the Republican Party has abandoned him for more competitive races." Bohac won this seat in 2002 when running against Ken Yarborough, a Democrat who had held the seat for 10 years and was hurt by 2001 redistricting. "Bohac's victory in 2002 was Pyrrhic at best. He has spent well over 7 figures to buy this seat since first campaigning for it in 1996. With the demographic makeup of this ever-changing district, it's clear that the Republican incumbent's voting record is out of step with the majority in his district," comments McDavid. As of 2004, the ethnic breakdown of the district is 41% anglo, 41% Hispanic/Latino, 10% African-American, and 6% Asian. The anglo population dropped 5.5% from the 2000 Census to 2004, and has more than likely slipped further over the last 2 years.

A further noose around Bohac's neck is the thousands of dollars he took from TRMPAC, a Tom DeLay political action committee under heavy scrutiny for alleged money-laundering during the 2002 races. "Bohac served as Tom DeLay's intern and needs to get more ethical mentors," comments McDavid. A native Houstonian who grew up in the Forest West neighborhood in District 138, Mark McDavid's priorities as a state representative include improving funding for public education, cleaning up our air & water, saving our state parks system, and tackling insurance reform. Mark McDavid lives with his wife Ginny in the Oak Forest neighborhood of the District. His campaign can be contacted at: 713/812-9368, or www.votemcdavid.com.