And I keep marveling at the very idea.
Tea party Republican Debra Medina said Thursday that she is weighing a run for governor as an independent, potentially setting off a new dynamic with a three-way race.
Such a decision is weeks away. Medina said the switch would depend on what she hears from voters, whether donors are willing to invest, and if she can surmount the high hurdles to get on the ballot as an independent candidate.
But mostly, it depends on whether she can raise enough money to run competitively for the race she’s currently invested in, state comptroller.
She’s taken in about $100,000 so far for the GOP primary, but she is lagging far behind Rep. Harvey Hilderbran of Kerrville and Sen. Glenn Hegar of Katy.
“If I get to November and still don’t have that funding, then I will have a very serious conversation and we will evaluate” getting into the governor’s race, Medina said.
[…]
Recent rumors have suggested that Democrats may offer funding to pull her into the governor contest to help Davis. But Medina said the idea was presented in March by an elected official she declined to name. In a meeting, several officials told her they could raise the cash she would need to run as an independent.
“This was before anyone was thinking about, talking about Wendy Davis as a gubernatorial candidate,” Medina said.
At that time, Perry hadn’t announced whether he would seek another term, Abbott hadn’t joined the race, and it was unclear whether the Democrats would field anyone with gravitas.
She said she responded that she didn’t want to run as a long shot, but the offers continued.
Medina said she hasn’t asked who the financial backers might be because contributors don’t influence her decisions. But she dismissed the idea that it was trial lawyers or Democratic backers because they would have little interest in Medina’s politics, especially at the time the offer was raised.
She said she is weighing the option because the Republican 2014 slate of candidates will likely be long-serving Austin insiders.
“It seems the ticket we’re putting up in 2014 is by-and-large filled by those who fall into that ‘fake Republican’ category,” who don’t limit government reach, Medina said.
Running as an independent in Texas would necessitate collecting about 250,000 signatures of registered voters who had not cast ballots in either the Democratic or Republican primary.
“Look, that is a real steep mountain,” Medina said. “I’m pretty reluctant to pursue that.”
See here and here for the background. Some fascinating tidbits in that story – I for one would love to know who that “elected official” was that she talked with. The fact that Medina is aware of how daunting it can be to file as an indy just to get on the ballot is encouraging to me, in the sense that if she knows what obstacles she’d have to overcome and is still publicly thinking about it, that makes it more real. She’s still deluded if she thinks she can win, but she’s not so deluded as to think any part of this will be easy. I’m still not ready to take this seriously, but I won’t dismiss it, either.
Was it … Dan Patrick? 🙂
Medina, Please run. I have popcorn ready for watching this circus act.