Going after Abbott

Forward thinking is always good to see.

Hoping to harness the opposition to Gov. Greg Abbott’s handling of the coronavirus, several Texas Democratic strategists are launching a new political group to defeat him in 2022.

Their group, the Beat Abbott PAC, will raise money that will ultimately go to the Democratic nominee against Abbott in 2022, when he is up for a third term. Along the way, the PAC aims to build a small-dollar donor list that can help Democrats in the next election cycle and “hold Abbott accountable for his failure on COVID,” according to an announcement first shared with The Texas Tribune.

The PAC’s board includes Tory Gavito, president and co-founder of Way to Win; Ginny Goldman, founder and former executive director of the Texas Organizing Project; Zack Malitz, co-founder of Real Justice PAC and statewide field director for Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 U.S. Senate campaign; and Derrick Osobase, a veteran labor and political operative.

“We’re done listening to a Governor willing to let people die in order to maintain his good graces with the likes of Donald Trump and the right-wing of the Republican party,” Malitz, the PAC’s treasurer, said in a statement. “People in this state deserve better than a corrupt talking head who looks out only for himself and the one-percent. It’s time to beat him.”

[…]

Early speculation about potential Democratic challengers to Abbott in 2022 has centered on O’Rourke and either U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, or his twin brother, former presidential candidate Julián Castro. All three have been outspoken critics of his coronavirus response.

O’Rourke did not rule out a run in a late April interview, while Julián Castro, the former U.S. housing secretary and San Antonio mayor, held open the possibility during a Texas Tribune event Wednesday.

Castro told Tribune CEO Evan Smith that he is not currently thinking about running for office again, but when Smith asked if Castro was removing himself from consideration for the 2022 governor’s race, Castro flatly said no.

“I’m not aiming for anything right now, but I’ll see what happens in terms of whether I feel like I could add something and I want to run for office in the future,” Castro said. “I might.”

You can follow Beat Abbott on Twitter, of course. We know that the one thing Greg Abbott is really good at is building up a huge campaign treasury, so raising money to oppose him now makes all kinds of sense. It’s going to take tens of millions of dollars to do this. As for who to run against him, I’ve been at the front of the Julian 2022 parade for some time now, and he remains my first choice for that race. Beto’s a fine backup option, but you’re not going to be able to convince me that Julian isn’t the candidate with the best shot at winning. The sooner someone throws even an exploratory hat into the ring the better, so let’s have a PAC that will have their back ready to go by then.

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7 Responses to Going after Abbott

  1. Bill Daniels says:

    Oh, please, please, PLEASE get Beto to run against Abbott! Beto’s poltical career is over after his very own Howard Dean moment. Please try again, Beto!

  2. brad says:

    Bill,

    What will be your response when Abbott swallows his ego and shuts down Texas after his Bush-esque “read my lips” moment on the looming shutdown which is looking probable?

    And, of course, it won’t be Abbott running against your desired Beto. Abbott will get primaried out by a nuttier GOp’er.

    Look where the Texas GOP is going…Allen West. Effing hilarious!

  3. Bill Daniels says:

    Brad,

    There will be no more shutdowns. The bar closure pushback should end any thoughts of shutdown. Abbott knows he has screwed up badly with the bar shutdown, he’s not going to keep making the same mistake over and over.

    I will be voting to primary Abbott, if possible. If Abbott survives the primary challenge, I will vote Abbott in the general. He hasn’t been a bad governor up until this Wu flu garbage, and, while you and I both feel Abbott bungled the response, for reasons diametrically opposed to each other, everyone has made mistakes, and this one issue shouldn’t sink him in the general.

    As to Allen West, I like him, just not the carpetbagger style. He’s not from Texas, just like Kathaleen Wall was not from HD22. As a libertarian, I’ve never really been interested in the inner workings of Texas R politics before, so I really don’t care who they end up getting to run the party, as long as they support Trump. That’s my only metric for evaluating political leaders now.

    By the way, enjoy listening to Kasich at the DNC convention. He’s gonna be a featured speaker, supporting Biden. Weird how Trump has managed to make so many reveal their true colors, isn’t it?

  4. Ross says:

    So, Bill, you still haven’t realized that Trump is a horrible piece of shit? Can I assume you support his plans for totalitarian tactics, like using unmarked vehicles to disappear people? What next, support for using massed M2 Brownings to sweep the streets of protestors? Oh, that’s right, you want to use A-10’s to kill people in the cleared border strip, sort of like the East Germans did. How very libertarian of you. What will you do when they come for you?

    Why are you opposed to shutdowns? The Constitution is not a suicide pact, and closing establishments that cause the spread of disease is perfectly legal.

  5. C.L. says:

    Abbott, not making the same mistakes over and over….?

    Que Dr. Pepper coming out of my nose.

  6. Brad says:

    Bill,

    “ make so many reveal their true colors”?!

    You mean…that they are actual Republicans with a moral compass that believe in actually governing based on their held principles, not reality show pretend governing.

    Bush, McCain, Romney, Flake, Kasich, etc. real Republicans with character and integrity.

  7. Flypusher says:

    “ Weird how Trump has managed to make so many reveal their true colors, isn’t it?”

    Indeed- so many fake Christians and fake Libertarians and fake deficit hawks, for example.

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