Gov. Greg Abbott stunned the Austin establishment in November when he bucked the status quo and endorsed Susanna Dokupil in her campaign against liberal Republican State Rep. Sarah Davis of West University Place in the March primary election.
Thursday evening, Abbott put his words into action, headlining a fundraiser for Dokupil in Houston.
During his speech to attendees, Abbott didn’t pull any punches against the pro-abortion lawmaker, comparing her to his 2014 foe Wendy Davis:
She’s not really a Republican, but she has a ‘Republican’ by her name. It won’t surprise you to know The Huffington Post came out and glowingly compared her to Wendy Davis. We have beat Wendy Davis before, we cannot allow another Wendy Davis look-alike in the Texas House.
Further in his remarks, Abbott sharply criticized Davis for her role in killing ethics reform, one of his top priorities during the previous sessions. Part of Abbott’s ethics reform package included closing the “revolving door” that allows legislators to cash in on their government service by immediately lobbying after leaving or losing office.
Abbott noted that even the Houston Chronicle pointed out that it was “Sarah Davis herself” who killed this legislation in the House:
The reason why we haven’t closed that lobbying loophole for former legislators is because Sarah Davis, because of what she admits to be ‘political gamesmanship,’ prevented ethics reform from happening in the state of Texas.
By supporting the fundraising of challengers to liberal Republicans, Abbott has given conservatives something to applaud.
