An endorsement by the governor is becoming more problematic, as his popularity plummets in the wake of his mishandling of the state’s economy amidst the Chinese coronavirus pandemic. That played out this summer, when two incumbent Republicans lost to primary challengers after being endorsed by Greg Abbott.
State Rep.-elect Bryan Slaton attributes his 61-39 percent victory, in part, to Abbott’s endorsement of Dan Flynn in House District 2.
In an interview on the Luke Macias Show, Slaton walked through his call to run for political office—including his two unsuccessful attempts to defeat Rep. Flynn in the 2016 and 2018 GOP primaries.
Among several reasons people told Slaton they were supporting him was that “they are mad at the governor and the shutdown.”
This is significant, Macias noted, because the governor did not just endorse the incumbent but spent “tens of thousands of dollars on digital, they bought television ads, specifically Gov. Abbott telling people to vote for Dan Flynn.”
Slaton said he had “people coming out to the polls, and all over Facebook, ‘I saw the governor endorsed your opponent; you automatically got my vote.’“
In the interview, Slaton explained he was inspired to run a third time against Flynn because of the increasing hostility to small business in legislative policymaking and the Austin establishment’s willingness to cover for unethical and illegal behavior by elected officials.
“I can’t get out of a speeding ticket, and these guys, the way they treat people and everything, I was like, ‘How in the world?’” said Slaton, explaining his decision to make a third attempt to take on Flynn this year. “Texas is an absolute mess.”
House District 2 includes the East Texas counties of Hopkins, Hunt, and Van Zandt.
