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Tag: texas governor

  • Wendy Davis, Texas State Senator, Reveals Details Of Her Gritty Life In Memoir

    Texas State Senator Wendy Davis reveals the details of her gritty and sometimes unhappy life growing up in her new memoir, Forgetting to be Afraid.

    In the book, Davis writes about her experiences growing up, including a very personal story of how her mother once tried to kill herself and her children, including Davis, while battling depression after her divorce.

    Davis recounts how her mother, then in her 20s, put Davis and her siblings in the trunk of her car and planned to start the car in the closed garage. In an interview with Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts, Davis said they were saved by a chance visit by a neighbor who came over before her mother could act.

    Davis, who was still an infant at the time of this suicide attempt with no recollections of the incident at all, said she has forgiven her mother for the incident completely.

    “My mother shared that story with us I think so that we would better understand her,” Davis said. “I think she wanted us to see in her that she was able to overcome a great deal of struggle in order to do what she had to do for us. Every day of our lives, my mother did what she needed to do for her four children. She truly did.”

    The book also tells of Davis’ childhood, growing up under dire financial straits that had her working at a very young age. In her junior year of high school, she moved in with an older boy and was soon pregnant with her first child. It was only when a nurse at the medical clinic where she worked handed her a course brochure from the local community college that Davis’ life started to take a different path.

    “I started looking through it and decided that maybe I could try to become a paralegal,” she said. “So while working a full-time job, and a part-time job waiting tables at my father’s dinner theater at night, I also enrolled in paralegal courses.” This decision would be the start of the journey that would take her to Harvard Law School and eventually, to her current candidacy for governor of Texas under the Democratic Party.

  • Wendy Davis Responds To Attack Ads With More Attack Ads

    Wendy Davis is going head to head with her opponent, Greg Abbott, in Texas’ gubernatorial race. Dueling accusations are being thrown and deflected on the part of both campaigns. The attack ads are out in force.

    Davis’ latest ad accuses Attorney General Abbot of covering up a sexual abuse scandal in the West Texas State School. Meanwhile, Abbot released his own ad saying Davis was engaged in several conflicts of interest during her time on the Fort Worth City Council.

    “Sen. Davis can distort the facts in her ads,” Abbott’s communications director Matt Hirsch told the Star-Telegram, “but no amount of distortion can cover her despicable practice of repeatedly using public office to personally profit.”

    “I think that’s ironic,” Davis responded back, “What he’s doing right now is attempting to deflect from a record where he has sided with insiders, time and time again,”

    One thing is for sure: the race to become governor of Texas is heating up.

    In addition to fending off attack ads with attack ads of her own, Davis has faced down the Dallas Morning News over an alleged multimillion-dollar divorce settlement. “The figure cited by the Dallas Morning News’ conveniently anonymous source is factually inaccurate,” Spokesman Zac Petkanas said, “A request for retraction has been submitted and two requests for documentation of that figure by the Dallas Morning News have not received responses.”

    Davis is set to debate Abbott Friday at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance in the Rio Grande Valley. According to connectamarillo.com, the public can tweet their questions for the candidates with the hashtag #rgvdebate.

    There’s bound to be some crossfire, since the contenders will also be able to ask each other questions.

  • Wendy Davis Seeks Campaign Funds Outside Texas

    Texas Democratic Senator Wendy Davis is seeking campaign funds outside the state to support her bid for governor, thus far raising over four times more out-of-state than her opponent, Republican Greg Abbott.

    “Texas is a huge state,” said national Democratic fundraiser Kristin Oblander. “The budgets for these races are immense, and the pressure for fundraising is huge.”

    Davis is smartly organizing campaign fundraisers in more liberal areas such as Hollywood and New York City where her platforms are far more likely to receive support and media attention. However, Davis has made a point to deflect questions about her out-of-state fundraising. “The vast majority of the donations have come from within our state. This is a race about Texas,” said Davis.

    Davis has received donations towards her campaign from every state (including Texas), out-of-state donations making up roughly 25 percent of her campaign funds. Abbott only sees 10 percent of aid coming from outside Texas, mostly receiving financial aid from traditionally conservative supporters in-state.

    “Republicans have such a strong base here in Texas,” said top Republican fundraiser Roy Bailey. “If you’re looking out of state, it just tells you there’s something fundamentally wrong with where you’re running.” That, or rich old white guys with deep pockets would like to continue being rich old white guys and thus donate to the other rich old white guy on the roster.

    Davis, who famously filibustered for over 12 hours last June to prevent the passing of a highly restrictive abortion bill, unsurprisingly has to seek donations elsewhere as her backers in Texas aren’t necessarily going to have deep pockets (think single moms, students, and minority voters). But that doesn’t mean she lacks support in-state. While she is currently polling behind Abbott, his seven percent lead is less than half of Rick Perry’s lead over his democratic opponent in the 2002 Texas gubernatorial election.

    Davis is known for her strong stance on education (which Texas could really, really use help with), a woman’s right to make decisions about her own bod, supporting the LGBT community, and strengthening the job market. Basically, decent human being stuff. Naturally, this doesn’t go over well with the conservative crowd.

    While some are taking the news that Davis abruptly changed campaign managers mid-campaign as a sign of doom, the fact that she has raised over $16 million (compared to Abbott’s $17 million) as a liberal (lady!) candidate in Texas is a hopeful sign. Who cares if she had to hit up Steven Spielberg to do it.

    Image via YouTube

  • Rick Perry’s CPAC Speech Urges Rebellion

    On the second day of the CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) held last Friday, Texas Governor Rick Perry’s speech was well received by the crowd with lots of applause and whistles.

    In his speech, the Governor praised his fellow Republicans, Governors Rick Scott of Florida, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and Nikki Haley of South Carolina.

    He opened his speech by quoting Thomas Jefferson who once said, “A little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing.” He then went on and enumerated the things that the government should focus on, such as providing a forceful foreign policy, and defending the country. He continued to say, “And what the heck, deliver the mail, preferably on time and on Saturdays,” which roused the crowed into a frenzy.

    Perry also reiterated his rally against blue states, which is what he has been doing in his jobs tour in other states. The Governor proposed a simple solution to all the problems stating, “It’s time for a little rebellion on the battlefield of ideas.”

    Others say that Perry’s speech is a showing of what can be expected in his presidential bid in 2016. In his speech, he also told his supporters that they don’t have to accept recent history and the presidency just needs to be changed, an obvious stab against President Obama.

    At the peak of his speech, the Governor’s voice soared as he said that the future of the nation lies in the hands of his fellow conservatives. He ended his speech by saying that his supporters are the ones who represent the renewed hope that the country can be great once again.

    Perry has stated the big contrast between the blue-state and the red-state governors and the crowds agreed, showing their support for the governor with loud applause that got louder as the speech ended.

    Watch Rick Perry Soundbites. Hilarious!

    Image via YouTube 

  • Wendy Davis, Texas Senator, To Run For Governor

    Wendy Davis, the Texas Democrat who raised eyebrows earlier this year with an 11-hour filibuster of an abortion bill that garnered her thousands of supporters, announced on Thursday that she’ll be running for governor.

    Davis says her focus will be education and job creation, and while those things aren’t unique to any politician, Davis has the power of that filibuster on her side. In one day, she went from being a member of the minority party to being the voice of the women who didn’t want to see nearly every abortion clinic in the state closed. Although the restrictions were later passed anyway, what lies on her side is the fact that people stopped to listen.

    On Thursday, Davis addressed a group in Texas and emphasized her mission and goals, saying, “We’re here because we want every child, no matter where they start in Texas, to receive a world-class education — an education that can take them anywhere they want to go, so that success and opportunity is within reach of every single Texan and no one in this great state is ever forced to dream smaller instead of bigger.”

    Experts say Davis will have an “uphill battle” during her run, as a Democrat hasn’t been elected as Texas Governor in nearly 24 years. Also, she needs to jump on the fundraising, as she’ll need upwards of $35 million to be a serious contender. As of this June, she had raised around $1 million.

    Stephanie Schriock, president of the Democratic political action committee EMILY’s List, estimates anyone seriously seeking the Texas governorship would have to raise between $35 million and $40 million.

    “If she decides to run, I really do believe Wendy will have the resources she needs to run a winning campaign,” Stephanie Schriock of EMILY’s List said. “We are excited and ready to go.”

    Image screenshot via The Washington Post