A new television ad from Club for Growth Action accuses the Texas House speaker of selling out as the HD-21 runoff reaches historic heights in fundraising.
The D.C.-based Club for Growth, the organization behind the super PAC, supports fiscally conservative economic policy and the expansion of school choice nationwide. Its biggest donors are Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass and cargo magnate Dick Uihlein.
Club for Growth Action (CGA) was instrumental in the Texas Republican Primaries, donating nearly $4 million to candidates and incumbents supporting school choice. With five key races to be resolved via a runoff, the PAC pledged $4 million more to air TV and radio ads against “so-called ‘Republicans’ who opposed Gov. Abbott’s school freedom legislation,” a news release read. The Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex was slated to get $2.1 million.
The race between Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) and David Covey is one of these five runoffs set for later this May and has garnered record-breaking sums of money.
According to AdImpact Politics, $5.7 million had gone into the race as of this week — with Phelan’s re-election campaign receiving $2.7 million, Covey’s election campaign getting $1.3 million, and Phelan reservations totaling $1.7 million.
While Phelan has been receiving support from Democrats and liberal groups, Covey — endorsed by both former President Donald Trump and State Attorney General Ken Paxton — has received considerable sums from the Texans United for a Conservative Majority PAC.
Embattled Phelan has been scrutinized for his alleged inaction on several Republican legislative priorities, including school choice and limiting Democratic chairs.
“Dade Phelan has repeatedly failed Texans on numerous issues, from letting school choice fail to appointing liberal Democrats to leadership positions, and he will be held accountable by the voters in the runoff,” CGA president David McIntosh said, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Many are predicting the Phelan-Covey race to be a close one. However, the release of the new CGA ad featuring Alicia Davis, a former primary opponent, accusing Phelan of having “sold his soul to become Speaker” is a potentially powerful blow.
“The legislation that he is passing is benefitting his personal interests and his corporate donors’ personal interests,” Davis suggests in the video spot. “His pockets are being lined. That’s the dirty stuff that we’re talking about.”
