Matthew Dowd Running For Lt. Gov - Is This A Ploy To Derail A Blue Texas?

[Shell_Seas]

This morning, former Bush strategist Matthew Dowd announced he was running for Texas Lt. Governor as a Democrat.

https://livingbluetx.com/2021/09/matthew-dowd/

[spooky3]

1. Fwiw, when I've seen him interviewed, he seems sincerely

angry about what his former party has done and is doing.

[Shell_Seas]

4. Exactly.

[jimfields33]

6. Keep in mind Senator Warren was a republican until the 90's

And she ended up being a great democratic senator. One of the best in fact.

[jimfields33]

11. I honestly don't know a thing about him

Was just throwing that out there to say changing parties isn’t all bad.

[Shell_Seas]

8. Until the Conservatives took over the Republican party?

There's a HUGE difference between the Republican/Democratic parties now and what we were in the 1990s and before.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. I disagree

Link to tweet

[Bev54]

23. Matthew Dowd left the republican party long before Trump

and became an independent.

[summer_in_TX]

28. Matthew Dowd is a good guy.

More moderate than many Dems will like. But he stands a real chance, IMO, of beating the lying, cruel Dan Patrick.

[empedocles]

3. We need Democratic wins.

[Shell_Seas]

5. We won't get them from Republicans masquerading as Democrats.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

13. We have not won a statewide race since 1994

A ticket of Beto for governor, Dowd for Lt Governor and Joe Jaworski for AG could win Joe is the grandson of Leon and is part of a group of Democratic Lawyer that I am in.

[Shell_Seas]

15. I love Joe, I already endorsed him.

See endorsement: https://livingbluetx.com/2021/09/joe-jaworski-for-texas/

Neither Beto, nor Joe are Dinos, to any sense of the name.

Dowd's affiliation with Bush and Rove is problematic for me, as well as his statements equating sexual assault to using the wrong email.

[summer_in_TX]

29. He's never been that strongly a Republican.

Plus he publicly broke with George W. Bush, published an op-ed in the NYT about it, over the Iraq War.

Before he took up with Bush, he worked for Dems. Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock was one.

Since breaking with Bush, he became an independent, did not work for any other Republicans. He has been very outspoken about Trump from very early in that admin. He's someone who loves democracy, and like Steve Schmidt has fully embraced Dems as the only party fighting for democracy. He's someone who believes in putting the country first. I'd assumed he'd never be a candidate, but he's willing to put himself out to get rid of the vicious Dan Patrick. He's running for the right reasons. The only other candidate has lost two previous races. Nice guy but not likely to have a chance. Dowd does.

I live in the same town, go to church with him when he's in town. Used to volunteer for the same nonprofit. I don't always agree with him, but he's a hundred percent right on every observation he ever made about TFG. Strong stuff. Whenever someone asks who to follow on Twitter, he always comes to mind. @matthewjdowd

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. I know a couple of people working on this campaign

They are very hard core democrats and believe that Beto/Dowd ticket can flip Texas

Link to tweet

?s=20

[LetMyPeopleVote]

12. Washington Post-Matthew Dowd launches a bid for Texas lieutenant governor -- as a Democrat

This makes me smile. this is good coverage for a Texas state race. The Lt. Governor is actually more powerful that Governor

Link to tweet

Matthew Dowd, the chief strategist for George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign, announced Wednesday that he is running for lieutenant governor of Texas — as a Democrat.

In an announcement video, Dowd, who worked more recently as a political analyst for ABC News, takes aim at the Republican incumbent, Dan Patrick, detailing a list of purported shortcomings, both on policy and character.

“The GOP politicians have failed us, especially the cruel and craven lieutenant governor,” Patrick says in the 2½-minute video. “He does not believe in the common good. ... He puts his ‘me’ over our ‘we.’”....

That includes work on a campaign of former Texas lieutenant governor Bob Bullock, the last Democrat elected to the office in the state, in 1994.

In his bio, Dowd also highlights his break with Bush in 2007 over his handling of the Iraq War and his identification as an independent afterward.

I know a couple of people working on this effort. They are hard core Democrats who want to flip Texas.

[Budi]

14. He campaigned FOR Beto. Here's an interview with ReformAustin

Interview with Matthew Dowd in
ReformAustin.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.reformaustin.org/elections/former-bush-advisor-matthew-dowd-teases-run-against-patrick-for-lt-gov/amp/

"Former Bush Advisor Matthew Dowd Teases Run Against Patrick for Lt. Gov. Seat"

Snip
"Dowd expressed his discomfort with Texas current leaders.
He describes Abbott, Patrick, and Paxton as craven, cruel, and crook.
“One’s craven. One’s cruel. And one’s a crook. And they need to go. I wish they had the gumption or wish they had the strength to resign after how much they failed the state. They won’t. So I’ll do whatever I can, in any way I can, to help in that.”

"Dowd has pledged his alliance to Texas Democrats and said he would help them win in 2022, and for the looks of it, that includes a possible run for Lt. Governor."
More...

[Shell_Seas]

17. In 2017 he said Democrats can't win Texas.

This is odd, considering he's running as a Democrat now.

I'm not holding my breath for him or Collier, I have heard rumors someone else might jump into the race. We'll see what happens.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

19. He was discussing the demographic trends

Texas will turn blue but it will be due to shifts in the demographics of the state including shifts in the percentage of vote from rural vs. urban counties. Dowd is correct about 2018. I was part of the group asked by Chairman Hinojosa to try to convince Joaquin Castro to run for governor in 2018. We had an overflow town halls and at one of these town halls I got to speak to Joaquin about being delegates to Philadelphia. The Castro brothers both passed on running for statewide office in 2018 because of the demographics. There were some pissed off people in the state party due to this.

I was also a delegate with Beto to the 2016 convention and helped on his campaign. My son and I went to a couple of Beto events early on in 2017. Beto was a very strong candidate and still lost to Carnival Cruz in large part due to the fact that rural share of the vote in Texas was too high for a democrat to win a statewide race. Carnival Cruz is a major league asshole and Beto still lost in 2018

Again, the demographics in Texas are shifting and according to these trends, a Democrat has a chance in 2022 and by 2024 Texas will clearly be a purple state. There are some good material in the 2020 census on these shifts.

Dowd is aware of these trends and is willing to jump in now. I am hopeful that we can flip the state.

The process of getting Dowd in has been going on for a while. The videos of his his appearances with Beto are part of these efforts. I am friends with a couple of people working on getting Dowd in and they are hopeful. These friends are hard core Democrats and I trust their instincts.

As for other people getting in, I have heard that one of the Castro brothers may get in. The Castro brothers both pissed off people in the state party and I note that Julian was not offered a role in the Biden administration

[summer_in_TX]

31. He's a pollster.

Maybe that's what he was seeing in 2017.

[Ocelot II]

16. Dowd effectively bailed on the GOP years ago. He distanced himself from W

because he opposed the Iraq war, and he has been an outspoken opponent of TFG. He also campaigned for Beto last time. I don't think he'll be a problem.

[George II]

21. I agree.

[DinahMoeHum]

18. Forget that level - Dowd should run for town/city council first

A recent Washington Monthly article echoed similar sentiments for the NYT's Nicholas Kristof in his mulling over a bid for Oregon governor.

https://washingtonmonthly.com/2021/09/20/memo-to-nick-kristof-forget-governor-run-for-city-council/

[summer_in_TX]

30. Dowd is a very experienced political campaigner and pollster.

He's spent most of his adult life working for candidates and campaigns. Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock (D). Dick Gephardt, Lloyd Bentsen. But also moderate (or moderate-seeming at the time) Republicans.

A pragmatic guy.

[George II]

20. After seeing him in action for the last 2-3 years on CNN and MSNBC, I'm comfortable with him.

[Paladin]

22. I think Dowd is an exceptable alternative to what we're currently saddled with.

I'm willing to loosen up the purity tests to get a filthy lunatic like Dan Patrick out of state office.

[empedocles]

24. Purity attitudes do not win in Novembers, or get legislation passed.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

25. Dowd broke from the GOP back in 2007

I like Dowd and think that he can beat Patrick https://www.texastribune.org/2021/09/29/matthew-dowd-texas-lieutenant-governor/

In an interview with The Texas Tribune, Dowd said he started seriously considering running for office after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump who were trying to stop the certification of last year’s presidential election. But it wasn’t until after the state’s legislative session that Dowd really focused on Patrick as his target.

“Watching the legislative session and how horrendous it was — not only what the lieutenant governor didn’t do, but also what he did do,” Dowd said. “This summer, I started thinking maybe I should run and remove this guy so I don’t have to be embarrassed about our own state.”....

Dowd said he’s running as a “Bob Bullock, Ann Richards Democrat,” a throwback to the last two Democrats elected as lieutenant governor and governor of the state in the 1990s. If elected, he’d focus on fixing problems with the state’s electric grid and returning decision-making to local officials so they can tackle challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic. Under Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order, local officials are banned from mask and vaccine mandates, among other measures intended to stop the spread of the virus.....

In 2007, Dowd broke with Bush, who he criticized for his handling of the Iraq War. He identified as an independent for several years and worked as a political analyst for ABC News until earlier this year when he again declared himself a Democrat to run for office.....

To win, they’ll need high Democratic turnout, bigger margins of victory among independent voters and some crossover from “disenchanted” Republicans, Dowd said. He says his past experience in politics, as well as his personal choices in that realm, makes him the candidate who can deliver.

“Regardless of the consequences I try to say it [like it is]. I broke with President Bush in a very public way. I criticized Donald Trump in a very public way,” he said. “What I’m gonna propose is we as Democrats have to win because there's too much at stake. I serve your values.”

We have not won a statewide race since Dowd helped Bob Bullock win.

[George II]

26. He just did a fairly long interview with Nicole Wallace, longer than usual. Worth looking up later.