Texas Primaries 2010, Essay Example

In Texas, a battle raged during the 2010 primary elections for governor.  At least, the battle raged between the republican candidates; the democratic candidates managed to keep pretty quiet.  On the republican side, incumbent Gov. Rick Perry battled Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson in one of the most heated election battles Texas had seen in decades.    A third candidate, Debra Median, who was popular among the tea party voters, managed to stay out of the line of fire between Hutchinson and Perry.

Senator Hutchinson attacked Perry as being in the governor’s mansion too long. He will be attempting his 3^rd term in office.  Perry attacked Hutchinson as being too aligned with the federal government and the “Wall Street Bailout” for which she voted.  Perry ran with the popular tea party sentiment and sent the message to the white house that they should “Stop messin’ with Texas!” and “Quit spending all the money!” (Sidoti 2010)  Hutchinson’s alignment with the federal government did not win her the love of the majority of republicans in the Lone Star State.  It seems that most republicans are tired of the way that the people have been treated by the feds and are looking for a change.  Perry is cashing in on this sentiment and using it as a platform for his run for governor.

Debra Median, who ran as a third party candidate with a platform that included ties to the tea party as well as leanings towards libertarianism, won 18 percent of the vote as well, showing that the federal government has fallen into disfavor with most Texans and more are leaning to the hard right.  Median may have won even more votes but “suffered a setback when in response to a question from nationally syndicated talk show host Glenn Beck she said there were “some very good arguments” that the U.S. was involved in the 2001 attacks that took down the World Trade Center and killed some 3,000 people.” (Huffington Post 2010).  Even though she later made a statement recanting her stance, it still may have caused many voters to switch their support to one of the other republican candidates.

In the democratic theatre, things were a lot quieter as favorite Bill White ran a mostly positive campaign against Houstonite Farouk Shami and 5 other lesser known candidates.  White is a wealthy business man who was formerly the mayor of Houston.  He made a favorable name for himself with his response to the Hurricane Katrina evacuation.  White is “giving the (democratic) party its best hope in years at winning the chief executive post.” (Huffington Post 2010).

One of the clearest issues to come out of the primary elections is the fact that most Texans are dissatisfied with the current federal government and are ready for a change.  Even though Texas has fared better than many states during the recession, a fact which has caused favorable light to be thrown onto Perry since he has been the governor, excessive federal spending and the Wall Street Bailout has helped to hurt  the Texas economy and that has left a bitterness in the hearts of Texans.  The primary election results show that Texas republicans embrace a candidate who has led Texas through the recession and who has “also embraced the cause of state sovereignty and suggested that Texans might get so fed up with Washington that they would want to secede.” (Hamby 2010).

Now that the primaries are over it will become more clear as to just how fed up Texans are with federal government and how much loyalty they have to their governor.  Democrats will be pushing to take over the governor’s seat which hasn’t seen a democrat since Ann Richards lost against then Governor Bush in 1995.  It’s sure that in the coming months Texans will be getting courted by both White and Perry as they try to convince Texans that they are the best leader for them.   Voters will have to decide who really has their best interests at heart.

References

“Bill White Wins Democratic Primary for Texas Governor’s Race.” Huffington Post Online. March 2, 2010.  Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/02/bill-white-wins-democrati_n_483414.html

Hamby, Peter. “Perry Wins GOP Primary in Texas, White Gets Democratic Nod.” CNN March 3, 2010.  Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/02/texas.election/index.html

Sidoti, Liz. “Washington Ties Big Loser in Texas Primary.” MSNBC Online. March 3, 2010. Retrieved from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35686776