Republican Sen. John Cornyn’s first announced opponent, Mikal Watts, is bringing the noise:
San Antonio trial lawyer Mikal Watts has launched his bid for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination by donating and loaning his campaign fund a total of $3.8 million — an amount equal to Republican incumbent Sen. John Cornyn’s cash on hand.“I took John Cornyn’s first-quarter report and matched it to the penny,” Watts said.
“We’re going to start with a level playing field, and then we’re going to start raising money and see what the people of Texas have to say.”
Watts, 39, donated $1.9 million to his exploratory committee and loaned it another $1.9 million. He formed the committee June 1, and its paperwork was available Wednesday.
And Watts won’t have much trouble raising money, if his $1.1 million fundraiser for the DSCC back in April is any indication. Altogether a shrewd move by Watts — you’ve got to believe that some of Watts’ potential primary opponents would think twice about going up against that kind of money. And, as Burnt Orange Report commenter colin argues, if you’re going to partially self-fund, you might as well do it early to stave off “sluggish fundraising” narratives.
UPDATE: State Rep. Rick Noriega, another potential entrant in the Democratic primary, responds:
Noriega said Thursday: “I am seriously looking at the race, but whether or not I get in or not, I have no intention of getting into a back and forth with a bank account. I do not want to reinforce the unhealthy idea that a candidate is judged solely on money.“My focus would be the people of the state of Texas and whether (GOP U.S. Sen. John) Cornyn’s rubber stamp support for Bush, and the national leadership that has failed to provide a clear mission for our involvement overseas, is good for Texas.
(H/T: BOR)
Race Tracker: TX-Sen
Sweet response from Noriega! That sounds like someone who is really leaning towards jumping in, right? I’m really warming up to the prospect of a Noriega candidacy.
I like Watts but this is great news about Rick, sounds like he might jump in.
Watts is good but people don’t like lawyers much, and republicans hate them.
And Rick has military experience, in fact he fought in afghanistan, that’s going to be good for the general.
Plus he was the brains behind the Dream Act the first Dream Act was introduced in Texas by Rick!
Gooooooooo Rick. You jump in, we’ll do our best to fund you.
With all due respect, the first to announce against Cornyn was Dallas attorney, Emil Reichstadt. He came out back in April, and not as “exploratory” but as a full-on candidate.
Granted, Emil doesn’t have Watts’ bucks or name awareness (first time to run), but his early events have generated a buzz. He was previously an officer in the Army and seems to have a populist appeal. From what I can tell, he looks like he’ll run a pretty clean campaign. He is more interested in helping Texas than helping himself.
Whichever candidate comes to the fore, it would be a huge sigh of relief to get rid of Cornyn. Regardless of one’s party affiliation, it is hard to argue that he actually ‘represents the people’, even in a conservative state like Texas. I count him to be the second most harmful, after DeLay.