T For Texas, T For Tough... Or T For Something Much Worse?

Yesterday we told you about some DCCC "clean" non-politician recruits in California who are an opposition researcher’s dream with all their un-vetted baggage. After reading it, a long time Orange County reader e-mailed us that one of the Democratish candidates in his district, Hans Keirstead, has been going around bragging to audiences that he gets fully a third of his contributions from Republicans. Is that the right thing to be bragging about in a Democratic primary? I sure hope not. Today, we wanted to highlight another DCCC prototype recruit who will surely gain the attention of the GOP's Congressional Leadership Fund, this one in Houston: Alex Triantaphyllis, currently running in Texas' 7th district.

Triantaphyllis, who goes by the monicker "Alex T" for obvious reasons, checks a lot of boxes, very much like Keirstead (above)... at least on paper. He’s a Harvard Law grad, founded some non-profits, and has worked with immigrants to start businesses. He describes himself as a "practical progressive"-- but when he starts talking about what that means, he’s just another DCCC talking point robot.

Like we mentioned, the CLF follows the DCCC in looking at first time candidates-- the DCCC in search of recruits without voting records who can get by in primaries and the Republicans for major general election flaws to exploit. CLF’s executive director, Corry Bliss, said the effort has uncovered potentially damaging information on several Democrats. We don’t have access to the opposition research they bought with their $100 million campaign to protect the Republican House majority, but it wouldn’t surprise us at all if the T in Alex T stands for "targeted." 

What might they have found in Alex T’s closet? Local activists are starting to point out that Mr. T lives outside the district. Rep. Karen Handel knows something about attacking someone who lives outside the district after she beat Jon Ossoff in the GA-06 special election. The House GOP featured Handel in a January conference about defending red seats, and according to Politico plans to use her playbook in 2018.

But even worse, Triantaphyllis appears to have shopped around for a district to run in before settling on the flippable 7th. Patrick Svitek, a reporter for the Texas Tribune, tweeted on May 3rd that John Culberson had two new challengers, Dr. Jason Westin who we’ve introduced you to before, and "@AlexTforTexas2." As in running for the seat in district 2, currently held by the retiring Ted Poe. Surprising no one, he’s since deleted the account for the TX-02 campaign; fortunately we have the screen-grab (above). Mr. T apparently lives in TX-18, represented by Sheila Jackson Lee, so planned to run in two different districts (that we know about) he doesn’t live in-- a true district shopping carpetbagger.

If that isn’t enough for the CLF team to damage Mr. T in what will be a tough fight in 2018, he’s giving them even more ammo. If his claims to be a "practical progressive" sound awful, wait until you see his ads. We have had several readers send us a copy of this mailer-- "like I’m killin’ snakes."

This folksy piece would be cloying for anyone, but Alex T spent several years working for Goldman Sachs in "mergers and acquisitions," so it’s likely the only "killin'" he’s done has been of smaller businesses absorbed by mega-corporations. One of our readers said "It looks like Triantaphyllis thinks he's foolin' us."

It’s incredbile how the DCCC keeps finding these characters, who claim to be "practical progressives" but have this much dirt visible on a simple Google search. If we could find his district shopping and Goldman Sachs history, imagine what Paul Ryan’s snoops will find! John Culberson is likely hoping that Mr. T gets through this crowded primary, also featuring a liberal named Laura Moser, serial candidate James Cargas, cancer doctor Jason Westin, Joshua Butler, EMILY's List candidate Elizabeth Pannill Fletcher and Debra Kerner.

Even though Triantaphyllis has the DCCC look, he must be very worried about his difficult last name. The first commerical for his campaign says that that the T stands for "tough"... seriously. After watching this ad, John Culberson must be shaking in his boots, with laughter.