Another Bush Fails To Make It Out Of A GOP Primary, This Time In Texas

In December we looked at Republican congressional candidate Pierce Bush, the grandson of George H.W. Bush who was planning to run against freshman Democratic backbencher Lizzie Fletcher in gramps' old Houston seat, but switched districts when Republican Pete Olson announced he was retiring (TX-22). Despite the lineage, of because of it, and despite the endorsement from Olson, Bush came in third last night.

Tuesday night's no-runoff winner on the Democratic side was Sri Preston Kulkarni, who came close to beating Olson in 2018-- 51.4% to 46.5%, helping persuade Olson that it is time to retire. It's still a red-leaning district in the Houston suburbs (primarily transitioning Fort Bend County) that was once Tom DeLay's base. The PVI is R+10 and Trump beat Hillary there 52.1% to 44.2%.

As of the February 12 FEC filling deadline, 3 candidates had raised over a million dollars-- Kulkarni plus self-funder Kathaleen Wall and Bush. These were the top GOP raisers:

• Kathaleen Wall- $3,257,886 ($3,245,467 self-funded)
• Pierce Bush- $1,088,159
• Green Hill- $395,740
• Troy Nehls- $299,650

The only 6-figure independent spending in the primary was $138,495 to run this pathetically ineffective ad by a Bush family sewer money PAC, Texans Coming Together.





It's worth mentioning that in 2018, Kathaleen Wall spent $6,206,351 of her own money in her losing race in TX-02. She is expected to spend as much in her runoff battle against Nehls. Other dynamics in the race is that Bush didn't live in the district and was successfully labeled a carpetbagger. His competitors turned the primary-- at least in part-- into a referendum of the Bush name, which Trump has basically destroyed.

Is Anyone Really Ready For Another Bush In Politics?

On Sunday, Abby Livingston and Patrick Svitek of the Texas Tribune reported that George H.W. Bush's grandson, Pierce Bush, is ready to get into the family business. He was going to run against freshman Democratic backbencher Lizzie Fletcher in grandpa's old seat (TX-07), but when Republican Pete Olson announced he's retiring in a nearby district (TX-22)-- hey what the hell... TX-07, TX-22, whatever works for his career is what he and any politician generally cares about. Besides, TX-22 is a lot easier for a Republican (R+10) compared to TX-07 (R+7), which Hillary won. He officially announced this morning.

In 2018, Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni took 46.5% of the vote to Olson's 51.4% in this suburban district mostly in blue-trending Fort Bend County but also including swingy parts of Brazoria and Harris counties. Last cycle Olson and Kulkarni each raised around a million and a half dollars. This time Kulkarni is off to a strong lead, having already taken in $766,039. Self-funder Kathaleen Wall (R) ran in TX-02 last cycle, spending $6,169,732 to lose the primary. So far she's put just over $600,000 into the TX-22 primary. Two other Republicans have raised significant money, Greg Hill ($217,553) and Felicia Harris, another self-funder ($211,247), in a race that now includes 16 Republicans, Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls having announced his own Republican candidacy on Saturday.

This morning the Houston Chronicle reminded readers that the race is crowded and that no one is ceding the seat to Bush. "A vaping-business owner, a professional sitar player, a sheriff and a former border patrol agent are among a growing field of candidates competing in a Fort Bend County-based district that has fast become one of the hottest congressional races in the nation." Pierce doesn't live in the district and didn't really have anything to say other than some gratuitous nonsense about "socialism!!" in this slick and vapid campaign announcement video: