EXCLUSIVE: Former Democrat House Candidate Blasts DCCC Tactics in Texas
John Griffing
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GEORGETOWN, TEXAS — A previous Democrat primary challenger in the Austin-area race for incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. John Carter’s seat is now criticizing the favorite of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
Big League Politics reported Thursday morning, Mar. 7:
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer from New York is recruiting M.J. Hegar, the Democrat who ultimately lost a congressional race in 2018 to Texas Republican Rep. John Carter in Georgetown, Texas.
Schumer wants Hegar to run against Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who is up for reelection in 2020.
A veteran, something the DCCC particularly considers a desirable quality for candidates it supports (above any other quality a candidate may possess), Hegar ran a close race against Carter — who barely retained his seat in 2018
The photo above (credit: NYT, 2019) shows that Carter actually lost the traditionally-conservative Williamson County, which is significant indicator of the trends in that part of Texas.
That’s in part because of Dr. Christine Mann — a medical doctor who also ran on the Democratic ticket in 2018 against Rep. Carter.
As TDTNews reported in May, 2018, “Hegar, 42, easily defeated Cedar Park physician Christine Eady Mann, 53, on Tuesday. As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, Hegar had 62.1 percent to Mann’s 37.9 percent.”
Big League Politics reached out to Mann:
“While I am excited that the DCCC is once again targeting District 31, I hope that they will not continue the tactics that they employed in the 2018 House races, including asking ‘non-chosen’ candidates to drop out, discouraging progressive candidates from participating, unfairly connecting only ‘their’ candidates to donor networks, and, in the case of Texas House District 07, outright smearing of a strong candidate.”
Mann is also critical of how the national party machinery is less effective after primaries, and says it is even disruptive during the primaries.
“Voters are best served when Washington elites support their party’s candidates after the primary, and without interference in the primary process,” Mann explained to Big League.
“To do other than that is to imply that they know better than local voters, and that they are afraid to let voters decide who best represents them,” she continued.
Dr. Christine Mann is strongly considering a fresh run in District 31 during the 2020 cycle.
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