David Dewhurst, a tall, lassoing millionaire; the Lt. Gov. and candidate to beat
By Matthew Waller
[Photo by Michael Zamora]
AUSTIN — Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst came out of 2012 wounded and vulnerable.
He lost the Republican primary U.S. Senate race to the dynamic and, at first, mostly unknown tea party darling Ted Cruz — even after spending nine years as the second-highest elected official in the state.
In a special session after the 2013 legislative session, he lost control of the state Senate’s abortion legislation filibuster to an unprecedented rowdy crowd in the galleries — the “unruly mob,” he called them.
Three heavy-hitting primary opponents have stepped in to take his place as lieutenant governor: State Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, a radio show host and the chairman of the Senate Education Committee; Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples; and General Land Office Commissioner Jerry Patterson.
All three endorsed him in his run against Cruz. Now all three are aiming for his job.
Despite recent setbacks, Dewhurst still is the candidate to beat.
He secured endorsements from anti-abortion advocates thanks to his work to get the legislation in the special session. He is running for an office as an incumbent rather than a newcomer as he was with the Senate. And he still has money.
Staples and Patrick both showed up with more on-hand in the latest campaign finance reporting period — $3.1 million to Dewhurst’s $1.4 million — but Dewhurst had spent $2.9 million, Patrick had spent $1.3 million and Staples had spent $810,000.
Dewhurst said he is a more learned campaigner now, with an emphasis on listening. He also highlighted getting a new campaign team as an instance of learning from past elections.
In a recent round of stump speeches from all the candidates, Dewhurst’s challengers predicted there will be a runoff. The candidate they believe they will face is David Dewhurst.
A tall, lassoing millionaire
Dewhurst is a Houston native. His mother worked as a secretary to support the family after Dewhurst’s father, a World War II pilot, died in a car crash returning home from the war. Dewhurst was 3 years old.
The 6-foot 5-inch Dewhurst towers over most members of the Senate, and in his early years he put that height to use playing basketball at Lamar High School in Houston and then the University of Arizona.
Dewhurst served in the Air Force as an intelligence officer and became a CIA officer, spending time in Bolivia. Dewhurst established the energy and investments firm Falcon Seaboard when he left the CIA. He made most of his fortune when the business he had cobbled together sold three gas-fired cogeneration plans to CalEnergy Co. for $226 million in 1996.
He then closed in on politics, becoming the finance chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. His first elected office was as General Land Office Commissioner from 1999 to 2003.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Dewhurst was appointed chairman of the Governor’s Task Force Committee on Homeland Security.
He has served as lieutenant governor since January 2003.
Dewhurst lives with his wife Tricia and their daughter Carolyn in Houston. He had been married to former model Tammy Jo Hopkins for six years before their divorce in 2001.
Dewhurst has shown off his roping skills in the backrooms of the Senate, and he bills himself as a “rancher, team roper, and cutting horse participant,” his bio states, noting that he was inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2009.
One last term
The 68-year-old Dewhurst said that, if elected, this term would be his last. He told The Associated Press this month that he wants to recover some of the money he has spent in running so many races — about $25 million.
In a final term, he said he wants to continue the work he has put forth and not fix what is not broken.
“I’m running for re-election because I know I’m the best prepared candidate in this race with the most conservative record among the four of us,” Dewhurst told Scripps in an interview this month. “More importantly I went into this session this year with a gale force wind at my back determined to make sure that Texas and Texans continue to move forward, and we’re keeping Texas No. 1 in opportunity and jobs. I’m the only career businessman in this race, and I know how to grow the economy during good economic times and bad economic times.”
Dewhurst has campaigned on border security, calling for a $60 million “surge” of law enforcement resources to handle cross-border crime. He has campaigned on having more “school choice,” balancing the budget, keeping taxes low, showing off anti-abortion efforts and protecting gun rights among other staples of conservatism.
On the side of rural Texans, he highlighted his involvement establishing a $2 billion capital seed money fund that voters approved in the last election for water supply projects such as pipelines and reservoirs. The way the new Texas Water Development Board is set up, 30 percent of the funds would need to go to agriculture, rural or reuse water projects.
He said he has learned lessons from his past elections.
“I’ve always prided myself in being a good listener,” Dewhurst said. “I’ve learned to be an even better listener.”
He recalled sitting for a couple hours over lunch during a trip to Granbury. He said they had concerns about water flow into Lake Granbury, property values, agriculture and industrial use.
“I listened,” Dewhurst said. “Then I got on the phone to get answers to their questions. I’m even more acutely sensitive to listening hard.”
Dewhurst placed at least partial blame for his 2012 Senate loss on his team, although he did not mention the instance in which a campaign adviser faced accusations of stealing $4 million from the campaign.
“When you have people around you who don’t understand you, you need to change your team,” he said. “Not one person from the 2012 race is employed in my campaign today. … All those folks are good folks, but you’ve got to have a team around you who thinks like you do, and believes like you do.”
Members of Dewhurst’s previous campaign staff could not be reached for comment.
Government affairs lobbyist Bill Miller said the staff might have done a better job, but the buck stops with Dewhurst.
“I agree it was not a good campaign, but it was his responsibility,” Miller said.
Whether Dewhurst’s position as an establishment Republican and business-oriented approach runs afoul of the tea party voters he has sought to connect with remains to be seen, but Dewhurst spoke optimistically.
“I think in terms of the millions and millions of Texans who have to go to work every day and take care of their families,” Dewhurst said. “I looked at all the principles of the tea party and I realized I’ve been” part of the tea party before it was established, he said. “I love the fact that the tea party challenges everything.”
The competition
Before a group of trade and business associations, Dewhursts’ rivals challenged him.
“In my view, with all due respect to those who are in those positions today, we don’t have leadership much right now,” Patterson said. “Our governor has checked out, our lieutenant governor wanted to do something else, and our speaker has all the problems that speakers have always had. We don’t have anybody who can lead. I will fill that gap.”
Patterson put himself in second place with Patrick.
Patrick, meanwhile, said his own polling showed him in second place with double-digit points while Patterson and Staples are in the single digits.
“We’re ready, I’m fresh, we have the grass roots,” Patrick said. “We’re going to be in the runoff, and I believe we’ll win the runoff.”
Staples said he has put up $2 million recently for a media buy that would raise his numbers.
“We’re all bottled up in second place,” Staples said.
The runoff that could come after the March 4 primary election is up in the air, Miller said.
“It’s a situation where he is running against a very conservative group of people,” Miller said. “He’ll be well funded, but runoffs are low-turnout affairs. It’s a small group of people that vote.”
Reprinted with permission from the San Angelo Standard-Times