6 April 18 - 24, 2024 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents OFF THE DEEP END A Texas author looks at how Ken Paxton, Donald Trump and a handful of billionaires have helped make the state GOP more extreme. By Tyler Hicks T he man who walked in the door last fall looked like Texas personi- fied. A sixth-generation rancher, he carried a gritty, everyman vibe that would lead his new friend to call him “Mr. Smith Goes to Austin.” That new friend was Texas author Lawrence Wright, and “Mr. Smith’’ was, in fact Glenn Rogers, a Republican state representative for House District 60, west of Fort Worth. The two men agreed to meet at a Starbucks in the Tarrytown neighborhood of Austin, where Rogers wanted to tell Wright how Texas politics really work. “He found my number somehow and called me up,” Wright told the Observer. “He was pretty steamed.” In a GOP divided by issues such as school vouchers and the Paxton impeachment, Rogers found himself with more opposition than usual, and most of it from within his own party. Far-right billionaires like the Wilks brothers (oil) and Tim Dunn (also oil) were bankrolling his primary opponent, as they had in the last two contests. Now, they were joined by Gov. Greg Abbott, who en- dorsed Rogers in 2020 but soured on the lawmaker after Rogers opposed school vouchers. Rogers’ primary opponent, Mike Olcott, received endorsements from Abbott, Attorney Gen. Ken Paxton, Sen. Ted Cruz and former President Donald Trump. This is the way things are now, Rogers told Wright: In the modern Texas GOP, you get in line or you get primaried. A small number of influential donors are working to bend the Legislature to their will by throw- ing millions of dollars behind candidates like Olcott. As a result, seemingly “disloyal” Republicans like Rogers suffered major losses in the recent March 5 primaries. “He gave me material that would’ve been perfect for my book,” Wright says, referring to his recently released novel, Mr. Texas. The book’s hero, Sonny Lamb, is a rancher- turned-politician who discovers the Legisla- ture is rife with corruption. “Unfortunately,” Wright adds with a chuckle, “it was already in galleys.” Then he turns serious, reflecting on Rog- ers’ loss. “It’s a shame,” he says, “because, as you know, it’s hard to get good people in poli- tics.” On March 5, half of the challengers en- dorsed by Abbott won their races, and an- other five advanced to the May 28 runoffs. Only two lost. The attorney general had a much lower win rate, but it’s hard to say he wasn’t suc- cessful in his efforts as well: Eight Paxton-endorsed candidates won their races, and 21 lost; eight others are headed to runoffs. Sometimes Abbott and Paxton endorsed the same challenger. Other times, a Paxton enemy would earn Abbott’s imprimatur, likely because of support for school vouchers. “The rural wins were the most impactful, because that’s where Abbott found the most resistance,” says Brandon Rottinghaus, a po- litical scientist at the University of Houston. At the same time, Rottinghaus says the messy nature of warring endorsements — not to mention the presence of former Presi- dent Donald Trump and gobs of oil money — makes it difficult to attribute victories to a sole person. Nevertheless, Abbott claims he now needs just two more votes to pass his school voucher bill, and he could get even closer after the late May elections. The runoffs represent another install- ment in the ongoing GOP civil war, and ex- perts, strategists and candidates interviewed for this story worry the results of those races could tilt the ultraconservative Legislature even further to the right. “The conservative wing of the Republi- can Party has made their bones on forcing their opponents into runoffs and then pick- ing them off,” Rottinghaus says. “But runoffs can be unpredictable.” One of the most compelling races is that between Dade Phalen, the current speaker of the House, and David Covey, a Paxton- backed candidate vying for House District 21 in the Beaumont area. In the March 5 primaries, Phelan re- ceived roughly 1,000 fewer votes than his Paxton-backed opponent, forcing the first runoff involving a House speaker in 52 years. Both Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are vocal critics of Phelan, who led the House — and voted to oust Paxton — when his chamber impeached the attorney gen- eral on abuse of office charges in May 2023. (Paxton was acquitted by the Texas Senate four months later.) In many ways, the Phelan-Paxton feud personifies their party’s infighting. In the runup to the primaries, Phelan’s team cut a campaign ad calling attention to an Photo illustraiton by Sarah Schumacher/Getty Images | UNFAIR PARK | >> p8