2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWhen Wendy Davis Was a Republican
Michelle CottleThe Democratic hopeful for Texas governor proved she had chops as a local Republican pol. The GOP would do well to remember when she was one of theirs.
So what do we know about Wendy Davis, Texas state senator turned gubernatorial candidate and Democratic It Girl? With her up-from-nothing backstory and Harvard Law degree, the woman is clearly smart, savvy, ambitious, and determined. (Theres no question that she grasps the value of a moving personal narrative.) In her five years in Austin, she has amassed one of the senates most liberal voting records. She does not shy from a fight, and she has a flair for political theater to make Ted Cruz envious. (Her filibuster of anti-abortion legislation was, it bears recalling, not her first such rodeo.) People have gone ga-ga over the legislators sporty pink kicks.
Unsurprisingly, the hard-charging, mediagenic Davis has become a hero to womens group (Emilys List, nursing a major crush, cheers her as an inspiring national heroine.) Anxious Republicans, meanwhile, are sharpening their claws. One particularly troglodytic right-wingerlaboring to cement conservatives image as sexist jackassesrefers to Davis as Abortion Barbie. Get it? She supports womens reproductive rights and is a comely blonde. What more do voters need to know?
Except Before she emerged as a feminist folk hero and culture warrior extraordinaire, Davis served nine years as a member of the Fort Worth city council. There, in the unglamorous trenches of pothole politics, she earned a reputation as passionate and aggressiveShell bite you if youre not careful, chuckles former council colleague Jim Lanebut also as a pragmatic, pro-business moderate with bipartisan appeal. Far from some lefty bomb-thrower, Davis was, in fact, a registered Republican before she ran for state senate, at which point many local Dems complained that she was not liberal enough. Thats proven to be kind of funny over time, observes long-time Fort Worth political columnist Bud Kennedy.
Daviss party switch wasnt some grand political drama a la former senator Zell Millers cantankerous shift from Democrat to Republican or Charlie Crists move from Republican to Independent to Democrat. (Or, for that matter, Gov. Rick Perrys long-ago flip from D to R.) Practically speaking, it wasnt much of a shift at all. Texass municipal politics are, by law, officially nonpartisan: Candidates do not run under party banners, and party IDs do not appear on ballots. In some races (such as, say, Houston mayoral battles), partisan drama bubbles beneath the surface. But on the Fort Worth council, members affiliations are rarely an issue. You know who the Republicans and Democrats are, but were very fortunate that you dont have a partisan overlay in play at the council table, says Kenneth Barr, who was bumped up from council member to mayor in 1996. (Daviss first campaign was a failed effort to fill Barrs vacant council seat; three years later, she ran again and won.)
more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/24/when-wendy-davis-was-a-republican.html
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)that she dumped her....2nd???...husband the day after he paid her law school loan from his borrowed 401-k.
dunno how much of that has any truth, may be RW slurs..was playing the headlines this week.
folks in texas will have to live with her, so it is their look out, in the end.
TBF
(31,922 posts)No idea whether it's true or not as people can say whatever they wish - and this blog advocates voting for Greg Abbott. I hope you wouldn't do the same.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)I saw it in several online places.
Thanks for finding the source.
DavidDvorkin
(19,406 posts)which makes me doubt that the breakup happened that way.
hamsterjill
(15,214 posts)After at least ten decades (it seems that way, any way) of Gubner Goodhair...Wendy is a breath of fresh air.
This lifelong Texas will be at the polls voting FOR her at my first opportunity.
MADem
(135,425 posts)DonViejo
(60,536 posts)who is having trouble posting, I am entering this comment for her:
texas politics for women. they have to run as republican. in amarillo, we had a two term mayor. debra mccart. i knew her well. her first husband was partners in business with my husband for 15 yrs or more. i spent time with her, and she was well a democrat. i said such to her then husband and he assured me she was a true repug. not even. she was the best mayor we have had in amarillo and did a lot fo good stuff for this area. she reminds me a lot of the davis and richards texas women. running as a repug, does not make a republican.
legcramp
(288 posts)"Have to run as a DFL'er in Minnesota" to be dishonest and disingenuous.
Be who you are, why start your career with a deception?
One needs only to look at Ronald Reagan who began in politics as a Democrat until it became more convenient to be a Republican.
And we all know what type of person Saint Ronnie turned out to be.
former9thward
(31,805 posts)It was not convenient to to be a Democrat at that time. He was a union president so it was natural that he was a Democrat. His politics shifted in the 1950s when he was a spokesman for GE.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)Must dump her cuz she has a past!
TBF
(31,922 posts)to the fact that Wendy is raising A LOT of $$$. They're worried and hence the attacks.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)this attack isn't geared to republicans; but rather, it's directed to a certain segment of the Democratic party associates.
davidpdx
(22,000 posts)and abandon Davis it seems to me like sabotage.