School vouchers winning issue in Texas? How GOP primary challengers are using political ads

In the weeks leading up to the Republican primary runoffs Tuesday, Texas House incumbents in key races have gone on the defensive against their challengers who have raised questions about the lawmakers' conservative voting records.

The attacks against the incumbents have focused on almost everything but school vouchers — a program that proposes using public money to pay for private school tuition. Gov. Greg Abbott expended great political capital last year advocating for such a "school choice" program, but the measure died in the House after 21 Republicans, many from rural areas, joined Democrats to cut the voucher proposal from a comprehensive public education funding bill out of concern it would drain public schools of much needed cash. The bill's author then withdrew the legislation from consideration since Abbott had said he would not approve increases to public education funding unless school choice was passed.

Those 21 Republicans who opposed the voucher plan drew the ire of the governor for helping derail his signature issue. Abbott, a three-term Republican, promised to take the fight to the ballot box.

In the month leading up to the March 5 primaries, Abbott spent $6 million to bolster advertising for candidates who support school vouchers, including those challenging GOP incumbents who voted against the proposal.

Ahead of March 5 and in the run-up to Tuesday's runoffs, the pro-school choice GOP challengers spent millions on ads, many of which portrayed the Republican incumbents as liberal.

“What’s the point of voting for a Republican candidate if he supports the liberal agenda?” questions the announcer in an ad for Alan Schoolcraft, who is challenging Rep. John Kuempel, R-Seguin.

Kuempel, who called himself "a fiscal conservative" in a video on school vouchers, said he doesn't "believe that the voucher plan makes good fiscal sense.”

In the past month, Rep. Justin Holland, R-Rockwall, who also voted against the school voucher proposal, has posted video clips, 30-40 seconds long, explaining his stances on everything from property taxes to border control. He’s being challenged by Katrina Pierson, who has Abbott's backing.

Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston, issued an ad in the past two weeks specifically calling out his challenger Chris Spencer and “the Pennsylvania billionaire bankrolling him,” a reference to pro-school choice supporter Jeffrey Yass, who gave Abbott $6 million before the March 5 primaries to try to help pave the way to victory for pro-voucher candidates.

“They’re lying about my record on border security, guns, taxes, anything but vouchers,” VanDeaver said.

The ads are misrepresentations and, in some cases, lies, Rep. Dewayne Burns, R-Cleburne, told the American-Statesman this week.

“They’re attacking me on the border or Second Amendment or just saying I’m liberal with no proof,” Burns said. “These attacks are mean-spirited, and they’re not grounded in fact at all.”

The Statesman reached out to all the GOP runoff candidates — incumbents and challengers — for comment. Only Burns responded.

The challengers' tactic against the incumbents is to portray many of the lawmakers as RINOs, a term for Republican in name only, Texas GOP operative Luke Twombly told the Statesman.

“We’ve seen several incumbents go down without a runoff, and the fact that so many are in a runoff is in dangerous territory,” Twombly said.

It’s not unusual for Republicans to call into question the conservative credentials of their opponents during an election, said Joshua Blank, director of research at the Texas Politics Project.

In the past, however, the critique has usually centered on issues in which party members took a vote contrary to the staunchly conservative position.

“These claims are being hurled at them on issue areas where they've clearly taken conservative votes and they've clearly supported the issue,” Blank said.

Issues like border security and gun rights have taken center stage in advertising campaigns against the incumbents, instead of school vouchers.

“While this is about vouchers and the failure of some Republican incumbent to support a priority item of the governor’s, for the most part, this campaign has not been about vouchers because that's not a priority for voters,” Blank said.

Early voting runs through Friday. The election day for the runoffs is May 28.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: School vouchers is key in Texas GOP primary runoffs but not in ads