DALLAS — This week, Y’all-itics turned to Konni Burton for a take on the Texas attorney general's race, because of her expertise in Texas GOP political circles. She is a former Republican member of the Texas state Senate, holding the office from 2015–2018 after succeeding Wendy Davis in Senate District 10. The University of North Texas graduate now runs the online political newspaper, The Texan.
The GOP political insider fully expects a runoff in the GOP primary for Texas Attorney General.
“You don’t get three Republican challengers who are all, by the way, very high-profile Republican challengers to a sitting Republican office holder for no reason," Burton said on the latest episode of Y'all-itics. "They smell, if I might say, blood in the water. And that’s why he’s got these three high-profile challengers. I suspect that he will be under 50% for the first primary election and it’ll go into a runoff."
And Burton says a runoff could cost incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton in more ways than one. Find out why on the latest episode of Y’all-itics.
Here's Burton's take on our interviews with each candidate (in alphabetical order), except for Paxton, who declined the invitation.
George P. Bush
“What I really thought was so interesting about that whole interview is that he said one in five Republicans know that Ken Paxton is facing these three felony counts and he's under FBI investigation. Now are those Republicans at large? Is that one in the five the primary Republican voter?” Burton openly mused on the latest episode of Y’all-itics. “I thought that was a very interesting statistic. I totally believe it. And again, will all five of those particular Republicans be voting in the primary? If they don't know, those four out of five that don't know what Ken Paxton is facing, then that could obviously push things toward Ken Paxton. It will depend on how much of all three of these candidates get the word out about what Ken Paxton is facing.”
Louis Gohmert
“I was kind of doing what you just did - ‘woooo’ - when I was watching that," Burton said. "And what was, in my mind, so enjoyable is it was just kind of level and just saying what he was saying, but it was quite personal. On this particular one what was most interesting to me was the fact that he called him a liar three, maybe four times, I know at least three times and then brought up lying in his private life, which I thought was very interesting and wondered if that was going to come up during this.”
Eva Guzman
“I don't think she has the name ID that Gohmert or George P. Bush have," Burton said. "She has been on a statewide ballot how many times now and, obviously, garnered a lot of votes and beat Democrats both times. So, she's got some. But how many people really know their Texas Supreme Court justices, right?”
Ken Paxton declined our invitation to join and hasn’t done much media, so voters have barely heard from him during primary season. Here's Burton's take on Paxton's approach.
“Iron sharpens iron," Burton said. "And I love the primary process. You shouldn’t act like you’re above it. You shouldn’t get angry that you have primary opponents. That’s what our country’s about. Everybody has the right to run. Voters have the right to hear your defense of what you have done and why you have done it. It frustrates me as somebody who's very involved in politics and just as a voter that these candidates do not partake of it. I think it shows a disregard for the average voter for you not to get in front of them and defend your record.”
Listen to the full episode of Y'all-itics:
