Stickland Endorses Against HD-84 Incumbent in Primary

Tarrant County state Rep. Jonathan Stickland has decided to get involved in the GOP primary contest for the HD-84 seat in Lubbock County.

Calling in to a local radio talk show, he endorsed the challenger, former Plainview state Rep. Jim Landtroop, against the incumbent, John Frullo, who is running for re-election.

Talking on Lubbock radio station KFYO, Stickland said that while he believes “John to be a nice guy,” he wants to see Landtroop win.

Stickland added, “the folks that I’ve talked to out in West Texas are very conservative folks, and it’s my belief that that is not the way that John Frullo has been legislating while in the Texas House, and I personally look forward to the opportunity to have Jim come down there and do a better job representing the values of West Texas.”

When he officially announced his candidacy yesterday, Landtroop highlighted his tea party credentials. Frullo, who supported Joe Straus for Speaker last session, has received criticism from some in the tea party wing of the Texas House.

KFYO has the audio of the conversation here.

It used to be that it was unusual to see a sitting member endorse against a fellow incumbent running for re-election.

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Rand Paul's presidential campaign filed Thursday afternoon to place him on the ballot for the Texas primary. 

The Kentucky senator's Texas team visited the state GOP headquarters in Austin to submit the $5,000 check to place Paul's name in the mix for the March 1 nominating contest.

"Rand knows Texas," said state Sen. Don Huffines of Dallas, the Texas state chairman of Paul's campaign. "He knows how important Texas is, and he is going to do what he needs to win every delegate in this state to be the next president."

Also on hand for the filing was Mary Jane Smith, a longtime ally of the Paul family who was recently named the campaign's Texas political director. 

"I know Texas politics, and I know the name of our game is to get delegates. Forget everything else," she said, alluding to the state's system of mostly selecting delegates by congressional district. 

Huffines and Smith were joined at the Texas GOP office by Steve Munisteri, the former chairman of the state party who is now a senior adviser to Paul. Munisteri brushed off months-long speculation that Paul's campaign is in decline, saying "rumors of our demise were a little bit premature."

Munisteri also took note of the crowd that showed up to watch Paul's Texas team file for the primary, saying it was larger than the turnout at similar events for the Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush campaigns "by all accounts." Roughly 60 people were spread throughout two rooms at the Texas GOP headquarters Thursday afternoon. 

Paul is the 10th major GOP candidate to file for the Texas primary. The others are Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie.

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A former supporter of Rick Perry has joined the presidential campaign of another Texas Republican, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

Erik Corcoran announced Wednesday morning he has been tapped to serve as Cruz's faith director in South Carolina. Corcoran was a member of Perry's team in the state until the former governor dropped out of the race for the White House in September.

Corcoran broke the news in a tweet, writing that he was "Fired up to support a God fearing conservative in" Cruz.

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The Donald Trump presidential campaign announced on Thursday the creation of the Texas Women for Trump Coalition, dropping a list of 99 supporters who make up the group’s leadership committee.

One of the members of the leadership committee is Trump’s national spokeswoman Katrina Pierson, a Tea Party leader in North Texas and a former congressional candidate.

The press release announcing the coalition also noted supporter Pamela Martin Duarte, who is one of the women featured in the reality TV series Big Rich Texas.

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American Action Network, an advocacy group aligned with the U.S. House GOP leadership, announced on Tuesday a $3 million ad campaign on behalf of Speaker Paul Ryan’s allies.

That includes about $300,000 to support Texas House Republicans, including Kevin Brady (TV ad), Bill Flores (TV ad), Ted Poe, Brian Babin, Jeb Hensarling, Michael Burgess, Pete Sessions and Will Hurd.