Children in Texas state representative’s latest campaign ad aren’t hers

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This article was adapted from our premium politics newsletter, The Blast, which delivers exclusive reporting, nonpartisan analysis and the first word on political moves across the state. Subscribe today.

For those who did a doubletake watching state Rep. Caroline Harris Davila’s campaign ad this weekend, no, those are not the Davilas’ kids.

The Round Rock Republican on Friday released an ad about protecting kids and improving school lunches, ending with Harris Davila and her husband, Darrell Davila, posing with four children. However, the kids are constituents.

In the ad, Harris Davila says she’s protecting “our future,” and she’s seen patting the smallest of four kids on the back while smiling and talking with the other three.

In the final shot, she picks up that boy while Darrell Davila puts his arm around the second-smallest boy, smiling for the camera.

The idyllic family shot puzzled Capitol watchers who were unaware of that Harris Davila nor Davila, the chief of staff to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, had children.

Reaching out on behalf of the Harris Davila campaign, consultant Jordan Berry told The Blast that the kids and woman featured earlier in the ad are constituents.

The Davilas married a little over a year ago and, to be clear, don’t have any kids together or from before their union. Harris Davila is running for her first reelection, facing Democrat Jennie Birkholz in Texas House District 52.

Although the freshman won by 12 points in 2022, she and Texas Republicans are taking her race seriously. Gov. Greg Abbott will join her in Hutto on Wednesday for a get-out-the-vote event. All the while, she’s been knocking on doors, including with the help of Republican colleagues from across the state.

The Harris Davila campaign has also updated its website for the final stretch. As recently as Oct. 2, her campaign listed “pro-life” as the second from the top of its campaign issues, according to internet archives. Now, the campaign does not list “pro-life” as one of its issues.

However, her pre-Oct. 2 campaign issues section reads more like a holdover from her 2022 campaign, a resume of her work from her time as a policy staffer to state Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola. The page said Harris Davila “advised one of the most conservative senators in Texas on victories,” including “Passed the Heartbeat Act, the strongest Pro-Life law in America, saving thousands of lives.” Hughes sponsored that bill in 2021.

HD-52, which covers a third of Williamson County residents, is changing quickly.

“It is one of, if not the fastest growing districts in the state,” data and research consultant Derek Ryan told The Blast. According to Ryan’s most recent data, there are 165,000 registered voters in the district, up from 126,000 in 2020. Ryan says the increase makes it the fastest growing House district in the state, both in raw voters and on a percentage basis. The district is also home to a lot of families. According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates from 2022, more than half of the households have three or more people.

But as for the ad, the situation is reminiscent of the campaign media from Virginia congressional candidate Derrick Anderson, who posted content with a friend’s wife and three daughters who critics say he tried to pass off as his own family.