AUSTIN — Republican Dan Patrick has ditched his talk-show-host persona in favor of a low-profile, conservative-themed campaign for lieutenant governor that has been a winning strategy in GOP-dominated Texas in recent years.
His Democratic opponent, Leticia Van de Putte, has been on the attack, speaking to political rallies across the state and trying to stir up voter interest, particularly among Hispanics and women. She has acknowledged that any chance of an upset in the race rests on record turnout by those groups.
With just over a week to go in the race for one of the most powerful jobs in the state, Patrick, a darling of the tea party, retains a strong edge in a state that has not elected a Democrat to statewide office in two decades. But Van de Putte has been an energetic campaigner who has refused to accept a Republican win as inevitable.
For Patrick, the contrast between his race for the GOP nomination and his run in the general election has been striking.
“I have no problem working with Democrats,” Patrick said at a recent candidate forum after he had secured his party’s nomination.
Earlier this year, he promised to reduce the influence of Democratic senators with rules changes and a sharp reduction in the number of Senate committees they chair. “The Democrats are not going to have the power they’ve had in the past to block a lot of conservative legislation that the people of Texas want,” he vowed.
At that time, the one-time radio talk show host and state senator from Houston was the most fiery candidate in a Republican primary that featured four strong hopefuls — including Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. Patrick, the favorite target of the other three, easily won the nomination after a runoff with Dewhurst.
But in a move to reach beyond his ultraconservative base, the Republican has since toned down his provocative tendencies.
While his TV ads stake out staunchly conservative territory on immigration, taxes and schools, Patrick has smoothed out the rougher edges of his earlier campaign.
In his rare public appearances, Patrick has taken pains to express compassion for immigrants and be civil to his culture-war foes on issues such as abortion and gay marriage. He’s also stressed that he knows the ropes at the Texas Capitol and is good at “working across the aisle.”
Van de Putte, a senator from San Antonio, is more of a Capitol insider than Patrick. But she has played the outsider in her bid for lieutenant governor, distancing herself from the GOP-controlled Legislature.
The 24-year veteran lawmaker has gambled that women, Hispanics and young people will turn out to vote in greater than usual numbers to protest GOP-backed laws on abortion and voter ID that are among the nation’s most restrictive. She is also banking on lingering resentment over the Legislature’s deep budget cuts to public schools, state universities and women’s health programs in recent years.
“We want a state that respects us and plans and secures a better future for the next generation,” Van de Putte told hundreds of supporters at a rally in San Antonio last week that kicked off the final bus tour of her campaign.
Her TV ads warn that Patrick has extreme views and is “too dangerous” for Texas. After her only debate with Patrick, she emphasized her ability to be a “leader that would bring all people together” to work on problems facing the state. Patrick, she argued, would bring a “bullying and intimidation and my-way-or-the-highway” style of leadership to the office.
But the veteran Democrat has been handicapped by a lack of campaign funds to get her message out and the strong Republican trends that still determine statewide races in Texas.
“There was potential if Van de Putte had been able to raise enough money,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. “She might have been able to raise her profile and diminish Patrick’s image with attack ads, but she hasn’t had enough money to effectively do that.”
Patrick, by contrast, has deliberately maintained a lower profile than during the primary campaign, Jones said, because in Texas, “if people know little or nothing about a race, the Republican usually wins.”
“Patrick has no reason to use strong rhetoric because he has already won the votes of those who agree with his views,” Jones said. Also, such rhetoric could risk antagonizing or alienating more moderate voters.
For example, he said, the Republican “wants to be seen as a hawk on immigration issues while not alienating Hispanic voters. So his focus is more on border security rather than saying things that could be interpreted as anti-immigrant.”
In the Sept. 29 televised debate between the two nominees, Patrick pointed out three times that he likes Van de Putte and considers her a friend.
“Leticia and I have worked together,” he said, citing an education bill to reduce student testing last year. “I don’t take the credit … we worked as a team.”
In his TV ads, though, he blasts her as “liberal Leticia.” And he hasn’t backed away from his staunch conservative positions on border security and immigration, the top issues he touts. He applauds the deployment of National Guard soldiers and state troopers to secure the border with Mexico and would repeal a 2001 law granting in-state tuition rates at state colleges to immigrants in the country illegally.
Still, he strikes a more conciliatory tone than during his hard-fought Republican primary campaign.
Patrick said he empathizes with young immigrants who were brought by their families to the U.S. but views the lower tuition and fees as “a magnet” that fuels illegal immigration. Only citizens should get the break, he said.
Once the border is secure, he said, he would support a guest worker program and “legal immigration reform.”
Van de Putte has repeatedly ripped Patrick over his past statements on illegal immigration, school funding cuts, pay equity for women and other issues. On immigration, she has accused her opponent of spreading the “politics of fear” across Texas and disrespecting Hispanics.
But she has stayed away from the personal attacks that were heaped on Patrick during the GOP primary. Patrick’s bankruptcy in the 1980s, the hiring of unauthorized immigrants at Houston sports bars he once owned and his personality clashes with other Republican senators were all fodder for his primary foes.
Van de Putte has remained issue-oriented, even saying during a political forum featuring both candidates that she had “the greatest respect for Dan Patrick and his past history.”
A pharmacist by profession, Van de Putte has shown an ability to connect with crowds at political rallies and is more relaxed on the stump than Wendy Davis, the party’s nominee for governor.
Some political observers have even predicted that Van de Putte will inspire higher-than-usual turnout by women, Hispanics and young people.
Van de Putte said she shored up the effort by airing ads on Spanish-language radio and TV early in the race, and cultivating women’s groups and campus organizations that attract young women.
But Southern Methodist University political scientist Cal Jillson is skeptical.
While Van de Putte in the past year has raised about $5 million, she’s not a household name the way Davis is, Jillson noted.
“The role that the Davis camp envisioned for the Van de Putte camp was that since Davis didn’t run strong in the primary in South Texas, Van de Putte would rally the Hispanic vote. But she hasn’t had the resources to do that,” he said.
Jillson said he expects a low-turnout election, as Texas midterm votes tend to be.
But Van de Putte and Democrats insist their voter turnout drive will show results on Election Day and signal an end to the long Republican lock on statewide offices.
“The momentum is there,” Van de Putte said, citing in particular efforts to bring infrequent voters to the polls this time. “Looking at the strong data from other states, we know that when you engage and have a sustainable program, those voters will turn out.”
She pointed to recent efforts to drive Democratic turnout in swing states Colorado and Nevada.
“It was really those infrequent voters who were the difference,” Van de Putte said.
rtgarrett@dallasnews.com;
tstutz@dallasnews.com
Follow Robert T. Garrett on Twitter at @roberttgarrett and Terrence Stutz at @t_stutz.
