Apparently they do. The Texas Parent PAC won three out of four contested runoff elections for state House seats yesterday. Here’s the full story, courtesy of The Quorum Report:
TEXAS PARENT PAC BATS THREE OUT OF FOUR IN THE RUNOFFS
King, Aycock, Darby all win in their respective primaries.
Three of the four candidates endorsed by the Texas Parent PAC won in their respective primary runoffs tonight, bringing the number of “wins” for the new pro-education group to nine when the primary and the runoff endorsements are combined.
Tonight it was three wins, all in Republican runoffs: Nurse Susan King, a former president of the Abilene school board, beat Kevin Christian in a runoff for Rep. Bob Hunter’s seat. Rancher Jimmie Don Aycock, who served on the Killeen school board, beat Dale Hopkins in a runoff for Rep. Suzanne Hupp’s seat. And lawyer Drew Darby, the owner of a local title company, beat incumbent Rep. Scott Campbell.
The only loss for the Texas Parent PAC was Anne Lakustra, the former president of the Lewisville school board, who lost by 48 votes to Tan Parker in the race to replace Rep. Mary Denny. Denny endorsed Parker, a local tech executive and long-time Republican volunteer, in the runoff election.
Carolyn Boyle, who leads the Texas Parent PAC, is modest about today’s victories. She stressed that the candidates who won were not simply pro-education candidates. They were all good “all around” candidates. Still, Boyle says that tonight’s wins — added to the wins by Parent PAC-endorsed candidates Diane Patrick, Thomas Latham and Donna Howard — show that parents can mobilize and support candidates in local elections.
“I think these elections show that you can make some changes in Texas politics,” Boyle said from Abilene, where she campaigned for King today. “If parents get involved in campaigns, you can elect candidates that put children first and public education first.”
Boyle’s list of endorsements also included incumbents Charlie Geren, Delwin Jones and Tommy Merritt. Birdville school board member Kelly Hancock, while not endorsed by the Texas Parent PAC, was another pro-education candidate who won in the March elections. He won the Republican primary to replace outgoing Rep. Bob Griggs.
Copyright April 11, 2006 by Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved
