A Tale of Two Races… and Three RINOs
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I want to talk about the race for the 8th Congressional District of Texas. But to make my point, I need to make a comparison.

There is an interesting contrast brewing between two congressional races in Texas, where RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) are running in solidly conservative congressional districts. Texas CD-2 and CD-8 are adjacent districts in an area that is considered to be one of the most conservative areas in the state. But each race presents entirely different challenges that conservatives need to address in different ways.

Texas CD-2

In CD-2, there is only one RINO in the race and three conservatives. The RINO is the incumbent, Dan Crenshaw (often referred to as Dan McCainshaw, since like John McCain, he is a vet, who ran as a Republican and became an Establishment RINO). There are also three excellent and principled conservatives in the CD-2 race. They are, in alphabetic order, Jameson Ellis, Martin Etwop, and Milam Langella. I have personally met with all three of the conservatives and I can confirm that I would be proud to have any of them represent me in Congress. In fact, this is the first time in my long life that I have been unable to endorse just one conservative candidate. They are each very different, but very capable and committed conservatives. I also believe that any of the three would be able to defeat the RINO incumbent, Crenshaw, in a runoff.

The challenge for the conservatives in this race is to simply overcome the “incumbent advantage.” By that, I mean that many voters (even Republicans) are lazy and rather than do their homework, just tend to vote for their party’s incumbent, when there is one, unless they are made aware that the incumbent has not properly represented them. So in the CD-2 race, all that is required to insure that a conservative wins this race, is to make as many conservative voters as possible aware of two things. First, they need to be made aware of Crenshaw’s very poor voting record (Red Flag Laws, Mandates, etc.). Second is to make as many voters as possible aware of how Crenshaw treats constituents (including teenage girls), who dare ask him embarrassing questions.

Since Crenshaw is an incumbent, there will almost certainly be a runoff, since 1) Crenshaw has the incumbent advantage, 2) Crenshaw is widely despised by conservatives in District, and 3) There are three solid conservatives in the race.

Look at the ideological make-up of the race. With three conservatives and one RINO in the race, the worst case scenario is a runoff that will include at least one conservative. Then consider that Crenshaw is widely enough disliked that, he will not be able to win, in a one-on-one race with any one of the three conservatives in the race. This is especially so, when you consider that any time an incumbent is forced into a primary runoff situation, the voters at large, tend to wake up and wonder why an incumbent couldn’t win the primary without a runoff. When they stop to examine Crenshaw’s voting record, the conservative will win in a walk.

So, in CD-2, the strategy for conservative voters is simple.

Vote A-B-C (Anybody But Crenshaw)!

Texas CD-8

Adjacent to CD-2 is CD-8, where Kevin Brady is retiring, the situation is not as simple.

As might be expected, in any district with an open seat, there were a host of announced candidates. There are still nine in the race, as this is being written. But what makes the CD-8 race particularly challenging for conservatives is that there are not one, but two well funded Establishment RINOs in the race and seven conservatives, only one of which has raised enough to present a challenge to the RINOs. So consider the ramifications.

With three well funded candidates in a race, involving nine candidates, there will most certainly be a runoff. That’s a given. So the challenge for conservatives is to make sure that it’s not a runoff between two RINOs. Let me be clear.

At least ONE of the seven conservatives MUST receive enough votes to overcome at least ONE of the RINOs, if conservatives are to have a horse in the runoff race!

Read that last statement again. This is critical!

That means that conservatives of CD-8 absolutely MUST coalesce behind just ONE of the conservatives in the race. It can’t be about personalities, who goes to your church, who your brother-in-law went to school with, or who you’ve known since he was 4-years old. It’s about focusing enough conservative votes on just ONE of seven conservatives, in order to allow that ONE conservative to defeat at least ONE of the TWO Establishment RINOs, so conservatives can be represented in the runoff.

If we don’t have a conservative in the runoff, the voters of CD-8 lose in the runoff and in the general election.

That said, former JAG officer, Jonathan Hullihan, is the only conservative candidate who managed to raise enough money to qualify for the CD-8 Debate that was held on February 7. For the reporting period ending on December 31, Jonathan had raised about $180,000. That’s more than 2.5 times the amount reported by EVERY other conservative candidate combined, in the same reporting period.

No other conservative stands a chance of making the CD-8 runoff.

Fortunately, Hullihan is definitely the most qualified candidate in the race. He is qualified as an unabashed conservative. He is qualified as being a tenacious advocate when he knows he is right. He is qualified in that he has the debating skills he developed as a JAG officer, to push a conservative agenda through a House full of political animals. He is qualified as a “strategic” thinker, who will always consider the ultimate goal and not allow himself to be side-tracked by minutia. He is qualified as a professional, who when he was a JAG officer, had to deal with congressional committees and the White House. But Jonathan Hullihan is alone, among all of the candidates, both conservative and RINO, in presenting himself with the professional demeanor of a congressman.

Watch the debate!

There is no doubt that Jonathan Hullihan won that debate, hands down. In fact, it appears that even the two Establishment candidates must agree. If you go to Jonathan’s Facebook page, pinned to the top of the page is a video of that debate. He knows he was the stand-out candidate in that debate and wants voters to watch it. On the other hand, Luttrell has only a video of his introductory statement on his Facebook page and Collins has only some photos of the debate. Neither of them provide a link to the debate anywhere that I can find.

Think about it. If you were running for office and thought you did well in a debate, wouldn’t you want voters to watch it. Since neither one of the Establishment candidates has provided a link to the debate, I have to assume that they both know how poorly they did in the debate and neither of them want you watching it. So let me repeat,

Watch the debate!

Based only on his demeanor, Hullihan would easily defeat the Kid (Collins) or the Bartender (Luttrell), in a runoff. But add in his stance on the issues and his solutions, and Hullihan would blow either of the RINOs out of the water.

Hullihan’s endorsements includes founding member of the Freedom Caucus, Rep. Dr. Paul Gosar, 2022 Candidate for Governor of Texas, conservative commentator, and host of Blaze TV, Chad Prather, Katy Christian Magazine, local GOP activist, Dr. Steven Hotze, withdrawn candidate for this seat, Ryan Jarchow, and conservative author, John Gaver (that’s me, by the way). This guy is the real deal.

Conservatives in CD-8 absolutely MUST decide if they want to give the runoff to two RINOs, by voting for one of the also-ran conservatives or do they want to focus all of the massive CD-8 conservative vote on the only conservative who can make the runoff, to insure that we still have a horse in the runoff race, after March 1st.

Let me repeat. This is too critical to allow yourself to waste your vote on a candidate that you consider to be marginally “the most conservative,” “the most Christian,” “the most pro gun,” “the most pro Trump,” “the most pro-wall,” “the most anti-mandate,” or the most pro or anti anything. Fortunately, Hullihan is the “most” in every one of those categories and more.

I can assure you that, after personally meeting and talking with Hullihan, Luttrell, Collins, Mitchell, and McKaughn, any one of the three conservatives I spoke with would be far better than either Luttrell (the Bouncer) or Collins (the Kid). I would be proud to vote for any one of those conservatives, in the general election. They are all great people and if there was only one Establishment RINO in the race, as there is in CD-2, I would recommend voting for any conservative. But in CD-8, we don’t have that luxury. We have TWO Establishment RINOs in the race, and both are better funded by the Establishment than any of the conservative candidates. That means that CD-8 conservative voters must focus our efforts on ONE and only ONE candidate.

Jonathan Hullihan is the ONLY conservative in the race who has the finances, the organization, and the popularity to make it into the runoff.

I proudly endorse Jonathan Hullihan for Congress in Texas Cd-8.

I urge all conservatives in Texas CD-8 to vote for Jonathan Hullihan in the GOP primary. Any vote for any other conservative is a vote for RINO representation of CD-8.

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