It's Official: Candidate Dan

Dan, Dan, the candidate man. Anyone listening to KSEV during their drive home yesterday afternoon probably heard the festivities as station owner and talk show host Dan Patrick started the next phase of his senate campaign by officially filing in the Republican primary for the Texas State Senate, District 7.

Patrick's filing makes him the last of previously announced candidates to formally enter the four-way GOP race that also includes state Reps. Peggy Hamric and Joe Nixon and Houston City Councilman Mark Ellis. State Sen. Jon Lindsay is not seeking re-election in the heavily Republican district.

As usual, the Houston Comical raises as many doubts in its report as it can, ending with this negative push at Dan:

Patrick recently released a poll of likely Republican primary voters that shows him earning 54 percent of the vote if the election were held today. Nixon had 10 percent, Hamric had 9 percent and Ellis garnered 7 percent among those polled.
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Nixon spokesman Jim McGrath questions the results.

"He's been on the air in the Houston market for years. Naturally he has a name ID advantage. We dispute that he has that level of support," McGrath said. "Name ID is one thing, support is another."

Mr. Patrick counters such assertions with the reason he believes he does have the support to propel him into the legislative body in Austin:

"It is time the average voter had a voice in the Texas Senate, and at a considerable cost to my business and my family I have decided to step forward to provide that voice," Patrick said. … "Republican primary voters have long expected property tax relief, order on the border and a school finance system designed by the legislature not the courts. While none of those issues were resolved, the legislature did deliver a 20% increase in the budget and a 25% increase in benefits paid to legislators. Enough is enough. We need change in Austin," Patrick remarked.

Dan's son Ryan will be guest hosting his father's afternoon radio show for the next couple of weeks as the senior Patrick withdraws from the radio spotlight to meet FCC restrictions and guidelines, concentrating the next two months on his campaign.