Failed Democratic Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis will launch a bid to unseat pro-life Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy in 2020. The abortion activist is best known for filibustering a bill to ban late-term abortions in the Texas legislature.
The revelation ends months of speculation and sets the stage for what could be a high-profile duel in a congressional district national Democrats are aggressively targeting.
Abigail Sheppard, press secretary for U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, said Thursday that “Wendy spoke to the congressman directly that she plans on running.” Davis, a former state senator, said in April that she was considering running, but in June she disputed a report that she was planning to run, saying she hadn’t decided yet. A spokesman for Davis declined to comment Thursday.
Top Democrats apparently already are building the infrastructure necessary to wage battle in the 21st Congressional District, which stretches from Austin to San Antonio and includes six Hill Country counties.
Davis, who represented the Fort Worth area in the Texas Senate and now lives in Austin, will reenter the political limelight after losing to Gov. Greg Abbott by more than 20 percentage points in 2014. Still, she could face better odds in the district where Roy squeaked by Democrat Joseph Kopser by less than 3 percentage points in 2018 — one of the six districts in Texas that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hopes to flip in 2020.
“Wendy Davis and her radical left Hollywood views are out-of-step with the Texas Hill Country values I am proud to represent… But if she wants to spend a lot of Democrat money to run, we’ll see her on the campaign trail,” Roy said in April.
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