Land Commissioner George P. Bush appears on track to avoid a runoff Tuesday night as voting returns come in.
With more than a half million votes tallied statewide, Bush leads with 56 percent. Jerry Patterson, his predecessor at the General Land Office, is in second place with just under 32 percent of the vote.
Bush needs to finish with more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a May runoff.
Bush, a first-term incumbent, drew three opponents from his own party: Patterson, land surveyor Davey Edwards and retired firefighter and teacher Rick Range. Edwards was winning about 7 percent of the vote in early returns; Range was at about 5 percent.
Bush raised more than $1.5 million in the year before the election, while Patterson raised $107,588, including a $20,000 loan to himself.
The grandson of former President George H. W. Bush and son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush maintained a relatively low profile during the campaign, emphasizing his conservative values while his opponents criticized him for being a moderate.
Bush’s opponents focused mainly on one issue: Bush’s management of the Alamo. Patterson, Edwards and Range have claimed Bush’s $450 million Alamo Master Plan, which includes renovating the site, would distract visitors from remembering the 1836 battle for Texas independence.
A spokesperson for the land office said the most important part of the plan, which was once branded as “reimagining” the Alamo, is preserving the historic mission.
“All that ‘reimagine’ was actually talking about is that someday you will actually be able to see all of [the battlefield] and connect with 1836 better than you currently can,” said Bryan Preston, director of communications for the GLO.
Since Bush took office, he has also restructured how his agency manages day-to-day operations of the Alamo through a system of nonprofit organizations that contract with the state. His primary challengers say this management system is not transparent and hides how state money is being spent.
Last month, several news organizations obtained a copy of an internal draft audit that criticized how the land office used these nonprofits to manage the Alamo. Bush claimed the audit was “doctored” and said it’s the subject of an investigation. He defended the system, saying that every monument uses nonprofit organizations to help with fundraising efforts.
That was just one of several controversies that battered Bush’s campaign last month.
The Tribune reported that Bush’s West Austin mansion was financed by a major Republican donor’s bank. The 4,000-square-foot home was legally put under the name of a family trust and wasn’t disclosed in Bush’s personal financial statements.
Bush said the obligations to report financial real estate interests do not apply to the kind of trust the house is kept under. He also said it was necessary to conceal his home address because he has received death threats.
The Tribune also reported that the land office contracted with Horne LLP, an Austin-based accounting firm that specializes in providing disaster recovery services to governments, in October after Hurricane Harvey; three days later, Bush received a $27,500 donation from Horne executives.
While no laws prohibit employees of state contractors from making financial donations, some have perceived this gift as a thank you. Ash Wright, a political director for Bush, said trying to say the contracts were connected to political donations is “fake news.”
President Donald Trump endorsed Bush through Twitter last week.
“Texas LC George P. Bush backed me when it wasn’t the politically correct thing to do, and I back him now,” Trump tweeted.
Bush’s opponents have also embraced the president, knocking Trump only for his excessive use of Twitter.
Edwards said he would be “riding the coattails of Trump.”
“You don’t have to have a political portfolio to run for a statewide position,” Edwards told the Tribune. “Trump didn’t have a political portfolio when he ran for President of the United States and nobody thought he was going to win and that’s the same thing that I am getting from the conservative Texans and I think that in itself is going to really surprise a lot of people.”
The winner of the GOP primary will face either energy and natural resources attorney Miguel Suazo or software engineer Tex Morgan, who are running in the Democratic primary for land commissioner. Suazo was leading with 70 percent of the vote in early returns.
Disclosure: Jerry Patterson and the General Land Office have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Source: Texas Tribune Blue Government News
