Back in February, then-gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis attempted to rock the boat by claiming that she supported Texas’ open carry movement.Her opponent Greg Abbott, an already-beloved-by-most Attorney General and popular favorite to win the election, already supported the measure, so perhaps at the time it seemed like a savvy move.
Texans love their guns, but they don’t love them that much. The Texas Democratic Party lashed out against her, Davis lost by 20, and her ill-fated run went down in history as one of the most embarrassing for Texas Democrats.
Now, she’s backpedaling on her open-carry stance. From the Daily Caller:
“There is one thing that I would do differently in that campaign, and it relates to the position that I took on open carry,” Davis told the San Antonio Express-News in her first interview since losing to Republican Greg Abbott last month.“I made a quick decision on that with a very short conversation with my team and it wasn’t really in keeping with what I think is the correct position on that issue,” Davis continued….Davis’ announcement came just weeks after her campaign suffered its first of many major blows when it was reported that she had fibbed about her background.Davis’ new admission on her open carry stance appears to support those critiques.“Though I certainly support people’s right to own and to bear arms in appropriate situations, I fear with open carry, having watched that issue unfold during the campaign, that it will be used to intimidate and cause fear,” Davis told the Express-News.“What I do know is that as an elected public servant, I’ve always been true to my core beliefs. Always. And I’m so proud of that,” she added. “And this was the only time I felt like I’d strayed a bit from that.”
If you look back on Davis’s campaign as a whole, this incident (and it truly was an “incident”—Texas politicos still talk about it) was a flash in the pan that provided a minor distraction from a transparently astroturfed campaign.
I was in Texas before and during the entire midterm cycle. I worked in the legislature for an active and involved representative. The first time I heard more than a peep from Wendy Davis was when she filibustered Texas’ latest abortion law (then subsequently made literally everything about abortion and women’s rights.) Battleground Texas worked overtime with the Davis campaign team and other left-leaning organizations to create hype over this woman. Instead of allowing her to run on her record, they played the rape card, the race card, and even made fun of the fact that her opponent is paralyzed from the waist down.
I’m not quite sure what Davis expected to gain from claiming to support open carry; maybe the support of moderates who were also undecided and single issue voters. But I think we can all agree that there was no need for her to come out and recant her statements about it.
Even fair weather voters know a campaign gimmick when they see one—and she was full of them.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY