All Republican candidates who garnered Donald Trump’s endorsement ahead of Tuesday’s primaries in Texas have the former president to thank.
According to a letter from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, they all either won their races outright or are leading ahead of run-off elections in May, including himself.
“I am proud to tell you that every candidate I asked you to endorse won or is solidly in first place going into a runoff. You were 12-0 with your Texas endorsements last night from my list of recommendations,” he noted in a letter to the former president.
“Your key endorsement of strong conservative candidates, who believe in the MAGA policies, who worked hard every day for months was a winning combination over their opponents,” the lieutenant governor said.
He said that he got “more votes than any person on the ballot,” with around 1.4 million votes, which is around 300,000 more votes than he got in the 2018 primaries.
“Your endorsement, along with the most conservative session in history last year, helped me receive more votes than any person on the ballot. I ended with over 1.4 million votes. That is 300,00 votes higher than my 2018 primary and it appears to be an all time record for any candidate ever in a Texas contested primary. I used your endorsement in all of our ads, mailers & was pinned to the top of my Facebook page for months,” Patrick continued.
The lieutenant governor also noted that a former Democrat-turned-Republican from a border region won his race as well.
“Ryan Guillen won last night with 54% of the vote in a 3 way race. He is the bold Democrat that changed parties in the border region. That is something you should be very proud of. That was an historic win that will open the door for more conservative Hispanic Democrats to switch parties,” he said.
“What’s also important to remember is that with a few exceptions when you endorsed early on, there were no guarantees. These were hard fought races,” the lieutenant governor noted.
“I recommended them because I believed in them and I knew your endorsement along with their work ethic and conservative records would get them into the winners circle. They all thank you for your strong total and complete endorsement as I do,” he said.
“I know you also had other big wins in Texas last night as well. No President’s endorsement in history has ever been as powerful as yours,” he added.
Texas Election Update from :
— Natalie Harp
Trump also endorsed Gov. Greg Abbott, who won with 66 percent of the vote in an 8-candidate race.
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