Murphy Nasica
Most Valuable Consultant

The numbers say it all for the one-stop consulting shop that the Texas House candidates with the money want to hire. Twenty-five wins. Three losses. Seven in primary runoffs including six who finished first in round one. That's the Murphy Nasica box score on the Legislature's lower chamber battlefield alone in the GOP primary election here on March 1. The group posted an overall record of 31-4-7 when a half-dozen clients who won state Senate and congressional primaries are calculated into the mix.

With Craig Murphy and Matt Brownfield as the team's top two leaders, the Austin-based strategy firm is a slam-dunk for most valuable player on the Texas Political Consultants Scorecard for round one in 2022. State Rep. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City arguably turned in the most impressive performance by a Murphy Nasica legislative contender in the primary election this year. Congressional District 8 primary winner Morgan Luttrell of Magnolia was in the same league of signature victories for the firm in the first round here.

You could make the case that Murphy Nasica scored its biggest win of all in the 2022 primary election with a candidate who had no opposition. The fact that Speaker Dade Phelan had a clear path to the nomination in House District 21 was nothing less than remarkable given Donald Trump's vow to field a primary foe to run to the far right of the Beaumont Republican. Trump threatened to take the Texas speaker out for revenge after a cold shoulder from the Texas speaker last year on a forensic election audit measure. But failed to deliver - possibly because he could see in advance that a loss to Phelan would ruin his ability to claim a perfect record with primary endorsements here this year like he's doing now. The undefeated record that the ex-president is claiming for the Texas primary's opening round would be 28-1 with five Trump-certified candidates here doing battle in runoffs this spring.

Murphy Nasica has more partners that most law firms with Craig Murphy, Matthew Brownfield, Justin Epker, Ross Hunt, Stephanie Oliphant, Joey Parr, Blake Reynolds and Sam Spahn as the team's top-shelf names. The company's list of services cover most every imaginable base from general consulting to advertising to analytics and grassroots support. One of the specialties that Murphy Nasica doesn't market is the ability to help incumbents avoid primary challenges before they materialize. Phelan was only one of 14 House Republicans who ran unopposed in the first round with the firm as a consultant.

The Murphy Nasica list of GOP representatives who staved off primary foes this month features State Reps. Steve Allison of San Antonio, Greg Bonnen of Friendswood, Gary Gates of Rosenberg, Justin Holland of Heath, Ken King of Canadian and David Spiller of Jacksboro. State Reps. Reggie Smith of Sherman and Lynn Stucky of Sanger enlisted the firm for a grassroots push in primary races that appeared to be going to the wire.

Guillen stood out from the pack as a border-area lawmaker who served almost 20 years in the House as a Democrat before a bolt to the GOP late last year. Guillen appeared to be at risk of overtime before crushing his closest competitor by more than 22 points with nearly 57 percent of the vote. Luttrell may have the most star potential in the Murphy Nasica candidate lineup for 2022 as a former Navy SEAL who beat the designated conservative by almost 30 points in an open CD 8 race in the Houston area with 52 percent of the primary vote.

U.S. Reps. John Carter of Georgetown, Jake Ellzey of Midlothian and Kay Granger of Fort Worth cruised to first-round wins in re-election races with the firm's help. Itasca Republican Angelia Orr won the nomination in an open state House race. State Rep. Kyle Kacal of College Station is the only incumbent that the do-it-all consulting firm represents in a runoff in May. The company has Justin Berry of Austin, Barron Casteel of New Braunfels, Eliza Chan of San Antonio, Frederick Frazier of McKinney, Stan Gerdes of Smithville and Jamee Jolly of Plano dueling GOP rivals in OT this spring.

Murphy Nasica also represented the Associated Republicans of Texas, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Texans for Responsible Government, Charles Butt Public Education PAC, Texas Alliance for Life, Texas Farm Bureau, Texas Association of Business, Conservative Veterans PAC, Fort Worth Police Officers Association, Austin Police Association and the Protect and Serve Texas PAC.

Runner Up: Jordan Berry & Travis McCormick
Berry Communications, Republican

Primary winners: State Reps. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock, Cole Hefner of Mount Pleasant, Lacey Hull of Houston, Mike Schofield of Katy, Matt Shaheen of Plano and Reggie Smith of Sherman in re-election races. State Rep. Mayes Middleton of Galveston in an open Texas Senate race. Richard Hayes of Denton in an open House race. Runoffs: Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian in a re-election race. Caroline Harris of Austin, Carrie Isaac of San Marcos, Carl Tepper of Lubbock, Ellen Troxclair of Austin and Terri Leo-Wilson of Galveston in open Texas House races. Organizations: Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Texans for Responsible Government and Texas Optometrist PAC.

Keats Norfleet
Most Valuable Campaign

The road that connects Aggieland to the Capital City had been littered for several years with dead campaigns that conservatives had run against GOP State Rep. John Raney of College Station. Raney's foes on the far right saw him as cross between a Republican in name only and a dinosaur who they seemed to really believe they could beat.

The right-wing appeared to have given up on House District 14 when Raney ran unopposed in the primary election two years ago. Raney thought he'd be getting a free pass again in round one in 2022 before lightning struck on the day of the filing deadline in December when John Henry Slocum entered the ring from out of the blue.

As the son of beloved former Texas A&M University football coach R.C. Slocum, the last-minute challenger may have been the last person in town that Raney wanted to run against. The elder Slocum had won more games than any other Aggies football coach including the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant himself.

Raney faced a novel challenge as an incumbent who suddenly found himself playing a name game for the first time in a legislative career that's spanned almost a dozen years. That when and why Raney enlisted veteran GOP strategist Keats Norfleet to guide him through the unplowed field of clover that Slocum presented in a bid for a seventh term in the Texas Legislature's lower chamber.

Norfleet - for starters - would give Raney a consultant who could help keep him calm. Norfleet is ice water in the veins personified when it comes to steady, focussed and serious. He's second to none in the art of checking the emotion at the door for the sake of navigating with a clear view. More importantly perhaps, Norfleet knows how important it is for candidates to run like they're behind - even when they have every reason to believe they're going to win.

Norfleet realized that Raney didn't need to waste a lot of time touting his votes for the most conservative agenda in the history of the state. Critical race theory paranoia is tough to find in a city that revolves on a massive public university that has its own race and ethnic studies institute in the college of liberal arts. Norfleet understands that most incumbents are usually going to be safe if they've been representing his district faithfully. The only key to victory in Raney's case would be to remind the people in HD 14 how he's always done his best to accomplish that.

Heading into the final stretch before the March 1 primary vote, Norfleet felt like Raney would survive to fight another day. But Norfleet also figured that the race could be very close - and he knew that Slocum appeared to have a very real chance to win. Capitol Inside had the Raney race ranked as a toss up in the closing weeks before switching the call to Slocum on the the eve of the election.

The final score showed Raney with 57.07 percent of the vote in the GOP primary in HD 14. Slocum had 42.93 percent. How's that for close!

The Norfleet Strategies primary winners circle also included GOP State Reps. Ernest Bailes of Shepherd and Stan Lambert of Abilene along with Angelia Orr of Itasca in an open House race. Norfleet's runoff roster features State Senator Dawn Buckingham of Lakeway in a bid for land commissioner and Shelley Barineau of Houston in an open Texas House contest.

Runner Up: Eddie Aldrete
MAP, Democrat

Primary winner: Lulu Flores of Austin in open Texas House race. Winners: U.S. Reps. Lloyd Doggett of Austin and Sylvia Garcia of Houston. Runoffs: Morgan LaMantia of Harlingen in open Senate race and Alexandra Guio of Dallas in open state House race

Female state rep with blue hair no more wins shot at incumbent Dan Patrick as street fighter who ousted bathroom bill sponsor in 2018 blue wave.

Irradiated incumbent who lives and dies with Trump survives land boss with famous name as Guzman and Gohmert voters stay home or fish.

Hispanic female thrashes white male foe despite cash disadvantage as candidate with best chance to win Democrats' first statewide post in 24 years.

Gutsiest candidate ever pulls off all-time comeback after stripping way into contention with no cash on paper and secret weapon GOP can't see.

Senator who's white suburban mom, eye doctor and and rising star pummels Black PhD who has no prayer even though Allen West is on team now.

Latina with LULAC support and catchy name routs while man who gets no boost from King Ranch heritage and Beto O'Rourke association.

White woman survives spirited surge by Hispanic male who falls short at finish line in statewide fight Dems have least chance to win in November.

Congressional District 28 - DEM
Henry Cuellar 48% vs. Jessica Cisneros 47%

AOC-backed female sends most Republican Democrat packing with FBI probe worth more than desperate attempts to exploit broken hearts.

Senate District 24 - GOP
Pete Flores 46% vs. Raul Reyes 33%

Ex-senator rides Dan Patrick wings to narrow win over conservative alternative who came close to upset in 2020 Congress bid with no cigar.

Senate District 27 - DEM
Morgan LaMantia 34% vs. Sara Barrera 33%

Progressive Stapleton-Barrera who gave Lucio Jr. tough fight wins by hair unless male state rep pitches support to be beer family scion.