Donald Trump and Robin Armstrong join forces on experimental covid drug. Photo - Robin Armstrong campaign site

 

 

Robin Armstrong Gives State Rep
Significant Competition in SD 11

Capitol Inside
December 1, 2021

GOP State Rep. Mayes Middleton won't have a clear path to the Texas Senate after the emergence on Wednesday of longtime party activist Robin Armstrong as a candidate in the primary election for the seat that State Senator Larry Taylor is giving up in 2022.

Armstrong has been a force in state politics for most of the past two decades - having served four years as the vice-chairman of the Texas Republican Party until a leadership change in 2010. Governor Greg Abbott appointed Armstrong to the Texas Finance Commission in 2019 for a term that ends in February.

A physician who's based in the Galveston County city of Dickinson, Armstrong made headlines last year touting hydroxychloroquine for use on COVID-19 patients. He won over Donald Trump with the pitch for the medication that's used to treat malaria.

But Armstrong faces an imposing challenge in a bid for Senate District 11 with Middleton as a potentially insurmountable obstacle by virtue of his family wealth and right-wing resume as a Texas Freedom Caucus member in his second term as a representative. Middleton appeared to back Taylor out of a re-election race amid the threat of $5 million war chest that would be used to paint the incumbent as a liberal.

Middleton filed on Tuesday for a spot on the GOP primary ballot in Texas in the race for SD 11. Armstrong signed up to run for Taylor's seat today. Taylor had been planning to seek another term until the sudden cancellation of his campaign on Tuesday.

Armstrong, who's Black, might need Trump and Abbott both in his corner for the Senate race to have a shot in a fight with a political behemoth like Middleton. While Armstrong and his wife are both medical doctors, the newly-minted candidate isn't wealthy by current Texas standards.

But Middleton could have Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick on his side of the ring based on perceptions at the statehouse after remaining silent on the bullying of Taylor out of a chamber where he'd been one of most powerful allies until now. Patrick issued a statement praising Taylor and his work in the Senate where he'd been the Public Education Committee chairman since the lieutenant governor's debut session in 2015.

It seems unlikely that Middleton would declare ear on a Patrick lieutenant without the presiding officer's personal blessings.

more to come ...

 

 


 

 

 


 

 

 

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