Reuters: U.S.: Dewhurst takes early lead in Senate race in Texas

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Dewhurst takes early lead in Senate race in Texas May 30th 2012, 02:41 By Corrie MacLaggan AUSTIN, Texas | Tue May 29, 2012 10:41pm EDT AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst took an early lead over Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz in a hotly contested Republican U.S. Senate primary on Tuesday, but the margin was not yet enough to avoid a July runoff. The nine-candidate primary for the open seat being vacated by Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison also includes former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, who was in third place in early returns. If no candidate draws more than 50 percent of the vote, there will be a runoff on July 31. The Republican primary is key because Texas has not elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994. Dewhurst had about 47 percent of the vote and Cruz about 30 percent with 12.6 percent of the precincts counted, according to unofficial results on the Texas Secretary of State website. National conservative groups such as Club for Growth poured money into Cruz's campaign, emboldened by wins from insurgent conservatives against traditional Republicans in Senate primaries elsewhere in the country. In Indiana, a candidate backed by the conservative Tea Party movement beat longtime U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, and in Nebraska, first-time statewide candidate Deb Fischer beat a veteran attorney general. The Texas race became a battle over who was the most conservative, with Republican Governor Rick Perry backing Dewhurst and former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin endorsing Cruz. Dewhurst, who loaned his campaign $9.2 million, according to his campaign, was the frontrunner. He had the support of the Texas Conservatives Fund - backed by Dallas banker Harold Simmons and Houston builder Bob Perry - which reported spending $2.3 million on ads against Cruz. A businessman and a former state land commissioner who has served in the U.S. Air Force and with the CIA, Dewhurst has presided over the Texas Senate since 2003. Cruz, a Houston lawyer whose father came to Texas from Cuba, criticized Dewhurst for compromising with Democrats in the state Senate. A former Texas solicitor general, Cruz drew support from groups such as the Club for Growth, which spent $3.6 million since last December to help him, according to regulatory filings and recent statements from the group. San Antonio voter Eileen Niery arrived at a polling place on Tuesday in a car with a Cruz bumper sticker. "I am here to throw out all the 'RINOs"," she said, a reference to those branded by conservatives as a Republican in Name Only. "Texas is a conservative state. I'd like to see some conservatives in there, for a change." (Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; Additional reporting by Jim Forsyth, Alexander Cohen, Alina Selyukh and Marice Richter; Editing by Paul Simao) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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