Rep. Nathan Macias, R-Bulverde, is calling off his legal challenge to his primary loss, meaning Doug Miller is officially the Republican running in that seat. Macias has decided it would cost to much to continue the challenge; he’s still complaining that there were mis-votes and double-votes, and still pointing fingers at Miller’s sister-in-law, but those legal fees are just too much to handle.
Macias took a 17 vote margin-of-error loss to Miller in the March primary, going down 14,667 (49.98%) to 14,684 (50.02%). What made this more surprising was that he’d picked up a series of heavy-hitter business (Texans for Fiscal Responsibility), anti-choice (Texas Right to Life, Texas Alliance for Life) and gun advocacy (National Rifle Association, Texas State Rifle Association) PAC endorsements. He ran a brutal “Miller is a really a tax-and-tax-and-tax Demmycrat” campaign. Plus, he got some whopping big contributions from Speaker Tom Craddick’s Texas Builds Jobs and Opportunity PAC and GOP sugar daddy Jim Leininger. But somehow, that still wasn’t enough to beat away a challenge from the Edwards Aquifer Authority Chairman and former mayor of New Braunfels.
It’s easy to imagine that Carter Casteel, the Republican incumbent that Macias forced out after a bitter primary in 2006, has been watching with interest. Especially since she only lost to Macias by 46 votes.
This article appears in May 16 • 2008.
