When East Austin lawyer Brian Thompson spoke to the Chronicle this week, he was being cagey but optimistic about filing to take on Rep. Dawnna Dukes, D-Austin, in a primary challenge. Talking about waiting until much nearer Christmas, it was very wait-and-see. Well, looks like Christmas is coming early for him. Inviting the press corps to Vivo’s next Tuesday at 6.30pm, Thompson announced this morning he “will make an announcement regarding my intentions for House District 46.”
Noting that he’s already rustled up $6,500 in campaign contributions before there’s even a real campaign, he restated what has quickly become his pre-campaign campaign mantra: “the incumbent’s endorsement of Republican Speaker Tom Craddick’s failed ideology of starving public schools and denying children health care.”
It’s not been the best week for Dukes. She was photographed in a Las Vegas hotel, which set the blogosphere afire and has her people furious about what they call lies about their candidate. This came after a Texas Weekly article that accused her of campaign finance impropriety, which her people say was accidental and they are correcting. As for the bitterness of the internal challenges, Dukes’ communication director Colin Strother said “I think it’s just going to be that kind of campaign season.”
This article appears in December 14 • 2007.
