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Anatomy of a ‘Shocking’ GOP 3:04 PM 09/25/2018
Matt Mackowiak, Founder,
Victory in a Blue Wave Potomac Strategy Group, The Daily Caller

Republican candidates are wondering what the Eight candidates filed. Three Republicans, including
midterm political environment will mean for hundreds Flores, as well as three high-profile Democrats: Former
of contested federal, state and local races in six weeks’ Congressman and former State Texas Democratic Rep.
time. Pete Gallego and current San Antonia Democratic State
Reps. Roland Gutierrez and Tómas Uresti, the brother of
Perhaps a special election this past Tuesday offered
Carlos.
some clues — and a playbook for Republican success.
Experts were confident no Republican could win.
Three years ago, a group from San Antonio that included
the godfather of the Bexar County GOP, Jim Lunz, But after earning the support and help of several
and former Bexar County Judge and state Sen. Cindi major players, including Texas Right to Life and Texas
Krier went down to Atascosa County to meet a former Republican officials Sen. John Cornyn, Lt. Gov. Dan
Game Warden, Pete Flores, with two local families: the Patrick, Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Greg Abbott, the
Knowltons and the DuBoses. Together, they tried to GOP rallied around Flores before the July 31 election
convince him to undergo a Kamikaze mission by running occurred.
for State Senate in a heavily Democratic seat.
Flores was in third place through the early vote, but
In Flores’ modest home in Pleasanton, Texas, located he won an astounding 48 percent of the votes cast on
in the Eagle Ford, they began persuading him to July 31, pushing him not only into the runoff but earning
run against incumbent State Senator Carlos Uresti him first place with 34 percent. Gallego would earn
(D-Helotes). Over time, he agreed. At the time, none of 29 percent, and Gutierrez ended up with 24 percent,
them could know what that this initial meeting would missing the runoff.
lead to a historic election victory and a winning model
Gutierrez and Gallego combined to spend more than
for Republican candidates across the country in their bid
$650,000 in that first round. Conversely, the Flores
to defy history and maintain control of Congress.
campaign spent only $50,000, choosing to deploy its
Pete Flores ran for State Senate in 2016, at a time when limited resources primarily into two strategic areas:
Hillary Clinton would win that district by 12 percent. a solid cable buy on Fox News across the district and
Two years earlier, Greg Abbott carried the district by radio ads on a range of urban and rural radio stations
0.1 percent on the way to a landslide election victory as with conservative audiences.
Governor.
Despite that first-place finish, experts in San Antonio
In Flores’ 2016 bid, few gave him a chance. But he and Austin were convinced Gallego could not lose the
ran because someone needed to step up and he felt runoff.
convicted to do so. Pete was tired of the corruption
Flores would often hear the same arguments
of the “patron” system in South Texas that had lasted
regurgitated:
generations, and he wanted to do his part to change it.
“It’s a 60–40 district.”
With low name identification and limited funds, Uresti
defeated Flores 56 percent to 40 percent, but Flores
“If you add the Gallego and Gutierrez votes together, it’s
earned more than 97,000 votes on a bare-bones
more than enough for Gallego to win.”
campaign. And he made an impression with the people
of South and West Texas. “Gallego has 100 percent name identification.”

Soon there were rumblings that Sen. Uresti could face But the Flores campaign believed.
an indictment for corruption, and indeed he did, and
the trial ended with his conviction on 11 felony counts. I joined the campaign as the general consultant in May.
After needlessly delaying the inevitable, Uresti resigned Having known Pete since early 2017, we bonded over
and Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called an this opportunity and from the beginning, we both
emergency special election for July 31. believed he could win. Together, with some incredibly
(continued on the next page)

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