AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Matthew Dowd, a former political advisor to Republican President George W. Bush, is running as a Democrat for Texas lieutenant governor.
The onetime chief strategist to Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign made the announcement Wednesday.
He enters the race as a heavy underdog challenger to Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a firebrand who in two terms as second-in-command has driven the Texas Capitol to the hard right over guns, abortion and immigration.
Dowd worked for Texas’ last Democratic lieutenant governor, Bob Bullock, in the 1990s before joining Bush’s team. He later broke with the former president and worked as an analyst for ABC News. No Democrat has won a statewide election in Texas in more than 25 years.
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