I got a campaign text the other day, telling me a runaway majority of voters in my district were voting for a particular candidate—the one who never shows up for forums, never meets the public if they’re not paying for a fundraising dinner with some of his elite friends, and has no events listed on his website, essentially no way to meet him. I’m guessing they were talking about some push poll, nothing more.
It got me thinking about the empty chair talk Clint Eastwood gave at the national convention back in 2012.
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| Empty chairs for the candidate who didn't show up at CD 38 candidate forums December 1 and 15, 2021 |
I’m not the only one who thought of this image. Just this
weekend another candidate used the idea in an ad.
Here’s another illustration that occurs to me.
 |
| illustration found here |
There are plenty of reasons I don’t think the push poll bears any resemblance to reality. The main one is that the candidate is an empty suit—at the same time that we have an extremely qualified candidate we can choose instead. And we really do not like Washington, DC, telling us what to do or who we’re supposed to vote for.
I thought it might be useful to make a table to compare the
candidates on various issues. It turns out that anyone running as a Republican
says they’ll do all the right things on the main conservative issues. They’re
the same. But when you fill out what they’ve done to prove it, and whose there
to back them up on that, one candidate’s table is full; meanwhile the empty
suit’s table is pretty empty. I have used information from forums, printed materials,
social media, and websites. But I have not gone into great detail beyond the
two main candidates, because I had heard the others in various forums enough to
make a clear decision. The table is mainly to show the stark differences
between Mark Ramsey and Wesley Hunt.
Y means yes, the candidate expresses what we would consider
the conservative position; for Action History it means yes, he has a history of
work on this issue; for Relevant Endorsements it means yes, organizations or people working
on that issue stand behind the candidate. A dash means there’s nothing there (or I didn't find anything).
Any other answer I’ve tried to cover below.
|
Issues ↓ /
Candidates → |
Mark Ramsey |
Washington Wesley |
Other Candidates |
|
Pro-Life |
Y |
Y |
Y |
|
·
Action
History |
Y |
— |
— |
|
·
Relevant
Endorsements |
Y |
Y |
— |
|
Secure the Border |
Y |
Y |
Y |
|
·
Action
history |
Y |
— |
— |
|
·
Relevant
Endorsements |
Y |
— |
— |
|
2nd Amendment |
Y |
Y |
Y |
|
·
Action
History |
Y |
— |
— |
|
·
Relevant
Endorsements |
Y |
— |
— |
|
Election Integrity |
Y |
Y |
Y |
|
·
Action
History |
Y |
— |
— |
|
·
Relevant
Endorsements |
Y |
— |
— |
|
School Choice |
Y |
Y |
Y |
|
·
Action
History |
Y |
— |
— |
|
·
Relevant
Endorsements |
Y |
— |
— |
|
Energy Independence |
Y |
? |
Y |
|
·
Action
History |
Y |
— |
— |
|
·
Relevant
Endorsements |
Y |
— |
— |
|
Free Market Economy |
Y |
Y |
Y |
|
·
Action
History |
Y |
— |
— |
|
·
Relevant
Endorsements |
Y |
Y |
— |
|
Limited Government |
Y |
? |
mostly |
|
·
Action
History |
Y |
— |
— |
|
·
Relevant
Endorsements |
Y |
— |
— |
|
Grassroots Involvement |
Y |
— |
— |
|
·
Action
History |
Y |
— |
A
couple |
|
·
Relevant
Endorsements |
Y |
— |
— |
What you see is that everyone who’s going to run on the Republican ticket is telling voters they are pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment, pro-limited government, pro-free-market economy. If they weren’t saying those things, they wouldn’t be trying to get the vote of conservatives. But, as Mark Ramsey frequently says,
Most politicians say, “Trust me with what I want to
do.” I say, “Listen to what others say about what I’ve already done.”
Mark Ramsey has been working on all of these issues for
decades. He has worked to get them in the platform, where they could direct our
state legislators, and chaired the state Platform Committee in 2018. When that
wasn’t enough, he helped implement—and chaired—the state Legislative Priorities
Committee. He has worked, campaigned, and testified on a number of issues. He
has helped write the actual legislation for some 50 bills.
In energy, he’s especially qualified, with an exemplary
career as an oil & gas engineer. And, as he says, “engineers are problem
solvers.” He can do more than tell you what went wrong when we had the great
freeze of 2021; he can tell you what should be done to prevent a repeat. And he
can also show you how using our resources, we can innovate better, cleaner
energy—without devastating our economy. Hunt doesn’t mention energy policy as
an issue; we know he doesn’t have expertise on it.
You don’t have to just take Mark’s word for who he is.
There’s a long line of people standing behind him, endorsing him.
For Pro-Life, he has the endorsement of Texas Right to Life, what you might call the gold standard. He also has the endorsements of Bradley Pierce, president of Abolish Abortion Texas, and J. R. Haas, representing Abolish Abortion here locally—one of our precinct chairs, who was elected as a national delegate in 2020.
 |
| from the endorsements page of RamseyforTexas.com |
Washington Wesley does have an endorsement in this category:
Texas Alliance for Life. I don’t know that group personally, but I approve of
their mission; it's interesting to note that their website shows their featured speaker for
February is Dade Phelan.
While we’re at it, let’s mention up front the rest of
Washington Wesley’s endorsements: a congressman from the Texas panhandle, a
local conservative radio host who I suspect doesn’t live in the district, and
Americans for Prosperity, a Koch Brothers-supported organization. And he got
endorsements from GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, former CD 2
Representative Ted Poe, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Tim Scott (South Carolina),
Mike Pompeo, James Baker, Rep. Elise Stefanik, and Rep. Steve Scalise, most
from outside the state, let alone District 38, and who took the advice of the
Washington political machine without vetting the other candidates.
Hunt did get one endorsement to be congratulated for: Texas
Fraternal Order of Police. Again, note that they endorsed him for standing
behind the police—as do all of the GOP candidates in the race—and they do
not mention why they chose him over the others. Mark Ramsey’s endorsements all
chose him as the best in the field, because they have known him and vetted him.
Hunt’s website mentions no other endorsements.
I put a ? on the chart for Hunt on Limited Government. He says he'll hold the line on out-of-control spending. I think that's not enough. We need to limit government to the enumerated powers in the Constitution. Guess who knows the Constitution—and shares it every chance he gets? Mark Ramsey.
For 2nd Amendment, Mark Ramsey is a member
of GOA-Texas (Gun Owners of America) and has A-ratings from the National Rifle Association.
He’s been an NRA member his entire adult life. And he’s been a member of the
Tomball Gun Club just as long. These organizations generally do not endorse.
But if they did, Mark would qualify. Meanwhile, Hunt has a sentence on his
website declaring his strong support of the 2nd Amendment but
mentions no affiliations.
 |
Mark Ramsey got the endorsement of several members of the Texas Freedom Caucus. These come against the advice of campaign consultants, who say you’re better off never endorsing; these elected officials wanted to put their name behind Mark Ramsey anyway.
There are other state officials as well. With all the Texas
flavor you’d expect, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller says,
“Mark is a great American. A great Texan and my
friend. Mark is a true patriot. Mark is the kind of guy that if he told me he
needed me to go with him and charge hell with water pistols, I would do it!”
When you get down to grassroots involvement, you see the
biggest differences. In the large field of candidates, there is one other who
has been a precinct chair, who has been to the last several district and state
conventions. There’s an additional one who has served as a poll worker. That’s
the sum total.
Washington Wesley ran two years ago, winning the primary but
losing the election in a district that had only had one term being represented
by a Democrat. In the interim, he didn’t attend any Republican Party meetings.
He didn’t testify on any issues at a convention or at the legislature. You
can’t say he was MIA—missing in action—because there wasn’t any action. Did I mention,
he doesn’t live in CD 38? That isn’t a legal disqualifier in a US Congressional
race, oddly. But Mark Ramsey has lived in this area most of his life—at least 40
years before the district boundaries were drawn around him.
As for grassroots, it’s hard to list all of Mark Ramsey’s
volunteer, unpaid contributions. Here are just a few:
· Presidential Electoral College (2020): He
wrote, defended, and passed a resolution—the first in Electoral College
history—condemning the Supreme Court for refusing to take the Texas election
integrity case that was joined by 17 other states.
· State Republican Executive Committeeman for
Senate District 7 (2012-2020; term-limited out); he served on or chaired multiple
committees, including the Rules Committee, Resolutions Committee, Candidate
Resource Committee, and Legislative Priorities Committee.
· Chaired the State Platform Committee
(2018) and the State Legislative Priorities Committee (2020).
· Served on the State Platform Committee
2012-2018, chairing subcommittees on Education (2012), Strengthening Our
Economy (2014), and Preserving American Freedom (2016). As Chair in 2018,
he restructured the platform to align with State Senate committees to encourage
legislation, and he changed party rules to facilitate section-by-section floor
debate.
· Harris County Republican Leadership Council
2013-2014.
· Texas Freedom Caucus (2017) (served as Chief
of Staff for a representative).
· Board of Directors, Conservative Coalition of
Harris County 2014-2016.
· Precinct Chair, election judge, campaign
volunteer, citizen lobbyist testifying on bills before the legislature, and
more.
So you can see why a long list of SREC members and former
members have endorsed him. Add in a few special credentials like
· various Tea Party group leaders.
· Rick Green, “America’s Constitution Coach”,
Patriot Academy, & “Host of David Barton’s Wallbuilders Live! Radio.”
· Dr. Robin Armstrong, Republican Party of Texas,
National Committeeman.
· Maria Espinoza, co-founder of The Remembrance Project and host of the Maria Espinoza Show.
And a long list of current and former precinct chairs. Of precinct chairs who have declared their support for a candidate, the current percentage is 77% for Ramsey—more than seven-fold the number for Hunt. Hunt has almost as many undecideds who say “but not Hunt” as he has decideds who support him.
And a whole lot of conservative voters support Mark Ramsey. This
past Saturday, while block walking, Mark Ramsey talked with a voter who had a
yard sign out for a different candidate; he traded it in for a Ramsey sign.
That’s what happens when you meet him and learn who he really is.
We Texans really do not like being told what to do by
Washington, DC. When it comes to who will represent us in Washington, they’d
better get out of our way; we can make better decisions than Washington can
make for us.
Washington picked out who they wanted our candidate to be.
They’ve put their money there, on a candidate who looks good, and who says
he’ll do all the things conservatives want—but who has no actual track record
doing that. He served in the Army as a helicopter pilot, and we thank him and
honor him for his service. But not everybody who serves in the military is
qualified to represent us as our legislator. We definitely don’t want someone
so lacking in that experience that he will succumb to the will of the
Washington elites who think they are appointing him.
We can wish him well, and hope he gets enough experience to
fill out his suit by some future election. But this is not the election for
that. This is the first election for our new district. If we choose someone
young, inexperienced, unqualified—but bound to the Washington elites—we might
never get out from under that controlling thumb.
And our alternative is the most qualified, tested, man of
integrity we could hope for: Mark Ramsey
for CD 38. Learn more and volunteer at RamseyforTexas.com.
It might be the most important thing you do this primary election.
