Rove Backs Texas Democrat Over Bo French
Rove Backs Texas Democrat Over Bo French
The News
Republican strategist Karl Rove says he will vote for a Democrat in a Texas state race this November rather than support Republican candidate Bo French, whose recent controversy has split the party.
Rove announced the decision in a column published Tuesday in The Wall Street Journal.
"This November, I'll vote for only the second Democrat in my life. The first was Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock in 1994, because I thought he would work with Republicans," Rove wrote, according to The Hill.
Rove is a Fox News contributor and one of the strategists credited with building the modern Texas Republican Party.
Why It Lands Hard
The Washington Post described Rove as "a father of the modern Texas GOP" — making his defection a statement about the direction of the party he helped build, not just one race on one ballot.
Timeline
Rove votes for Democrat Bob Bullock for Texas lieutenant governor, the only time in his life he has backed a Democrat, because he believed Bullock would work with Republicans.
Rove publishes a Wall Street Journal column announcing he will vote against Bo French and warning about the direction of the Republican Party.
The Hill, The Washington Post, PennLive and other outlets pick up the column. Media Matters reports that CNN and MS NOW have covered Rove's warning while Fox News, where he has worked since 2008, has not mentioned it.
Texas voters decide the race.
Reactions
Rove framed his break as a defense of what he says made Texas Republican in the first place. "Republicans turned Texas red by fielding candidates who understood the strength of our state's diverse population and welcomed voters who shared our conservative values," he wrote.
He argued the problem is bigger than one candidate: "The GOP has a growing number of Bo Frenches — and not only in Texas."
PennLive quoted Rove saying the "GOP's stables need a cleaning."
Media Matters, a left-leaning media watchdog, characterized Rove's column as sounding the alarm about a rising tide of racism and antisemitism inside the Republican Party, and criticized Fox News for not covering the warning from its own longtime contributor.
Political Wire and The Washington Post both cast the column as a reckoning over Texas Republicans abandoning what the Post called the party's immigrant-welcoming tradition.
What's Next
The race goes to voters in November. Rove's column puts pressure on other Texas Republicans to say whether they will back French or follow Rove in withholding their vote.
The secondary fight is a media one: whether Fox News addresses on air what its own contributor published in the Journal.
More
Rove has been a Fox News contributor since 2008. Bullock, the Democrat he backed in 1994, served as Texas lieutenant governor and was known for working across the aisle with Republicans — the reason Rove gave for that vote.
Poll
Is Karl Rove right to vote against his own party's candidate?
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