Tea Party in Texas Sees Silver Linings in G.O.P. PrimariesBy MANNY FERNANDEZ and JONATHAN MARTINMARCH 5, 2014
McALLEN, Tex. — There was no Ted Cruz, coming out of nowhere in a blaze of Tea Party fervor, to upend the establishment in a marquee race when Texas Republicans went to the polls Tuesday in the nation’s first round of 2014 primaries.
But even if Republican stalwarts in Congress like Senator John Cornyn and Representative Pete Sessions routed insurgent challengers, the story of the Texas primaries was that anyone thinking the Tea Party had run its course should think again.
While establishment candidates in some of the top races were successful, Texas Republicans continued to tilt ever further right. In the night’s most competitive race, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst won only 28 percent of the vote in his re-election bid to get into a runoff with a conservative talk radio host, State Senator Dan Patrick, who earned 41 percent of the vote. (continued at link below)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/06/us/tea-party-in-texas-sees-silver-linings-in-gop-primaries.html?hp&_r=0