From Greg Abbott to Ted Cruz: Austin-based Mothers PAC identifies new Republican target

In 2021, an Austin mom upset with the state for ending mask mandates in schools, organized a grassroots movement against Texas Republicans with one specific officeholder in mind: Gov. Greg Abbott.

Over the following year, the political action committee Mothers Against Greg Abbott raised $1.6 million; made videos attacking Abbott for his policies on school safety and abortion; and distributed some 30,000 anti-Abbott yard signs — all of it to try to spoil the governor’s reelection bid.

Then the November 2022 election came, and it was like none of it had happened. Abbott sailed to victory over Democratic rival Beto O’Rourke, and Texas Republicans extended their win streak in statewide elections to nearly three decades.

Faced with an uncertain future, Nancy Thompson, founder of Mothers Against Greg Abbott, is nonetheless doubling down on the group’s fight.

A recent campaign finance report shows that in the first six months of this year, after Abbott's election victory, the Mothers PAC raised $171,000 in political donations. During that period, which ran concurrent with the state’s legislative session, the group spent $163,000 — much of it to oppose school vouchers, an Abbott priority that would divert public money to private education.

The group’s latest endeavor is a biggie. It is moving on from Abbott — for now, at least, as he’s not up for reelection until 2026 — and directing its energy at another Texas Republican: U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.

“This is not a person who is voting for Texas,” Thompson said of Cruz, the state's junior senator. “He cares more about voting against Joe Biden than he cares about voting for Texans.”

Cruz, who is seeking reelection in 2024, will be on the ballot for the first time since his narrow win over O’Rourke in 2018, and for the first time since his brush with two political scandals: advancing false claims with other top Republicans that President Joe Biden lost the 2020 presidential election to Donald Trump, and fleeing the country with his family for a Mexican beach in early 2021 during a deadly freeze and blackout in Texas.

The Mothers Against Greg Abbott group is likely to support a Democratic challenger to Cruz, but it hasn’t picked one, Thompson said. The two Democrats running the most visible campaigns are U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, who turned heads by raising $6.2 million in only two months, and state Sen. Roland Gutierrez of San Antonio, who pushed for gun safety reform during the recently ended legislative session, fueled by the 2022 mass school shooting in Uvalde.

Cruz’s campaign did not respond to a message from the American-Statesman about Mothers Against Greg Abbott and the group’s new target.

The group spent $1.6 million against Abbott, campaign finance records show.

Texas’ primary election is scheduled for March 5.

A new name — but not the obvious change

In the transition from Abbott to Cruz, Mothers Against Greg Abbott will keep its name, with the expectation that it will target officeholders in state House and Senate races. In going after Cruz, it will create a separate entity — though not with what seems like an obvious moniker.

Mothers Against Ted Cruz is off the table, as federal campaign laws prohibit a nonconnected committee from using the name of a federal candidate in its name.

After soliciting feedback from members, Thompson said the spinoff group will go by Mothers for Democracy. The transition will take hold soon with a new website and a fundraising push, Thompson said. The group will host a podcast that promotes civic engagement to younger voters, she said.

Thompson, who to this point has relied on volunteers, recently hired two part-time employees. As a group, Mothers Against Greg Abbott counts 61,000 Facebook members.

Broadening its reach to beyond Texas, Thompson said Mothers for Democracy expects to get involved in a second U.S. Senate race in Arizona, to oppose Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Sinema last year changed her party affiliation from Democrat to independent, a move that put her on unfavorable ground with the mothers group.

"I just don't like it when people run as Democrats and then they consistently vote against Democratic issues," Thompson said. "A lot of times, women vote for other women thinking they will represent them."

Mothers to target Houston Democrat Shawn Thierry

As Mothers for Democracy goes after Sinema and Cruz, Mothers Against Greg Abbott will prioritize Texas statehouse races. Thompson said the group will target Republican officeholders in House and Senate races, and at least one Democrat.

That Democrat is Rep. Shawn Thierry of Houston, who came under criticism by House Democrats for breaking from the party in voting for a GOP bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors. Thierry, who has already drawn a challenger in the Democratic primary, also voted with Republicans to remove books with sexually explicit content or sexually relevant material from public schools.

“The fact you can’t count on her upsets me the most,” Thompson said. “She wasn’t using critical thinking skills. It’s not that hard.”

Thierry's campaign did not respond to a Statesman request for comment.

As of midyear, Mothers Against Greg Abbott had $66,000 in unspent funds.

Before it turns to elections, the group will continue to pay close attention to the school vouchers issue, which Abbott says he’ll bring up in a special legislative session later this year. The Mothers PAC opposes a voucher system, which many Democrats fear will destroy public schools to bolster private education.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas elections: political action committee sets sight on Ted Cruz