Pratt: Judging the Republican Texas 19th Congressional District race

I’ve been asked more than once why I have not been dedicating much time, early on, to the Texas 19^th Congressional District race to nominate a Republican to take the seat now held by retiring U.S. Representative Jodey Arrington. My answer to people asking has been uncharacteristically muddled. 

A veteran elected official from the area called me during the big snow and freeze and brought up the TX19 race, prefacing the subject with a statement similar to this: “I know you and I aren’t so into this race but, there is something really weird about it.”  

Little did the person know that I had been struggling for a couple of weeks, and that day even, with how to write this column. I’m not certain the caller used the exact term “weird” but it was similar and weird is the word that had been bouncing around in my mind about the race as I tried to put my thoughts to print. 

The foremost reason that I, a person never known to have a problem publicly giving political opinion, have had difficulty on the race is that I am also known for giving opinion that I can back up easily with evidence. In the TX19 race, there are many things about some candidates that my instinct, born of a lifetime of political involvement, tells me are true and alarming, but for which I cannot put forward publicly with hard evidence to support. And if I can’t back it up, I don’t want to say it. 

For that reason, I am going to stick with the most basic analysis – sort of the classic William F. Buckley idea of supporting the most legitimate conservative candidate in the race. 

When I began walking door-to-door for the Republican Party and its candidates in the 1980’s, the most common objection I heard from voters this: They all say they will be conservative, do this or that, or be the proverbial man-of-the-people if elected but most don’t follow through once in office. 

That complaint has not much changed in forty years. 

So how does one decide which candidate from among many is most likely to remain approachable by grassroots constituents and true to conservative values?

The legal phrase required in financial services advertising is instructive: “Past performance is not indicative of future results.” While that may be true, past performance is the strongest evidence we have as an objective measure. Anything else is speculation, hope, and often an unwarranted, or unearned, trust in a candidate’s claims. 

Only one candidate in this GOP Congressional race has a vote and governing record developed under the pressure of holding office. Two others have very long records of political involvement and two others relatively short records of such. And the final two of the seven running have little to no discernible record of having been working for issues in the political sphere in a significant way.

Here are the candidates with comment about each: 

Jim Bob Barbee is an electrician who has deep roots in Hawley and Abilene. Crystal King with Wildfire Radio in Abilene posted a nice interview with Barbee. What I noticed in the interview was that among his first comments was bragging that his biggest customers are “most” of the school districts and other government agencies. Barbee also said that “money has corrupted our political process” and that he is “the only candidate who hasn’t asked for or accepted a donation.” That’s a nice sentiment but ignores the reality that raising campaign money is a fundamental way to test your message in the marketplace of ideas. Campaigns that have no money are doomed to not being able to communicate a candidates’ ideas and beliefs to voters. https://www.jbforcongress.net/

Matt Smith, owner of Fat Matt Roofing, has not been deeply involved in fighting for reform or conservative issues in the political sphere over these past tumultuous years according to his website biography. However, Smith’s vocation as a pastor, business owner, rancher, and family man undergirds his conservative credentials. His issues of concern are mainstream conservative Republican and he is a serious candidate worthy of consideration. Smith’s only negative is that we’ve never seen him cast votes under the pressure that such could cause distress for his businesses or family; there is simply no record demonstrating his commitment limited government and conservatism in action. https://www.fatmattsmithforcongress.com/
Hear Matt Smith in an interview with me on Pratt on Texas.

Ryan Zink ran in the Republican Primary for this same seat, challenging Jodey Arrington in 2024, and pulled only 3.1 percent of the vote, last in a four-way race. There is a good interview with Zink at bigcountryhomepage.com with much about his involvement in the January 6^th debacle at the U.S. Capitol in 2021. The story reminds that Zink was quoted on video saying: “We knocked down the gates. We’re storming the Capitol. You can’t stop us.” For some that may be reason to back him but to me it shows a massive lack of judgment. https://ryanzink.vote/

Donald May is a retired eye surgeon and was a major in the U.S. Air Force serving at the center of military medicine, Wilford Hall, in San Antonio – he was the first retina surgeon in the Air Force. May served on the faculties of several major medical schools and was an associate dean at the Texas Tech School of Medicine. May has not held political office so he has no vote or governing record but, I have known Dr. May for over two decades and can attest to him being a strong political conservative and a serious conservative thinker. There is much on his website about his political and career work. May has a long history of getting in the fight for conservative causes at both the local and national levels. https://www.donaldmayforcongress.com/

Abraham Enriquez is an ACU graduate and is by far smoothest political talker in the race. If he’s had a serious career job other than running a political group, it is not listed on his website. The young activist has obtained an impressive array of political group endorsements but one would expect such as these are essentially his professional colleagues. One of the more interesting issues surrounding Enriquez is about how far his pro-Trump political group goes to bring in money. A respected media group, Melenio, out of Monterrey, Mexico provided documents and testimony in story a year ago that suggested his group, Bienvenido, is making money by selling access to Trump Administration officials [There is an English version from The Latin Times.] While Bienvenido categorically denied the charges, its statement never addressed the actual brochure photos published in the original story.

Frankly, it is troubling how much of a splashy show of political work goes with Enriquez but how little actual information there is on what Bienvenido actually has done, and does. Enriquez’s political work seems to be appearing on social media in photos with people in Trump’s orbit and attending exclusive Trump functions. Enriquez has no governing record, no record in business that is ever mentioned, and it seems his way of making a living is as Washington-swampy as can be.

Major update on Abraham Enriquez from the top investigative media outlet in DC, the Washington Examiner (not a liberal media outlet by the way): Hispanic conservatives accuse House GOP hopeful of defrauding donors and activists. Before anyone says this is all an election hit, note that the things in the stories, including the Mexican press story, came from well before Enriquez was a candidate for anything and well before anyone knew Jodey Arrington would be stepping down from TX19. https://abrahamenriquez.com/

Tom Sell is a very respected lobbyist for agricultural interests. He is a known quantity and longtime partner of former Texas-19 Congressman Larry Combest. Townhall recently ran a story on Sell’s candidacy with this headline: An ‘America First’ Conservative… Who Loves Giving to Democrats? Introducing a Republican Running in TX-19. The story says, “Critics call him a classic ‘swamp creature,’ a former George W. Bush staffer with a long history of backroom deals with the left.” I know many people who think the world of Sell but it is hard to argue that he’s functionally anything but a Washington swamp insider who is as happy to deal with Democrats as Republicans. Sell has donated almost $18,000 to Democrats with very liberal positions and backed liberal Republicans such as Mitt Romney and John McCain. I certainly believe that Sell could do the job but there is little to indicate that he would be a movement conservative in Congress and plenty to indicate that he’d be another professional swamp swimmer. https://www.selltexastrue.com/
Hear Tom Sell in an interview with me on Pratt on Texas.

Jason Corley is the Lubbock County commissioner who provided leadership statewide in defeating county property tax increases. He actually bothered to read the law (funny how few ever do) and noticed that it provided a specific manner for any two county commissioners to force a county to adopt the No New Revenue Rate, blocking an annual property tax increase. Not only has he successfully done this in Lubbock County more than once, Harris County taxpayers were spared a big property tax increase in 2019 when two Republican commissioners were inspired by Corley’s effort and did the same in the state’s largest county. Corley has also refused a pay raise passed by the commissioners court. He has a record of standing for taxpayers and doing so in the face of blistering pressure and criticism from powerful interests who profit in some way or another from bigger local government spending. For such a big race for Congress, I find it odd that Jason Corley is the only candidate in the race who has a proven governing record and just as important, a conservative pro-taxpayer record. https://jasoncorleyfortexas.com/
Hear Jason Corley in an interview with me on Pratt on Texas.

Jason Corley will be my personal choice but I would not be afraid of Tom Sell, Matt Smith, or Don May being the nominee.