Kolkhorst Fires a First Shot in SD-18 Battle

There was more news on a couple of Senate races that for now remain hypothetical.

•    State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, has made no secret of her desire to run for the state Senate seat currently held by Glenn Hegar, the GOP nominee for comptroller.

In what could be described as a shot across the bows of any other potential candidates, Kolkhorst on Thursday released a statement drawing attention to the $792,000 in her campaign war chest, as of the end of June.

After noting that her cash on hand has increased by $250,000 since her most recent campaign finance report, the Kolkhorst campaign added:

“Not surprising to most was the mention from Representative Kolkhorst that she is heavily considering a run for State Senate and, with this recent report, she is the clear financial front runner with none of her potential opponents coming close to the numbers she posted.”

Over the first six months of 2014, Kolkhorst raised $190,809, a total paced by a $100,000 loan made by Kolkhorst to her campaign on June 30.

•    Jodey Arrington, a Lubbock businessman and former Bush 43 administration official, announced he’s raised $206,650 for his nascent campaign for the state Senate seat vacated by now-Texas Tech Chancellor Robert Duncan.

That total represents contributions made over a 10-day period, from his June 20 designation of a campaign treasurer to the June 30 deadline for the July semi-annual fundraising report.

State Rep. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, who has also said he plans to run for the West Texas Senate seat, reported raising $130,080 over the fundraising period of Feb. 23 through June 30.

Perry reports having $194,654 in cash on hand while Arrington reports $201,105.

Another candidate, Eppie Garza of Wolfforth, did not report any fundraising activity this year. Other possible candidates are Tech regent John Steinmetz and Lubbock City Councilman Todd Klein.

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Libertarian candidate for governor Kathie Glass reported raising nearly $56,000 over the first half of 2014 with $55,019 in cash on hand.

Glass' biggest contributor? Well, that would be Glass, who gave herself $50,000 on June 20. A statement from the third-party candidate called her report “notable.”

The totals are several orders of magnitude lower than her major party rivals for the Governor’s Mansion, Republican Greg Abbott and Democrat Wendy Davis.

In her statement, Glass acknowledged the funding disparity but said she was confident that she’d have enough money to wage a competitive campaign.

"While I do not have the special interest funding of Greg Abbott or the out-of-state funding of Wendy Davis, I will have enough money in 2014 to make sure that voters know who I am and that I am the only candidate in the race who will effectively push back on Washington, actually secure our border, defend property rights while ending cronyism, and prepare Texas fiscally for the day when Washington is not just broken, but collapsed," Glass said.

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Ahead of the Aug. 5 runoff in SD-4, state Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, is airing a radio spot focusing on his conservative track record as a legislator.

Creighton and fellow lawmaker Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, face off in the runoff to fill out the remainder of Tommy Williams’ term in office. Williams resigned his seat last year to take a job with Texas A&M University.

Early voting in the runoff election runs from July 28 through Aug. 1.