Land Commissioner George P. Bush’s Republican predecessor is now endorsing the Democratic candidate looking to oust the first term incumbent.
On Friday, Patterson announced his support for Miguel Suazo, a Democratic attorney who is currently the party’s nominee to face the Republican Bush in November. The news was first released by the Texas Tribune.
Patterson did not seek re-election to his seat in 2014, instead opting to mount an unsuccessful challenge to Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. While Patterson was unsuccessful in that four-man race, Bush won the Republican primary and the general election to replace Patterson. Bush’s tenure has been marred by controversy over his administration’s handling of the historic Alamo landmark. Patterson ran to reclaim the seat in the March Republican primary, running primarily on a platform of reversing Bush’s course on the handling of the monument. Patterson placed second in the four-way primary, although Bush was able to garner over 50 percent of the vote, to avoid a runoff with Patterson.
Patterson told the Texas Tribune on Friday that while Democrats have not successfully fielded a statewide candidate in over two years in Texas, he hopes Suazo will break that streak.
"The statewide candidates in Texas in November, some of their fortunes may be dependent of the fortunes of Donald Trump," Patterson said. "But that's not the point. I don’t have any compulsion to always back the winner. My compulsion is to be true to my convictions."
The Tribune also reported three other former Republican opponents of Bush, 2018 rivals Dr. Davey Edwards and Rick Range, and 2014 opponent David Watts, have all signed a letter with Patterson stating they will not support Bush in the November election.
Both Bush and Suazo are running for Land Commissioner in the upcoming November general election. Matt Pina will be the Libertarian candidate on the ballot.
