New Sen. Campbell emphasizes conservatism

State Sen.-elect Donna Campbell represents District 25, which includes northern Bexar County. State Sen.-elect Donna Campbell represents District 25, which includes northern Bexar County. Photo: For The Express-News Photo: For The Express-News Image 1 of / 11 Caption Close New Sen. Campbell emphasizes conservatism 1 / 11 Back to Gallery

AUSTIN — At a Houston news conference early this month, Dr. Donna Campbell stood alongside Gov. Rick Perry, looking the part of a newly elected senator: sharp-eyed, coiffed, wearing a bright pearl necklace.

For many, this was a first glimpse at the New Braunfels Republican, who doesn't yet have an office in the Capitol but now represents state Senate District 25, which includes northern Bexar County.

She has compared the weeks since her election to a college student cramming for a test, saying, “There is so much to learn, and it's coming at me so fast, it's like drinking water from a fire hose.”

She admits most Texans, including her constituents, still aren't familiar with her.

“I'm just a working mom who has a passion to help make Texas strong and keep the government limited,” Campbell said. “The more laws that are passed, the less freedom we have.”

But on this day, she stood with Perry to tout their backing of a proposed law, one that would restrict abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, the so-called “fetal pain bill.” Current state law sets the threshold at 27 weeks.

Campbell, or “Dr. Donna” as she is known to her supporters, is a devoutly religious emergency room physician with a pronounced Texas accent. Raised in Oklahoma, Campbell moved to Texas to attend nursing school and later medical school in 1978, before getting married and adopting four girls.

Now, Campbell says, “folks in Oklahoma laugh at” her accent, which “is drawn out the most when speaking passionately about something.”

Campbell, 58, burst on the political scene this year, when she became the first person in Texas history to knock off an incumbent Republican senator, Jeff Wentworth of San Antonio, in a primary election, according to the Legislative Reference Library.

Campbell, who mounted an unsuccessful challenge in 2010 against U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, wasn't given much of a chance by pundits when she began this year's Senate race. A scorched-earth campaign between Wentworth and his other, better-known Republican primary challenger, former Texas Railroad Commission chairwoman Elizabeth Ames Jones, helped clear the path for her.

One of five Republican freshmen in the Texas Senate next year, Campbell said she hopes to be the “cavalry” for the “most conservative Senate in Texas history.”

Wentworth pushed a bill last session that would have required all public universities to allow concealed handguns on campus. Campbell said she supports that and favors a recently announced bill that would allow public school teachers to carry handguns in the classroom.

Her biggest difference from her predecessor will likely be on the abortion issue. Wentworth went against the modern GOP grain, saying he didn't think the government should be involved in women's reproductive decisions.

Campbell, on the other hand, said she supports stringent abortion restrictions. She said her faith guides her in everything, including her strong opposition to abortion.

“There was only one baby ever created for the purpose of dying, and that was Jesus,” Campbell said. “All other babies are created to live.”

After the election results were announced Nov. 6, she told the San Antonio Express-News that her win was “a God thing.”

Science is just as important a guide to abortion policy as faith, Campbell said in a separate interview.

“We need to have 21st-century legislation catch up to 21st-century medical technology,” she said.

Democratic consultant Jason Stanford said Campbell's views are far from science-based.

“She is the type of Republican who would argue over how flat the Earth is,” Stanford said.

Her critics have said she can't represent San Antonio fairly because she has never lived there. Campbell said it is not the “physical address or the geography” that matters, but rather the “common values” she shares with San Antonians.

“I will focus on the duty ahead and not the people nipping at my heels,” Campbell said.