Campbell challenger gets San Antonio support

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AUSTIN — An ideological divide within the Texas Republican Party will likely be on full display as the Senate District 25 race unfolds.

Tea party incumbent state Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, faces a challenge by at least one Republican, Mike Novak, a former Bexar County commissioner.

“This Senate race could set itself up for a really interesting intra-partisan battle,” said David Crockett, a professor of political science at Trinity University.

Republicans elected at different levels of government are beginning to pick teams — between business-minded Novak and tea party conservative Campbell — within the district, which covers parts of Bexar and Travis counties and all of Comal, Hays, Kendall and Guadalupe counties.

Embattled San Antonio Councilwoman Elisa Chan, who has publicly defended anti-gay comments as free speech, is apparently considering the race, too. The Express-News reported Sunday a phone poll was conducted to test the waters for a Chan senate campaign.

“Anytime I have the opportunity to serve the public at a bigger capacity, I would consider,” Chan said in a radio interview Thursday on KTSA-AM. “I heard a lot of people telling me that Sen. Campbell has not been representing the district as well as she could.”

Chan, a business owner, is in her third term. The council elections are nonpartisan.

“There was a large learning curve (for Cambpell) on a lot of the issues this session,” said state Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, who is supporting Novak, a one-time chairman of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, who says he represents a business-first faction of the GOP.

Campbell, an emergency room physician who defeated longtime Republican Sen. Jeff Wentworth in 2012, is serving in her first elected office.

Larson, a lifelong San Antonio resident elected to the Texas House in 2010, said there were “a number” of bills important to the San Antonio area he authored this session that Campbell refused to sponsor in the Senate because she “didn't understand it or support it.”

Larson said Novak's experience as chairman of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which oversees the region's federal and state transportation dollars, and as a longtime business owner would translate into sound economic development and transportation policy.

Kevin Wolff, a Bexar County Commissioner, said Campbell's lack of government experience translated into ineffectiveness this year in the Legislature.

“When I put the resumes side by side, I see a more qualified candidate in Mike Novak than our current senator,” Wolff said. “In fact, I felt a little sorry for her because she got thrown into the deep end” after never holding an office before.

Larson and Wolff said they had briefly considered challenging Campbell themselves but decided to stay in their current roles.

Campbell was one of three senators to vote against the state budget bill and was a vocal supporter of a package of omnibus abortion restrictions that were passed into law.

“Senator Campbell takes her cues from the people, not from politicians. She has done exactly what the people elected her to do, voting for the interests of Texas families and small businesses. San Antonio will have better roads, our businesses will see lower taxes, and high school graduates will have a more valuable diploma and contribute to a more dynamic workforce thanks to legislation Sen. Campbell passed.”

State Rep. Jason Isaac, R-Dripping Springs, said he is supporting Campbell and that she “did a great job this session.” “I think (she drew a challenger) because she's not from Bexar County,” Isaac said. “But I feel that she's done a fantastic job representing all the counties in the district.”

Marion Stanko, the executive director for the Republican Party of Bexar, would not pick a side. “The voters choose who the nominees will be on the ballot in November, not the party,” he said.

Those who typically vote in primary elections — the most engaged members of a party — likely will lean toward Campbell's “staunchly right wing” views, Crockett said.

“I'm inclined to say (Campbell) has the edge because of nomination politics, but that doesn't mean she's not vulnerable,” Crockett said.

Novak, who was nominated by Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio, and appointed by Gov. Rick Perry as a commissioner of the Texas Facilities Commission in 2011, will have to overcome Campbell's strong grassroots support.

He also faces fundraising challenges. Campbell was endorsed Wednesday by Texans For Lawsuit Reform, a political action committee that donated more than a quarter-million dollars through in-kind or cash donations, the largest to Campbell's campaign last year.

The primary election, which may decide the ultimate winner of the race since the district typically elects Republican candidates, is March 4, and the general election is Nov. 4, 2014.

kparker@express-news.net