Although badly trailing the two marquee names in polling for the Republican gubernatorial primary, Debra Medina said Friday she is confident she will outpoll Gov. Rick Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on Election Day.
Medina said her brand of conservative politics and experience as a small-business owner have positioned her ideally for the GOP nomination.
Speaking to the San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board on Friday, Medina said she wants Texas to have the authority to nullify federal laws that would negatively impact the state. She also said she wants to replace property taxes with an expanded sales tax.
Although she defines herself as a “career anti-abortion, rock-solid Republican,” Medina, 47, said she would not vote for either Perry or Hutchison in November if she were to lose the March 2 primary.
“I am about principles, not personality,” she said. “Their principles and mine don’t line up at all.”
Despite making significant gains in opinion polls — attributed mostly to her good showing in two GOP debates last month — Medina remains a long shot to upend Perry, the longest-serving governor in state history, or Hutchison, a 17-year veteran of the U.S. Senate.
But political observers say she has already made an impact and could play the role of spoiler, forcing a runoff between Perry and Hutchison.
Medina appears to be tapping into an anti-Washington voter base of tea party advocates and Libertarian Party backers of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, a Texas Republican who ran for president in 2008 as a Libertarian. Paul has endorsed Medina.
Conservative political commentator William Lutz said Medina appeals to social conservatives, particularly those opposed to Perry’s support for the now-defunct Trans Texas Corridor because the plan would have condemned large swaths of private property.
As governor, she said, she would “not militarize the border,” but would deploy units of the Air, Army and Texas National Guard to assist local law enforcement in securing the Mexican border against the threat from drug cartels.
