Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, said she will announce by Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 2, whether or not she is running for governor in 2014.
Many in the Democratic Party at both the state and national level have been holding their breath, wondering if the champion of an abortion filibuster would run for higher office.
During her speech at a luncheon for the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas, Davis took shots at Republican leadership for a myriad of issues, including the veto of a bill that would’ve required political nonprofits to disclose which political campaigns they’ve contributed money to and for how much.
"The leadership in this state has seen enormous benefit in keeping the public in the dark, closing the doors to process, stifling public input and dodging tough questions. We need only think of the veto of the dark money bill to understand that that’s the case," Davis said.
Davis told the crowd that she wanted to make sure that there was a real path for a Democrat to win a Republican stronghold state before committing to a campaign. Another concern for the senator is finances, she wants make sure she can win the governor’s race before asking people to invest large sums of cash in her campaign.
"When you make a decision this big, you want to make sure there’s a real path," she said. "You don’t want to be foolhardy, particularly when you are going to have to ask people to invest a tremendous amount of money, energy and resources into helping you."
The senator’s campaign fund has been helped by a number of national investors, including Emily’s List and MoveOn.org, but still sits at just over $1.5 million, whereas Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott’s campaign has over $20 million in the bank.
