Politics

Wendy Davis Is Already Fundraising for the Campaign She Won't Announce

On Thursday, news broke that Wendy Davis's team is quietly letting influential Democrats know about an impending run for governor of Texas.

By Abby Ohlheiser
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This article is from the archive of our partner .

On Thursday, news broke that Wendy Davis's team is quietly letting influential Democrats know about an impending run for governor of Texas. She's expected to announce her decision — which, her campaign acknowledges, she's already made — on October 3. But Davis, a state senator best known for her marathon filibuster against a new abortion law in her state, is already pushing her fans to donate to a campaign that, technically, doesn't even exist yet:

Click on the link, and would-be supporters are taken to a donation page at the politician's senate campaign site. The form explains, however, that the candidate is looking to raise $80,000 by the end of the month, in what is apparently a pre-emptive show of strength. A day ago, the campaign advertised Davis's expected announcement with a visual that would probably leave supporters disappointed with any news other than a gubernatorial run:

So even though, Politico, Reuters, CNN, the Associated Press, and everyone else have reported the news, she's still run without running for one more week to boost her nest egg.

Despite all the fuss, Davis would be an underdog in the race, almost certainly pitting her campaign against that of the state's Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott. But that hasn't stopped the Democrat from leveraging her national fame for campaign profit in recent months (including at least one DC fundraiser), as they dream of taking a shot at Rick Perry's current office.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.