David Dewhurst Concedes Texas Republican Lt. Governor Nomination to Dan Patrick

AUSTIN, Texas–Lt. Governor David Dewhurst has conceded in the Texas Lt. Governor Primary Runoff to his opponent, State Senator Dan Patrick.

Lt. Governor Dewhurst was elected in 2002 and took office on January 21, 2003. Dewhurst was widely considered more moderate in Texas political circles, however his support among Texas Tea Party groups began to grow after his 2012 loss to Senator Ted Cruz for a Texas senate seat. Dewhurst began substantial outreach to more conservative grassroots groups at that time.

State Senator Patrick began was elected to the Texas Senate on 2006 and took office in 2007.

The AP briefly covered the Texas Lt. Governor runoff results and wrote, “Spending about $20 million of his own fortune against Ted Cruz in 2012 and another $5 million against Patrick this time around couldn’t buy Dewhurst a perception among Texas GOP voters as anything but a mainstream Republican who’s grown too entrenched.”

However, Texas primaries tend to attract the more conservative Tea party voters and more moderate Republicans tend to avoid involvement in primaries and their runoffs. Breitbart Texas recently reported that less than four percent of Texas voters bothered to participate in the early voting for this primary runoff.