April 14, 2014 5:21 PM

Battleground Texas blasts the RPT for voter outreach and Republicans fire back

Battleground says they knocked over 55,000 doors; RPT chair says it’s not possible and irrelevant

The head of Battleground Texas and the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas each had harsh words for the other about their respective voter outreach efforts on Monday.

There has, of course, been a lot of chatter about how much difference it will make in the governor’s race between Democratic Sen. Wendy Davis and Republican AG Greg Abbott to have Battleground here working to create Democratic political infrastructure, which has been on par with water and transportation infrastructure in Afghanistan. For now, they seem to be making some inroads.

In an email to supporters, Battleground’s executive director Jenn Brown said the RPT had promised to knock on 60,000 doors in March, but ended up doing 10,000 instead. "They fell 50,000 doors short," Brown said. "While enthusiasm is waning for Republicans, it's never been higher for us. That same week, we set a goal of 100,000 phone calls for Wendy -- and made 145,287."

Brown said "the GOP is no longer the only game in Texas. We're proving every day that our grassroots volunteers are a force to be reckoned with." Battleground volunteers set out with the goal of knocking on 48,000 doors this past weekend and ended up with a total of over 55,000, Brown said.

The head of the majority party dismissed Brown’s claim out of hand.

By Scott Braddock