October 30, 2014 6:09 PM

Houston up for grabs in the race for governor?

Conservative stalwart Hotze and others warn that Davis is outpolling Abbott in Harris County, potentially ruining the GOP’s chances in down ballot races

As we've said from time to time at Buzz Central, if Texas is a battleground, Harris County is ground zero. Perhaps never before has that seemed so true. Conservative activists, including the local GOP's new and old leadership, are said to be waging all-out war to try to keep Sen. Wendy Davis’ performance in Harris County from affecting their down ballot candidates. There has been much grumbling in recent weeks from local Republican judicial candidates who feel that not enough has been done to turn out the GOP vote.

Longtime conservative activist and donor Dr. Steve Hotze – a major financial contributor to Sen. Dan Patrick – recently sent out mailers and emails pleading for Christian conservatives to get out the vote.

In offering what he called a "Contract with Texas," Hotze said "Republicans are in trouble in Harris County. For the first time in over two decades the Democrats have matched the Republicans in Early Ballots by Mail which Republicans historically have led by a 2 to 1 margin."

Hotze went on to explain that he's seen polling that shows Attorney General Greg Abbott running behind Sen. Davis by just 1 percent in Harris County. Some reliable sources tell QR they have seen similar polling.

"This adversely affects the down ballot races," Hotze wrote. "Republican District Attorney Devon Anderson is in a dead heat with Democrat challenger Kim Ogg,” he said. “The Republican judges are running neck in neck with the liberal Democrat judicial candidates. Obama’s Battleground Texas has registered over 1,000,000 new voters in Texas.”

By Scott Braddock