This Week in Texas Politics: Lights, Camera, Campaign Ads

AUSTIN, Texas - Early voting begins next week - and in anticipation of that - more campaign ads are starting to play. The primary election media blitz is the focus of today's review of this week in Texas politics. 

Political Analysts Patrick Svitek and Sonia Van meter as well as FOX 4's Steven Dial, and St. Edward's University's Brian Smith join FOX 7's Rudy Koski to take a look at the ads and how they are being produced to get your attention.

RUDY KOSKI: We're back in the LBJ Penthouse to talk about this week in Texas politics, and let's get right with it with our headline. First Texas Tribune’s Patrick Svitek, what is your headline for the week? 

PATRICK SVITEK: Time to get negative. 

RUDY: Political Consultant Sonia Van Meter, what's your headline for the week? 

SONIA VAN METER: Beto tours Texas. But will it be enough? 

RUDY: Brian Smith with St. Edward's University, what's your headline for the week? 

BRIAN SMITH: Texas grid holds. Greg Abbott's the Big Winner. 

RUDY: And Steven Dial Fox 4 Dallas. What's your headline for the week? 

STEVEN DIAL: Primary campaign is heating up. 

RUDY: Well, it's also kickoff for the Super Bowl, and we've also had our Academy Awards nominations. So with that in mind, we've got a lot of campaign ads that have really ramped up this week. So with those two big events in mind, let's talk about who won the award. Who has the best commercial out there this week? Who's really made an impact? Steven, which campaign caught your eye? 

STEVEN: George P. Bush. I mean, I know it's kind of a tighter line with the border, but it's been running nonstop up here in North Texas.  

SONIA: Lloyd Doggett because any time you trot out Nancy Pelosi and talk about taking on Trump, you're throwing red meat to the primary voters, and that's something that he knows he needs to do right now. 

PATRICK: Didn't make me scratch my head, what stood out to me, I think, an impressive ad in a Republican primary. Louie Gohmert, the first TV ad for the attorney general race. His ad included a lot to show primary voters that they could get a lot that they could get, with Ken Paxton, with him, just not an FBI investigation and securities fraud indictment. 

BRIAN: I'm going to stick with that same race. I think Eva Guzman's ad was very slick in the fact that it wasn't a lot of visuals, very straightforward. Our problem is she's polling single digits, but I thought it was an effective ad. 

RUDY: What's the danger of not doing just a straight on ad and going too slick? Patrick?

PATRICK: Well, sometimes in some of these races, you know, candidates may have an authenticity problem, and so they don't want to be airing ads that may be overly produced or too dramatic, and they're still in the process of building up credibility authenticity with voters. 

SONIA: That's true. Yeah, there still has to be content behind that slick ad. Generally speaking, I mean, politics is all about show business. So if you've got the money, and you've got the creativity, that's a great, great thing. But at the end of the day, you've still got to have sound policies that the people agree with, and anything less than that is not going to deliver. 

RUDY: Steven, all these ads seem to be playing to the base. Dan Patrick's ad in the school house talking about critical race theory and transgender, very divisive. Lloyd Doggett embracing images of Nancy Pelosi and Planned Parenthood. Very divisive. Are these ads still just going to be straight forward base for the next month or so? 

STEVEN: Definitely. And because our country, our state, locally, we're so divisive right now during this pandemic, whether for a mask or not, for masks, everyone's campaign ads, especially those who have big name recognition, they're going to throw out the reddest of red meat, or I don't know what you want to say, blueberries or something like that on the other side. 

BRIAN: Well, the strategy always remains the same. Motivate your base, demotivate your opposition and red meat ads and attack ads do that, and that's why we see so many of them. 

PATRICK: I think we're going to see a lot more negativity over the next two weeks than obviously there is a bit of a reset. If you had to do a runoff. 

RUDY: So keeping with the Academy Award theme, who gets the award for the campaign ads this week? Sonia, we'll start with you. What award are you giving out? 

SONIA: I'm giving out best special effect, and this year it goes to the animated flame over Jasmine Crockett’s head. 

RUDY: Steven Dial, who gets your award, and what is it? 

STEVEN: Best Supporting Actor or prop- Dan Patrick's truck. 

RUDY: Brian Smith, who gets your award, and what is it? 

BRIAN: Best actor in a comedy picture- Don Huffines.

RUDY: And Patrick Svitek, what's your award and who gets it?

PATRICK: I was also a go with a prop, I think best lead prop is the sledgehammer I saw this week that Congressman Pat Fallon used to smash a TV that Anthony Fauci was speaking out of. 

RUDY: And with that, we're closing out another week in Texas politics. 

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View a complete list of Texas Governor candidates here. 

View the Texas Attorney General Election guide here. 

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