TEXAS — Gov. Greg Abbott’s ramping up his attacks on Texas House Republicans who voted against private school vouchers. He’s sent two cease and desist letters so far to incumbents he says are falsely claiming his endorsement — Rep. Drew Darby of San Angelo and Rep. Travis Clardy of Nacogdoches. 

Rep. Clardy said it’s an old endorsement he never removed from his campaign website. 

“I’m not claiming Gov. Abbott’s endorsement for this cycle,” Clardy said in an interview on Capital Tonight. “These were old endorsements. They had been up there for years. Right now, the price to get his endorsement was I had to bend the knee and kiss the ring and say that I will vote for vouchers and vote against the best interest of the people I represent.”

The cease and desist letters come as national pro-voucher groups launch million dollar TV ad buys targeting anti-voucher incumbents. It follows last year’s legislative session where 21 House Republicans voted to strip a voucher program out of a wide-ranging education bill. Some attacks claim incumbents were against other components of the omnibus bill like teacher pay raises and more money for public schools. The incumbents say the bill would have passed without vouchers if the author had not pulled it down.  

“We would have loved to have been able to have a bill in front of us on the House and we did have a bill. I’m disappointed our Speaker, Dade Phelan, didn’t see fit to call up Senate Bill 2, which had been passed out by the Senate and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, which would have provided some relief for our school districts,” Rep. Clardy said. 

The TV ad buy is mostly being funded by Jeff Yass. He’s the pro-voucher Pennsylvania billionaire who also recently gave Gov. Abbott a $6 million campaign donation.  

Click the video link above to watch our full interview with Rep. Clardy.