Michael Wood, an anti-Trump Republican, has announced his campaign to fill the seat left by the late Ron Wright who passed away from Covid-19. Wood, a 34-year-old Marine Corps veteran, blames Trump for recent GOP losses and is set to have some fierce competition in the primaries. Rep. Wright’s widow, Susan Wright has already announced her campaign and former Trump aide Katrina Pierson is also expected to announce her own congressional campaign for the Texas seat.
The Hill reports:
In a campaign launch video, Wood will say that the Republican Party must not become “a cult of personality, a vehicle for one man’s ambitions and grievances.”
“It is time to move on before he does to the country as a whole what he has done to Georgia and Arizona, two reliably Republican states turned blue,” Wood says.
Wood, in his launch video, warns that the GOP cannot become “the party of conspiracy theories, QAnon and political violence.”
He does, however, say he voted for Trump in 2020, suggesting he felt he had no choice because the Democratic Party had become “too comfortable with socialism and cancel culture.”
Wood is entering a contentious battle by setting himself up against Trump and his supporters. Despite Wood’s personal feelings regarding the former president most polls overwhelmingly show that Republicans still support Trump and see him as the leader of the party and their top choice to run for president in 2024.
However, former Trump campaign adviser Katrina Pierson is reportedly gearing up to announce her campaign for the Texas seat as well and will undoubtedly prove to be difficult competition for Wood.
Fox News reports:
Katrina Pierson, who served as a top adviser on former President Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns, is gearing up to launch a campaign, two sources with knowledge of her planning confirmed to Fox News.
The district, which was once considered safe for Republicans, has become more competitive in recent years. Wright won reelection in November by nine points over his Democratic challenger. But Trump carried the district by just three points over now-President Biden.
Pierson and other candidates seeking to enter the race have until Wednesday to formally file their paperwork. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last week formally declared Wright’s seat vacant, setting up a May 1 primary.
