TX-03: Former Collin County Judge Keith Self announced Wednesday evening that he would challenge Rep. Van Taylor in the Republican primary for Texas’ 3rd Congressional District, a suburban Dallas Fort worth seat the GOP legislature’s new gerrymander has made safely red for the foreseeable future. Taylor has been an ardent conservative during his two terms in the House, but Self kicked off his campaign by attacking him for voting to accept Joe Biden’s electoral college victory in the hours after the attack on the Capitol and for supporting the creation of the Jan. 6 commission.
Taylor back in March justified that move by saying, “The Democrats are focused on one side of Pennsylvania Avenue, but there's a lot of fault and a lot of answers we need about what [Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and her team knew, when they knew it and why the Capitol was not secure.” That argument didn’t convince his fellow Texas Republican members, though, as only 23rd District Rep. Tony Gonzales voted with him.
Self, for his part, was elected in 2006 as Collin County judge, an executive post that’s the rough equivalent of a county executive, four years after he lost the 26th Congressional District nomination contest that was eventually won by Michael Burgess. He made news early in his tenure for picking fights with other members of the local government, writing on his blog in 2008, “We are sliding toward socialism … Many in government today agree with the statement, 'From each according to his ability; to each according to his need.'”
Self faced a serious primary fight in 2010 from Plano School Board member John Muns, who tried to portray himself as the true conservative in the race. The judge, who had his own ardent right-wing support, again made headlines during that campaign when pushed back on a Muns attack by quoting the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels saying, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” The incumbent defended his actions by insisting that, while he wasn’t linking Muns to the Nazis, “I said he was using the method. There's a huge difference. This is one of those things where the PC police immediately go crazy.”
Self prevailed 58-42 ahead of an easy general election win; Muns himself eventually bounced back and was elected mayor of Plano this year. Self faced no primary or general election opposition four years later, and he considered another House bid after longtime Rep. Sam Johnson announced his retirement from the 3rd District in early 2017. However, he ultimately decided not to campaign for Congress or for re-election the following year, and Taylor went on to be elected to succeed Johnson without any trouble.
Taylor and Self each have a large geographic base of support in the new 3rd District, which is dominated by Collin County. However, while the former judge begins the campaign without any money, Taylor had $1.1 million on-hand at the end of September. The congressman also self-funded $3 million during his 2018 campaign, so he may be capable of throwing down more if he feels the need.