Wendy Davis’ epic filibuster of a controversial Texas abortion law didn’t just turn the Democratic state senator into an overnight progressive hero. It also looks to have been a fundraising bonanza.
Davis, who has publicly mulled a run for governor, will report Monday that she raised $933,000 in the last two weeks of June, according to the Texas Tribune. She’ll end the reporting period with over $1 million in the bank. As of Monday morning, Davis had not yet officially filed with the Texas Ethics Commission.
Over $300,000 of Davis’ contributions came from outside Texas, according to the Tribune—an indication of her burgeoning star power in progressive circles across the country.
It’s a hefty haul for a state lawmaker who may not even run for statewide office, but it’s dwarfed by the total for the GOP front-runner for the gubernatorial nomination, Attorney General Greg Abbott. The AG announced last week he took in $4.8 million for the same period, and now has more than $20 million on hand.
Davis had helped lead the fight against a Republican redistricting plan that was blocked under the Voting Rights Act after it was found by a federal court to have intentionally discriminated against minorities. She became a national name last month after she spoke for over 13 hours on the Senate floor on June 25, filibustering a Texas bill that would force the great majority of health clinics providing abortion in the state to close. The bill finally passed last week after Gov. Rick Perry called a special legislative session. In a Washington Post op-ed published Monday, Davis called her filibuster “an expression of mainstream Texans standing up against partisan power-mongers who no longer act in Texas’ best interest or even tell Texans the truth.”
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