Waco Democrat John Cullar announced late Friday that he’s withdrawing from the Texas State Senate race against Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury.

A day earlier, Cullar’s legal challenge to Birdwell’s eligibility hit a brick wall in the Dallas Court of Appeals.

A three-judge panel raised technical points in its denial of a petition filed by Cullar and the state Democratic Party that sought to have Birdwell declared ineligible.

After the ruling, John Cullar and Democrats had no way to have Brian Birdwell removed from the ballot.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

Cullar maintained that his GOP foe does not meet a five-year state residency requirement because of his Virginia voting history dating to 2006.

But Cullar acknowledged the difficulty of beating Birdwell and he said he didn’t want to divert resources from fellow Democrats.

“(E)very dollar I received and every volunteer who volunteered for my campaign represented a dollar and a volunteer that may have been taken from other Democratic candidates in the district,” Cullar said in a statement.

“With little time for me to organize, raise money and introduce myself to the voters of this district, an already uphill fight against an incumbent senator became a cause where the odds of winning did not outweigh the odds that my candidacy could divert resources from other Democrats in each of the 10 counties of the 22nd District.”

GOP surprised

A Republican Party of Texas spokesman, though initially surprised to hear about Cullar’s plans to withdraw, said the announcement didn’t come as a total shock.

“Mr. Cullar’s actions today tell us what we already knew: He was not a viable candidate,” Bryan Preston said.

“Sen. Birdwell prevailed in the special election, prevailed in court and he’s going to prevail in November,” he said. “He’ll be a great senator for the citizens of Senate District 22.”

After Thursday’s Court of Appeals ruling, the party and Cullar had no way to have the Granbury Republican removed from the ballot because of a Friday deadline.

The Democratic Party could still challenge Birdwell on eligibility grounds in another court — even without a nominee.

The party has not indicated whether it will pursue a further legal challenge, though spokeswoman Kirsten Gray called the all-Republican Dallas panel’s ruling “politically motivated.”

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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