A brand new nonprofit PAC based in Texas was instrumental in keeping a major Lone Star State metropolitan county in the Republican column during the 2022 midterm election cycle. Patriot Mobile Action (PMA) was formed for the purpose of keeping the GOP as the majority party in Tarrant County, home of Fort Worth.
PMA was formed by Patriot Mobile, which describes itself as “America’s only Christian conservative wireless service provider.”
Democrats saw 2022 as an opportunity to make inroads in Texas after their polling seemed to indicate to them that the state could be flipped “blue” this year after several attempts in recent years. Even though Tarrant County was the site of some significant Democratic advances, PMA was formed with the promise that Republicans could reverse the trend in the county.
After President Donald Trump won Tarrant County by 9 percentage points in the 2016 election, the county began shifting more toward Democrats. Trump struggled to beat Joe Biden in 2020 and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) had difficulty with Beto O’Rourke in his 2018 reelection campaign in the county of more than 2.3 million residents.
PMA executive director and Patriot Mobile vice president of government and public affairs Leigh Wambsganss told the Daily Caller this week that the PAC’s earliest emphasis was on local school board races.
The PMA website states: “PMA’s first victory was winning 11 of 11 Tarrant County school board races, securing conservative majorities in four school districts, impacting over 100,000 north Texas students.”
PMA used a $500,000 donation from Patriot Mobile to support candidates in those school board elections held in May. Those GOP victories led the way to Republican gains throughout the year.
Wambsganss said PMA eventually endorsed 54 GOP candidates running for state, county, and city positions in Tarrant County, spending around $800,000 on their campaigns. She pointed out the county’s importance in ensuring all of Texas’s electoral college votes go to the Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential race, noting that the county has more people than 15 states.
She said that PMA is going to continue to put its focus on local school board races in Tarrant County next year while expanding its reach in 2024 to other parts of the state as well.
PMA will also focus closely on any state constitutional ballot measures that could come up for a vote statewide in 2024.
Wambsganss said PMA’s enduring mission is to help Democrats understand that “Texas is not for sale.”
