October 27, 2014 5:45 PM

Texas House race in Arlington puts some longtime Republicans in a tough spot

Some Republicans are taking heat for supporting Democrat Cole Ballweg over Republican Tony Tinderholt; “He’s a Democrat we can reason with."

ARLINGTON – There are very few truly competitive Texas House races, as we’ve been telling you, but one stands out for another reason: It’s a contest in which we’ve heard repeatedly from Republicans their party’s nominee is too far out of the mainstream to be taken seriously. This is notably happening in the race to succeed Rep. Diane Patrick, R-Arlington. But whether that sentiment is prevalent enough to change the outcome in a reliably GOP district remains to be seen.

Democrat Cole Ballweg hopes voters in House District 94 south of Cowboys Stadium will “reject extremism” and choose him over the Republican who bested Rep. Patrick in the GOP primary, Tony Tinderholt.

Tinderholt, a combat veteran married to a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, has gained national attention for some of his comments on border security. “People are going to die” to protect the border from people “with plans to do horrible disgusting things to American citizens,” Tinderholt has said. “We gotta put our military at the border and stop this crap from happening now,” he said. “But we can’t have our military men and women standing at the border with their weapons hugging drug cartels coming across, because they don’t like hugs. They use chain saws, we use guns.”

The GOP nominee has also made enemies of some Republican Arlington City Council members by shouting at them about the Second Amendment. Tinderholt supports the activities of a group called Open Carry Tarrant County. Those are the protesters who carry their long guns into fast food restaurants and other establishments. Even some Dallas Tea Party leaders have questioned those tactics.

Councilmen Charlie Parker and Jimmy Bennett, both lifelong Republicans, recently signed a letter endorsing Ballweg over Tinderholt in which they said their party’s nominee "is an extremist who, besides advocating for violence at the border and the invasion of Mexico, recently ranted and raved in front of our City Council in support of the rifle-toting, irresponsible group that advocates for the open carry of firearms by scaring people and harassing our police.”

Parker told Quorum Report on Monday that he’s taken some heat for signing that letter “because I’m a Republican, too.” Parker didn’t let that criticism or the fact that he just had surgery Monday morning keep him from speaking out about this in the afternoon.

By Scott Braddock