As the March 5 Texas primary election approaches, an early victory for medicine underscores the power of grassroots physician advocacy.
Citing local physician support and a medicine-friendly platform, TEXPAC, the Texas Medical Association’s bipartisan political arm, had endorsed Jill Dutton, who won the Jan. 30 special election to replace former state Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-Royse City) after he resigned during the 2023 regular state legislative session.
When the newly minted Rep. Jill Dutton (R-Ben Wheeler) was sworn in on Valentine’s Day, she flipped a seat previously not aligned with medicine’s goals. The March 5 primary will determine whether she’ll hold onto it.
Heading into Election Day, TEXPAC has reupped its endorsement of such medicine-friendly candidates on both sides of the aisle.
“It makes such a difference to get the right people into office ... people that are friendly with the House of Medicine,” TEXPAC Chair Sara Austin, MD, a neurologist in Austin, told Texas Medicine Today.
TEXPAC helps secure victories like Representative Dutton’s through its dogged, systematic evaluation of candidates who have medicine’s best interests at heart, endorsing and funding the ones who earn it. In the Party of Medicine, a candidate’s stances on TMA’s top issues and the impressions of TEXPAC member physicians in a candidate’s district carry the most sway.
“When you start breaking it down on how people actually vote on the issues that are important to us” – like scope of practice, graduate medical education funding, and Medicaid physician payment – “it doesn’t make any difference if they’re Democrat or Republican,” Dr. Austin said.
TEXPAC’s endorsement also carries a lot of weight, says director Christine Mojezati. She points to patients’ trust in physicians, and constituents’ investment in health care policy, such as holding payers accountable and keeping prescription drug costs down, as adding to its value.
“Our endorsement ... does mean a lot to the average voter,” Ms. Mojezati said, adding that TEXPAC also runs an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign.
Physicians can review their candidate options on their county’s ballot, find a polling location, and review acceptable forms of valid photo ID on the VoteTexas website. Ms. Mojezati recommends physicians confirm they are registered to vote; if not, it’s too late to do so for the primary election. Early voting ends March 1 and absentee ballots must be received by election day, March 5.
Dr. Austin also encourages her fellow Texas physicians to build relationships with candidates in their district and with their representatives. These relationships help inform TEXPAC’s endorsements and ensure legislators are sympathetic to medicine’s issues.
"We want an open door,” she said. “We want to be friendly to the people who are in office.”
Emma Freer
Associate Editor
(512) 370-1383