FORT WORTH, TX – Senator Wendy Davis was the overwhelming winner of the first two debates at Tarrant County College and a second debate to air on WFAA Channel 8 this Sunday.

           
Her opponent, Mark Shelton, revealed during the debates how he is owned by special interests in Austin and big-money donors. He re-issued desperate attacks already found false by a WFAA fact check.

           

Shelton exposed his willingness to shield a donor from state regulators – namely, polluting cement kilns in Midlothian who have contributed to his campaign. Shelton, during Thursday’s TCC debate, criticized Senator Davis for cracking down on the polluters, immediately before Shelton admitted that the kilns were a chief cause of high asthma rates in Tarrant County – nearly 3 times the state average, according to a Cook Children’s study.

 

“Shamefully, Mark Shelton is defending and protecting donors who pollute our air and make North Texas children sick,” Davis campaign spokesperson Anthony Spangler said.

           

During the WFAA Channel 8 debate which aired Sunday morning, Shelton could not explain why he voted against Senator Davis’ Rape Kit bill, which aims to bring justice to sexual assault victims and removes rapists from our streets.  Rape kits are DNA evidence collected that identify and help prosecute rapists. Shelton’s only answer was that there was no money for the bill. However, the bill had a zero fiscal note because it asks law enforcement to conduct an inventory of backlogged rape kits, to then test the kits themselves or to turn them over to the state Department of Public Safety.  Funding for the testing will be provided through previously earmarked state and federal sources. Mark Shelton was one of just 8 lawmakers  who voted against Senator Davis’ Rape Kit bill. 

           

Houston began an immediate and proactive review of their backlog of rape kits following enactment of the law.  As a direct result of Davis’ Rape Kit law, a case was recently solved in Houston because police were conducting an inventory of their rape kit backlog, in accordance with the requirements created under Senator Davis bill, and discovered some evidence was mislabeled. Testing of the mislabeled kit led police to finally  bring justice to a 2003 sexual assault survivor, an elderly woman who was raped while she was home alone paying bills in her dining room. Last month, Senator Davis joined a press event with U.S. Senator John Cornyn in support of his bi-partisan effort to help Texas clear its backlog of sexual assault DNA evidence.

           

“There is no excuse for not doing everything we can to get rapists off the streets and behind bars,” Davis said. 

 

Shelton seldom used his full time allowed to answer questions during the debate and instead repeated prewritten campaign material. Senator Davis looks forward to Thursday night’s debate at TCU.