--- title: Midterm Elections 2014: Steve Stockman in Texas on How to Lose description: Steve Stockman's Senate challenge in Texas is the most baffling display of ineptitude since Alvin Greene canonical: https://time.com/12357/steve-stockman-texas-senate-race-2014-midterms-lose/ author: Alex Altman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-04T17:40:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:34:15.484Z article:section: Politics og:title: Midterm Elections 2014: Steve Stockman in Texas on How to Lose og:description: Steve Stockman's Senate challenge in Texas is the most baffling display of ineptitude since Alvin Greene og:url: https://time.com/12357/steve-stockman-texas-senate-race-2014-midterms-lose/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt377c6f0ea5c6e6f7/698683e2cd804dbd34cc990b/ap10835621288.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Steve Stockman, John Boehner og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Midterm Elections 2014: Steve Stockman in Texas on How to Lose twitter:description: Steve Stockman's Senate challenge in Texas is the most baffling display of ineptitude since Alvin Greene twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt377c6f0ea5c6e6f7/698683e2cd804dbd34cc990b/ap10835621288.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 7 Ways to Lose An Election  by [Alex Altman](https://time.com/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Mar 4, 2014 5:40 PM UTC  Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, second from right, participates in a mock swearing-in ceremony with Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, for the 113th Congress in Washington, Jan. 3, 2013. Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, second from right, participates in a mock swearing-in ceremony with Speaker of the House Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, for the 113th Congress in Washington, Jan. 3, 2013.Evan Vucc—AP  by [Alex Altman](https://time.com/author/alex-altman/)  ## Alex Altman Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME. Mar 4, 2014 5:40 PM UTC Tuesday marks the official beginning of the midterm elections, as Texas voters [head to the polls](http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/03/04/texas-kicks-off-first-primary-of-2014-midterms/) to cast the first ballots of the 2014 primary campaigns. That milestone also marks the likely end of the country’s strangest campaign: Steve Stockman’s Senate bid. When Stockman announced he would give up his House seat to challenge John Cornyn, the Senate’s No. 2 Republican, no one was quite sure of his angle. A backbench firebrand, Stockman is known mostly for his outré Twitter account and trollish stunts like walking out of the State of the Union. Few expected him to match the fundraising firepower or organization rigor of Cornyn’s campaign. But Stockman has put on the most baffling display of political ineptitude since [Alvin Greene](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/us/politics/12greene.html). The campaign has been so bizarre that Republican consultants in Texas are at a loss to explain it. Mark McKinnon, a former senior adviser to President George W. Bush, suggested recently in an email that it defied rational interpretation, while GOP strategist Matt Mackowiak [said](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,2164228,00.html) the mysterious campaign was “never intended to be anything more than a debt-retirement project.” Should you ever want to ditch a $174,000-per-year job to self-immolate on the national stage, here is the Stockman campaign blueprint, in seven easy steps: **1\. Skip campaigning.** Stockman’s website does not list public appearances, of which there haven’t been too many. Groups around the state have complained that he has been a no-show at political events. He had a campaign office [condemned for safety violations](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/pictures-from-inside-steve-stockman-s-condemned-campaign-office). “Day to day, just getting hold of him, that’s not Steve, I guess,” [said](http://www.kfdm.com/shared/news/top-stories/stories/kfdm%5Fvid%5F8999.shtml) one Tea Party leader. **2\. Alienate your base.** On paper, an agitator with [a 100% conservative voting record](http://t.co/YyJCZp0gGi) had a natural well of support to tap in deep-red Texas. But the Tea Party network that propelled the underdog insurgency of Ted Cruz grew frustrated with Stockman’s antics. “It’s horrible,” a Tea Party leader [told _Politico_](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/texas-steve-stockman-john-cornyn-republican-senate-primary-elections-2014-103754.html), arguing that Stockman’s dishonesty “disqualifies” him from consideration. **3\. Go missing.** At one point in January, Stockman missed 17 consecutive votes in the House. The media, which had noted his infrequent appearances on the campaign trail, was unable to get a straight answer from staff about his whereabouts. Stockman himself fed the speculation that he’d gone MIA: In the end, Stockman’s office said he was on a congressional trip abroad, and didn’t understand what the fuss was all about. **4\. Fib about the press.** Stockman is far from the first politician to court conservatives by making the media a foil. But it is generally a bad idea to claim reporters have lied when [there is clear evidence to the contrary](http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/02/20/steve%5Fstockman%5Fs%5Fcampaign%5Fflips%5Fout%5Fbecause%5Fi%5Fpointed%5Fout%5Fit%5Fwouldn%5Ft%5Ftell.html). **5\. Threaten critics with criminal charges.** Stockman filed a libel suit against the Texans for a Conservative Majority, a political-action committee that backs Cornyn, in part for citing a felony charge [Stockman appears to have previously admitted](http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2014/01/in-1995-stockman-admitted-jail-time-felony-charge-today-he-denies-that-accusing-cornyn-allies-of-lying.html/). He also issued a veiled threat against media outlets who published the old mugshot. **6\. Go dark on fundraising.** The congressman, who solicited donations by floating the prospect of impeaching “Barrack \[sic\] Hussein Obama,” has not filed late-campaign contribution reports to the FEC: It’s [not the first time](http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/dayton/news/us-senate-race-heats-up-stovall-campaign-files-fec-complaints/article%5Ff1306689-828f-5015-99f6-b5337c612b61.html) that [Stockman was accused](http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/New-questions-rise-over-Stockman-s-campaign-5140021.php) of [violating campaign-finance regulations](http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/New-questions-rise-over-Stockman-s-campaign-5140021.php). 7\. **Claim phony endorsements.** As the campaign neared the finish line, Stockman tried to inject some enthusiasm by claiming that the head of a large Tea Party organization endorsed him, according to _Breitbart News_. The problem? [Didn’t happen](http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-Texas/2014/03/3/Tea-Party-Patriots-We-Did-Not-Endorse-Steve-Stockman). A fitting end to a train wreck of a campaign. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/12357/steve-stockman-texas-senate-race-2014-midterms-lose/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/12357/steve-stockman-texas-senate-race-2014-midterms-lose/"},"headline":"7 Ways to Lose An Election","datePublished":"2014-03-04T17:40:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:34:15.484Z","description":"Steve Stockman's Senate challenge in Texas is the most baffling display of ineptitude since Alvin Greene","url":"https://time.com/12357/steve-stockman-texas-senate-race-2014-midterms-lose/","keywords":["2014 Election","Texas","republicans","Senate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt377c6f0ea5c6e6f7/698683e2cd804dbd34cc990b/ap10835621288.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alex Altman","jobTitle":"Altman is the executive features editor and deputy Washington bureau chief at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/alex-altman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt377c6f0ea5c6e6f7/698683e2cd804dbd34cc990b/ap10835621288.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Steve Stockman, John Boehner","caption":"Steve Stockman, John Boehner","creditText":"Evan Vucc—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/12357/steve-stockman-texas-senate-race-2014-midterms-lose/","name":"7 Ways to Lose An Election"}}]}] ```