--- title: Wendy Davis: Filibusters Do Not a Candidate Make description: Wendy Davis, the Texas state senator who became a household name this summer after her gutsy filibuster to stop Gov. Rick Perry’s abortion restrictions, announced... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7131587/wendy-davis-filibusters-do-not-a-candidate-make/ author: Shikha Dalmia article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-10-03T19:26:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-16T09:11:13.486Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Wendy Davis: Filibusters Do Not a Candidate Make og:description: Wendy Davis, the Texas state senator who became a household name this summer after her gutsy filibuster to stop Gov. Rick Perry’s abortion restrictions, announced... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7131587/wendy-davis-filibusters-do-not-a-candidate-make/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea31e2bf03567812/698a9134b3fce321140d2f4c/5448c9ff584647179486f7248e570702-0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3846 og:image:height: 2163 og:image:alt: Wendy Davis og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Wendy Davis: Filibusters Do Not a Candidate Make twitter:description: Wendy Davis, the Texas state senator who became a household name this summer after her gutsy filibuster to stop Gov. Rick Perry’s abortion restrictions, announced... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltea31e2bf03567812/698a9134b3fce321140d2f4c/5448c9ff584647179486f7248e570702-0.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) # Wendy Davis: Filibusters Do Not a Candidate Make > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. by [Shikha Dalmia](https://time.com/author/shikha-dalmia/) Oct 3, 2013 7:26 PM UTC  Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, filibusters in an effort to kill an abortion bill, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, in Austin, Texas. The bill would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and force many clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities and be classified as ambulatory surgical centers. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, filibusters in an effort to kill an abortion bill, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, in Austin, Texas. The bill would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy and force many clinics that perform the procedure to upgrade their facilities and be classified as ambulatory surgical centers. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) AP by [Shikha Dalmia](https://time.com/author/shikha-dalmia/) Oct 3, 2013 7:26 PM UTC Wendy Davis, the Texas state senator who became a household name this summer after her gutsy filibuster to stop Gov. Rick Perry’s abortion restrictions, [announced](http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/democrat-wendy-davis-declares-running-governor-texas-20464652) her candidacy yesterday to replace Perry. Democrats are giddy with excitement because Davis’ star power has given them their first real hope in nearly two decades of pulling this reliably red state into their orbit. But Republican Senators Rand Paul and Ted Cruz might also want to wish her luck. Her candidacy is an early field test of their political strategy: Using filibusters on narrow issues that resonate with core constituencies as a tool for catapulting themselves from obscurity to greater political heights. But whether being a filibuster candidate can propel Wendy Davis into the governor’s office will depend on her ability to overcome its rather severe downsides. **(MORE**: [Wendy Davis, Misogyny Magnet](http://ideas.time.com/2013/10/03/wendy-davis-misogyny-magnet/?iid=op-main-lead)) To actually win the race, Davis must broaden her appeal beyond her activist base and present herself as a moderate who doesn’t look at issues from a “liberal Democratic lens” but as [someone](http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/article/Wendy-Davis-Single-mom-to-political-phenom-4780204.php) “who believes everyone deserves opportunity.” That, however, is going to be a tough sell not only in light of what she has done — but what she has not done. She spent nine years in the city council and five in the senate, during which she dabbled unenthusiastically in garden-variety liberal causes — redeveloping blighted areas with government “incentives,” public schools and pay-day lending — but her real passion was for women’s issues. Besides demanding an end to pay discrimination and improving workplace conditions for women, she pushed law enforcement authorities to audit the backlog of unanalyzed rape kits gathering dust on their shelves. Her one big foray outside of women’s issues was in 2011, when she launched her first filibuster to stop Perry from slashing $4 billion from public schools. Not only was it mostly a big yawn, but as TIME’s Hilary Hylton has [reported](http://swampland.time.com/2013/09/27/wendy-davis-laces-up-her-running-for-governor-shoes/), Davis represents a heavily minority — African American and Latino — district that strongly supports school choice. Had Davis pushed that, she might have become a sensation for a different reason: Having the guts to break away from her own party’s orthodoxies. That would have made it much harder for Davis’ opponents to imprison her in her own cause by nicknaming her Abortion Barbie, an ugly but effective moniker that reminds general voters that she’s a single-issue ideologue. **(MORE**: [Wendy Davis: The Misogyny Will Actually Help Her—and Democrats](http://wp.me/p1RTSY-aJZ)) But there are bigger problems with Davis’ catapult strategy. Had she followed the more conventional route of working her way up the ranks by engaging in bread-and-butter issues she could have pre-empted such attacks. She would have inevitably built bridges, making it harder for colleagues on the other side of the aisle to get too nasty. More importantly, it would have allowed her to develop a governing philosophy and sort out some existential questions in advance. Right now, no one really knows what Davis would do once elected — not even likely Davis herself. Will she reverse her predecessor’s economic policies or stick with them? Texas has a $100 billion budget [surplus](http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21572208-unexpected-surplus-points-pitfalls-texan-austerity-too-much-good-thing). What will Davis do with it? Save it for a rainy day? Or invest it? If so, where? How much should she stick to the party line and on what issues? In the absence of a track record, Davis will have to figure all this out on the fly and define herself before her opponents define her. This is precisely the problem that Paul and Cruz, both of whom are junior senators whose names are suddenly being tossed around as potential Republican candidates for the 2016 presidential elections, are also going to face. Paul made a name for himself when he filibustered the confirmation of President Obama’s CIA nominee to demand answers on the scope of the administration’s drone program. And Cruz last month went on a 21-hour talkathon to defund Obamacare as a condition for passing the budget. Like Davis, they are both playing to activists who care about one issue above all else—and hoping that eventually a broader cross-section of voters will listen. If Davis succeeds next year, she’ll give them hope that this strategy is workable. If she stumbles, they might want to sit out the next presidential election cycle and begin the long, hard, unglamorous slog up. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7131587/wendy-davis-filibusters-do-not-a-candidate-make/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7131587/wendy-davis-filibusters-do-not-a-candidate-make/"},"headline":"Wendy Davis: Filibusters Do Not a Candidate Make","datePublished":"2013-10-03T19:26:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-16T09:11:13.486Z","description":"Wendy Davis, the Texas state senator who became a household name this summer after her gutsy filibuster to stop Gov. 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