But a lack of funds may prevent her from doing so:
Four years after emerging as a Tea Party darling, Medina is eyeing the open race to succeed Comptroller Susan Combs. But as she weighs another run, she knows that donations from grass-roots supporters can take a candidate only so far in Texas.
“I’m hesitant to go out to these meetings and say, ‘I’m running,’ because I’m not going to run underfunded,” said Medina, who predicts that grass-roots supporters could provide 30 percent of what she needs for a campaign.
“I think the other 70 percent is going to have to come from high-wealth individuals who fund campaigns in Texas. There, it’s not coming,” Medina said.
Her comments underscore the extent to which wealthy donors play an outsize role in Texas elections, where there are no limits on how much an individual can donate to a candidate for a state office. With the majority of voters spread among several large media markets, running a statewide campaign is prohibitively expensive.
It's a reminder of who determines who wins state-wide office in Texas.
Medina’s campaign for governor came on the heels of the birth of the Tea Party movement. Though Gov. Rick Perry, who ultimately won re-election, quickly embraced many of the movement’s views of limited government, some voters believed it conflicted with his record, and they turned to Medina in the Republican primary, according to Mark Jones, chairman of political science at Rice University in Houston.
“There’s a certain level of support she has out there,” Jones said. “There are people who remember her and identify with that wing of the party.”
In July, Medina reported having $55,000 in her campaign account. Two Republicans already running for comptroller, state Sen. Glenn Hegar, of Katy, and state Rep.Harvey Hilderbran, of Kerrville, reported war chests of $1.8 million and $1 million, respectively. Former state Rep. Raul Torres, a Republican, is also a candidate and Democrat Michael Collier, a retired accountant, has said he may run for the position as well.
