In an interview, Covey identified a few areas where Phelan wasn’t giving conservatives everything they might expect in a red state legislature. He let Democrats hold some committee chairmanships, a tradition in Austin; he kept a new Border Protection Unit out of border control legislation; he didn’t stop Republicans from nixing Abbott’s school voucher plan.

“Sometimes he does the right thing on local issues,” Covey said. “Well, that’s the bare minimum, but the huge failure to represent the conservative voice on the state level is just tremendous, and really, really does damage to our district.”

Those weren’t the reasons why Trump intervened — a huge moment in the race, commemorated in Covey’s ads,…