Ad critical of Gov. Greg Abbott's pandemic leadership pulled from UT-Rice football game

A political action committee led by anti-Trump Republicans says its TV ad critical of Gov. Greg Abbott's pandemic response was pulled before it was scheduled to air during Saturday’s University of Texas football game. 

The ad was scheduled to play on the Longhorn Network during the game between Texas and Rice University, according to a news release Sunday from the Lincoln Project. The organization said the advertisement cost $25,000 and was cleared by the legal department for ESPN.

“Did Greg Abbott or his allies assert political influence to ensure the advertisement was not broadcast?” the statement said. “Once again, instead of focusing on the task of keeping Texans safe from the coronavirus pandemic, it appears they’ve focused their time and energy on censoring those that would hold him to account for his failures.”

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The Lincoln Project said it was told 10 minutes before kickoff that the ad would not run due to a “university-made decision.”

UT Provost Sharon Wood said Monday that Learfield, a third-party sports marketing company, pulled the advertisement Friday evening. The company has a contract with the athletic department, Wood said during a meeting of UT's Faculty Council on Monday.

“For over a decade, Learfield has followed a standing policy of not selling political advertisements other than candidate ads. ... Neither President Hartzell nor I knew anything about this until after the event. The decision was not made within the Tower,” Wood said.

Learfield did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The political advertisement, titled “Abbott’s Wall,” notes that Texas has seen more than 3.8 million total coronavirus cases and more than 60,000 deaths related to COVID-19.

According to the ad, the number of COVID-19 deaths in the state would fill a cemetery that stretches from Austin to San Antonio, which would require coffins with “enough lumber to build a wall 85 miles long.” The ad shows a long line of multiple coffins organized in a wall.

The silent ad concludes by saying that Abbott’s wall has been paid for with more than 60,475 lives of Texans.

“If Gov. Abbott wants to build a new wall, tell him to stop building this one,” the ad says.

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David Carney, a consultant for Abbott, said the governor did not have anything to do with pulling the advertisement. Abbott, a UT alumnus, appoints the members of the UT System Board of Regents, who oversee UT-Austin and appoint the president of the university.  

“I’m saddened to hear the ad might have been pulled. I'd rather have them waste $25K on their stunt than pay off their past due mortgages or have excess funds to wine and dine more interns,” Carney said.

Rick Wilson, co-founder of the Lincoln Project, said the organization wanted to run the ad during the football game because of the large audience. He said the organization has not yet been given a refund for the ad but expects to get one.

"Greg Abbott ... has taken a position on how to handle COVID that we believe is anathema to good government, good public health and good public safety," Wilson said. "And part of what our organization does is hold people to account on matters like that."

On Friday, Abbott signed a border security funding bill that allocated about $750 million more in spending for construction of a barrier along the Texas-Mexico border, increasing the state’s total investment for the wall to around $1 billion. 

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Abbott has prohibited agencies and political entities that receive public funding in Texas from instituting vaccine and mask requirements even as Texas has been facing a surge in COVID-19 cases, deaths and hospitalizations. 

Even so, nearly 100 school districts, as well as many counties and at least one city — home to nearly half of the Texas population — are requiring masks in defiance of Abbott, according to a list maintained by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The Lincoln Project said in a statement that it will file a public records request with UT and Abbott to see if there were any communications between them “in regards to this First Amendment-protected speech.”

“We will not be deterred by Governor Abbott’s radicalism in support of his own political prospects and reelection campaign,” the statement said. “We’re not finished with Governor Abbott.”