Dear Family, Friends, Colleagues, Supporters: As you now surely know, last night I was defeated (61% / 39%) in my statewide Republican Primary by my opponent, David Porter. Porter, an unknown, no-campaign, no-qualification CPA from Midland residing in Giddings filed on the last day that he could file while I was waiting in Abilene to bury my dad. He has never held any elected office, has no geoscience, industry, or legal experience other than doing tax returns for oil and gas companies. I was handily defeated in spite of spending over $600,000 to do the following: 1) Distribute two direct mail pieces to almost 500,000 Republican primary households; 2) Run a 60-second radio spot on TX State Radio Network, supplemented by key conservative talk and Christian radio stations; 3) Run ads in several targeted newspapers; 4) RoboCalls to thousands of “Independent” households; 5) Distribute election push cards, website, Facebook page, bumper stickers, letter writing; 6) Actively campaign in-person by my campaign staff and me. Early polling showed that the typical GOP primary voter has very little info about the position of Railroad Commissioner, what we do, or who my opponent or I were. Given the choice between “Porter” and “Carrillo” — unfortunately, the Hispanic-surname was a serious setback from which I could never recover although I did all in my power to overcome this built-in bias. I saw it last time but was able to win because the “non-Carrillo” vote was spread among three Anglo GOP primary opponents instead of just one. Also, the political dynamics have changed some since 2004. * * * * What Victor Carrillo did not say was that he was left to fight on his own by other Republicans, including Rick Perry. Carrillo could raise only $600,000 to run a statewide race. Where was the SREC chairman while this was happening? Worrying about illegal immigration, no doubt. Where were the national committee members? It is painfully obvious that no one but Victor Carrillo gave a damn about whether he won or not.