Texas voters will head to the polls Tuesday (May 27) to determine key runoff races between Republicans Dan Patrick and David Dewhurst for lieutenant governor and between Republicans Ken Paxton and Dan Branch for Texas attorney general. In addition Democrats David Alameel and Kesha Rogers will face off in Texas's race for U.S. Senate.

As you prepare for coverage of these and other primary runoff races, consider these University of North Texas faculty experts who are available to discuss the high stakes strategies and issues guiding the election.

• Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha, associate professor of political science, researches American political institutions, public policy and campaign rhetoric, including media coverage. His work has been published in scholarly journals, including American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Presidential Studies Quarterly and Congress and the Presidency.

Office phone number: 940-565-2329
Email: mes@unt.edu

• Brian Lain, associate professor of communication studies and director of debate at UNT, brings expertise in rhetorical criticism and theory and the politics of representation in reviewing the lieutenant governor race between Patrick and Dewhurst.

"The difficulty that we have in this lieutenant governor's debate is we have candidates that really are going after each other. They are really using a lot of attack," said Lain. "The question of fact checking does come into play. Both of these candidates want to try and control the spin as much as possible on the issues. The person that wins the primary race is going to be the one that can garner the most trust with the voters, because both sides are saying the other has lied quite a bit."

Cell phone number: 940-453-2359
Email: blain@unt.edu

• Phil Paolino, associate professor of political science, can discuss the candidates' performance, voters' perceptions of candidate viability, voting patterns, political psychology and political participation during election season. He has published articles in a number of scholarly journals, including American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science and Political Analysis.

Cell phone number: 703-310-7162
Email: philip.paolino@unt.edu

Note to editors and reporters:

Brian Lain, associate professor of communication studies and director of debate at UNT, discusses the race for Texas lieutenant governor.

Dan Patrick's debate performance:

Debate tactic using name-calling and attacks, issue of trust among voters:

Potential impact of campaign attack strategies on election outcome: