一名正在得克萨斯州竞选国会席位的共和党候选人认为，该州的开放式初选可能让一名民主党人得以进入共和党初选。
亚历山大·黑尔（Alexander Hale）不禁对他的共和党竞争对手——亚历山大·卡莱（Alexander Kalai）——的政治立场产生疑问，两人正在角逐得克萨斯州第7国会选区的代表席位。卡莱则声称自己拥有所需的全部共和党资格。
“事实上，我长期以来一直支持共和党人和共和党事业，”卡莱周二在接受福克斯新闻数字版采访时表示。
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卡莱的背景在12月首次引起黑尔的注意。
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“我只是在查阅对手的信息。我在Transparency USA网站上看到，（他的父亲）向贝托（Beto）和其他顶级民主党人捐赠了数千美元，”黑尔提到的是得克萨斯州前民主党众议员、参议院和州长候选人败选者贝托·奥罗克（Beto O’Rourke）时说道。
“我当时想，‘嗯，这太奇怪了。’”
联邦选举委员会（FEC）的文件显示，卡莱的家族有向民主党捐款的记录，这让黑尔认为，得克萨斯州的开放式初选制度可能会让那些看起来像共和党人的候选人得以进入共和党初选，从而分散那些立场与共和党基本盘更一致的候选人的注意力。黑尔认为，这是许多采用开放式初选制度的州存在的一个弱点。
“可以说，‘我们难道不应该只让共和党人选举共和党人，民主党人只选举民主党人吗？’这并不为过，”黑尔在谈到初选时表示。
得克萨斯州是14个采用开放式初选制度的州之一，该制度允许未登记党派的候选人宣布参与某一政党的初选。
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在卡莱的情况下，他的网站称他支持传统的共和党立场，如学校选择、保护女子运动以及强调放松管制以促进经济活动。
当被问及他的立场时，卡莱表示他多年来一直支持共和党事业。
“我认为，即使回顾我在哥伦比亚法学院的时光，我曾是联邦党人协会（Federalist Society）的董事会成员，所有人都知道这个协会不仅仅是共和党人的组织——它是一个杰出的保守主义机构，捍卫宪法。所以，当你审视事实时，对于我的保守派对或共和党人的身份，真的不应该有任何疑问，”卡莱提到了这个保守主义和自由主义研究组织。
[得克萨斯州早期投票开始，正值3月3日初选竞争激烈]
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卡莱的竞选活动已筹集到18.2万美元，其中13.4万美元来自他个人。卡莱将这些捐赠的来源列为“自雇”，并描述这一业务是家族企业的一部分。
“我是Amerapex的首席财务官，”卡莱提到了一家总部位于休斯顿的技术、工程和工业服务公司，“这是一家家族企业。我拥有相当大比例的股份。其他股东是我的兄弟、父亲和母亲。我们共同拥有公司100%的股权。”
他的竞选活动还收到了他的父母巴沙尔·卡莱（Bashar Kalai）和格里吉特·卡莱（Grigitte Kalai）各3500美元的捐款——根据联邦法律，这是一名捐赠者可以向候选人提供的最高金额。
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巴沙尔·卡莱向儿子捐赠，这与他过去的政治捐款倾向背道而驰。正如黑尔所指出的，巴沙尔有向民主党人捐款的长期记录。
除了向贝托·奥罗克（Beto O’Rourke）捐款外，他还向希拉里·克林顿（Hillary Clinton）、弗吉尼亚州参议员蒂姆·凯恩（Tim Kaine）、众议院多数党政治行动委员会（House Majority PAC，由众议院民主党领导层控制）以及其他民主党候选人的竞选活动捐款。
黑尔认为，卡莱与他父亲的关系应该让人对亚历山大·卡莱的党派归属产生质疑。
“我很想听听解释，为什么有人突然带着这么多‘蓝色资金’出现，说‘嘿，我是共和党人。你们从未听说过我。我从未参加过初选，但我是你们需要的共和党人。这不合常理，’”黑尔说道。
卡莱驳斥了黑尔的说法，辩称他父亲过去的捐款并不妨碍他担任共和党职务。当被问及他父亲的政治观点是否曾与他自己的相冲突时，卡莱表示他的父亲一直鼓励他走自己的路。
“我的父母非常支持我尝试一切。去做你想做的事，做你自己。这一直是他们所支持的。多年来，我们确实有过几次激烈的争论，”卡莱说。
“我的家庭实际上相当分裂。我的母亲非常保守，属于右翼阵营，而我的兄弟则极端右翼，甚至可能是无政府主义者。所以我认为这并不意味着什么，”卡莱说。
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卡莱证实，他从未参加过初选投票。
[大卫·马库斯：在达拉斯，选民权衡两次参议院初选，如今战火再起]
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归根结底，黑尔表示，他的担忧不仅仅局限于卡莱竞选活动的细节。他担心，像卡莱这样有足够资金支持的候选人，在初选过程中可能会向选民展示一幅令人信服的图景，而筹款往往被用来确立合法性。
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“金钱买来了关注度。在开放式初选中，我们最终会陷入这样一种局面：谁拥有最多的钱——感觉上是谁就会赢，”黑尔说。
黑尔和卡莱将在周二晚上与另外三名共和党候选人一起参加投票。无论谁在初选中获胜，都将在11月与现任众议员、得克萨斯州民主党人莉齐·弗莱彻（Lizzie Fletcher）展开角逐。
编辑注：本文已更新，纳入卡莱对他被指为干预得克萨斯州共和党初选的民主党人的指控进行反驳的回应。
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利奥·布里塞诺（Leo Briceno）是福克斯新闻数字版国会团队的政治记者。他此前曾是《世界杂志》（World Magazine）的记者。
A GOP candidate running for Congress in Texas believes the state’s open primaries may have allowed a Democrat to enter a Republican primary.
Alexander Hale can’t help but have questions about the political positions of his fellow Republican challenger — Alexander Kalai — as they face off to represent Texas’ 7th Congressional District. Kalai, for his part, claims he has all the Republican credentials he needs.
“In reality, I have a long history of supporting Republicans and Republican causes,” Kalai told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
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Kalai’s background first caught Hale’s attention in December.
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“I was simply looking up my opponent’s information. And I saw on Transparency USA that [his father had given] [thousands] to Beto” and other top Democrats, Hale said, referring to a former Democratic representative of Texas, Beto O’Rourke, the failed Senate and gubernatorial candidate.
“And I thought, ‘well, that is super strange.’”
Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings show that Kalai’s family [has a track record]of donating to Democrats, leading Hale to believe that the open primary system in Texas may invite Republican-looking candidates to detract attention from candidates with platforms that align more closely with the GOP base. Hale believes that’s a weakness shared by many states that use open primaries.
“I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to say, well, ‘shouldn’t we only have Republicans electing Republicans and Democrats only electing Democrats?’” Hale said of the primary elections.
Texas is one of 14 states that use an open primary system, allowing unregistered candidates to announce their consideration for a party’s primary race.
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In Kalai’s case, his website states that he supports traditional Republican positions like school choice, protecting women’s sports and an emphasis on deregulation to promote economic activity.
Asked about his positions, Kalai said he has championed Republican causes for years.
“I think even if you look back to my time in law school at Columbia, I was on the board of the Federalist Society, which everyone knows is not just Republican — it’s a preeminent conservative institution defending the Constitution. So when you look at the facts, there should really be no doubt about my credentials as a conservative or a Republican,” Kalai said, alluding to the conservative and libertarian studies group.
[TEXAS EARLY VOTING BEGINS AHEAD OF CONTENTIOUS MARCH 3 PRIMARY ELECTIONS]
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Kalai’s campaign has received $182,000. Of those, $134,000 has come from his own pocket. Kalai lists his source for those donations as “self-employed” and described that venture as part of a family business.
“I’m the CFO at Amerapex,” Kalai said, referring to a technology, engineering and industrial services company based in Houston. “It’s a family business. I own a very significant portion of it in shares. The other shareholders are my brother, my father and my mother. We own 100% of the company together.”
His campaign has also received two donations from his parents, Bashar and Grigitte Kalai, both for $3,500 — the most one donor can give a candidate for the primary, according to federal law.
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Bashar Kalai’s donation to his son, a Republican, goes against the grain of his past political contributions. As Hale pointed out, Bashar has a long track record of political donations — to Democrats.
In addition to his contributions to Beto O’Rourke, he has donated to the campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., the House Majority PAC, which is controlled by Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives and other Democratic candidates.
Hale, Kalai’s opponent, believes his proximity to his son should raise questions about Alexander Kalai’s affiliations.
“I’d love to hear an explanation as to why someone comes out of the blue with all this blue money and says, ‘Hey, I’m a Republican. You’ve never heard of me. I’ve never voted in a primary, but I’m the Republican you need. It doesn’t make sense,” Hale said.
Kalai pushed back on Hale’s characterizations, arguing that his father’s past contributions don’t preclude him from holding Republican positions. When asked if his father’s political views ever clashed with his own, Kalai said his father had encouraged him to pursue his own course.
“My parents are like pro go try everything. Go do whatever you want and be your own man. That’s, that’s what they’ve always supported. There have been a few times over the years when we’ve gotten into like, you know, sort of real arguments,” Kalai said.
“My family’s actually pretty split. My mother’s very conservative and part of the right and my brother is so far to the right he’s perhaps an anarchist. So I think this doesn’t mean anything,” Kalai said.
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Kalai confirmed that he has never voted in a primary.
[DAVID MARCUS: IN DALLAS, VOTERS WEIGH TWO SENATE PRIMARIES AND NOW, A WAR]
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At the end of the day, Hale said his concerns stretch beyond the particulars of Kalai’s campaign. He fears that candidates with sufficient financial backing, like Kalai, could present a convincing picture to voters in a primary process where fundraising is often used to establish legitimacy.
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“Money buys attention. In open primaries, we end up in a situation where whoever has the most money —it feels like whoever has the most money wins,” Hale said.
Hale and Kalai will face off at the ballot box on Tuesday evening alongside three other Republican candidates. Whoever wins that primary will face off against incumbent Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas, in November.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include Kalai’s response pushing back on allegations that he’s a Democrat meddling in a Texas GOP primary.
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Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.