Two weeks after the the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tried to discredit Texas Democrat Laura Moser, the 7th District candidate earned a spot in the May 22 primary runoff.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Moser was in second place with 24 percent of the vote, behind attorney Lizzie Pannill Fletcher who led with 29 percent. EMILY’s List backed Fletcher.

The two Democrats will face off for the right to take on Republican incumbent John Culberson in a seat Democrats are targeting this year after Hillary Clinton carried it by a point in 2016. 

Moser is a former journalist and activist who started a text messaging service to engage people resisting President Donald Trump and the GOP Congress. 

Last month, the DCCC released research accusing her of being a “Washington insider.” In a 2014 magazine article, Moser, then a Washington, D.C., resident, said she’d rather have her “teeth pulled without anesthesia” than live in her grandparents’ hometown of Paris, Texas, which is not in the 7th District. 

The DCCC also alleged that Moser’s husband has benefited from her campaign spending, since he works at Revolution Messaging, which her campaign has paid for online consulting and advertising.

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But DCCC attacks on Moser may have emboldened some liberals in the district and across the country to support her. She reported raising nearly $90,000 in the first few days after the DCCC published the research. 

Eager to pile on the DCCC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC backed by House GOP leadership, released polling showing Moser sliding into the top-two after the campaign committee’s attacks. 

And the DCCC’s move has sparked disagreement from some party officials — Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said he “wouldn’t have done it” — while inspiring a backlash from some liberal groups opposed to what they see as the Washington “establishment” calling the shots. Moser picked up the endorsement of Our Revolution, the liberal group spun of from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, which attacked the DCCC in the process.

Democracy for America praised Moser and took another shot at the DCCC in a statement after she made the top two.

“Laura Moser’s strong finish tonight sends her to the May run-off election and makes it clear that, no matter what attacks the Republican-lite hacks at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee throw at them, voters in Texas’ 7th Congressional District are ready to send a progressive leader to Congress,” DFA chairman Jim Dean said. 

In recent days, Moser has taken heat for other comments she made in the 2014 article in Washingtonian magazine, including referring to a neighbor as a “deaf-mute drug addict.” She recently apologized for using “offensive language.” Another article she wrote in 1999 called “The Jesus Orgy” has also earned her criticism. In a March 5 posting on her personal Facebook page, Moser issued another apology.

“Of the many millions of words I have published in my long career, I have recently been made aware of some hurtful language and satire that more than missed its mark. It caused real offense, and I am sorry, full stop,” she wrote.

Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the 7th District race Tilts Republican.