Wendy Davis, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate in Texas, has denied a
Dallas Morning News report about the terms of her 2005 divorce settlement with insurance company chief Jeff Davis, the newspaper reported.
In dividing the couple's assets, Davis reportedly received some $6 million along with a five-year contract with the title company that succeeded Safeco.
"The figure cited by the Dallas Morning News' conveniently anonymous source is factually inaccurate. A request for retraction has been submitted," said Davis campaign spokesman Zac Petkanas.
Discrepancies in her biography about her early years and first marriage have become an issue in the campaign. She has pointed to her business experience with the company and a campaign pamphlet credits her with helping to start Safeco. Her husband worked for and purchased the firm prior to her involvement, according to the Morning News.
She was on Safeco's payroll but former managers there said she was not a presence at the company. Davis wrote in her memoir, "Forgetting to Be Afraid," that she promoted the company through networking, according to the Morning News.
In 2013, Davis carried out an 11-hour filibuster in the Texas state Senate to block a bill which would have placed tighter restrictions on abortions. The filibuster propelled her to national attention and helped her secure the Democratic nomination for governor.
She later announced that she herself had had an abortion in 1997 when she discovered a brain abnormality in the fetus, according to
The New York Times.
Republican Greg Abbott leads Davis in the polls by a 49.3 to 36.7 margin, according to
Real Clear Politics.