by LIZ HALLORAN, NPR – Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis speaks at a Washington, D.C., fundraiser last month.

Official Washington has fled for dog-day vacations few deserved, leaving the nation’s capital a bit languid and bereft of news.

Enter, as if on cue, Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis of abortion bill filibuster fame, with a speech Monday at the National Press Club.

She’s the Democratic Party’s newest national star, having blazed to prominence with her 11-hour attempt to block legislation limiting Texas women’s access to abortion, and inspired all manner of liberal hopes in the deep-red Lone Star State.

Her speech Monday, which shed little light on the burning question in her home state and beyond — will she run for governor next year? — was just the latest turn in her rising Washington profile.

In previous visits this summer, she’s been feted at sold-out fundraisers. Turned heads at parties. Huddled in closed-door Capitol Hill sessions with Democratic senators. And strategized with Emily’s List, a powerful funding source for pro-choice female Democratic candidates.

Davis’ white-hot political celebrity is undeniable, at least in Washington, where her single-mom-to-Harvard Law School story has provided a new and compelling party narrative in a state where Democratic success stories have been few in recent years.

But there remains a very open question as to how that will translate electorally for Davis, 50, back home, where Republicans thoroughly control the political structure, and where she barely held her legislative seat in a 2012 contest and is not even a shoo-in for re-election next year.

via Texas’ Democratic Darling Will Decide On Governor’s Race Soon : It’s All Politics : NPR.