Posts Tagged ‘Texas House District 86’

Texas Election Roundup For February 28, 2024

Wednesday, February 28th, 2024

I hadn’t intended to use so much of this week talking about Texas elections, but a lot of news is dropping and the primary looms next week, so let’s tuck in:

  • Vegas bets on Dade Phelan.

    After mainly remaining on the sidelines ahead of the primary, casino companies seeking to turn Texas into a piggy bank are spending big to back the current House Speaker and his allies.

    Chief among these out-of-state interlopers is Las Vegas Sands, giving through its “Texas” Sands PAC. The largest beneficiary of Sands’ money in the latest filing period is embattled House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont).

    The casino outfit gave $200,000 to the Speaker, his second-largest donation in the latest filing period. Another gambling behemoth, Penn Entertainment Inc., gave Phelan $20,000. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma donated $10,000.

    Gambling special interests have long targeted Texas but have been rebuffed for decades following failed promises of the Texas Lottery. During the 2023 legislative session, the Texas House advanced gambling measures that the Texas Senate ignored.

    In this latest period, Sands gave $1.8 million to Texas politicians. This money went exclusively to members of the Texas House, with Republicans taking $1.34 million and Democrats $457,500. This is potentially a preview of a deluge of money that big gambling may spend in the lead-up to the 2025 legislative session.

    State Rep. John Kuempel (R-Seguin), a key proponent of growing the gambling footprint in Texas, received the second-highest total from Sands at $110,000. Like Phelan, Keumpel finds himself up against a field of challengers, including Alan Schoolcraft who enjoys the endorsement of Gov. Greg Abbott and heavy financial backing.

  • Speaking of Phelan, it seems that a state agency paid millions in above-market rates for real estate rental to Phelan’s company.

    Texas Republican Party Chairman Matt Rinaldi says the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) has paid a company House Speaker Dade Phelan manages three times the market value.

    On February 16, 2023, an exclusive Texas Scorecard investigative report examined a lease between HHSC and 3105 Executive, LLC—a company Phelan and members of the Phelan family manage and direct. From December 2017 to December 2023, state taxpayers paid this company $2.3 million through HHSC. The original lease ran from January 2014 to December 2023 but has been extended to August 2029. Phelan was first elected to the Texas House in 2014 and began serving in 2015. He was elected Speaker by fellow House members in 2021.

    On February 17, Rinaldi took to social media platform X, noting that the 2023 rent HHSC paid Phelan is three times the market value.

    “This looks like a $268,000 windfall to the Speaker’s business paid for money appropriated by the House, which is a big deal,” he wrote. “My next question would be how many other income streams are there like this one?”

  • President Trump just endorsed a bunch more Texas candidates.

    Trump endorsed the following House candidates:

    • Brent Money for House District 2, a seat only recently filled by Jill Dutton in a special election
    • Joanne Shofner, who is challenging State Rep. Travis Clardy (R-Nacogdoches) for House District 11
    • Steve Toth (R–Conroe), who is the current representative for House District 15
    • Janis Holt, who is challenging State Rep. Ernest Bailes (R-Shepherd) for House District 18
    • Gary Gates (R–Richmond), who is the current representative for House District 28
    • Wes Virdell for House District 53, which is an open seat following the retirement of State Rep. Andrew Murr (R-Junction)
    • Hillary Hickland, who is challenging State Rep. Hugh Shine (R-Temple) for House District 55
    • Stormy Bradley, who is challenging State Rep. Drew Darby (R-San Angelo) for House District 72
    • Don McLaughlin for House District 80, which is an open seat following the retirement of Tracy King (D-Uvalde)
    • John Smithee (R–Amarillo), who is the current representative for House District 86
    • Caroline Fairly for House District 87, which is an open seat following the retirement of Four Price (R-Amarillo)
    • Barry Wernick, who is challenging State Rep. Morgan Meyer (R-Dallas) for House District 108

    Bailes, Darby, Shine, and Meyer all voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton—a close ally of Trump. Gates also voted for impeachment but later apologized and contributed $15,000 to Paxton’s campaign fund.

    Bailes, Darby, Clardy, and Shine all voted against Gov. Greg Abbott’s school choice program. Abbott has endorsed Trump’s 2024 presidential bid.

    Money, Virdell, Hickland, and Bradley have also been endorsed by Gun Owners of America.

    A consensus is forming among a broad front of Republicans (Trump, Abbott, Patrick and Paxton) on who to vote for on Tuesday, and Phalen’s pals ain’t it.

  • And Paxton is out on the campaign trail supporting challengers to the Phelan-aligned reps who voted for his impeachment.
  • State Rep. Gary VanDeaver Faces Stiff Challenge One Decade After Ousting Previous Incumbent.”

    Ten years into his career in the Texas House, state Rep. Gary VanDeaver (R-New Boston) now faces the very same challenge he mounted a decade ago — a newcomer hoping to unseat an incumbent.

    VanDeaver faces two challengers — the Gov. Greg Abbott-backed Chris Spencer and Attorney General Ken Paxton-backed Dale Huls — in his bid for a sixth term in the Legislature.

    He is one of 15 House Republicans seeking re-election who voted both for Paxton’s impeachment last May and to strip education savings accounts (ESA) from the House education omnibus bill last November, and for those he’s become a top target. Abbott and the pro-school choice groups wading into Texas House races have an eye toward flipping the seat, and Paxton is bent on exacting retribution.

    Snip.

    VanDeaver is in a dogfight, primarily against Spencer, the former chairman of the Sulphur Springs River Authority who loaned himself $300,000 at the campaign’s outset and is benefitting greatly from outside money.

    According to ad buy data provided to The Texan from Medium Buying, a national GOP placement agency, Spencer and the groups backing him have reserved $116,000 of ad space on cable and broadcast television from Monday through the election next week. That dwarfs the $12,000 spent by VanDeaver’s camp during the same period.

    Most of Spencer’s ad space was purchased either by Abbott’s campaign or the School Freedom Fund, a PAC affiliated with the national group Club for Growth.

    As of the eight-day reporting period, VanDeaver has $450,000 cash-on-hand after raising $684,000 from January 26 through February 24. During that same period, Spencer raised $257,000 and has $166,000 left on hand. Huls is far behind the other two with $16,000 raised and $7,000 remaining in the bank.

  • A brief look at Republican ballot propositions.
  • Texas State House Republican Primary Candidates

    Tuesday, February 20th, 2024

    Today marked the start of early primary voting, so here’s a roundup on Republican state house races.

    I’ve posted several times on the need to primary and defeat every one of the Dade Phelan toadies who voted to kill school choice or who voted to impeach Ken Paxton. Every candidate who voted to kill school choiceretired or draw a primary challenger.

    So here is a list of every contested Republican state House race, whether the incumbent voted to kill school choice or impeach Paxton, and who their challengers are:

  • District 1: Gary VanDeaver:

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Dale Huls
    Chris Spencer

  • District 2: Jill Dutton

    Dutton is listed as the incumbent because she won the special election for the seat of the expelled and disgraced Bryan Slaton. But she wasn’t in office to vote for or against school choice or the Paxton impeachment.

    Challenger:
    Brent Money

  • District 3: Keith Bell

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Joshua Feuerstein

  • District 5: Cole Hefner:

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Dewey Collier
    Jeff Fletcher

  • District 7: Jay Dean

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Bonnie Walters
    Joe McDaniel

  • District 8: Cody Harris

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Jaye Curtis

  • District 9: Trent Ashby

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Paulette Carson

  • District 11: Travis Clardy

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Joanne Shofner

  • District 12: No incumbent (Kyle Kacal retiring)

    Challengers:
    Ben Bius
    John Slocum
    Trey Wharton

  • District 14: No incumbent (John Raney retiring)

    Challengers:
    Rick Davis
    Paul Dyson

  • District 15: Steve Toth

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Skeeter Hubert

  • District 17: Stan Gerdes

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Tom Glass

  • District 18: Ernest Bailes

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Janis Holt
    Stephen Missick

  • District 19: Ellen Troxclair

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Kyle Biedermann
    Manny Campos

  • District 20: Terry Wilson

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Elva Janine Chapa

  • District 21: Dade Phalen

    As Speaker of the House, Phalen voted Present on the school choice gutting and Paxton impeachment votes, but is known to be the motivating factor behind both.

    Challengers:
    David Covey (Endorsed by President Trump.)
    Alicia Davis

  • District 24: Greg Bonnen

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Larissa Ramirez

  • District 26: Jacey Jetton

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Jessica Rose Huang
    Matt Morgan

  • District 28: Gary Gates

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Dan Matthews

  • District 29: No incumbent (Ed Thompson retiring)

    Challengers:
    Jeff Barry
    Alex Kamkar
    Edgar Pacheco Jr.
    Trent Perez

  • District 30: No incumbent (Geanie W. Morrison retiring)

    Challengers:
    Bret Baldwin
    Jeff Bauknight
    Vanessa Hicks-Callaway
    A.J. Louderback

  • District 33: Justin Holland

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Dennis London
    Katrina Pierson

  • District 44: John Kuempel

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Greg Switzer
    David Freimarck
    Alan Schoolcraft (Endorsed by President Trump)

  • District 53: No incumbent (Andrew S. Murr retiring)

    Challengers:
    Hatch Smith
    Wesley Virdell

  • District 55: Hugh Shine

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Jorge Estrada
    Davis Ford
    Hillary Hickland

  • District 56: No incumbent (Charles “Doc” Anderson retiring)

    Challengers:
    Pat Curry
    Devvie Duke

  • District 58: DeWayne Burns

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Helen Kerwin (Endorsed by President Trump)
    Lyndon Laird

  • District 60: Glenn Rogers

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Mike Olcott (Endorsed by President Trump)

  • District 61: Frederick Frazier

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Chuck Branch
    Keresa Richardson

  • District 62: Reggie Smith

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Shelley Luther

  • District 63: Ben Bumgarner

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Carlos Andino Jr. (website shows as expired)
    Vincent Gallo

  • District 64: Lynn Stucky

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Elaine Hays
    Andy Hopper

  • District 65: Kronda Thimesch

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Mitch Little

  • District 66: Matt Shaheen

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Wayne Richard

  • District 67: Jeff Leach

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Daren Meis

  • District 68: David Spiller

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Kerri Kingsbery

  • District 70: Incumbent Democrat Mihaela Plesa

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Republican Challengers:
    Joe Collins
    Steven Kinard

  • District 71: Stan Lambert

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Charles Byrn
    Liz Case (Endorsed by President Trump)

  • District 72: Drew Darby

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Stormy Bradley

  • District 74: Incumbent Democrat Eddie Morales Jr.

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Republican Challengers:
    Robert Garza
    John McLeon

  • District 76: Incumbent Democrat Suleman Lalani

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Republican Challengers:
    Dayo David
    Summara Kanwal
    Lea Simmons

  • District 80: No incumbent (Democrat Tracy King retiring)

    Republican Challengers:
    Don McLaughlin
    Clint Powell
    JR Ramirez

  • District 83: Dustin Burrows

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Wade Cowen

  • District 85: Stan Kitzman

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Tim Greeson

  • District 86: John Smithee

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? No

    Challenger:
    Jamie Haynes

  • District 87: No incumbent (John Four Price retiring)

    Challengers:
    Richard Beyea
    Cindi Bulla
    Caroline Fairly
    Jesse Quackenbush

  • District 88: Ken King

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Karen Post

  • District 89: Candy Noble

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Abraham George

  • District 91: Stephanie Klick

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Teresa Ramirez Gonzalez
    David Lowe

  • District 97: No incumbent (Craig Goldman retired to run for U.S. Congress)

    Challengers:
    Cheryl Bean
    John McQueeney
    Leslie Robnett

  • District 98: Giovanni Capriglione

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Brad Schofield

  • District 99: Charlie Geren

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Jack Reynolds

  • District 108: Morgan Meyer

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Barry Wernick

  • District 112: Angie Chen Button

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Chad Carnahan

  • District 119: Incumbent Democrat Elizabeth Campos

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Republican Challengers:
    Brandon Grable
    Dan Sawatzki

  • District 121: Steve Allison

    Voted to kill school choice? Yes
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challengers:
    Marc LaHood
    Michael Champion

  • District 128: Briscoe Cain

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Bianca Gracia

  • District 133: Mano Deayala

    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    John Perez

  • District 138: Lacey Hull
    Voted to kill school choice? No
    Voted to impeach Paxton? Yes

    Challenger:
    Jared Woodfill

  • Sources:

  • List of Texas state house races
  • School choice vote role call
  • Paxton impeachment vote roll call
  • Ballot information for the 2024 election.
  • I’m still missing a few candidate websites, so if you note any errors or omissions, let me know in the comments below.