RUNOFF

After the election was concluded on March 5th, 2024, there was no winner for House District 1; now the district is headed for a runoff. Three candidates were vying for the seat that Gary VanDeaver has held since 2015. For a winner to be named, a candidate must have reached 50% plus one. When the votes were tallied, 45.5% of the vote went to VanDeaver, 43.1% went to Chris Spencer and 11.4% voted for Dale Hul, moving the race now to a runoff.

VanDeaver was first elected in 2014 and has been re-elected by his district four times, in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022, defeating the previous incumbent, George Lavender, on three separate occasions, never facing a challenger in the general election. This time however the incumbent faced new opposition with Spencer and Hul.

Before 2022 Cass County was not part of District 1. Since redistricting, the new House District 1 includes Bowie, Cass, Lamar, Morris, and Red River Counties.

All three candidates were in line with Governor Abbott’s republican dictate to secure the border but VanDeaver was in opposition to his issue of school choice, which was one of the Governor’s biggest mandates this last year.

VanDeaver, the former superintendent for New Boston was one of many Republicans to oppose the Governors. In response, Abbott vigorously threw his support behind the newcomers, and large amounts of money followed the candidate’s campaigns that would support his school choice initiative.

According to the Texas Tribune, “Twenty- one House Republicans opposed vouchers last year, teaming up with Democrats to vote 84-63 in favor of an amendment that ultimately doomed the proposal.”

That may change now with “the victories of nine pro-voucher newcomers to the Texas House on Tuesday — if they can be bolstered with wins for two more candidates who forced anti-voucher incumbents into runoffs — could be enough to push vouchers across the finish line when the new generation of lawmakers funded by and loyal to Abbott are sworn in next year.”

The Governor also welcomed the passage of republican proposition 11 which seemed to further champion his school choice initiative.

The VanDeaver – Spencer race is one of five the Governor is hoping for positive news. May 28, might decide that outcome.

The District 1 race was especially contentious and may continue to get worse. Mailboxes were flooded with attacks and digital ads ran amuck with political ads that attacked the character and conservativeness of each candidate.

When asked about the runoff the Van-Deaver camp told the Bowie County Tribune “We’re just going to continue to run a positive campaign and try to get the message out and try to get truth out to where it needs to be where false information is being put out.

“I’m excited. When you’ve endured six weeks of the kind of fire I’ve endured and the kind of hate and attacks and still come out winning the election, just not winning it by 50%, I consider that a victory. And I look forward to continuing to get our message out over the next three months and look forward to the runoff.”

The Spencer campaign issued this statement for the Journal-Sun, “I’m grateful to my supporters in the primary. They delivered a great victory for the citizens of House District 1. Dale Huls is an honorable man and a patriotic conservative. I am grateful for his support in the runoff. I look forward to a spirited campaign focused on the issues and ask that Gary VanDeaver refrain from negative attacks in this round and run a positive campaign.

“The people of House District 1 voted 54% against the incumbent and have shown that they want a new representative that will be responsive to their needs and concerns. I will be that voice for them in Austin.”

Hul who threw his support behind Spencer, said this to the Journal-Sun Monday, “I was blessed to run the race for HD1. I was able to run my campaign on the issues with integrity. My volunteers were the superstars in the campaign along with my campaign manager, Holly Parker.

“As for the campaign itself, the main disappointment I had was with the VanDeaver campaign that began attacking Spencer and myself. When he was publicly called out on these attacks, he blamed them on his consultants without disavowing the attacks.

“For the record, I will support Spencer in the runoff. He is obviously the more conservative candidate left in the race.”

The Journal-Sun will continue to report on the race in the weeks to come. This is an ongoing story. By Shawn Larson After the election was concluded on March 5th, 2024, there was no winner for House District 1; now the district is headed for a runoff. Three candidates were vying for the seat that Gary VanDeaver has held since 2015. For a winner to be named, a candidate must have reached 50% plus one. When the votes were tallied, 45.5% of the vote went to VanDeaver, 43.1% went to Chris Spencer and 11.4% voted for Dale Hul, moving the race now to a runoff.

VanDeaver was first elected in 2014 and has been re-elected by his district four times, in 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022, defeating the previous incumbent, George Lavender, on three separate occasions, never facing a challenger in the general election. This time however the incumbent faced new opposition with Spencer and Hul.

Before 2022 Cass County was not part of District 1. Since redistricting, the new House District 1 includes Bowie, Cass, Lamar, Morris, and Red River Counties.

All three candidates were in line with Governor Abbott’s republican dictate to secure the border but VanDeaver was in opposition to his issue of school choice, which was one of the Governor’s biggest mandates this last year.

VanDeaver, the former superintendent for New Boston was one of many Republicans to oppose the Governors. In response, Abbott vigorously threw his support behind the newcomers, and large amounts of money followed the candidate’s campaigns that would support his school choice initiative.

According to the Texas Tribune, “Twenty- one House Republicans opposed vouchers last year, teaming up with Democrats to vote 84-63 in favor of an amendment that ultimately doomed the proposal.”

That may change now with “the victories of nine pro-voucher newcomers to the Texas House on Tuesday — if they can be bolstered with wins for two more candidates who forced anti-voucher incumbents into runoffs — could be enough to push vouchers across the finish line when the new generation of lawmakers funded by and loyal to Abbott are sworn in next year.”

The Governor also welcomed the passage of republican proposition 11 which seemed to further champion his school choice initiative.

The VanDeaver – Spencer race is one of five the Governor is hoping for positive news. May 28, might decide that outcome.

The District 1 race was especially contentious and may continue to get worse. Mailboxes were flooded with attacks and digital ads ran amuck with political ads that attacked the character and conservativeness of each candidate.

When asked about the runoff the Van-Deaver camp told the Bowie County Tribune “We’re just going to continue to run a positive campaign and try to get the message out and try to get truth out to where it needs to be where false information is being put out.

“I’m excited. When you’ve endured six weeks of the kind of fire I’ve endured and the kind of hate and attacks and still come out winning the election, just not winning it by 50%, I consider that a victory. And I look forward to continuing to get our message out over the next three months and look forward to the runoff.”

The Spencer campaign issued this statement for the Journal-Sun, “I’m grateful to my supporters in the primary. They delivered a great victory for the citizens of House District 1. Dale Huls is an honorable man and a patriotic conservative. I am grateful for his support in the runoff. I look forward to a spirited campaign focused on the issues and ask that Gary VanDeaver refrain from negative attacks in this round and run a positive campaign.

“The people of House District 1 voted 54% against the incumbent and have shown that they want a new representative that will be responsive to their needs and concerns. I will be that voice for them in Austin.”

Hul who threw his support behind Spencer, said this to the Journal-Sun Monday, “I was blessed to run the race for HD1. I was able to run my campaign on the issues with integrity. My volunteers were the superstars in the campaign along with my campaign manager, Holly Parker.

“As for the campaign itself, the main disappointment I had was with the VanDeaver campaign that began attacking Spencer and myself. When he was publicly called out on these attacks, he blamed them on his consultants without disavowing the attacks.

“For the record, I will support Spencer in the runoff. He is obviously the more conservative candidate left in the race.”

The Journal-Sun will continue to report on the race in the weeks to come. This is an ongoing story.