Brent Lawson
Brent Lawson (Republican Party) ran for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 62. Lawson lost in the Republican primary runoff on May 22, 2018.
Lawson ran in one of 48 contested Texas state legislative Republican primaries in 2018. To read more about the conflict between Republican factions in the primaries, including who the factions were, which races were competitive and who key influencers lined up behind, click here.
Lawson was a 2014 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 4th Congressional District of Texas.[1]
Biography
Brent Lawson lives in Grayson County, Texas. Lawson's career experience includes working as an electrical engineer.[2]
Campaign themes
2014
Lawson self identifies as a "constitutional conservative."[2] He listed the following issues on his campaign website:[3]
- Congressional term limits: "I believe a maximum of 12 years of consecutive service for members of the House and Senate would be constructive."
- Budget: "Other budget reforms, such as ending baseline budgeting, must be worked in parallel with efforts to achieve a balanced budget amendment."
- Immigration: "Insisting that our immigration policy favor immigrants that share American values, value American culture, and are committed to assimilation is consistent with a rational immigration policy."
- Border security: "Border security must be decoupled from immigration debates."
- Gun control: "As a US Representative I will oppose all Federal attempts to restrict gun rights."
- Taxes: "I support the effort to replace the current income tax with a national consumption tax."
- Foreign policy: "I will support efforts to have any treaty signed by a US administration become unsigned if it has not been ratified by the Senate by the end of the final term of that administration...All foreign aid should be subjected to routine reviews and re-justification."
- Abortion: "A culture of life is essential to the continuation of a free society...Compulsory taxes used to fund the providers of abortions are cruel and oppressive assaults on the consciences of many millions of Americans."
- Social issues: "Social Conservatism is not a separable part of conservatism."
Elections
2018
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 62
Reggie Smith defeated Valerie Hefner and David Schaab in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 62 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Reggie Smith (R) | 76.2 | 41,994 | |
 | Valerie Hefner (D) | 21.9 | 12,076 | |
| David Schaab (L) | 1.9 | 1,072 | ||
| Total votes: 55,142 | |||
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Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 62
Reggie Smith defeated Brent Lawson in the Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 62 on May 22, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Reggie Smith | 71.2 | 6,227 | |
 | Brent Lawson | 28.8 | 2,520 | |
| Total votes: 8,747 | |||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 62
Valerie Hefner advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 62 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Valerie Hefner | 100.0 | 2,618 |
| Total votes: 2,618 | |||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 62
Reggie Smith and Brent Lawson advanced to a runoff. They defeated Kevin Couch in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 62 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Reggie Smith | 45.8 | 7,885 | |
| ✔ | | Brent Lawson | 34.3 | 5,916 |
| Kevin Couch | 19.9 | 3,423 | ||
| Total votes: 17,224 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Overview of 2018 Republican primaries
The 2018 Texas state legislative Republican primaries featured conflict between two factions. One group was opposed to House Speaker Joe Straus (R) and his preferred policies on issues like education financing and property taxes. The anti-Straus wing included members of the Texas Freedom Caucus and organizations such as Empower Texans and Texas Right to Life. The other group was supportive of Straus and his policy priorities. The pro-Straus wing included incumbent legislators allied with Straus and organizations such as the Associated Republicans of Texas and the Texas Association of Business. To learn more about these factions and the conflict between them, visit our page on factional conflict among Texas Republicans.
The primaries occurred on March 6, 2018, with runoffs on May 22, 2018. There were 48 contested state legislative Republican primaries, outnumbering contested primaries in 2016 (43) and 2014 (44). To see our full coverage of the state legislative Republican primaries, including who key influencers were backing and what the primaries meant for the 2019 House speaker's race, visit our primary coverage page.
The charts below outline the March 6 primary races for the state Senate and the state House. They show how the factions performed on election night.
| Texas Senate Republicans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before March 6 primaries | After March 6 primaries | |
| Pro-Straus | 2 | 1 | |
| Anti-Straus | 1 | 3 | |
| Unknown | 3 | 3 | |
| Open seats | 1 | - | |
| Runoffs | - | - | |
| Too close to call | - | - | |
| Total | 7 | 7 | |
| Texas House Republicans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before March 6 primaries | After March 6 primaries | |
| Pro-Straus | 20 | 20 | |
| Anti-Straus | 4 | 9 | |
| Unknown | 2 | 5 | |
| Open seats | 15 | - | |
| Runoffs | - | 7 | |
| Too close to call | - | - | |
| Total | 41 | 41 | |
Primary we watched
This primary was one of 48 we tracked for the March 6 elections.
Did the incumbent file to run for re-election?
| No. |
What made this a race to watch?
| Three Republicans filed to run in the election to replace state Rep. Larry Phillips (R): Kevin Couch, Brent Lawson, and Reggie Smith. All candidates in this race signed the form committing to vote for the Republican caucus' choice for speaker on the House floor. See our coverage of the primary runoff in this race here. Endorsements for Couch
Endorsements for Lawson
Endorsements for Smith
|
Campaign finance
2014
Lawson ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent Texas' 4th District. Lawson was defeated by incumbent Ralph Hall and John Ratcliffe in the Republican primary on March 4, 2014.[10]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Ralph Hall Incumbent |
45.4% | 29,848 | ||
| John Ratcliffe |
28.8% | 18,917 | ||
| Lou Gigliotti | 16.1% | 10,601 | ||
| John Stacy | 4.3% | 2,812 | ||
| Brent Lawson | 3.5% | 2,290 | ||
| Tony Arterburn | 1.9% | 1,252 | ||
| Total Votes | 65,720 | |||
| Source: Texas Secretary of State |
||||
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Lawson and his wife, Sandra, live in Grayson County, Texas. They have three children.[11]
See also
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Texas House of Representatives elections, 2018
- State legislative special elections, 2018
- Texas House of Representatives
- Texas State Legislature
- United States House of Representatives
- Texas' 4th Congressional District elections, 2014
- Texas' 4th Congressional District
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook page
- Campaign Twitter page
- Texas Legislature website
- Project Vote Smart profile
Footnotes
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2014 March Primary Election Candidate Filings by County," accessed December 10, 2013
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Brent Lawson for State Representative, "About," accessed February 14, 2018
- ↑ Lawson 4 Texas: "Issues," accessed January 13, 2014
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