Dwain Handley
Dwain Handley (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 19. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Handley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Dwain Handley was born in Beaumont, Texas. Handley earned a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University in 1982 and a graduate degree from Texas A&M University in 1984. He is retired.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 19
Incumbent Ellen Troxclair defeated Dwain Handley and Kodi Sawin in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 19 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ellen Troxclair (R) | 70.9 | 87,416 |
 | Dwain Handley (D)  | 25.5 | 31,486 | |
 | Kodi Sawin (Independent) | 3.6 | 4,478 | |
| Total votes: 123,380 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 19
Dwain Handley defeated Zach Vance in the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 19 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dwain Handley | 57.2 | 3,599 |
 | Zach Vance | 42.8 | 2,697 | |
| Total votes: 6,296 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 19
Incumbent Ellen Troxclair defeated Kyle Biedermann and Manny Campos in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 19 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ellen Troxclair | 52.1 | 20,826 |
 | Kyle Biedermann | 43.0 | 17,189 | |
 | Manny Campos | 4.9 | 1,942 | |
| Total votes: 39,957 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Handley received the following endorsements.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Dwain Handley completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Handley's responses.
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I got active in 2013 after the Sandy Hook massacre when 90% of Americans insisted something be done about gun violence but got nothing. I knew that when 90% of us want something and can’t get it, something is wrong. So I went looking in my community in Dallas County for Democrats to connect with and to find ways to get involved. In the years since, I’ve been proven correct about something being wrong. Our politics are broken, and it’s essential that we restore them or else democracy itself is in peril.
That year, I became a precinct chair and eventually a Neighborhood Team Leader with Battleground Texas, recruiting an entire grassroots field for Wendy Davis’ gubernatorial campaign. At that time, we were in a Republican jurisdiction, but activists in the field I recruited would go on to become precinct chairs and even candidates for office. Both our house and congressional districts ultimately flipped to blue.
It’s critical that we re-engage the non-voter, who has checked out of politics, to flip this district. They’re a sleeping giant and the only untapped resource left to reverse the trajectory we’re on. I want to bring my skill set to HD 19 to make that happen.
- My No. 1 issue is Democracy because without it, we’ve not a prayer of addressing other issues. The GOP is hell-bent on destroying democracy, no exaggeration. The evidence is everywhere from infringing on voting rights to intruding on our private lives. They want a theocracy to enforce their religion on us.
By gerrymandering, they entrench themselves in power because they know they can’t command true majorities. In their desperation, they stop at nothing – including an attempted coup – to deny us the right to govern ourselves. The only way to stop them is to vote them out of power and keep them there dependably over time. We can then undo decades of Republican damage and make our political system work for the people once again.
- Statewide, we only need to flip four senate seats and twelve house seats to flip the Legislature to blue. WE ARE SO CLOSE, and it’s imperative that we succeed. If we fail in ’24, we may not get another crack at it. But think of what we can do with a Democratic legislature. Even with a GOP governor, we could pass constitutional amendments that would go directly before the voters, bypassing Abbott’s desk entirely. Imagine giving Texas voters the chance to vote on reproductive choice. I believe an amendment like that would pass convincingly, and it would become permanent. Never again would Republicans be able to restrict and deny a woman’s right to healthcare autonomy.
- I want to introduce a constitutional amendment prohibiting gerrymandering for good. We could get cracking on our most critical issues inside of fifteen minutes if not for gerrymandering. Ending it would force Republicans to straighten up their behavior. They’d no longer be able to elect dozens of extremists to the Legislature. They’d have to nominate sensible candidates who’ll listen to and address the needs of all Texans. The center of our electorate deserves equal representation in Austin and Washington. Right now, they’re getting ignored. By districting around cohesive communities, officials would have to listen to all of us, not just a few loud extremists. Voters should choose our officials, not the other way around.
I’m committed to continued bridge-building between the queer community and communities of color and of faith that serve to strengthen, protect, and elevate us all. We are all family, and we must strive to understand and accept each other. This requires effort both within and beyond politics, and I’m committed to that.
Only an absolute commitment to the principles of liberty and democracy becomes a genuine leader. Anyone not thusly committed is unfit for office.
Public office sometimes calls us to great courage; cowardice has no place here. A free and democratic Texas and America could never have been forged by cowards. Signers of the Declaration knew they risked hanging and penury the moment signed it. They signed it anyway, and some would go on to lose everything. I can’t imagine today’s Republicans stepping up like that. Had it been them in 1776, we’d still be British subjects. Incredibly now, some of them praise authoritarians. This eerily resembles anti-democratic movements in our past, and is an absolute disqualification for office.
Elected officials must commit to the equality and dignity of all humanity. No person or people must ever be regarded as less-than or subhuman, including the stranger and the poor, the different and the weak.
An elected official must work toward a widely shared prosperity and a robust middle-class. Only then can democracy thrive.
Our power infrastructure is also being strained thanks to a growing population and seeming disinterest on the part of Republicans to pull us back from the brink of failure.
Public education must be elevated to a level of international excellence. We must never be satisfied ranking among the bottom ten states on public education measures. Taxes raised by school districts and usurped by the state must be earmarked strictly for public education and not commingled with the state’s general revenue. This constitutes a dishonest tax levied by Republicans in Austin upon overburdened local taxpayers who, even though paying high taxes, are starved for resources to finance their local needs.
Full and equal voting rights protection must be restored to all Texans. County election boards must be allowed the flexibility to serve their citizens’ needs without interference from Austin.
The rights and authorities of home rule cities must be upheld.
Texas officials must stop pulling publicity stunts and picking political fights with Washington when it comes to the immigration crisis. Yes, there’s a crisis, but our GOP governor has no interest in seeking solutions. HE WANTS THE CRISIS because it’s a political haymaker for him. We need leaders who’ll extend to Washington a hand of cooperation and problem-solving.
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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.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Texas House of Representatives District 19 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on January 27, 2024
