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Earl Brunner
Earl Brunner (Republican Party) ran for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 4. Brunner lost in the Republican primary on March 6, 2018.
Brunner 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.
Brunner was a 2018 Republican candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 5th Congressional District of Texas. He dropped out of the race in December 2017.[1]
Biography
Earl Brunner was born in San Antonio, Texas, and lives in Gun Barrel City, Texas. Brunner served in the U.S. Army from 1983 to 2011 and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. He earned a bachelor's degree in aeronautical science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Brunner's career experience includes working as a captain with American Airlines.[2] [3]
Elections
2018
Texas House of Representatives
=
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 4
Keith Bell defeated Eston Williams and D. Allen Miller in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 4 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Keith Bell (R) | 74.1 | 44,669 |
| Eston Williams (D) | 24.2 | 14,581 | ||
 | D. Allen Miller (L) | 1.7 | 1,029 | |
| Total votes: 60,279 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 4
Keith Bell defeated Stuart Spitzer in the Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 4 on May 22, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Keith Bell | 58.9 | 7,892 |
 | Stuart Spitzer | 41.1 | 5,508 | |
| Total votes: 13,400 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 4
Eston Williams advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 4 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Eston Williams | 100.0 | 3,229 | |
| Total votes: 3,229 | |||
| = 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 4
Stuart Spitzer and Keith Bell advanced to a runoff. They defeated Ashley McKee and Earl Brunner in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 4 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Stuart Spitzer | 45.8 | 9,376 |
| ✔ | | Keith Bell | 26.2 | 5,367 |
| Ashley McKee | 25.7 | 5,269 | ||
 | Earl Brunner | 2.3 | 474 | |
| Total votes: 20,486 | |||
| = 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Marty Reid (R)
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?
| Four Republicans filed to run in the election to replace state Rep. Lance Gooden (R): Keith Bell, Earl Brunner, Ashley McKee, and Stuart Spitzer. As of January 31, 2018, all candidates in this race except for Brunner signed the form committing to vote for the Republican caucus' choice for speaker on the House floor. Spitzer said he might join the Texas Freedom Caucus if elected.[4] See our coverage of the primary runoff in this race here. Endorsements for Bell
Endorsements for McKee
Endorsements for Spitzer |
Campaign finance
U.S. House of Representatives
Brunner sought election to the 5th Congressional District of Texas in 2018. He dropped out of the race in December 2017.[1]
See also
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Texas House of Representatives elections, 2018
- State legislative special elections, 2018
- Texas House of Representatives
- Texas State Legislature
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook page
- LinkedIn page
- Texas Legislature website
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Texas Secretary of State, "2018 March Primary Election Candidate Filings by County," accessed December 21, 2017
- ↑ Earl Brunner for Texas House, "Who is Earl?," accessed January 24, 2018
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Earl Brunner," accessed January 24, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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