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Kel Seliger
Kel Seliger (Republican Party) was a member of the Texas State Senate, representing District 31. He assumed office in 2004. He left office on January 10, 2023.
Seliger (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Texas State Senate to represent District 31. He won in the general election on November 6, 2018.
Biography
Seliger graduated from Borger Public schools and later attended and graduated from Dartmouth College.
In addition to being a senator, he is the co-owner and executive vice-president of Lake Steel, Incorporated. He is also a flight instructor and has a commercial pilot’s license. Prior to his election in the state senate, Seliger was the mayor of Amarillo and held that title for four terms.[1]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2021-2022
Seliger was assigned to the following committees:
- Health & Human Services Committee
- Senate Transportation Committee, Vice chair
- Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee
- Nominations Committee
- Veteran Affairs & Border Security Committee
2019-2020
Seliger was assigned to the following committees:
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Education |
| • Finance |
| • Higher Education, Chair |
| • Natural Resources and Economic Development |
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Seliger served on the following committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Business & Commerce |
| • Natural Resources and Economic Development |
| • Education |
| • Finance |
| • Higher Education, Chair |
2013-2014
In the 2013-2014 legislative session, Seliger served on the following committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Education |
| • Finance |
| • Higher Education, Chair |
| • Natural Resources |
| • Joint Committee on Oversight of Higher Ed Governance, Excellence & Transparency, Co-Chair |
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Seliger served on the following Texas Senate committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Select Committee on Redistricting, Chair |
| • Education |
| • Finance |
| • International Relations and Trade |
| • Natural Resources |
2009-2010
In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Seliger served on the following Texas Senate committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2009 |
|---|
| • Criminal Justice, Vice chair |
| • International Relations and Trade, Vice chair |
| • Finance |
| • Natural Resources |
| • Criminal Justice |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2022
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2022
Seliger did not file to run for re-election.
2018
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2018
General election
General election for Texas State Senate District 31
Incumbent Kel Seliger defeated Jack Westbrook in the general election for Texas State Senate District 31 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kel Seliger (R) | 87.5 | 174,367 |
 | Jack Westbrook (L)  | 12.5 | 24,869 | |
| Total votes: 199,236 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 31
Incumbent Kel Seliger defeated Mike Canon and Victor Leal in the Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 31 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kel Seliger | 50.4 | 40,653 |
 | Mike Canon | 31.4 | 25,314 | |
 | Victor Leal | 18.2 | 14,669 | |
| Total votes: 80,636 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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?
| Yes. |
What made this a race to watch?
| On September 21, 2017, Amarillo Globe-News reported that incumbent Kel Seliger would face competitive primary challenges from Amarillo restaurateur Victor Leal and former Midland Mayor Mike Canon. According to Seliger, the opposition to him was based on his differences with the Senate Republican Caucus on two bills that would have limited municipalities' ability to raise taxes and provided subsidies for private school education, respectively. Seliger opposed the bills while other Senate Republicans, including Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick (R), supported them. Seliger, who was first elected in 2004, faced Canon in his 2014 primary and won by a five-point margin.[2] On February 13, Victor Leal released a campaign ad referring to Seliger as "Liberal. Corrupt. Wrong."[3] Endorsements for Canon
Endorsements for Leal Endorsements for Seliger |
Campaign advertisements
Kel Seliger - oppose
|
Campaign finance
2014
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2014
Elections for 15 of the 31 seats in the Texas State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on March 4, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in these elections was December 9, 2013. Incumbent Kel Seliger defeated Mike Canon in the Republican primary. Seliger defeated Steven Gibson (L) in the general election.[10][11][12]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Kel Seliger Incumbent |
90.4% | 107,030 | |
| Libertarian | Steven Gibson | 9.6% | 11,355 | |
| Total Votes | 118,385 | |||
2012
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2012
Seliger ran in the 2012 election for Texas State Senate, District 31. Seliger defeated Randy Rives in the May 29 primary election and was unchallenged in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[13]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Kel Seliger Incumbent |
75.9% | 49,966 |
| Randy Rives | 24.1% | 15,874 |
| Total Votes | 65,840 | |
2008
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2008
On Nov. 4, 2008, Seliger won re-election to the 31st District Seat in the Texas State Senate, defeating opponent Lauren Poindexter.[13]
Seliger raised $545,515 for his campaign while Poindexter raised $0.[14]
| Texas State Senate, District 31 (2008) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Kel Seliger (R)
|
180,267 | 90.20% | ||
| Lauren Poindexter (L) | 19,569 | 9.79% | ||
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.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Texas scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2022
In 2022, the Texas State Legislature was not in session.
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2021, the Texas State Legislature was in session from January 12 to May 31.
|
2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2020, the Texas State Legislature was not in session. |
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2019, the Texas State Legislature was in its 86th legislative session from January 8 through May 27.
|
2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2018, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2017, the Texas State Legislature was in its 85th legislative session from January 10 through May 29. A special session was held from July 18 to August 15.
|
2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2016, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2015, the Texas State Legislature was in its 84th legislative session from January 13 through June 1.
|
2014
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2014, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2013, the Texas State Legislature was in its 83rd legislative session from January 8 through May 27. Thirty minutes after the regular session ended, Governor Rick Perry called legislators back for a special session starting that evening.[15] Two additional called sessions were held from July 1 through July 30 and July 30 through August 5.[16]
|
2012
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2012, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2012, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
2011
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2011, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2011, the Texas State Legislature was in its 82nd legislative session from January 11 through May 30. A special session was called for May 31 through June 29.[16]
|
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Seliger and his wife, Nancy, have two children.
Noteworthy events
|
|---|
| Coronavirus pandemic |
| Select a topic from the dropdown below to learn more.
|
On August 12, 2020, Seliger announced on Twitter that he tested positive for coronavirus.[17]
See also
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Texas State Senate elections, 2018
- State legislative special elections, 2018
- Texas State Senate
- Texas State Legislature
- Texas Senate Committees
- Texas Joint Committees
- Texas state legislative districts
External links
|
Candidate Texas State Senate District 31 |
Footnotes
- ↑ Project Vote Smart, "Biography," accessed May 24, 2014
- ↑ Amarillo Globe-News, "State Sen. Kel Seliger preparing for ‘real fight’ against GOP primary opponents," September 21, 2017
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "The Blast," February 13, 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Texas Right to Life endorsed both Mike Canon and Victor Leal
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 My High Plains, "State Senate Race Heats Up with Endorsements for Leal and Seliger," February 6, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastf2 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBLASTj25 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastj30 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedNFIB - ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current ELECTION HISTORY," accessed December 2, 2014
- ↑ Green Party of Texas, "Greens Release Candidate List," accessed July 26, 2014
- ↑ The Libertarian Party of Texas, "2014 Texas Senate Candidates List," accessed July 26, 2014
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current Election History," accessed February 17, 2014
- ↑ Follow the Money, "2008 Candidate funds," accessed May 24, 2014
- ↑ kten.com, "Texas Lawmakers To Tackle Redistricting In Special Session," May 29, 2013
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Legislative reference Library of Texas, "Texas Legislative Sessions and Years," accessed June 13, 2014
- ↑ KFDA, "State Senator Kel Seliger tests positive for COVID-19," August 12, 2020
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Texas State Senate District 31 2004-2023 |
Succeeded by Kevin Sparks (R) |
