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Kevin Simmons
Kevin Simmons (Republican Party) ran for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 65. Simmons lost in the Republican primary on March 6, 2018.
Simmons 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.
Biography
Kevin Simmons was born in Sweetwater, Texas. He graduated from Keller High School. He earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Stephen F. Austin State University. Simmons's career experience includes working as an entrepreneur in sales management.[1]
Elections
2018
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 65
Michelle Beckley defeated incumbent Ron Simmons in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 65 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Michelle Beckley (D) | 51.2 | 29,972 |
 | Ron Simmons (R) | 48.8 | 28,614 | |
| Total votes: 58,586 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 65
Michelle Beckley advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 65 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Michelle Beckley | 100.0 | 5,687 |
| Total votes: 5,687 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 65
Incumbent Ron Simmons defeated Kevin Simmons in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 65 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ron Simmons | 83.3 | 6,608 |
 | Kevin Simmons | 16.7 | 1,325 | |
| Total votes: 7,933 | |||
| = 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?
| Kevin Simmons challenged state Rep. Ron Simmons in his primary. All candidates in this race signed the form committing to vote for the Republican caucus' choice for speaker on the House floor. Endorsements for Ron Simmons
|
Campaign finance
Campaign themes
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
Simmons stated the following about his political philosophy in a biographical submission to Ballotpedia:[4]
| “ |
|
” |
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
- Campaign Twitter page
- Texas Legislature website
Footnotes
- ↑ Facebook, "Kevin Simmons State Representative R District 65," accessed February 8, 2018
- ↑ Dallas Morning News, "We recommend Ron Simmons in the GOP primary for state House District 65," February 6, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedNFIB - ↑ Information submitted on Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form on December 31, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
