Mike Canon
Mike Canon (Republican Party) ran for election to the Texas State Senate to represent District 31. Canon lost in the Republican primary on March 6, 2018.
Canon ran in one of 48 contested Republican state legislative 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.
Canon was a 2014 Republican candidate for District 31 of the Texas State Senate.[1]
Canon served as Mayor and on the City Council of Midland, Texas.
Biography
Canon earned his B.S. and M.S. in economics from Texas Tech University in 1968 and 1972, respectively and his J.D. from the University of Texas in 1974.
Campaign themes
2014
Canon's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[2]
Effective Leadership
- Excerpt: "To protect our liberties and improve our government, we must elect conservative, principled and effective leaders. District 31 needs positive and fair legislation for water, transportation, education, agriculture, energy and more."
Governmental Growth
- Excerpt: "Big Government hinders productivity, job growth and international competitiveness. Our private sector can create jobs and economic prosperity, but government must get out of the way. Less government means more jobs and better jobs."
Taxes, Economic Issues
- Excerpt: "People in the Panhandle, the Permian Basin and West Texas know how to spend their hard-earned dollars better than the government. I support lower taxes, job creation, and sound fiscal policies that help families keep the money they have earned. "
Abortion/ Right to Life
- Excerpt: "Mike Canon is against abortion and believes that life begins at conception and ends at natural death."
Border Control
- Excerpt: "I will fight to pass legislation that allows Texas to have a bigger say in how we handle immigration issues in our State."
Elections
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.[3] On February 13, Victor Leal released a campaign ad referring to Seliger as "Liberal. Corrupt. Wrong."[4] 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.[1][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 | |||
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Canon and his wife, Judy, have four children.
See also
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Texas State Senate elections, 2018
- State legislative special elections, 2018
- Texas State Senate
- Texas State Legislature
- Texas State Senate elections, 2014
External links
- Texas Legislature website
- Official campaign website
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Mike Canon on Facebook
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current ELECTION HISTORY," accessed December 2, 2014
- ↑ mikecanon.com, "Issues," accessed February 21, 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
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Texas Right to Life endorsed both Mike Canon and Victor Leal
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 My High Plains, "State Senate Race Heats Up with Endorsements for Leal and Seliger," February 6, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedNFIB - ↑ 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
