Nelson Range

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Nelson Range

Libertarian Party

Elections and appointments

Last convention

March 12, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Dallas Baptist University, 2004

Personal

Birthplace

Fort Worth, Texas

Religion

Protestant

Profession

Laboratory analyst

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Nelson Range (Libertarian Party) ran for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 96. He lost in the Libertarian Party convention on March 12, 2022.

Biography

Nelson Range earned a bachelor's degree from Dallas Baptist University in 2004. His career experience includes working as a laboratory analyst III.

Elections

2022

See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

The general election was canceled. Incumbent David Cook won election in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 96.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 96

Incumbent David Cook advanced from the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 96 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		David Cook	100.0	12,191

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 12,191
= 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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Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for Texas House of Representatives District 96

No candidate advanced from the convention.

		Candidate
		Nelson Range (L)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source
= 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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2020

See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Texas House of Representatives District 96

David Cook defeated Joe Drago and Nelson Range in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 96 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		David Cook (R)	51.2	45,053
		Joe Drago (D)	46.1	40,550
		Nelson Range (L)	2.7	2,362

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 87,965
= 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.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 96

Joe Drago advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 96 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joe Drago	100.0	12,090

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 12,090
= 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 96

David Cook advanced from the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 96 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		David Cook	100.0	10,420

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,420
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Bill Zedler (R)

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for Texas House of Representatives District 96

Nelson Range advanced from the Libertarian convention for Texas House of Representatives District 96 on March 21, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Nelson Range (L)

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= 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 themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Nelson Range did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Nelson Range completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Range's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Child of Texas. Christ follower. Son of two farming families from the West Texas and New Mexico plains. I discovered most aspects of life through the ties of a close-knit family. My education was broad and widely varied. I credit every educator I was blessed with in the course of my life for instilling a strong sense of inquiry and critical thinking. Facts are indeed important, but are little use without context, appreciation, counsel, and implementation. Class Co-Valedictorian, Eagle Scout BSA, collegiate teaching assistant. But of all most important has been to realize the perspective of others, while not always the same as my own, is uniquely theirs to convey and contend. Always learning as a husband and father of three. My professional experience has been chiefly in manufacturing, in product quality, process improvement, and analytical chemistry. Always seeking balance in community, thought, leadership, and family. Some more recent endeavors were two challenging outdoor endurance events from the previous year.

I want the chance to hear what you need to say to the Texas legislature!

They can't continue to ignore your concerns when you elect an advocate for your interests and not those of the Old Parties' continued expansion of coercion and control.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I maintain the belief that absolutely every adult individual possesses their own agency of self-ownership. You and I, as individual selves, possess separate agencies of self-ownership. Because of this we are free to open disagreement or discourse and are not limited to conformance to a set pattern determined by others. To maintain it there must be no abuse, theft, threat of force or coercion between any, whether they hold elected public office, appointed office, or none at all.
• At every level, representation is best made by political non-professionals whose only chief interest is to preserve the liberties of those whom they serve. Currently this is sorely lacking and "political professionals" have made lengthy careers out of serving only the needs of the highest payers, and thus curtailing personal liberty for the remainder.
• Too often representatives focus most on differences and proving their point of view is the "right" one. If it is true that each individual is their own free agent, we must agree that no two individuals will ever absolutely agree on every matter. For this reason, public policy must be carefully framed in such a way as to reach compromise and mutually satisfactory solutions each time disagreement is encountered. The alternative is suppression by force, and always infringes on the liberty of either individual.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Corporate Subsidies

Eliminate corporate subsidies sustained by state agency and playing favorites in the marketplace. The "Texas Enterprise Fund", for example, has dumped $500 million into multi-million dollar corporations since its' inception in 2003, not to mention unfair and unethical tax incentives offered as a side bonus. Private corporations don't need taxpayer investment in order to profit and grow, to which Texas voters have not consented.

Eliminate Property Taxation
Lower the crippling residential property tax rate that plagues Texas homeowners and continues to skyrocket each year.

War on Drugs
End the economically costly and sociologically unsuccessful war on drugs in Texas. The State of Texas alone has spent an estimated $2 Billion since its' launch, with little substantial change in society and resulting in millions of incarcerations of nonviolent offenders occupying space in overcrowded Texas prisons. State or federal governments have no claim to dictate nonviolent personal behavior.

Gun Ownership

Continue our state's honorable and admirable history of protecting the rights of individual gun ownership. Recent capitol discussions have hinted at supporting state and perhaps federal Red-Flag laws. This poses a serious threat to the constitutional right of the individual and this message must be undiluted and completely clear as evidenced by statewide polls of Texas voters.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Simply stated, objectivity.

The current climate in current events, news, and social media doesn't generally allow for concessions.
I vehemently oppose creeds of organization that supplant the primacy of the individual.
This might apply to corporations, political parties, church organizations, government caucuses, activism groups, or even marriages.

One should never be required to sacrifice a portion of them self to satisfy the desires of the body, no matter the size or scope of that body.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The primary objective of the State Representative must be to accurately carry the concerns of the district to the state legislative body and vote on legislative considerations in accordance with this goal. Concerns of political action funds or parties must not take precedence over the voting constituency. Any actions in opposition to this goal reflect the rampant corruption that pervades the state government as it exists today.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Living in the greater area, I remember the events leading up to the ATF raid on the Mount Carmel compound in the spring of 1993. I remember vividly that some smaller local radio stations would allow the group's leader David Koresh to record interviews they would later play on-air, and remember laying on the floor listening to the hi-fi hearing various local personalities give their assessment of the group. I, as many others at the time, did not fully realize the gravity of the siege that developed over several weeks and assumed the situation would subside, not really fully comprehending what the confrontation was about. I remember once hearing my own grandmother state that although she didn't agree with the beliefs of the group, she didn't see why they couldn't be left alone to themselves. Of course, none in my family had first hand witness of the group and no one had mentioned any of the allegations that came forward long after the siege concluded. Being at a young age, I thought the tragic loss of life was just an inevitability. It was only several years into adulthood that my grandmother's words returned to mind, this time in a different light. I pondered what she had casually said, asking myself who it actually is that makes the choice whether to leave others alone or not to.

What is your favorite book? Why?

The most lasting effect any book has had on my individual being has been "Perelandra" by C.S. Lewis.

I have finished most of the classic dystopian works at one point or another, but none captured the essence of humanity's existence better than the "Space Trilogy" by Lewis. There is no extent of knowledge or understanding that the hubris of humanity will not avail to claim as its' own invention. This is no more evident than the COVID19 development, wherein knowledgeable agents on any side of argument will claim they have categorical evidence to demand compliance from others.

A close second is the abstract "Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas Kuhn, which outlines the same as above in non-fictional terms.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?

In fact I believe strongly that prior "political experience" is a detriment to a legislator's ability to represent their electorate effectively. It might appear that I say this because I myself have never served public office, but I have strongly supported the grassroots movement to enact term limits well before I made the decision to run for this office specifically. The purpose of a legislative office defined in both the U.S. and Texas Constitutions is to carry the concerns and interpret the feedback from the body politic into votes regarding current and future laws pertaining to them. Other branches of government serve other needs, but the legislature always serves as a voice to the people. I strongly feel that today's political environment offers incentives to legislators that are contrary to the people's interests and grow with the passage of each term. Precisely because of this fact, I have supported the multi-partisan movement to bring terms limits to the U.S. Congress by means of constitutional amendment if necessary, and would enthusiastically agree to affirm to a limited term for this office myself.

What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?

Texas is currently a vibrant and growing place to live within the U.S. It is no secret that intrastate immigration is growing. In 2018, 564K residents (2% of state population) were new from other states. This presents new challenges in governance for the state, regional, and local levels. Corporate investors and lobbyists cannot be allowed to continue to drive public policy in this state, as the high stakes are whether or not individual communities will survive the demands of this growth. I believe the Texas House can best accomplish this, by keeping the needs of residents foremost before corporations and special interest groups.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

Gerrymandering is an age-old practice that benefits both sides of a duopoly- an exclusively two-party system. If courts and legislators can come together and agree on shared objectives, voters are portioned into groups based on property values, racial majority, average voter age, and many other factors that benefit both sides by limiting competition for votes. This elbows out the wishes of individual voters that may in fact vote differently than others in their immediate district or area. Redistricting is an incredibly important step that must take place to return the power of election control back to the people who are being represented! There have already been proposals made in the State of Texas to establish an independent, non-partisan, and locally focused redistricting commission whose chief goal is allowing redistricting decisions to be made be ordinary citizens at the most local level possible. Removing the inherent incentives that currently elected legislators and judges would have in the process would effectively end gerrymandering that is not approved by the districts affected by it.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also

2022 Elections

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Government

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External links

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Candidate

Texas House of Representatives District 96

Website

Facebook

Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the Texas House of Representatives

Leadership

Speaker of the House:Dustin Burrows

Representatives

District 1

Gary VanDeaver (R)

District 2

Brent Money (R)

District 3

Cecil Bell (R)

District 4

Keith Bell (R)

District 5

Cole Hefner (R)

District 6

Daniel Alders (R)

District 7

Jay Dean (R)

District 8

Cody Harris (R)

District 9

Trent Ashby (R)

District 10

Brian Harrison (R)

District 11

Joanne Shofner (R)

District 12

Trey Wharton (R)

District 13

Angelia Orr (R)

District 14

Paul Dyson (R)

District 15

Steve Toth (R)

District 16

Will Metcalf (R)

District 17

Stan Gerdes (R)

District 18

Janis Holt (R)

District 19

Ellen Troxclair (R)

District 20

Terry Wilson (R)

District 21

Dade Phelan (R)

District 22

Christian Manuel (D)

District 23

Terri Leo-Wilson (R)

District 24

Greg Bonnen (R)

District 25

Cody Vasut (R)

District 26

Matt Morgan (R)

District 27

Ron Reynolds (D)

District 28

Gary Gates (R)

District 29

Jeffrey Barry (R)

District 30

A.J. Louderback (R)

District 31

Ryan Guillen (R)

District 32

Todd Hunter (R)

District 33

Katrina Pierson (R)

District 34

Denise Villalobos (R)

District 35

Oscar Longoria (D)

District 36

Sergio Munoz (D)

District 37

Janie Lopez (R)

District 38

Erin Gamez (D)

District 39

Armando Martinez (D)

District 40

Terry Canales (D)

District 41

Robert Guerra (D)

District 42

Richard Raymond (D)

District 43

J.M. Lozano (R)

District 44

Alan Schoolcraft (R)

District 45

Erin Zwiener (D)

District 46

Sheryl Cole (D)

District 47

Vikki Goodwin (D)

District 48

Donna Howard (D)

District 49

Gina Hinojosa (D)

District 50

James Talarico (D)

District 51

Maria Luisa Flores (D)

District 52

Caroline Harris (R)

District 53

Wesley Virdell (R)

District 54

Brad Buckley (R)

District 55

Hillary Hickland (R)

District 56

Pat Curry (R)

District 57

Richard Hayes (R)

District 58

Helen Kerwin (R)

District 59

Shelby Slawson (R)

District 60

Mike Olcott (R)

District 61

Keresa Richardson (R)

District 62

Shelley Luther (R)

District 63

Ben Bumgarner (R)

District 64

Andy Hopper (R)

District 65

Mitch Little (R)

District 66

Matt Shaheen (R)

District 67

Jeff Leach (R)

District 68

David Spiller (R)

District 69

James Frank (R)

District 70

Mihaela Plesa (D)

District 71

Stan Lambert (R)

District 72

Drew Darby (R)

District 73

Carrie Isaac (R)

District 74

Eddie Morales (D)

District 75

Mary Gonzalez (D)

District 76

Suleman Lalani (D)

District 77

Vincent Perez (D)

District 78

Joseph Moody (D)

District 79

Claudia Ordaz (D)

District 80

Don McLaughlin (R)

District 81

Brooks Landgraf (R)

District 82

Tom Craddick (R)

District 83

Dustin Burrows (R)

District 84

Carl Tepper (R)

District 85

Stan Kitzman (R)

District 86

John Smithee (R)

District 87

Caroline Fairly (R)

District 88

Ken King (R)

District 89

Candy Noble (R)

District 90

Ramon Romero (D)

District 91

David Lowe (R)

District 92

Salman Bhojani (D)

District 93

Nate Schatzline (R)

District 94

Tony Tinderholt (R)

District 95

Nicole Collier (D)

District 96

David Cook (R)

District 97

John McQueeney (R)

District 98

Giovanni Capriglione (R)

District 99

Charlie Geren (R)

District 100

Venton Jones (D)

District 101

Chris Turner (D)

District 102

Ana-Maria Ramos (D)

District 103

Rafael Anchia (D)

District 104

Jessica Gonzalez (D)

District 105

Terry Meza (D)

District 106

Jared Patterson (R)

District 107

Linda Garcia (D)

District 108

Morgan Meyer (R)

District 109

Aicha Davis (D)

District 110

Toni Rose (D)

District 111

Yvonne Davis (D)

District 112

Angie Button (R)

District 113

Rhetta Bowers (D)

District 114

John Bryant (D)

District 115

Cassandra Garcia Hernandez (D)

District 116

Trey Fischer (D)

District 117

Philip Cortez (D)

District 118

John Lujan (R)

District 119

Elizabeth Campos (D)

District 120

Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (D)

District 121

Marc LaHood (R)

District 122

Mark Dorazio (R)

District 123

Diego Bernal (D)

District 124

Josey Garcia (D)

District 125

Ray Lopez (D)

District 126

Sam Harless (R)

District 127

Charles Cunningham (R)

District 128

Briscoe Cain (R)

District 129

Dennis Paul (R)

District 130

Tom Oliverson (R)

District 131

Alma Allen (D)

District 132

Mike Schofield (R)

District 133

Mano Deayala (R)

District 134

Ann Johnson (D)

District 135

Jon Rosenthal (D)

District 136

John Bucy (D)

District 137

Gene Wu (D)

District 138

Lacey Hull (R)

District 139

Charlene Ward Johnson (D)

District 140

Armando Walle (D)

District 141

Senfronia Thompson (D)

District 142

Harold Dutton (D)

District 143

Ana Hernandez (D)

District 144

Mary Perez (D)

District 145

Christina Morales (D)

District 146

Lauren Simmons (D)

District 147

Jolanda Jones (D)

District 148

Penny Shaw (D)

District 149

Hubert Vo (D)

District 150

Valoree Swanson (R)

Republican Party (88)

Democratic Party (62)