Steven Haskett

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

Steven Haskett

Libertarian Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Texas A&M University, 1986

Personal

Birthplace

Tyler, Texas

Religion

Episcopalian

Profession

Computer programmer

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Personal Facebook

Personal LinkedIn

Steven Haskett (Libertarian Party) ran for election to the Texas State Senate to represent District 14. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Haskett completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Steven Haskett was born in Tyler, Texas. He earned a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University in 1986. Haskett has experience working as a computer programmer, in mining, manufacturing, oil and gas, finance, insurance, and healthcare. Haskett has also been affiliated with the Libertarian Party of Texas.

Elections

2022

See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Texas State Senate District 14

Incumbent Sarah Eckhardt defeated Steven Haskett in the general election for Texas State Senate District 14 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sarah Eckhardt (D)	82.2	265,094
		Steven Haskett (L)	17.8	57,305

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 322,399
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Stephen Lutostanski (Independent)
• Pat Dixon (L)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 14

Incumbent Sarah Eckhardt advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 14 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sarah Eckhardt	100.0	77,309

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 77,309
= 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.

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for Texas State Senate District 14

Pat Dixon advanced from the Libertarian convention for Texas State Senate District 14 on March 12, 2022.

		Candidate
✔		Pat Dixon (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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2016

See also: Municipal elections in Travis County, Texas (2016)

Travis County held elections for county commission, all five constables, county attorney, sheriff, county tax assessor-collector, and the Austin Community College District Board of Trustees in 2016. The general election was held on November 8, 2016. A primary election was held on March 1, 2016, and a primary runoff took place on May 24, 2016. The filing deadline for those wishing to run in this election was December 14, 2015. Incumbent Bruce Elfant defeated Steven Haskett in the Travis County tax assessor-collector general election.

Travis County Tax Assessor-Collector, General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Bruce Elfant Incumbent	81.76%	310,418
	Libertarian	Steven Haskett	18.24%	69,243
Total Votes				379,661
Source: Travis County Clerk, "Travis County Election Results," accessed November 8, 2016

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Steven Haskett completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Haskett'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.

I'm a Texas Native, but I've lived and worked in a half dozen countries. Austin resident for 25 years. With undergraduate degrees in Music Performance and Petroleum Engineering, I've spent my career as a programmer/analyst creatively solving problems across many industries, and for state and national governments.

My first business was a skydiving operation in Bryan, TX. By the time I graduated college I was operating 3 airplanes, introducing the sport to 1000s over the years. I met my wife through skydiving, I like to say she fell for me.

Along with my wife of now 30 years we raised our children in Austin, watching Austin's growing pains along with our girls. During that time Texas has emerged as a refuge for people and families from across the country seeking opportunity, freedom, and affordability.

Charity begins at home. We've taken in family members when hit with tough times, we raised a niece when her parents were unable, and provided a home for an exchange student when stranded by Covid regulations. I still fly, supporting Angel Flight missions helping rural Texans get to their medical appointments in our major cities. It's a big state, y'all!

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?

• Parents know their children best, and I want to give them more choices in their children's education. Funding should follow the child, not the system. We also need more vocational training beginning in high school. There are many paths to success, not all go through college.
• We have a slow-motion energy crisis brewing in Texas. We need to utilize all our resources, including 4th generation nuclear, in order to ensure abundant, dependable clean energy. This helps businesses grow and employ more Texans and lowers the cost of living for all Texans.
• Texas is a big state with a diverse population in every sense. It's up to us to make sure the playing field is level, and every Texan has the opportunity to work up to his or her potential.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Education and energy. We spend a lot of money on education in Texas. Getting the right educational value for every individual student is critical to their success, and that of Texas. We need to bring more choices to parents, who know their children best. Vocational training should not take a back seat to a college education, there are many different paths to success.

Most of the state's wealth comes from having an abundance of energy. We need to be very careful to maintain that, as it affects every part of our lives.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Honesty, accountability, and accessibility. We are elected to represent our constituents, which is impossible without those three characteristics. I'd also throw in humility - none of us know everything and being able to admit that is important to being able to ask for help.

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

I like people, but especially those who work for a living. I believe there are a lot of paths to success, it's the job of the government to provide a level playing field for people to discover their best place in our community.

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

Watching the funeral of JFK from Paris, in the first live via satellite transmission. I was 6 at the time. We'd left Algiers as the war for independence started going bad for the French. The building across the street from our house was bombed, my father's secretary was taken away accused of being a spy. We were on the last boat allowed to leave with possessions.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

A summer job doing farm work on the Oklahoma/Kansas border. I used the money to offset the cost of going to a fine arts boarding school, where I played viola as my major.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and state legislature?

The legislature makes the laws, the governor acts as a brake on legislation through veto power and implements the law through the office's executive function. In Texas, the more interesting question would be the relationship between the Legislature and the Lieutenant Governor. With the power to block legislation from reaching a final vote, he's arguably too powerful a control on the Legislature.

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

We need to maintain an bountiful supply of clean, dependable energy - this is the foundation for our state's economic well-being and a necessary precursor to solving other large challenges such as having sufficient clean water. We need to maintain the state's infrastructure - prioritizing the basic job of government. Combined with a system of appropriate education and a level playing field will see Texas success into the future.

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

I think it's important for legislators to have experienced the unintended consequences of government policies, so they approach the job with some humility. Ideally they've spent some time earning a living, raising a family, maybe even starting a small business. That's said, it's important for potential legislators to appreciate that politics isn't as depicted in Schoolhouse Rock. Anyone who has spent time around any large organization knows that the game isn't as simple as it looks.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Yes. You can't be a majority of one, and in isolation there's no way to get the information necessary to guide a bill through the process.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

A non-partisan algorithmic approach. I believe a Libertarian could be the right person to lead such an effort as there would be no obvious benefit to them in the outcome.

Are you interested in running for a different political office (for example, the U.S. Congress or governor) in the future?

No, thank you for asking!

Both sitting legislators and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

I've had some great conversations about race with some older residents and the progress in racial relationships over the years. I don't think we give enough credit to how far we've come in our lifetime. It makes a good antidote to the current media culture which would have you believe things have never been worse.

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Any group effort requires compromise. That doesn't mean you compromise your character or ideals - but my rule for change is that what is being proposed should be better than what is currently in place and that the cost of implementation doesn't exceed the benefits of the legislation.

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.

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Candidate

Texas State Senate District 14

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Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the Texas State Senate

Leadership

Senators

District 1

Bryan Hughes (R)

District 2

Bob Hall (R)

District 3

Robert Nichols (R)

District 4

Brandon Creighton (R)

District 5

Charles Schwertner (R)

District 6

Carol Alvarado (D)

District 7

Paul Bettencourt (R)

District 8

Angela Paxton (R)

District 9

Vacant

District 10

Phil King (R)

District 11

Mayes Middleton (R)

District 12

Tan Parker (R)

District 13

Borris Miles (D)

District 14

Sarah Eckhardt (D)

District 15

Molly Cook (D)

District 16

Nathan Johnson (D)

District 17

Joan Huffman (R)

District 18

Lois Kolkhorst (R)

District 19

Roland Gutierrez (D)

District 20

Juan Hinojosa (D)

District 21

Judith Zaffirini (D)

District 22

Brian Birdwell (R)

District 23

Royce West (D)

District 24

Peter Flores (R)

District 25

Donna Campbell (R)

District 26

José Menéndez (D)

District 27

Adam Hinojosa (R)

District 28

Charles Perry (R)

District 29

César Blanco (D)

District 30

Brent Hagenbuch (R)

District 31

Kevin Sparks (R)

Republican Party (19)

Democratic Party (11)

Vacancies (1)