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Stuart Spitzer
Stuart Spitzer (Republican Party) was a member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing District 4.
Spitzer (Republican Party) ran for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 4. Spitzer lost in the Republican primary runoff on May 22, 2018.
Spitzer 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.
Spitzer is a former Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing District 4 from 2015 to 2017.
Biography
Spitzer earned his B.A. in chemistry from Baylor University in 1989 and his M.D. from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 1993. His career experience includes working as a surgeon.[1]
Committee assignments
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Spitzer served on the following committees:
| Texas committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • County Affairs |
| • Human Services |
Campaign themes
2012
Spitzer's website highlighted the following campaign themes:[2]
Business
- Excerpt: "The less regulation and taxes we have, the better private business will be. Business should succeed or fail based on the business model, financial model and the ability to succeed in an open marketplace."
Immigration
- Excerpt: "At a minimum the state should stop all inducements to come here illegally. Elimination of sanctuary cities, bilingual education and in-state tuition for illegal immigrants would be a good start. Even these common sense measures have not been passed despite 101 Republicans being in the Texas House last session. I would support these measures."
Life
- Excerpt: "I am against abortion, euthanasia, and embryonic stem cell research. I support and will defend traditional East Texas values."
Government Size
- Excerpt: "Any increase in government transfers our money and our freedom to Austin. I believe in a smaller, more efficient, and more open form of government."
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
2018
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 4
Keith Bell defeated Eston Williams and D. Allen Miller in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 4 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Keith Bell (R) | 74.1 | 44,669 |
| Eston Williams (D) | 24.2 | 14,581 | ||
 | D. Allen Miller (L) | 1.7 | 1,029 | |
| Total votes: 60,279 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 4
Keith Bell defeated Stuart Spitzer in the Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 4 on May 22, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Keith Bell | 58.9 | 7,892 |
 | Stuart Spitzer | 41.1 | 5,508 | |
| Total votes: 13,400 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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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 4
Eston Williams advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 4 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Eston Williams | 100.0 | 3,229 | |
| Total votes: 3,229 | |||
| = 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 4
Stuart Spitzer and Keith Bell advanced to a runoff. They defeated Ashley McKee and Earl Brunner in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 4 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Stuart Spitzer | 45.8 | 9,376 |
| ✔ | | Keith Bell | 26.2 | 5,367 |
| Ashley McKee | 25.7 | 5,269 | ||
 | Earl Brunner | 2.3 | 474 | |
| Total votes: 20,486 | |||
| = 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
- Marty Reid (R)
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?
| No. |
What made this a race to watch?
| Four Republicans filed to run in the election to replace state Rep. Lance Gooden (R): Keith Bell, Earl Brunner, Ashley McKee, and Stuart Spitzer. As of January 31, 2018, all candidates in this race except for Brunner signed the form committing to vote for the Republican caucus' choice for speaker on the House floor. Spitzer said he might join the Texas Freedom Caucus if elected.[3] See our coverage of the primary runoff in this race here. Endorsements for Bell
Endorsements for McKee
Endorsements for Spitzer |
Campaign finance
2016
Elections for the Texas House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on March 1, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was December 14, 2015.[6]
Lance Gooden ran unopposed in the Texas House of Representatives District 4 general election.[7]
| Texas House of Representatives, District 4 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Lance Gooden (unopposed) |
100.00% | 52,089 | |
| Total Votes | 52,089 | |||
| Source: Texas Secretary of State | ||||
Lance Gooden defeated incumbent Stuart Spitzer in the Texas House of Representatives District 4 Republican Primary.[8][9]
| Texas House of Representatives, District 4 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Lance Gooden |
51.79% | 14,561 | |
| Republican | Stuart Spitzer Incumbent | 48.21% | 13,554 | |
| Total Votes | 28,115 | |||
2014
Elections for all 150 seats in the Texas House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on March 4, 2014. Those candidates who did not receive 50 percent or more of the vote in their party primary on March 4 faced an additional May 27 primary runoff. 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. Stuart Spitzer defeated incumbent Lance Gooden in the Republican primary. Spitzer defeated Frederick Stralow (L) in the general election.[10][11][12]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Stuart Spitzer |
89.1% | 26,660 | |
| Libertarian | Rick Stralow | 10.9% | 3,253 | |
| Total Votes | 29,913 | |||
2012
Spitzer ran in the 2012 election for Texas House of Representatives, District 4. Spitzer was defeated by incumbent Lance Gooden in the May 29 primary election.[13][14]
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Lance Gooden Incumbent |
54.4% | 8,159 |
| Stuart Spitzer | 45.6% | 6,827 |
| Total Votes | 14,986 | |
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.
2017
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.
- Legislators are scored on their votes for or against the organization's position and principles.
- Legislators are scored based by the organization on their votes on bills relating to "core budget and free enterprise issues."
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to environmental and public health issues.
- Legislators are scored on bills related to LGBT issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on small business issues.
- Legislators are scored based on their votes on bills relating to taxes and property rights.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills supported or opposed by the organization.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to social issues.
- Legislators are scored based on their votes on bills related to businesses, taxpayers, and families.
- Legislators are scored on bills related to reproductive health issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on environmental issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on social issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
- Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.
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.
|
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Spitzer and his wife, Shari, have two children.[15]
See also
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Texas House of Representatives elections, 2018
- State legislative special elections, 2018
- Texas House of Representatives
- Texas State Legislature
- Texas House of Representatives elections, 2014
- Texas House of Representatives Committees
- Texas Joint Committees
External links
- Texas Legislature website
- Profile from Open States
- Official website
- Stuart Spitzer on Facebook
- Stuart Spitzer on Twitter
- Stuart Spitzer on YouTube
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Biography from The Texas Tribune
Footnotes
- ↑ Facebook, "Stuart Spitzer," accessed February 17, 2014
- ↑ stuartspitzer.com - Issues
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedFreedomC - ↑ Texas Tribune, "The Blast," January 23, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastf19 - ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Important 2016 Election Dates," accessed December 14, 2015
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2016 General Election," accessed December 2, 2016
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2016 March Primary Election Candidate Filings by County," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current Election History results," accessed August 22, 2016
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current ELECTION HISTORY," accessed December 2, 2014
- ↑ The Libertarian Party of Texas, "2014 Texas Representative Candidate List," accessed July 30, 2014
- ↑ Green Party of Texas, "Greens Release Candidate List," accessed July 30, 2014
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "1992 - Current Election History," accessed February 17, 2014
- ↑ Office of the (Texas) Secretary of State, "Race Summary Report," accessed July 12, 2012
- ↑ Project Vote Smart, "Stuart Spitzer's Biography," accessed February 17, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by ' |
Texas House of Representatives District 4 2015–2017 |
Succeeded by Lance Gooden (R) |
