Texas House of Representatives District 63 candidate surveys, 2022

Elections in Texas, 2022

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This article shows responses from candidates in the 2022 election for Texas House of Representatives District 63 who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

• Click here to see candidates and election results.
• Click here to see Candidate Connection survey responses.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Texas House of Representatives District 63

Ben Bumgarner defeated H. Denise Wooten in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 63 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Bumgarner (R)	55.9	35,965
		H. Denise Wooten (D)	44.1	28,342

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 64,307
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

Click on a candidate's name to visit their Ballotpedia page.

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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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?

Ben Bumgarner (R)

Property Tax Reform

Protecting our 2A rights

Limiting government from our lives.

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Human services are underfunded, leading to gaps in care and opportunity for less advantaged people. This is true in education and health.

Medical policy decisions should not be made by untrained politicians. Reproductive rights, transgender rights, pandemic response, and other health decisions should be made in tandem with qualified professionals.

Bipartisanship on behalf of people should be attainable, if the focus is on helping those who cannot help themselves and equipping those who can benefit to become productive contributors to the economy and society.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Ben Bumgarner (R)

I want to help solve the tax problem. We are taxing people out of their homes in Texas. It’s time to stop kicking the can down the road and address the problem head on.

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Funding for education and special education, Social Security Disability Income, Medicare and Medicaid, Disability Services post high school, Child Protective Services, employment and training opportunities in school and post high school, Early Childhood Development programs, and medical response to adverse health events (such as the pandemic).

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Abraham Lincoln has always been a favorite, as he did what was right even when it was unpopular with many--that is moral courage and integrity. Also, I must share my enthusiasm for Jane Austen, as she had a wry and dry take on human nature that is very appealing to me.

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

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Integrity in trying to ascertain the best course of action to benefit the most people, especially the less resourced, is vital to the job of governing on behalf of the people. Integrity is made of of ethics and morality, rational reasoning, use of science and medical knowledge, and hearing from people themselves about their concerns in their everyday lives.

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

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Several of the most important qualities I bring to any of my endeavors are a firm commitment to justice and fairness, willingness to listen to alternative perspectives and experts, dedication to the well-being of others, ability to admit when I am wrong and grow from feedback, intellectual search for accurate information before committing to opinions or decisions, and making my career choices based on how I can benefit others instead of monetary value.

What legacy would you like to leave?

H. Denise Wooten (D)

My legacy, whether elected or not, is that I want people to be better off than before after I had the opportunity to touch their lives.

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

H. Denise Wooten (D)

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr--found out about it in 7th grade history class when I was 12 years of age by watching a reel-to-reel film of his life, with a special emphasis on his "I Have a Dream" speech.

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

Ben Bumgarner (R)

Jason’s Deli when I was 16. I worked there for just over a year.

H. Denise Wooten (D)

My first job was waitressing, beginning at age 15 years and continuing at various restaurants until I finished putting myself through college.

What is your favorite book? Why?

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen has long been my favorite book, as Jane Austen uses delicious verbiage and irony to roast people or show them in their foibles.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

H. Denise Wooten (D)

The latest song from my favorite acapella group, Home Free, always gets stuck in my head, because I repeat the song so much. That means, at this moment, their cover of "Amazed" that was just released has been reverberating in my mind.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Growing up in a family with limited means required much hard work as a member of the family (including a half-acre garden on which we depended for sustenance), along with working multiple jobs to put myself through college.

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

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Ideally, the governor and the state legislature should take care of the responsibilities of their branch, instead of limiting or handicapping each other.

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

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Of course, in line with my passion about people's needs, Texas needs to beef up the funding and resources for human services, especially health and education.

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

H. Denise Wooten (D)

No, it is not necessary for state legislators to have experience in politics. Political experience is no substitute for life experience and expertise.

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

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Absolutely it is beneficial to build relationships with other legislators, especially if the others also sought the office in order to benefit people and not themselves.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Bipartisan committees in every state should do the redistricting, because each party takes advantage of their control to redistrict in their favor unless it is bipartisan.

If you are not a current legislator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

H. Denise Wooten (D)

Health and education committees are those in which I am qualified to consult as a specialist due to my profession.

Tell us your favorite joke.

H. Denise Wooten (D)

This is not a joke from a comedian, but rather represents the accidental jokes my clients with Autism make when they are being literal, but if someone said it on purpose, it would be dry humor. One of my favorite such sayings came after a boy asked me why I purchased a Hot Wheels toilet car. When I said, "It caught my eye in the store," he responded in all seriousness, "Did that hurt when it caught your eye?"

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

H. Denise Wooten (D)

When there are solid Democratic and Republican platforms (unlike the last 5 years or so), compromise between positions is how to achieve solutions. Partisanship results in little being accomplished on behalf of the people.

See also

More about these elections:

• Texas House of Representatives elections, 2022

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