Texas state legislative Republican primaries, 2018/What is at stake?

Elections in Texas, 2018

• General election: Nov. 6
• Voter registration deadline: Oct. 9
• Early voting: Oct. 22 - Nov. 2
• Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 7

• Online registration: No
• Same-day registration: No
• Voter ID: Photo ID required
• Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

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Ballotpedia's series on the Texas state legislative Republican primaries
Overview
Page 1: Election night coverage of primary matchups
Page 2: Races to watch in the 2018 primaries
Page 3: Top 10 races in 2018
Page 4: Factional conflict in the 2018 primaries
Page 5: What was at stake in the 2018 primaries?
Page 6: Campaign activity by influencers and satellite organizations
Page 7: Noteworthy events, timeline, and media coverage of the 2018 primaries
Page 8: Competitiveness in the 2018 primaries
Page 9: Campaign finance in the 2018 primaries
Page 10: May 22 primary runoffs
Read as one page →

On this page, you will find details on the following events or policy areas implicated in the March 6 primaries:

• The 2019 House speaker's race
• Education finance
• Property tax rates
• Bathroom regulations

2019 state House speaker election

In October 2017, House Speaker Joe Straus (R) announced that he would not run for re-election, setting up a contest for House speaker in 2019 that could have been influenced by which members won in the 2018 Republican primaries. The 2018 primaries were likely to decide how much the next Texas speaker led like Straus or leaned more toward the anti-Straus wing of the Texas Republican Party.

The Texas House speaker's powers include appointing members and chairs of standing committees as well as refering legislation to committees.

Declared speaker candidates as March 6, 2018

• John Zerwas
• Phil King

Possible speaker candidates

• Drew Darby
• Travis Clardy
• Four Price
• Craig Goldman
• Todd Hunter
• Tan Parker
• Dennis Bonnen
• Ron Simmons

Involvement in primaries

Brandon Waltens of Empower Texans wrote that Zerwas established the Texans for a Stronger Economy PAC to draw support in the speaker's race from candidates in contested primaries. The list of candidates that the PAC supported included Straus allies such as Charlie Geren, Lyle Larson, Ken King, and Sarah Davis. Waltens also wrote that Drew Darby was donating to candidates running in contested primaries and that a rivalry between him and Zerwas (which first played out as they both vied for the chair of the Appropriations Committee in 2017) could be starting for the speaker's race.

Rule change and speaker commitment pledge

On December 1, 2017, most state House Republicans voted for a rule change that would require their members to select a speaker in a caucus meeting and then unanimously support that person on the House floor, where all members, including Democrats, are able to vote for the speaker. The rule required the speaker candidate to be elected by the Republican caucus on a secret ballot. The rule provided for additional votes by the caucus if no candidate earned more than two-thirds support on the first ballot. No enforcement mechanism for the rule was adopted.

The rule change was in response to the tenure of Straus, who had previously won elections to be speaker because a coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats supported him on the floor while conservative Republicans opposed him. State Rep. Matt Schaefer (R), the chairman of the Texas Freedom Caucus, which opposed Straus' leadership, said the following about the rule change: "From the Freedom Caucus perspective, this is a huge win, but it’s a huge win for the whole Republican caucus. I think we knocked the first domino, but the credit goes to a lot of other members who helped the process along." The Texas Republican Party, including Chairman James Dickey, supported the rule change.

At an unrelated event on December 1, Straus did not an offer an opinion on the rule change, but he did express doubt that Republicans would vote together on the floor without an enforcement mechanism, saying, "I’m not sure that anything can be binding, but it sounds like the state party chairman and others are really kind of whipping this thing up, but I would think the wiser approach would be to change the state Constitution. You can’t bind somebody to vote for a speaker candidate on the floor, so ... whatever."

At the time of the rule change, there were two declared candidates for the speaker race in 2019, Phil King and John Zerwas. King announced in September 2017 that he would challenge Straus for the speakership and made remarks that were critical of Straus' leadership style. After Straus announced that he would retire in October 2017, Zerwas, a Straus ally, announced his candidacy. Zerwas said in an interview with the Texas Tribune that he would be a similar leader to Straus.

On December 21, the Texas Monitor reported that Republican state House candidates were being asked to sign a form pledging them to vote for the House speaker candidate chosen by the Republican Caucus during the floor vote for speaker in 2019. Phil King supported the pledge, saying, "Forty-four states have House caucus votes [for speaker]. It’s a reasonable way to elect the speaker." As of December 21, John Zerwas had not signed the pledge and neither had other Straus allies, including Charlie Geren and Sarah Davis. Zerwas said in an interview with the Texas Tribune that he would not commit to voting for the caucus' choice on the House floor and said that the new process should acknowledge the preferences of Democrats. According to the Monitor, about one-half of the 182 Republican state House candidates had signed the pledge.

The New Leadership PAC—which opposed Straus' leadership—supported the pledge, with treasurer Don Dyer saying, "Any incumbent who doesn’t sign the pledge has made themselves an adversary of ours. It is the No. 1 thing on our list of what we expect Republicans to be."

In late November 2017, an anonymous inquiry was submitted to the Texas Ethics Commission asking whether the speaker commitment pledge amounted to legislative bribery. The state Republican Party attempted to find if a Republican representative was the source of the inquiry by submitting an open records request to all 150 state House members.

On January 10, 2018, the Texas Monitor reported that 115 House Republicans had signed the pledge, including Straus allies Four Price and Dan Huberty. Among the 67 members who had not signed the pledge was Straus ally Charlie Geren. The Monitor found that two-thirds of campaign contributions to non-signers had come from political action committees and their related organizations.

Speaker commitment pledge image

This is an image of the speaker commitment pledge that candidates were asked to sign. See it here on the Texas Republican Party's website.

Who signed the commitment form?

Click [Show] to see the list of candidates who signed the form according to the Texas Republican Party.

Last udpated January 31, 2018

Speaker committment form signatures
District	Candidate	Signed form?
1	Gary Van Deaver	No
2	Bryan Slaton	Yes
2	Dan Flynn	Yes
3	Cecil Bell Jr.	No
4	Ashley McKee	Yes
4	Keith Bell	Yes
4	Stuart Spitzer	Yes
4	Earl Brunner	No
5	Cole Hefner	Yes
6	Matt Schaefer	Yes
6	Ted Kamel	Yes
7	Jay Dean	No
8	Cody Harris	Yes
8	Linda Timmerman	Yes
8	Thomas McNutt	Yes
9	Garrett Boersma	Yes
9	Chris Paddie	No
10	John Wray	No
11	Danny Ward	Yes
11	Travis Clardy	No
12	Kyle Kacal	No
13	Ben Leman	Yes
13	Daniel McCarthy	Yes
13	David K. Stall	Yes
13	Jill Wolfskill	Yes
13	Marc S. Young	Yes
14	Jeston Texeira	Yes
14	Sarah Laningham	Yes
14	John Raney	Yes
14	Rick Davis	No
15	Steve Toth	Yes
15	Jackie Waters	Yes
16	Will Metcalf	Yes
17	John P. Cyrier	No
18	Emily Cook	Yes
18	Ernest Bailes	No
19	James White	Yes
20	Terry M. Wilson	Yes
21	Dade Phelan	No
23	Mayes Middleton	Yes
23	Wayne Faircloth	Yes
24	Greg Bonnen	No
25	Damon Rambo	Yes
25	Dennis Bonnen	No
26	D.F. "Rick" Miller	No
28	John Zerwas	No
29	Ed Thompson	Yes
30	Geanie W. Morrison	No
32	Todd Hunter	Yes
33	Justin Holland	No
34	Chris Hale	Yes
42	Luis De La Garza	No
43	J.M. Lozano	Yes
44	John Kuempel	No
45	Amber Pearce	Yes
45	Amy Akers	Yes
45	Austin Talley	Yes
45	Ken Strange	Yes
45	Naomi Naraviz	Yes
46	Gabriel Nila	Yes
47	Jay Wiley	Yes
47	Patricia Vredevelt	Yes
47	Paul D. Workman	Yes
49	Kyle Austin	Yes
52	Christopher L. Ward	Yes
52	Cynthia Flores	Yes
52	Jeremy Story	Yes
53	Andrew S. Murr	Yes
54	Brad Buckley	Yes
54	Larry S. Smith	Yes
54	Scott Cosper	Yes
55	Brandon Hall	Yes
55	CJ Grisham	Yes
55	Hugh D. Shine	Yes
56	Charles "Doc" Anderson	Yes
57	Trent Ashby	No
58	DeWayne Burns	Yes
59	Chris Evans	Yes
59	J.D. Sheffield	Yes
60	Mike Lang	Yes
60	Gregory Risse	No
60	Jim Largent	No
61	Phil King	Yes
62	Brent Lawson	Yes
62	Kevin Couch	Yes
62	Reggie Smith	Yes
63	Tan Parker	Yes
64	Lynn Stucky	Yes
64	Mark Roy	Yes
65	Kevin Simmons	Yes
65	Ron Simmons	Yes
66	Matt Shaheen	Yes
67	Jeff Leach	Yes
68	Drew Springer	Yes
69	James Frank	Yes
70	Scott Sanford	Yes
71	Stan Lambert	No
72	Lynette Lucas	Yes
72	Drew Darby	No
73	Dave Campbell	Yes
73	Kyle Biedermann	Yes
78	Jeffrey Lane	No
81	Brooks Landgraf	No
82	Tom Craddick	Yes
83	Dustin Burrows	Yes
84	John Frullo	Yes
85	Phil Stephenson	Yes
86	John Smithee	Yes
87	Drew Brassfield	Yes
87	Four Price	Yes
88	Jason Huddleston	Yes
88	Richard Beyea	Yes
88	Ken King	No
89	Candy Noble	Yes
89	John Payton	Yes
91	Stephanie Klick	Yes
92	Jonathan Stickland	Yes
93	Matt Krause	Yes
94	Tony Tinderholt	Yes
95	Stephen A. West	No
96	Bill Zedler	Yes
97	Craig Goldman	Yes
98	Armin Mizani	Yes
98	Giovanni Capriglione	Yes
99	Bo French	Yes
99	Charlie Geren	No
102	Chad Carnahan	Yes
102	Scott Kilgore	Yes
102	Linda Koop	No
103	Jerry Fortenberry	No
105	Dinesh Mali	No
105	Rodney Anderson	No
106	Clint Bedsole	Yes
106	Jared Patterson	Yes
107	Deanna Maria Metzger	Yes
107	Brad Perry	No
107	Joe Ruzicka	No
108	Morgan Meyer	No
112	Angie Chen Button	No
113	Jonathan Boos	Yes
113	Jim Phaup	Yes
113	Charlie Lauersdorf	No
114	Lisa Luby Ryan	Yes
114	Jason Villalba	No
115	Matt Rinaldi	Yes
116	Fernando Padron	Yes
117	Carlos Antonio Raymond	Yes
117	Michael Berlanga	Yes
118	John Lujan	Yes
120	Ronald Payne	Yes
121	Adrian Spears	Yes
121	Matt Beebe	Yes
121	Carlton Soules	Yes
121	Charlotte Williamson	Yes
121	Marc K. Whyte	Yes
121	Steve Allison	No
122	Chris Fails	Yes
122	Lyle Larson	No
124	Johnny S. Arredondo	No
126	E. Sam Harless	Yes
126	Gail Stanart	Yes
126	Kevin Fulton	Yes
127	Dan Huberty	Yes
127	Reginald C. Grant Jr.	Yes
128	Briscoe Cain	Yes
129	Dennis Paul	Yes
130	Tom Oliverson	Yes
131	Syed S. Ali	No
132	Mike Schofield	No
133	Jim Murphy	Yes
134	Susanna Dokupil	Yes
134	Sarah Davis	No
135	Gary Elkins	Yes
136	Tony Dale	Yes
138	Dwayne Bohac	Yes
144	Gilbert Peña	Yes
144	Ruben Villarreal	No
147	Thomas Wang	No
148	Ryan T. McConnico	No
150	Valoree Swanson	Yes
150	James Richard Wilson	No

Education finance policy

Republicans were divided on school finance policy, with pro-Straus Republicans tending to support higher levels of state support for public education and anti-Straus Republicans preferring subsidized private school vouchers. The issue of school finance was often tied into property taxes because, at the time of the 2018 elections, state and local governments both provided funding for education in Texas.

In the 2017 special session, the Legislature passed legislation that provided $351 million in funding for public schools and established a commission to study the state's school finance system. Led by Public Education Committee Chairman Dan Huberty, the House originally passed a bill that provided $1.8 billion in public education funding and changed the funding formula for schools. The Senate, which had earlier passed a private school voucher bill, brought down the funding levels in the legislation and did not change the funding formula. The House concurred with the Senate's changes, although Huberty said, "To say I'm disappointed is an understatement."

Heading into the 2018 elections, the organization Texas Educators Vote, which promoted voting and civic engagement among teachers, passed a resolution that suggested school boards could encourage voting by driving eligible students and school employees to the polls if their district's policy allowed it. This prompted criticism from Empower Texans, which supports private school vouchers. Its members argued that the schools were attempting to influence the votes of its employees and that it could encourage teachers who normally prefer Democrats to vote for pro-Straus Republicans in the GOP primaries, something which would be allowed in Texas' open primary system.

In January 2018, Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) issued a non-binding legal opinion that students and employees could not be taken to the polls using district funds or equipment (such as school buses). Empower Texans began asking public school employees to report the use of district funds in election activities. In response, some Texas teachers began sarcastically tweeting at Empower Texans with the hashtag #blowingthewhistle. Here is an example:

Hey @EmpowerTexans! I'm #blowingthewhistle on my husband, who called to ask me to bring his brand new coat to school. I asked him if he was cold. No, he said, I need to give it to my student. He showed up to class shivering this morning because he doesn't own a coat #txed #txlege

— Annie H Hartnett (@anniehnet) February 8, 2018

Empower Texans President Michael Quinn Sullivan said that his organization had received numerous reports of school administrators engaging in political activity and that his group was sending out open records requests to verify the claims.

Paxton sent cease and desist letters to three schools on February 14, saying they were engaging in electioneering. Specifically, Paxton said the Brazosport, Holliday and Lewisville districts were using taxpayers resources to advocate that their staff vote for specific candidates. He said, “The electioneering of these school districts is unacceptable and a poor example of the civic responsibility, integrity, and honesty that Texas educators should model for our students.” He specifically pointed to tweets by officials or the district's official account that expressed support for Scott Milder in his primary challenge of Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick or criticized the education policies passed by the state legislature.

Officials from the Lewisville district issued a statement saying that they disagreed with Paxton's interpretation of their tweets and that they had taken down ones that might have been problematic. The statement said, "We dispute any characterization of the district’s get out the vote campaign as anything other than an effort to engage the LISD staff and community in their constitutional right to vote and advocate for themselves."

On February 23, Joe Straus sent an email to his supporters that said an "Austin special interest group ... apparently feels threatened by the fact that education leaders are encouraging civic participation." He added, "We can't let these voter-intimidation tactics work. Put me down as supporting a culture of voting, among teachers and all eligible Texans."

Property tax rates

Municipalities' ability to raise property taxes divided Republicans, especially after House Speaker Joe Straus (R) blocked a Senate-endorsed bill in the 2017 special session that would have required voter approval for tax increases that were four percent higher than the previous year. The House wanted the election trigger to be set at six percent rather than four percent.

According to KXAN, Gov. Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick made property taxes a centerpiece of the 2018 Republican primaries, with Abbott seeking a 2.5 percent election trigger. for municipalities to raise taxes.

Some pro-Straus Republicans like El Paso Mayor Dee Margo criticized the caps on property tax growth, arguing such growth is necessary to provide services for cities. They also said that the reason for property tax growth was because state education funding was inadequate and put more of a burden on cities and counties.

Anti-Straus Republicans like Michael Quinn Sullivan of Empower Texans have argued that too many public entities were given the ability to levy property taxes and that heavy burdens would discourage businesses from locating in Texas. He and groups like the Texas Republican Party have argued that a consumption-based tax for certain items should replace property taxes.

Bathroom regulations

Legislation requiring individuals to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificate passed the state Senate in a 2017 special session but failed in the state House due to opposition from Speaker Straus and business groups like the Texas Association of Business. Bathroom bills are commonly thought to be used to restrict transgender individuals from using the restroom of their choice.

Straus and business groups argued that the legislation would discourage investment in Texas as they claimed it did in North Carolina after it passed similar legislation in 2016. Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick and social conservatives argued that the bill was necessary due to privacy concerns, particularly those of women and children, in bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers.

According to the Texas Tribune, the bathroom bill did not play as large a role in the primaries as the publication expected.

See also

• Texas House of Representatives elections, 2018
• Texas state legislative Democratic primaries, 2018
• Texas State Legislature
• State legislative elections, 2018