Thomas McNutt
Thomas McNutt (Republican Party) ran for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 8. McNutt lost in the Republican primary runoff on May 22, 2018.
McNutt 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.
McNutt was a 2016 Republican candidate for District 8 of the Texas House of Representatives.
Biography
Thomas McNutt lives in Corsicana, Texas. McNutt's career experience includes working as the vice president of Collin Street Bakery.[1]
Elections
2018
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 8
Cody Harris defeated Wesley Ratcliff in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 8 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Cody Harris (R) | 78.2 | 36,535 |
| Wesley Ratcliff (D) | 21.8 | 10,171 | ||
| Total votes: 46,706 | |||
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Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 8
Cody Harris defeated Thomas McNutt in the Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 8 on May 22, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cody Harris | 57.0 | 8,379 |
 | Thomas McNutt | 43.0 | 6,329 | |
| Total votes: 14,708 | |||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 8
Wesley Ratcliff advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 8 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Wesley Ratcliff | 100.0 | 2,534 | |
| Total votes: 2,534 | |||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 8
Cody Harris and Thomas McNutt advanced to a runoff. They defeated Linda Timmerman in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 8 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cody Harris | 44.9 | 8,864 |
| ✔ | | Thomas McNutt | 39.5 | 7,786 |
| Linda Timmerman | 15.6 | 3,080 | ||
| Total votes: 19,730 | |||
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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?
| Three Republicans filed to run in the election to replace state Rep. and Straus ally Byron Cook (R): Cody Harris, Thomas McNutt, and Linda Timmerman. All candidates in this race signed the form committing to vote for the Republican caucus' choice for speaker on the House floor. McNutt said he might join the Texas Freedom Caucus if elected.[2] See our coverage of the primary runoff in this race here. Endorsements for McNutt
Endorsements for Harris
Endorsements for Timmerman
|
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.[10]
Incumbent Byron Cook ran unopposed in the Texas House of Representatives District 8 general election.[11]
| Texas House of Representatives, District 8 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican |  Byron Cook Incumbent (unopposed) |
100.00% | 43,240 | |
| Total Votes | 43,240 | |||
| Source: Texas Secretary of State | ||||
Incumbent Byron Cook defeated Thomas McNutt in the Texas House of Representatives District 8 Republican Primary.[12][13]
| Texas House of Representatives, District 8 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Byron Cook Incumbent |
50.39% | 14,421 | |
| Republican | Thomas McNutt | 49.61% | 14,196 | |
| Total Votes | 28,617 | |||
Primary
- Main article: Notable Texas primaries, 2016
| Did Thomas McNutt want to centralize control of education? | |
| In a February 3 interview with the Palestine Herald-Press, Byron Cook claimed that “my opponent Thomas McNutt and his supporters want to take money and local control away from our rural and small public school districts and then centralize the control of education with a single state agency in Austin.” Was Cook’s claim about McNutt's position true? | |
McNutt, vice president of his family's fruitcake bakery, received the following endorsements:
Cook received the following endorsements:[17]
- National Rifle Association
- Texas State Rifle Association
- Texas Alliance for Life
- Texans for Life
The candidates clashed on immigration and abortion. Competing pro-life organizations supported the two candidates; District 8 was the "most important race for us," the political director for Texas Right to Life told the Texas Tribune.[18]
Campaign themes
2016
McNutt's campaign website highlighted the following issues:
| “ |
Immigration and Border Security: Securing our southern border and halting illegal immigration in Texas must be our top priority. While border security is a federal responsibility, we must act as a state to secure as much as we can. In conjunction with a stronger presence on the border, we need to put our citizens first and turn off the magnets that drive further illegal immigration. Education: We will lose every one of our freedoms if we don’t teach our children their value and that begins with education. Coming from a family of teachers and as a former high school football coach myself, I understand the need to treat teachers like the professionals that they are. We need to empower them to teach instead of making them subservient to union bosses or government bureaucrats. We need to keep Common Core out of our schools and reform our testing system so we don’t have third graders who are so nervous they can’t sleep at night. Budget and the Economy: As someone who is proud part of a family business, I know firsthand that government does not create jobs – people do. The path toward economic growth is just as simple: get government out of the way. This begins with lowering our tax burdens, shrinking the size of government, and rolling back regulations that create more problems than they solve. Family Values: As a Christian, I believe that marriage is a sacred covenant between a husband, a wife, and God. We must protect the institution of marriage at all costs. We must also protect the unborn, and ensure that every child has a chance at the life God created for them. States' Rights: The 10th Amendment is crucial to our success as a free people in Texas. The federal government has grown grossly out of control and continues to exponentially expand its scope and reach. Texas needs fight back even harder against the bureaucrats in Washington.[19] |
” |
| —Thomas McNutt[20] | ||
See also
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Texas House of Representatives elections, 2018
- State legislative special elections, 2018
- Texas House of Representatives District 8
- Texas House of Representatives elections, 2016
- Texas House of Representatives
- Texas State Legislature
External links
- Search Google News for this topic
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook page
- Campaign Twitter page
- Texas Legislature website
Footnotes
- ↑ McNutt for State Representative, "About," accessed February 13, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedFreedomC - ↑ Texas Tribune, "The Blast," March 1, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastf19 - ↑ Texas Tribune, "The Blast," March 5, 2018
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "The Blast," January 23, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBLASTj25 - ↑ Texas Tribune, "The Blast," January 30, 2018
- ↑ Email communication with Ballotpedia staff, February 6, 2018
- ↑ 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
- ↑ Kaufman County Tea Party, "ENDORSED: Candidate for Texas House District 8 – Thomas McNutt Questionnaire," January 31, 2016
- ↑ Texas Right to Life, "Texas Right to Life PAC backs Thomas McNutt for State House District 8," September 22, 2015
- ↑ Empower Texas, "TFR: McNutt For Texas House 8," October 5, 2015
- ↑ Byron Cook, "2016 Primary Endorsements," accessed February 22, 2016
- ↑ Texas Tribune, "Cook Re-election Bid Already Rancorous," November 2, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ [http://thomasmcnutt.com/issues/ Thomas McNutt for State Representative, "Issues," accessed February 23, 2016
