Tom Glass
Tom Glass (Republican Party) ran for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 17. He lost in the Republican primary on March 5, 2024.
Glass completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Tom Glass was born in Midland, Texas. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M University in 1979, an M.B.A. from Harvard University in 1981, and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 2007. Glass’s career experience includes working as an IT professional for ExxonMobil.
Glass has been affiliated with the following organizations:
- Texas Constitutional Enforcement
- Protect the Texas Grid
- Texas Legislative Priorities
- Lone Star Fully Informed Jury Association
- Gun Owners of America
- Texas State Rifle Association
- Texans for Vaccine Choice[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 17
Incumbent Stan Gerdes defeated Desiree Venable in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 17 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Stan Gerdes (R) | 66.2 | 53,531 |
 | Desiree Venable (D)  | 33.8 | 27,389 | |
| Total votes: 80,920 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 17
Desiree Venable advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 17 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Desiree Venable | 100.0 | 5,287 |
| Total votes: 5,287 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 17
Incumbent Stan Gerdes defeated Tom Glass in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 17 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Stan Gerdes | 57.9 | 14,159 |
 | Tom Glass | 42.1 | 10,315 | |
| Total votes: 24,474 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Endorsements
Glass received the following endorsements.
- Attorney General Ken Paxton (R)
- Grassroots America: We The People
2022
See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 17
Stan Gerdes defeated Madeline Eden and Linda Curtis in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 17 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Stan Gerdes (R) | 64.2 | 39,092 |
 | Madeline Eden (D) | 31.9 | 19,404 | |
 | Linda Curtis (Independent) | 3.9 | 2,388 | |
| Total votes: 60,884 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 17
Stan Gerdes defeated Paul Pape in the Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 17 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Stan Gerdes | 51.2 | 6,591 |
 | Paul Pape | 48.8 | 6,271 | |
| Total votes: 12,862 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 17
Madeline Eden advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 17 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Madeline Eden | 100.0 | 5,491 |
| Total votes: 5,491 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Josh Tutt (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 17
Stan Gerdes and Paul Pape advanced to a runoff. They defeated Tom Glass, Trey Rutledge, and Jen Bezner in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 17 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Stan Gerdes | 30.0 | 6,277 |
| ✔ | | Paul Pape | 27.7 | 5,811 |
| Tom Glass | 25.7 | 5,377 | |
 | Trey Rutledge | 10.1 | 2,122 | |
| Jen Bezner | 6.5 | 1,365 | ||
| Total votes: 20,952 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Campaign finance
2018
- See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2018
General election
General election for Texas State Senate District 7
Incumbent Paul Bettencourt defeated David Romero and Tom Glass in the general election for Texas State Senate District 7 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Paul Bettencourt (R) | 57.8 | 177,864 |
 | David Romero (D) | 40.3 | 124,232 | |
| Tom Glass (L) | 1.9 | 5,878 | |
| Total votes: 307,974 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 7
David Romero advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 7 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | David Romero | 100.0 | 22,989 |
| Total votes: 22,989 | |||
| = 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 State Senate District 7
Incumbent Paul Bettencourt advanced from the Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 7 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Bettencourt | 100.0 | 44,950 |
| Total votes: 44,950 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Libertarian primary election
Libertarian primary for Texas State Senate District 7
Tom Glass advanced from the Libertarian primary for Texas State Senate District 7 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Tom Glass |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
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2014
- See also: Texas attorney general election, 2014
Glass ran for election to the office of Attorney General of Texas but failed to win the Libertarian nomination at the party convention in April 2014.[2][3]
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Tom Glass completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Glass' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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As a result of those efforts, he was recently awarded with one of two 2023 Ross Kecseg Fearless Conservative Awards from Grassroots America We the People. In 2021, he received a Texas Conservative Leader Award from Texas Scorecard.
He is a graduate of Odessa Permian High School, Texas A&M University (B.S., Chemical Engineering), Harvard Business School (MBA), and the University of Houston Law Center (J.D.).
Having been raised to revere the Texas and American founders and their ideas, Tom was condescendingly dubbed by one of his Harvard professors as the token "Lockean," referring to Tom's adherence to the most influential philosopher to the Founders, John Locke.
Tom has never practiced law for a living, treating his late-in-life law degree as a public-policy finishing school.
He earned his way through Texas A&M with a half academic scholarship and a half track scholarship.
Tom is married to Kathie Glass, who ran for governor in 2010 and 2014. They have two grown children and one grandchild.- I am the grassroots constitutional conservative challenging an Austin-swamp-installed freshman incumbent.
- Everything Texans hold dear is under attack from a stolen, federal government and globalists. To defeat the DC swamp, we must clean up the Austin swamp.
- My opponent, following his handlers, voted to impeach our AG Ken Paxton. I wrote a legal brief defending him. When war is being waged on your state, you shouldn't frag your most effective champion.
- TEXAS RESISTANCE TO GREAT RESET - globalists acting through the Word Economic Forum are attempting to use financial pressure to destroy the oil & gas, ag, firearms livelihoods in Texas. The globalists attempt to place themselves in control of Texans, restoring a system where elites rule serfs.
- FIGHTING INFLATION AND CBDC VIA MONETARY FREEDOM - The push by elites for the ultimate police-state tool of Central Bank Digital Currency is a threat to Texans that can be stopped in Texas by monetary freedom initiatives I worked at legislature with my Texas Constitutional Enforcement group. See txce.org/blog
- PROPERTY TAX PHASE OUT - As 2020 RPT Platform Committee representative, I authored the Property Tax plank.
- PROTECTION OF GROUNDWATER - The property owners and cities in my district are seeing their water wells rapidly being depleted by shipments from our reservoirs to out of district interests. We must protect them while finding alternative water sources for a growing Texas.
- MEDICAL FREEDOM - We must never again lockdown or mandate vax or masks in Texas and must pull deadly, ineffective vaccines off the market.
The Law by Frederic Bastiat
The Founding Father's Guide to the Constitution by Brion McClanahan
Commitment to the founding principles of rights protection and self-governance of the republics of Texas and America.
Ability to communicate and negotiate.
I am committed to the original principles of respect for individual rights and self-governance of Texas and America. I am driven to pass on a free country to my posterity.
I have studied history, economics, political philosophy, and law for my entire life.
The governor has more ability to move public opinion through the bully pulpit. So a consensus between the legislature and the governor that is sold by the governor is ideal.
When I ask the voters in my district what they see as their biggest political issue, the most frequent statement is some variant of "there are so many things going wrong, I don't know where to start." (The border invasion is not far behind.)
I tell the voters that they are right. There is a multi-front war by a stolen, federal government and globalists on our border, our oil & gas industry, our ag industry, our guns, and dollar, and our economy. They are even trying to indoctrinate and sexualize our children.
The fate of millions if not billions will be determined over the next few years in Texas. It will hinge on whether we the people of Texas and our state government clean up the Austin swamp and unites to meet these external threats. It comes down to the question of whether the people of Texas will be the boss or whether we let the elitists get their way and become our masters.
Ronald Reagan said in his "Time for Choosing" speech, "If America falls, the world plunges into a thousand years of darkness." I say that if Texas falls to the onslaught, America and the world falls, too.
And I have more legislative experience since retirement than my opponent because of working to get bills passed for 5 sessions.
The problem is that the legislative swamp goes to work on new legislators as soon as they arrive (or before) trying to persuade them to align their highest affections with other legislators and the lobby. The challenge for any conservative is how to remember that they are a representative from their district to Austin, not representatives from the Austin swamp and the "legislative club" to the district.
The current Texas House culture punishes those who do not bow to the establishment-controlled leadership. It is very tribal, demanding loyalty to the new Austin tribe, instead of the district the representative theoretically represents.
It is my hope that the high turnover in that Texas House that is being caused by the Paxton impeachment will produce a different culture in the Texas House that is more beholden to the district and the principles, priorities, and platform of the RPT than to the special interests and the Democrats.
I think about my rural neighbors in Lee and Burleson county whose wells are going dry because of over pumping by interests outside the district.
I think about the school administrator in the district who says that his district is struggling with record numbers of children of illegals who cannot speak English.
I think about law enforcement that is struggling to maintain order in a rapidly growing district.
I think about the father of 4 children under 12 who said that had he known how bad things were going to be with the border, the economy, the indoctrination/sexualization threats to his kids, and the threats of war that he might not have had his kids.
Executives need power to inform the public about threats and to bring governmental resources to bear during emergencies, but they do NOT need unconstitutional "law"-making or dictatorial powers during emergencies. Our Texas Constitution prohibits such in multiple ways. Our Texas Emergency Powers Act needs to comply with the Texas Constitution.
I do believe that having civil dialogue and deliberation with those you disagree and and forming coalitions on specific issues with people with which you disagree on others is the right we to engage in political change.
Border security
Monetary freedom
Pushing back on the globalist Great Reset
Creating independent, state-level prosecution for election (and other) law
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
Grassroots America/We the People
Bastrop County Conservatives
The Remembrance Project (Maria Espinoza)
Natural Resources
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.
2022
Tom Glass completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Glass' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Tom was honored with one of the 2021 Texas Conservative Leader Awards. He has spent many Texas legislative sessions advocating for legislation that will increase Texas liberty, protect the Texas grid, secure our groundwater, and implement Republican Party legislative priorities.
He is retired from a varied career in information technology at ExxonMobil where he primarily focused on cyber-security and security and controls. He has also worked in the oil patch.
He is a graduate of Odessa Permian High School, Texas A&M University (B.S., Chemical Engineering), Harvard Business School (MBA), and the University of Houston Law Center (J.D.). Tom and his wife Kathie have enjoyed their ranch in western Lee County on the Bastrop County line for 10 years.- Secure Our Irreplaceable Groundwater and Protect the Texas Grid from all hazards.
- Enforce the Constitutions of the U.S. and Texas against the feds and against executive overreach in Texas.
- Implement the legislative priorities of the Republican Party of Texas. Change the culture of the Texas House to be beholden to grassroots, not Dems or special interests.
Devotion to securing the natural rights of Texans from whatever source it may come is the other vital attribute needed by our representatives. The framers in the Declaration told us that governments are instituted to secure the unalienable and natural rights of the citizens. Our Constitutions were created to implement that mission. When I swear an oath to protect, preserve, and defend the Constitutions of the U.S. and Texas, that is what I understand to be the overarching purpose of our governments.
I want a Texas that lets people be free to pursue their dreams and create the abundance that we have and can produce when we live under rule of law and limited government as the framers envisioned.
She also starkly outlined that there are two types of business people. The businesses that seek to produce the best product or service to meet the needs of their customers and the types of businesses that seek to take wealth via pull in government at the expense of their customers, the taxpayer, and their competetitors.
We have been blessed with health, good families, and a work ethic that allowed us to provide for our family. That has allowed to focus more than most on how we can stop a growing government from stifling the happiness that limited government, rule of law, and liberty produces.
In my own district, as I block walk, I am hearing about the impact that rapid growth and rising property appraisals are having on the voters' quality of life and pocketbook.
The powers of lockdown, mask mandates, and vax mandates that have been deployed in the COVID tyranny are violations of due course of law and multiple natural, unalienable rights of Texans which NO branch of government has the right to violate. But proper separation of powers enforcement by the legislature (and hopefully the judiciary) is vital to insuring that Texans never again go through the devastation we have gone through over the last two years.
Put it another way, if you are free, and someone wants you to be their slave, compromising to 50% free and 50% slave is foolhardy. If you are already not free, compromising toward liberty may be the best you can do.
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.
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
- See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys
Tom Glass participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on September 10, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and Tom Glass's responses follow below.[4]
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
| “ | 1) Eliminate Property Tax - in the interim, assess property at its last sale price instead of the wasteful, arbitrary, maddening appraisal process we have today.
2) Enforce the Constitution in Texas - stop federal agents from committing unconstitutional acts against Texans. 3) Constitutional carry - if you have to ask permission, the right is not being respected.[5][6] |
” |
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?
| “ | I want people to be free to the greatest extent possible to be free from government interference in their lives. I care about your ability to keep and control the wealth you earn and I care about your personal liberty, too. I want to eliminate civil asset forfeiture, red light cameras, and greatly reduce the use of eminent domain.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many[6]
|
” |
Ballotpedia also asked the candidate a series of optional questions. Tom Glass answered the following:
Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow and why?
| “ | Davy Crockett is my earliest and most significant hero. As the quintessential Texan, we should strive to live up to his example. He volunteered to protect his community from attack, fought for the rights of Indians even when that meant going against the president of his own party, understood the constitutional limits of federal power, and was willing to die in the fight against a brutal dictator.[6] | ” |
| “ | There are two books which I think best summarize my approach to public policy. The first is, The Law by Frederic Bastiat. The second is Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt.[6] | ” |
| “ | Integrity. Doing what you said you will do. Applying liberty principles consistently to public policy will produce a Texas that has abundance and harmony.[6] | ” |
| “ | I have experience in the legislative process. I first testified at a legislative hearing in 1986, and have been involved in many legislative sessions since. While I do not practice law, I have legal training that helps me better understand how to craft legislation. I care deeply about the principles of liberty embodied in the U.S. and Texas constitutions and will take the oath to protect, preserve, and defend those documents very seriously.[6] | ” |
| “ | To eliminate legislation that reduces liberty and is unconstitutional, and to craft legislation to maximize individual liberty. In most respects, Texans are better off with less government interference in their lives.[6] | ” |
| “ | A legacy of liberty, respect for the Constitution, and smaller government, which means a healthier, more vibrant, successful Texas.[6] | ” |
| “ | I was six years old when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. At the time, the biggest impact on me was that the funeral pee-empted the cartoons I wanted to watch on TV. As an adult, I think it as an incredibly bad day for our union.[6] | ” |
| “ | My first job was helping my schoolteacher father with his handyman work during the summers. I started at age 6 and did that most summers until I graduated from high school.[6] | ” |
| “ | July 4, Independence Day, is my favorite holiday. Our family reads the Declaration of Independence on that day as we marvel at the incredible accomplishment of the men who wrote it.[6] | ” |
| “ | The most recent challenge in my life has been my home being flooded by Hurricane Harvey.[6] | ” |
| “ | Because the Texas Senate is smaller than the House, the Senators have more responsibility and influence than House members.[6] | ” |
| “ | I believe that candidates for office should have been involved in studying the issues for the office and interacting with previous occupants of the office. I have studied the issues, economics, law, political philosophy and history (especially Texas and American history) all of my life, and I have significant experience in the Texas legislature.[6] | ” |
| “ | How to stop the federal government from violating the Constitution and the rights of Texans. Since the founders expected elected officials in Texas to honor their oaths and stop violations of the Constitution when they saw them, I think the Texas legislature can win our liberty back from the feds, if we will only exercise the will to do so.[6] | ” |
| “ | Yes. A legislator can accomplish nothing if he or she cannot persuade other legislators to vote for the legislation he or she has introduced.[6] | ” |
| “ | A special commission using a computer program designed to produce districts that are geographically compact and which share common interests within the district.[6] | ” |
| “ | My first choice would be the State Affairs Committee because many liberty bills pass are assigned there.[6] | ” |
| “ | No.[6] | ” |
| “ | The stories of the resilience of those flooded by Hurricane Harvey and of those who heroically stepped up to help during the floods are very moving to me and make me proud to be a Texan.[6] | ” |
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.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Texas House of Representatives District 17 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on December 21, 2021
- ↑ KENS5, "Libertarian Kathie Glass announces bid for Texas governor," October 2, 2013
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedLconvention - ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's candidate survey, "Tom Glass's responses," September 10, 2018
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
