H. Denise Wooten

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

H. Denise Wooten

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

March 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

William Jewell College, 1982

Graduate

Baylor University, 1989

Personal

Birthplace

Independence, Mo.

Religion

Protestant

Profession

Psychologist

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Personal website

Personal Instagram

H. Denise Wooten (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 63. She lost in the Democratic primary on March 5, 2024.

Biography

H. Denise Wooten was born in Independence, Missouri. She earned a bachelor's degree from William Jewell College in 1982 and a graduate degree from Baylor University in 1989. Her career experience includes working as a psychologist, specializing in developmental disorders, and as an adjunct professor in psychology at North Central Texas Community College.

Elections

2024

See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Texas House of Representatives District 63

Incumbent Ben Bumgarner defeated Michelle Beckley in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 63 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Bumgarner (R)	55.7	46,861
		Michelle Beckley (D)	44.3	37,326

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 84,187
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 63

Michelle Beckley defeated H. Denise Wooten in the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 63 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Michelle Beckley	66.4	3,985
		H. Denise Wooten	33.6	2,019

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 6,004
= 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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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 63

Incumbent Ben Bumgarner defeated Vincent Gallo and Carlos Andino Jr. in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 63 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Bumgarner	59.3	9,762
		Vincent Gallo	35.3	5,816
	Submit photo	Carlos Andino Jr.	5.4	894

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 16,472
= 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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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Wooten in this election.

2022

See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2022

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

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 64,307
= 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 runoff election

Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 63

Ben Bumgarner defeated Jeff Younger in the Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 63 on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Bumgarner	62.2	4,948
	Submit photo	Jeff Younger	37.8	3,003

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,951
= 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.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 63

H. Denise Wooten advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 63 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		H. Denise Wooten	100.0	4,867

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,867
= 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 63

Ben Bumgarner and Jeff Younger advanced to a runoff. They defeated Nick Sanders and Jacob Collier in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 63 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Bumgarner	29.0	3,725
✔	Submit photo	Jeff Younger	27.5	3,534
	Submit photo	Nick Sanders	24.5	3,145
		Jacob Collier	19.0	2,443

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 12,847
= 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

• Scott Smith (R)

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

H. Denise Wooten did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

H. Denise Wooten completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wooten's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Having served for over 30 years as a licensed clinical psychologist, and for almost 5 years as an adjunct community college professor, I have been in the trenches with people struggling with health, education, economic disadvantage, and disabilities. In Texas, human services of all kinds are woefully underfunded and understaffed, thereby leaving many people unaided or without equitable opportunity. In fact, Texas is 45th out of 50 states in per capita expenditure for human services (health, education, welfare, and civic infrastructure), while Texas is 2nd highest in Gross Domestic Product. We have a wealthy state that is spending meager amounts on less resourced people, while the rich get richer. Due to my ethical belief that all people deserve quality health care, for years I operated a sliding fee scale and took multiple insurances at a decreased fee. Teaching at a community college has to be for the love of psychology and students, as it certainly does not recompense well, but these students deserve professors who care. Personally, I am married with two daughters who are themselves married. One daughter is a special education teacher in the public school system, while the other is a ballroom dance instructor who loves Fine Arts. My husband works with small-business owners and individuals as a CPA.

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?

• 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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.

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

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?

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?

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?

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?

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.

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?

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?

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.

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?

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.

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.

Campaign finance summary

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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.

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H. Denise Wooten campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Texas House of Representatives District 63	Lost primary	$3,670	$7,969
2022	Texas House of Representatives District 63	Lost general	$20,528	$16,147
Grand total			$24,198	$24,116
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

See also

2024 Elections

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External links

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Candidate

Texas House of Representatives District 63

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Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the Texas House of Representatives

Leadership

Speaker of the House:Dustin Burrows

Representatives

District 1

Gary VanDeaver (R)

District 2

Brent Money (R)

District 3

Cecil Bell (R)

District 4

Keith Bell (R)

District 5

Cole Hefner (R)

District 6

Daniel Alders (R)

District 7

Jay Dean (R)

District 8

Cody Harris (R)

District 9

Trent Ashby (R)

District 10

Brian Harrison (R)

District 11

Joanne Shofner (R)

District 12

Trey Wharton (R)

District 13

Angelia Orr (R)

District 14

Paul Dyson (R)

District 15

Steve Toth (R)

District 16

Will Metcalf (R)

District 17

Stan Gerdes (R)

District 18

Janis Holt (R)

District 19

Ellen Troxclair (R)

District 20

Terry Wilson (R)

District 21

Dade Phelan (R)

District 22

Christian Manuel (D)

District 23

Terri Leo-Wilson (R)

District 24

Greg Bonnen (R)

District 25

Cody Vasut (R)

District 26

Matt Morgan (R)

District 27

Ron Reynolds (D)

District 28

Gary Gates (R)

District 29

Jeffrey Barry (R)

District 30

A.J. Louderback (R)

District 31

Ryan Guillen (R)

District 32

Todd Hunter (R)

District 33

Katrina Pierson (R)

District 34

Denise Villalobos (R)

District 35

Oscar Longoria (D)

District 36

Sergio Munoz (D)

District 37

Janie Lopez (R)

District 38

Erin Gamez (D)

District 39

Armando Martinez (D)

District 40

Terry Canales (D)

District 41

Robert Guerra (D)

District 42

Richard Raymond (D)

District 43

J.M. Lozano (R)

District 44

Alan Schoolcraft (R)

District 45

Erin Zwiener (D)

District 46

Sheryl Cole (D)

District 47

Vikki Goodwin (D)

District 48

Donna Howard (D)

District 49

Gina Hinojosa (D)

District 50

James Talarico (D)

District 51

Maria Luisa Flores (D)

District 52

Caroline Harris (R)

District 53

Wesley Virdell (R)

District 54

Brad Buckley (R)

District 55

Hillary Hickland (R)

District 56

Pat Curry (R)

District 57

Richard Hayes (R)

District 58

Helen Kerwin (R)

District 59

Shelby Slawson (R)

District 60

Mike Olcott (R)

District 61

Keresa Richardson (R)

District 62

Shelley Luther (R)

District 63

Ben Bumgarner (R)

District 64

Andy Hopper (R)

District 65

Mitch Little (R)

District 66

Matt Shaheen (R)

District 67

Jeff Leach (R)

District 68

David Spiller (R)

District 69

James Frank (R)

District 70

Mihaela Plesa (D)

District 71

Stan Lambert (R)

District 72

Drew Darby (R)

District 73

Carrie Isaac (R)

District 74

Eddie Morales (D)

District 75

Mary Gonzalez (D)

District 76

Suleman Lalani (D)

District 77

Vincent Perez (D)

District 78

Joseph Moody (D)

District 79

Claudia Ordaz (D)

District 80

Don McLaughlin (R)

District 81

Brooks Landgraf (R)

District 82

Tom Craddick (R)

District 83

Dustin Burrows (R)

District 84

Carl Tepper (R)

District 85

Stan Kitzman (R)

District 86

John Smithee (R)

District 87

Caroline Fairly (R)

District 88

Ken King (R)

District 89

Candy Noble (R)

District 90

Ramon Romero (D)

District 91

David Lowe (R)

District 92

Salman Bhojani (D)

District 93

Nate Schatzline (R)

District 94

Tony Tinderholt (R)

District 95

Nicole Collier (D)

District 96

David Cook (R)

District 97

John McQueeney (R)

District 98

Giovanni Capriglione (R)

District 99

Charlie Geren (R)

District 100

Venton Jones (D)

District 101

Chris Turner (D)

District 102

Ana-Maria Ramos (D)

District 103

Rafael Anchia (D)

District 104

Jessica Gonzalez (D)

District 105

Terry Meza (D)

District 106

Jared Patterson (R)

District 107

Linda Garcia (D)

District 108

Morgan Meyer (R)

District 109

Aicha Davis (D)

District 110

Toni Rose (D)

District 111

Yvonne Davis (D)

District 112

Angie Button (R)

District 113

Rhetta Bowers (D)

District 114

John Bryant (D)

District 115

Cassandra Garcia Hernandez (D)

District 116

Trey Fischer (D)

District 117

Philip Cortez (D)

District 118

John Lujan (R)

District 119

Elizabeth Campos (D)

District 120

Barbara Gervin-Hawkins (D)

District 121

Marc LaHood (R)

District 122

Mark Dorazio (R)

District 123

Diego Bernal (D)

District 124

Josey Garcia (D)

District 125

Ray Lopez (D)

District 126

Sam Harless (R)

District 127

Charles Cunningham (R)

District 128

Briscoe Cain (R)

District 129

Dennis Paul (R)

District 130

Tom Oliverson (R)

District 131

Alma Allen (D)

District 132

Mike Schofield (R)

District 133

Mano Deayala (R)

District 134

Ann Johnson (D)

District 135

Jon Rosenthal (D)

District 136

John Bucy (D)

District 137

Gene Wu (D)

District 138

Lacey Hull (R)

District 139

Charlene Ward Johnson (D)

District 140

Armando Walle (D)

District 141

Senfronia Thompson (D)

District 142

Harold Dutton (D)

District 143

Ana Hernandez (D)

District 144

Mary Perez (D)

District 145

Christina Morales (D)

District 146

Lauren Simmons (D)

District 147

Jolanda Jones (D)

District 148

Penny Shaw (D)

District 149

Hubert Vo (D)

District 150

Valoree Swanson (R)

Republican Party (88)

Democratic Party (62)