The Challengers to Texas House Republicans (Part I)

In this post, we’ll look at the challengers in Texas House districts 1, 4, 6, 8, 11, 12, and 18. The incumbents, challengers, and biographical information about the challengers are listed in the table below:

District	Incumbent	Challenger	Residence	Occupation	Web Site	Issue Positions	District Map
1	George Lavender	Gary VanDeaver	New Boston	Boston ISD Superintendent	Web Site		District Map
4	Lance Gooden	Stuart Spitzer	Kaufman	Physician	Web Site	Issue Positions	District Map
6	Matt Schaeffer	Skip Ogle	Tyler	Businessman	Web Site	Issue Positions	District Map
8	Byron Cook	Bobby Vickery	Frost	Businessman	Web Site		District Map
11	Travis Clardy	Tony Sevilla	Alto	Businessman	Web Site	Issue Positions	District Map
12	Kyle Kacal	Timothy Delasandro	Bryan	Registered Nurse	Web Site	Issue Positions	District Map
18	John Otto	Terry Holcomb	Coldspring	No  Information	Web Site	Issue Positions	District Map

Most of the districts are located in East Texas. Of the seven challengers, four had sought a Texas House nomination in the previous electoral cycle. Stuart Spitzer came close to winning with 45.56 percent of the vote in the 2012 Republican primary election for HD 4, losing by only 1332 votes. Bobby Vickery lost to Byron Cook in 2012, garnering 38 percent of the vote. In district 11, Tony Sevilla was third, winning only 6.57 percent of the vote in the first primary in 2012. Timothy Delasandro was fourth in a six-person contest in 2012, receiving 12.25 percent of the vote in the first primary in 2012.

Two of the challengers, Gary VanDeaver and Bobby Vickery, provide little information about their positions on issues. Both candidates have more information on Facebook but provide little information on their positions on issues. The other five challengers provide information on their issue positions on their Web sites, which are linked in the table above.

  

Among the seven challengers, Stuart Spitzer appears to be the candidate who has the greatest chance of defeating an incumbent. His Web site is extremely well done, and his performance in the 2012 Republican primary was very good.

I’m anxious to see the campaign contribution reports for these candidates when they’re reported.