AUSTIN (NEXSTAR) — Gary VanDever has never had a tough race.
After five terms in the Texas House, he established a conservative record, reinforcing Gov. Greg Abbott's hard-line stances on everything from border security to abortion bans to unauthorized carry of firearms. So he's not used to facing a worthy challenger in the safe Republican East Texas district. But this year, Mr. Abbott's revenge tour is scaring him.
“I've been getting beaten up for the last six weeks,” said Rep. VanDever. “My district has had a tremendous amount of outside funding coming into it, and I've received all sorts of mailings that are completely untrue. The governor has visited my district three times in recent weeks.”
Mr. VanDever was one of 21 Republicans who opposed Mr. Abbott's push for education savings accounts, a proposal to use state funds to subsidize private school tuition for families who want to leave public schools. It's a person. That opposition landed him in a runoff with Abbott-backed challenger Chris Spencer.
“Residents in the 1st Congressional District clearly support parental choice and want to have choice in their children's education,” Spencer told Nexstar. “I think this goes beyond Republican politics, but suffice it to say that the defeated incumbents are clearly on the wrong side of this issue, as are the incumbents remaining in the runoffs. Let’s go.”
Of the nine incumbents who lost their seats on Tuesday, five faced challengers backed and funded by Mr. Abbott. These include Congressmen Steve Allison, Ernest Bales, Glenn Rogers, Hugh Shine, and Travis Clardy. Congressman Reggie Smith also opposed vouchers and lost, but did not face a direct challenge from Abbott.
Additionally, four incumbents were up for runoff elections: Justin Holland, Dwayne Burns, John Kaempfer, and Gary VanDever.
VanDever said he thinks the House will move further to the right, creating problems for newcomers campaigning for more conservative changes to govern.
“It's hard to really imagine” a more conservative House, VanDever said. “I think that's going to be a problem for some of these (candidates)…because really, there's not much left to do. And what's left is probably unconstitutional.”
These candidates are forced into an intense and expensive campaign lasting about three months.
“We're continuing to play and that campaign starts today,” Spencer said.
The runoff election is scheduled for May 28th.
