As Central Texas voters prepare for the March 5 primary, they may notice something a little unusual in their local state school board race. One candidate's name appears on the ballots for both the Republican and Democratic primaries.
DC Caldwell is a local educator running to represent District 10 on the State Board of Education. He calls himself a “fusion” candidate and is seeking the nomination of the Republican, Democratic, Libertarian and Green parties.
“I'm operating on a concept that all parties agree on,” said Caldwell, a Pflugerville ISD employee. “I'd rather spend 90 percent of my time focusing on things that people all agree on than 90 percent of my time on things that people vehemently disagree with.”
District 10 includes parts of more than 20 counties, including Burnett and Williamson counties.
A spokesperson for the Secretary of State's Office told KUT that while there is nothing legally preventing candidates from appearing on multiple party primary election ballots, the measure does not affect a candidate's eligibility for the general election. He said he is likely to give it.
Joshua Blank, research director for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, said the state's election law does not allow a candidate who loses in one party's primary to become the candidate of another party, or even during the same election period. He said that he is prohibited from becoming an independent candidate.
Another provision of the law, which prohibits candidates from having more than one spot on the ballot, may or may not apply to Mr. Caldwell, depending on how successful he is in winning the nominations of multiple parties. He added that there is a possibility that it will not be done.
“If Mr. Caldwell wins one primary but fails in the other, his placement on the general election ballot could be challenged,” Blank said. . “If he happened to win multiple primaries, his name would appear in multiple places on the same ballot, which is prohibited by Texas election law.”
But Caldwell isn't taking steps to consider potential legal challenges.
“Most people's criticisms aren't that I don't follow the rules, they just don't like the way I follow the rules,” he said.
It's also not the first time Caldwell has run a multiparty campaign for a seat on the State Board of Education. He ran to represent the 11th Congressional District, which includes Tarrant County, in 2022, a year in which he unsuccessfully sought the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian Party nominations.
In this District 10 primary, Mr. Caldwell will face incumbent Tom Maynard and Round Rock ISD board member Mary Vaughn in the Republican primary, and Southwestern University professor Raquel Saenz Ortiz will compete in the Democratic primary. is added.
Early voting begins on February 20th.
