Major Wins in the 2024 Primaries

The Texas Home School Coalition celebrates the success of our extensive campaign for pro-family and homeschool-friendly candidates in the 2024 Texas Primaries. Significant outcomes include a historic runoff for House Speaker Dade Phelan, a shift in the Texas House favoring parental choice in education, and numerous victories for pro-family candidates. The episode emphasizes the transformative impact of these results on Texas homeschooling and parental rights.

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Transcript

Welcome to the Family Freedom Caller brought to you by the Texas Home School Coalition and the Family Freedom Project. 

Tuesday night, March 5th marked a significant time in the history of Texans, but first, let me just say that months and months of work finally paid off for Texas families. THSC worked with 50 plus volunteers from all over the state who sacrificially gave of their time to vet and interview candidates who were on the ballot for the 2024 Primary. We are thrilled to say all that work resulted in Tuesday night’s huge win for Texas homeschoolers and families. Thank you to our many Vetting Committee Members who helped shape the results of last night. 

Now, there’s so much to cover, but I won’t go into all of the races; let’s just dive into the hotly contested ones, the most anticipated ones, and end with the run-offs set to happen in May. 

Probably the most anticipated race of the Texas Primaries was between David Covey who has forced Speaker of the House Dade Phelan into a runoff election. No speaker of the Texas House has been forced into a runoff in 50 years. Covey ended the evening leading with 46% of the vote compared to Phelan’s 43%. This historic upset could carry major implications for the Texas House, which would be forced to choose a new speaker if Phelan loses his Runoff election. Even if Phelan prevails, his chances of retaining his speaker position may be lost if other House members perceive him as too vulnerable to lead.

Phelan has historically cruised to victories in previous contests, and no incumbent House speaker has lost a primary since 1972, but this is the most difficult reelection he has ever faced. The run-off in May will show us if Phelan will return as Speaker or if there will be a new Speaker/Sheriff in town.

Governor Abbott kept the steel in his spine and followed through with his promise to unseat any incumbent who voted against his number 1 priority in the 2023 Spring Session as well as the 3rd and 4th Special Sessions - that priority being Parental Choice legislation in the form of Education Savings Accounts (ESA). The ESA program is a voluntary program parents can opt into. It would take a portion of the state funds allocated for a given student at the local public school and place the funds into a restricted savings account. The account can then be used to purchase educational goods and services outside of the public school, including private school and homeschool expenses.

If you’ll recall, Governor Abbott was akin to a circuit rider, touring all across Texas for well over a year campaigning for ESAs. According to Governor Abbott’s office, an ESA would have Universal Eligibility meaning any student in Texas could enroll in the ESA Program and the funds could be used for a wide range of expenses. 

In the 4th special session, despite Governor Abbott’s best efforts to work with lawmakers to pass this piece of legislation, the parental choice legislation failed by a vote of 84-63 with 21 Republicans joining all Democrats to kill the bill. 21 Republicans unapologetically struck down any opportunities for Texas families to pursue alternative forms of education through enrollment into an ESA Program. 

Out of those 21 Republicans, five chose not to seek reelection and 16 stayed and ran again for their seats. All total, 9 of the incumbents who opposed parental choice last year have now been replaced. A 10th seat was secured when pro-family candidate Brent Money filled a vacant seat in HD 2. Of the 6 races that have advanced to a runoff, there is a high probability that most of them will be won by pro-family candidates. 

Let’s talk about some key wins from last night where pro-family candidates replaced bad incumbents:

1. Homeschool mom Joanne Shofner dominated her race outright by beating out incumbent Travis Clardy in HD 11. 
2. Janis Holt won her race to unseat Ernest Bailes in Texas HD 18.
3. Homeschool dad Wes Virdell in Texas HD 53 captured the win for the open seat held by Andrew Murr. 
4. Homeschool mom Hillary Hickland defeated incumbent Hugh Shine in Texas HD 55.
5. Mike Olcott dominated his race by unseating incumbent Glenn Rogers.
6. Shelley Luther successfully unseated incumbent Reggie Smith in Texas HD 62.
7. Caroline Fairly won a four-way race in Texas HD 87. The seat was previously occupied by Four Price.
8. Marc LaHood won his race against incumbent Steve Allison for Texas HD 121.

All combined, the large number of victories against incumbents in the Texas House and the prospects of adding more victories in the runoff elections almost certainly secure enough votes to move major parental choice legislation and other pro-family priorities through the legislature. An interesting side note is that every one of those incumbents also voted against our bill to let homeschooled kids participate in UIL activities in 2021. It seems clear that they simply do not support parents. 

Now let’s talk run-offs against staunch opponents of pro-family priorities. 

1. THSC endorsed Alex Kamkar who will vie for the hotly contested open seat in Texas HD 29 against Jeffrey Barry. 
2. Alan Schoolcraft will enter into a run-off against incumbent John Kuempel for the seat in Texas HD 44. 
3. In Texas HD 58, Helen Kerwin is advancing to a run-off. She will face off against incumbent DeWayne Burns. 

Each of these races presents an opportunity for families to secure additional legislative seats for pro-family candidates on top of the already stellar results from the election last night. It’s worth mentioning that two other incumbents who voted consistently against pro-family legislation were forced into run-off as well. 

Gary VanDeaver and Justin Holland will face off against challengers Chris Spencer and Katrina Pierson. We will keep you posted if THSC issues any endorsements in these two races. 

Our most notable losses came in six House Districts where incumbents who have increasingly fought against Texas freedoms managed to service the onslaught against them. Nonetheless, it takes guts and courage to run against an incumbent so many thanks to:

1. Joshua Feuerstein in HD4. 
2. Paulette Carson in HD 9.
3. Liz Case in HD 71.
4. Stormy Bradley in HD 72
5. Karen Post in HD 88.

As we shift our attention from the Primaries to the Run-offs, we encourage you to keep praying that the momentum that we have gained only gives us more ground to take leading to ultimate victories in the May and November elections. 

Please pray for our elected officials and for the candidates running in the remaining elections this year. There is still work left to be done!

We’ll continue to keep you updated with endorsements and run-off elections. So, share this podcast with friends and subscribe to the Family Freedom Caller wherever you get your podcasts. For more information about the Texas Home School Coalition, go to our website at thsc.org, and for information on The Family Freedom Project, go to FamilyFreedomProject.org. Thank you for helping us Keep Texas Families Free!