By Kenny Mitchell

Publisher

One of the most heated and contentious races for political office that Northeast Texans had ever experienced came to a final close late Tuesday night with incumbent Texas House District 1 State Representative Gary VanDeaver earning a victory over Cass County businessman Chris Spencer.

VanDeaver won the highly contested race with a total of 11,690 votes to Spencer’s 10,163.

The result was the culmination of a bitter race, including the runoff, where millions of dollars from well-funded political PACs was poured into statewide races in an effort to oust all of those who stood to oppose Governor Abbott’s push for school vouchers.

That effort saw success last night as most of those who drew challengers because of their stance on vouchers were defeated, but notably, VanDeaver and Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan held their seats.

As the race was called last night, Representative VanDeaver spoke to the Tribune and said, “Pam and I are really happy to have this behind us. It’s been a tough battle, but we’re extremely excited to come out victorious. We look forward to continuing our service to Northeast Texas. We really appreciate all the friends and supporters who have stuck with us even when there was a lot of money spent trying to tear down my character. That means a lot to me.”

At his election night watch party at Daingerfield Country Club, Spencer said, “We fought a hard race, we did really good. It didn’t go the way we wanted it to but I’m so grateful for the people of East Texas who voted for us and I want to congratulate Gary on a very good win.”

In a statement released on social media, VanDeaver went on to say that he was deeply humbled by the overwhelming support that he received from the families and communities in his district. He said, “The big city politicians and D.C. Super PAC’s believed they could pour millions of dollars in false advertising into our district and fool us into believing lies. Unfortunately, in many parts of Texas tonight, they succeeded. But here in Northeast Texas, we rejected their gutter politics for what it is…A sense of community may not matter too much to the world anymore, but it does here, and tonight’s result is a testament to that fact.”

Look to next week’s issue of the Bowie County Citizens Tribune for election night comments from Chris Spencer, and expanded coverage of results and how they will impact Northeast Texas, and the state.