Early voting began Monday morning in one of the most contentious battles for elected office that Northeast Texas has seen in many years. The runoff election for Texas House District 1 between incumbent State Rep. Gary VanDeaver and Cass County businessman Chris Spencer has been heated to say the least. Texas House District 1 includes Bowie, Cass, Lamar, Morris and Red River Counties.
Gary VanDeaver has served the people of District 1 for the last 10 years as out state representative, and before that served as a longtime educator with a stint as the Superintendent of the New Boston Independent School District Chris Spencer owns and operates small businesses in Cass County, and was appointed by Governor Gregg Abbott in 2018 to serve as the director of the Sulphur River Basin Authority. He resigned that position to run in this election and has since been endorsed by Gov. Abbott.
In the March primary, Rep. VanDeaver received 45.5 percent of the vote to Spencer’s 43 percent. Neither of them receiving the required 50 percent forced the runoff that will come to an end on May 28.
