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. Since there will be no Democratic challengers for the November 5 general election, the victory over Spencer will send VanDeaver back to Austin to represent the people of Northeast Texas.
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.
