Liberty Republicans running for office in Texas?

[fortilite]

Are there any other liberty Republicans running for offices in Texas we should get behind? State legislator, national legislator, etc.? Ron Paul will need support.

[kylejack]

Libertarian candidates, of course, but libertarian-minded Republicans aren't too popular in Texas. Culberson has a kinda decent record, but I still vote against him for the (L) candidate.

[fortilite]

Seems like Republicans have an easier time getting elected though, and in Texas we have open elections so it doesn't matter if Republicans don't actually like you.

[RockHoward]

Pretty slim pickings in Texas. Here are a few that are worth knowing about:

Texas House

Carl Isett of Lubbock is a libertarian leaning conservative who has served in the Texas House for a number of terms. Joe Strauss of San Antonio also showed a bit of promise in the last session in the Texas House. Ditto Dan Branch, Bryan Hughes and Ed Kuempel. Dwayne Bohac is a big Ronald Reagan Republican, who is great on economic liberty but lousy on personal liberty.

Texas Senate

No one in the Texas Senate is really any good. James Wentworth is at least a decent moderate, but everyone else wants to control some aspect of your life in a big way.

U.S. Senate and House

There is no one exciting from Texas in the U.S. Congress other than Ron Paul. Randy Neugebauer is a social conservative from Lubbock who general does well on economic issues, but is not good on personal freedom, foreign affairs or resisting globalism.


The Libertarian Party will have some good candidates in the mix, but have little chance of breaking through. The Constitution Party is not on the ballot. Some members will try to run as Republicans. Some are thinking about trying to get on the ballot as Libertarians. Larry Kilgore, a Senate candidate who is running as a Republican and who frequents this board, has a downright scary website featuring the holocaust and links to secessionists. Fortunately he has very little backing.


Filing season runs until Jan. 2nd or so and I am keeping my eyes open for additional pro-freedom candidates. We have had them in the past, but almost all of the successful ones (including Susanna Hupp and Terry Keel) are not in office these days. A number ran in 2004 and 2006, but got little traction.

Wish I had better news to report.

In general, you can keep an eye on LibertyCongress.org for pro-freedom candidates worth supporting.