Social issues took the foreground in the heated race, especially abortion and child gender modification.
Lowe, a law enforcement officer, blasted Klick for letting bills stagnate that would have banned child gender modification in Texas.
Klick chairs the House Public Health Committee, which received several bills from various Republican lawmakers in the 2021 legislative session that would have banned puberty blockers and surgeries meant to aid gender transitions for children. The only bill that Klick brought up for a vote, House Bill (HB) 1399, had been in the committee for over a month. It later died for lack of a floor vote after the Calendars Committee, chaired by Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock), set it too low on the agenda to be reached before the House’s midnight deadline.
Klick’s supporters blasted Lowe for having owned the web domain “FindSomeSex.com.” Lowe responded that he used to buy and sell hundreds of web domains in bulk over 10 years ago and claimed his scruples changed after returning to Christianity in 2015.
The issue of abortion also split the candidates. Texas Right to Life endorsed Klick and called her a “Pro-Life Champion.” Most bills regarding abortion passed through Klick’s Public Health committee, and she herself carried a bill in the House to ban the delivery of abortifacient drugs by mail.
Meanwhile, Lowe’s purist position on abortion put him at odds with Klick’s more incremental strategy. Lowe criticized the pro-life bills passed in recent years as inadequate and compromised, instead calling for nothing short of immediate abolition.
Since the district has a strong Republican tilt, Klick will likely win the general election and begin her 10th year in the Texas House this November.
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