“After talking to my wife and seeking the counsel of close friends for the last few weeks, I will not be seeking re-election and am looking forward to spending more time with my family and focusing on growing my Ace Hardware business,” he said in a statement on Twitter.
Biedermann’s House District (HD) 73 was redistricted away from his home Gillespie County. He previously ruled out running in that new district but toyed with running in the new HD 19, which encompassed Gillespie County.
He did not announce plans to seek any other office but said, “I have been honored to represent Comal, Gillespie, and Kendall Counties these past 3 sessions and I will support a true conservative candidate to represent the new HD19.”
Currently, two candidates are vying for HD 19: former Austin City Councilwoman Ellen Troxclair and Austin Police Officer Justin Berry. HD 19 is an R-73% district according to The Texan’s Texas Partisan Index — a nearly double-digit negative swing.
Biedermann was rated the 14th-most conservative member of the 87th regular session according to Mark P. Jones’ post-session rankings. His signature legislation during the session included the Texas Independence Referendum Act and two bills focused on the Alamo and its preservation, one of which passed the House but died in the Senate.
Before this year’s session began, Biedermann left the Texas Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative legislators he helped found, citing the caucus’ internal list of acceptable candidates for House speaker. Biedermann eventually voted for Rep. Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) as speaker, the only candidate for the position on the opening day of the session.
HD 19 is now the 17th open seat and Biedermann is the ninth retirement of a sitting House member who isn’t yet seeking another office.
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Brad Johnson
Brad Johnson is a senior reporter for The Texan and an Ohio native who graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2017. He is an avid sports fan who most enjoys watching his favorite teams continue their title drought throughout his cognizant lifetime. In his free time, you may find Brad quoting Monty Python productions and trying to calculate the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
