With election day right around the corner, candidates have only a short runway to get their campaigns off the ground. The deadline for candidates to file with the secretary of state to be on the ballot is 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 12.
House District 10 was left vacant when the previous incumbent, United States Representative Jake Ellzey (R-TX-6), was elected to Congress. Ellzey’s successor will be the third person to occupy the seat this year.
Former State Representative John Wray (R-Waxahachie) is the only candidate so far to announce he is running for the seat. Wray held the seat from 2015 until Ellzey succeeded him in January.
He had announced in the summer of 2019 that he would not seek reelection, commenting that legislative posts were “not meant to be lifetime positions.”
When he announced that he would be making another run for his old seat, Wray said, “I took some time off to spend more time with my family and our Ellis County community, but with Jake heading to Congress, I can’t stay on the sidelines.
Wray criticized Democrats for breaking quorum during the first special session of the Texas legislature and touted his record on property taxes, among other issues.
A copy of Governor Abbott’s special election proclamation can be found below.
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Hayden Sparks
Hayden Sparks is a reporter for The Texan. He has coached high school competitive speech and debate and has also been involved in community theater and politics. A native Texan, Hayden served as a delegate at the Republican Party of Texas Convention in 2016. He is on track to receive a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Liberty University. In his free time, Hayden is known to take walks around the neighborhood while listening to random music on Spotify.
