Shelley Luther and Reggie Smith race for Texas House Representative

SHERMAN, Texas (KXII) – Republican incumbent Reggie Smith is being challenged by Republican Shelley Luther for Texas House District 62 State Representative for the March Primary Election.

Luther first challenged Smith in the March 2022 election. Smith won by more than 4,500 votes.

“I actually had an aneurysm and several strokes in April and had politics was the last thing on my mind,” Luther said, “But when I saw that our attorney general was trying to be impeached and other things that I saw that were going on in the Texas House, I had no choice but to step in again.”

Smith is currently running for his fourth term.

“I’m proud of the fact that we were able to ban abortion in Texas, I’m proud of the property tax cut that we were able to provide,” Smith said, “I’m proud of the fact that we’ve had three of the most conservative historic sessions during my time in the Texas House.”

School vouchers are one of the main issues in this election. Smith voted against Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s school choice bill during a special session.

“I was very disappointed that we weren’t able to accomplish that in this last session, I was prepared to vote for it,” Smith said, “We need to get a pay raise for teachers, we need to fully fund public education.”

Luther’s campaign heavily focuses on her support for school vouchers.

“I was a school teacher for 13 years, and so school choice is going to pass whether I’m in there or my opponent is in there,” Luther said, “We need someone that’s going to go in there and actually fight.”

Border security is another prominent issue in Texas currently. Both Luther and Smith said if elected they aim to protect the state.

“We have our Second Amendment right to bear arms and if we called Texans to go down there and defend our border, then that’s what we should do,” Luther said.

“We appropriated $6.5 billion this last session and $3 billion the two sessions before for border security, surveillance, and more troops,” Smith said, “We must continue to fight this fight.”

Early voting ends on March 1 and Election Day is on March 5.

Whoever wins the Republican Primary between Smith and Luther will face lone Democrat Tiffany Drake in the November General Election.

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