By Kristy Volmert | Staff Writer

The race for Texas House of Representatives is especially competitive this year, as Democratic candidates from urban districts aim to overthrow the state’s long-standing Republican dominance.

Each of the 150 districts represented in the Texas House will elect a candidate in this year’s general election. Representatives will serve a term of two years and participate along with the Texas Senate in the 89th Texas Legislative session, which will take place from Jan. 14 to June 2, 2025.

Currently, a majority of the Texas House is Republican, numbering 86 out of 150, with only 42% of representatives being Democrats, 63 out of the 150 representatives. District 56, representing McLennan County, is temporarily vacant after Republican Charles “Doc” Anderson resigned in August. At the time of his resignation, Anderson endorsed Republican candidate Pat Curry as his successor, stepping down from office before finishing out his term to allow Curry to gain seniority.

Anderson asked Gov. Abbott to call a special election to nominate a representative to serve out the remainder of his term, which will end in January. This special election, as requested by Anderson, will be held on Election Day.

District 56 represents the majority of McLennan County, including the cities of Crawford, Riesel, West, Robinson, Woodway, Gholson, Ross, McGregor, Moody, Lorena, Bruceville-Eddy, Hewitt, Lacy-Lakeview, Beverly Hills and most of Waco.

Republican businessman Pat Curry will face Democratic nominee Erin Shank for this “special election”. According to Curry, Shank is a “relatively liberal” lawyer.

“In my opinion, we’d have way too many lawyers in Austin,” Curry said.

Curry said that he is honored to be endorsed by Anderson and hopes to use his term to strengthen community involvement, push further education reforms, lower property taxes and reinforce the Christian moral values that the government was originally founded upon.

“We need to carry our Christian values into many aspects of the law and the running of our government,” he said. “A lot has been lost on that. We need God back in our government.”

Curry said that he believes he will make a strong voice for the community, and is dedicated to pushing for reforms on their behalf. Education issues are among his main concerns, as Texas has seen a steadily decreasing rate of student success after graduating high school.

“Most of them are not reading at their grade level. Most of them are not doing math at their grade level either. That’s an issue,” Curry said. “Our school systems need to do better.”

Curry also said that unemployment is an issue, as many students are not well-equipped for the workforce upon graduation of high school or college.

“Workforce development is critical,” said Curry.

Gary Gates, Republican incumbent representative of Fort Bend County District 28, encourages college students to get out and vote.

“You’ve got a whole life ahead of you, and a lot of it is dependent on policies that are set down now,” Gates said.

Gates is currently finishing out his second term as a state representative of District 28 and is running for re-election against Democrat Marty Rocha. Gates describesd Rocha as a “hardcore democrat”.

Gates says that he is a “big believer is smaller government” and hopes to push for fewer government regulations.

Like Curry, Gates will focus on education reforms and property taxes.

“The kids coming out of high school today aren’t prepared for today’s job market,” Gates said. “I’m really trying to concentrate on expanding vocational training for those kids that aren’t going to go to college.”

According to Gates, high school graduates in today’s social world are “expected” to go to college, but that may not be the best solution for many graduates. He hopes to strengthen middle and high school level education so that students are better prepared for the workforce.

Gates said he will also address infrastructure issues in Fort Bend County. An insufficient availability of energy has restrained many areas from expanding and hindered the opening of new businesses, according to Gates.

“We’ve reached our capacity of the power that we can generate,” he said.

Gates intends to build additional power plants in the Richmond-Sugar Land area in order to enable growth and avoid local blackouts.

Aside from the strong Republican presence in the Texas House, Democratic representatives strive to expand their platforms as urban areas become increasingly Democratic, according to The Texas Tribune. Districts covering cites such as Houston, Dallas and San Antonio have a promising Democratic presence and hope to see a successful turnout for Democratic candidates so that they can push for things like abortion legalization and the elimination of private school vouchers.

However, Republican dominance is hardly threatened, according to Gates, as most independent voters in the state tend to lean right.

Both Gates and Curry agree that college students need to seize the opportunity to vote, and should become educated on what it is that they are voting for and about who their vote goes towards.

“You’ve got to be not only educated as a voter, but also you need to know about the person you’re voting for,” said Gates. “What exactly are they pushing for?”

Rocha and Shank were unable to be reached for comment.