16
Texas Association of Builders
March/April 2015
HOMEPAC
seat in December, which was vacated by
Glenn Hegar when he won the comptroller
election. Representative Tim Kleinschmidt
left his HD 17 seat up for grabs when he
announced that he would be working as
General Counsel for the Texas Department
of Agriculture.
In SD 26, the runoff was between
Representative Trey Martinez Fischer of HD
116 (D- San Antonio) who captured 43%
of the vote, and José Menéndez (D- San
Antonio) of HD 124, who was able to get
25% of the vote in the special election.
The Special Election Runoff for HD 123 was
different from the other three special election
runoffs in terms of the party makeup of the
candidates. The Democrat candidate, Diego
Bernal from San Antonio received 47%
of the vote, and the Republican candidate
Nunzio Previtera, also from San Antonio,
got 21% of the vote in the special election.
Even though Austin County Judge Carolyn
Bilski (R- Sealy) came close to winning the
HD 13 special election, in the end carrying
43% was not quite enough to give her the
seat in the House the first time around.
Her opponent in the runoff was Caldwell
Attorney, Leighton Schubert (R- Brenham),
who carried 32% of the vote in the
special election.
The runoff for HD 17 pit two Republicans
from Lockhart, John Cyrier and Brent
Golemon against each other. In the special
election, Cyrier received 46% of the vote and
Golemon received 24% of the vote.
It’s been a long road to the Capitol for these
elected officials, and I want to remind you
that HOMEPAC had a 99.5% success rate in
getting pro-builder candidates elected this
election cycle, which would not have been
possible without your generous contributions.
Those contributions were so generous in fact,
that HOMEPAC not only met, but exceeded
its 2014 fundraising goal by 37%! These funds
enable HOMEPAC to continue to support
candidates for office who have demonstrated
an understanding of the issues that affect the
Texas residential development, construction
and remodeling industry. Fundraising is a key
part in having a successful and effective PAC
and it starts at the local level. Congratulations
to all of those HBAs who exceeded their 2014
HOMEPAC goal!
Robert Wood is the volunteer chair of
HOMEPAC, the political action committee of
the Texas Association of Builders and owns
and operates his company Custom Homes by
Robert Wood in Lubbock, Texas.
That’s Finally a Wrap
By Robert Wood
By now you should have all been given the opportunity to purchase your brand new
2015 “Come and Build It” HOMEPAC pin through your Local HBA. This is a great way
to make a dent in your 2015 HOMEPAC goal as well as raise awareness for our PAC
and TAB. If you haven’t purchased one yet please make sure you do so before
Rally Day and wear your pin when you visit your legislators on March 4.
HBAs that Exceeded their
2014 HOMEPAC Goal
BA of Corpus Christi
BA of Victoria
Big Country HBA
Bryan-College Station HBA
Dallas Builders Association
Deep East Texas Association of Builders
East Texas BA
El Paso Association of Builders
BA of Greater Fort Worth
Greater Houston BA
HBA of San Angelo
HBA of Southeast Texas
Heart of Texas BA
Hill Country BA
North Texas HBA
Texas Panhandle BA
Tyler Area BA
West Texas HBA
A
fter what seems like a decade-long
election season, all of the special
election runoffs will be over by the
time this edition of Texas Builder hits your
mailbox. The four runoff elections were
necessary because no candidate was able to
carry 50% of the vote in the first round of
their special election. The runoff elections
for SD 26, HD 123, HD 13 and HD 17 took
place on February 17
th
.
Let’s first review why there was a need for
these special elections in the first place.
Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D- San
Antonio) resigned fromher SD 26 seat to run
for mayor of San Antonio. Representative
Mike Villarreal (D- San Antonio) of HD
123, will be running against Van de Putte
for mayor, which is why there was a special
election for HD 123. Lois Kolkhorst (R-
Brenham) left her HD 13 seat open when
she won the special election for SD 18
