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(CBSDFW.COM) – State Rep. Drew Springer is currently leading Dallas salon owner Shelley Luther for Texas Senate District 30 in a special runoff election on Saturday.
The Republican candidates are vying for the state Senate seat that stretches across 14 counties in North Texas. They both earned the most votes out of six candidates during a special election on Sept. 29 after Pat Fallon left the seat for Texas’ 4th congressional district.
With 84% of polling locations reporting, Springer has 30,998 votes, while Luther is behind with 23,030 votes. Updated numbers can be found here.
Springer has served as a member of the Texas House from the 68th district, which covers a rural area of North Texas, since 2013.
Luther made headlines earlier this year after she defied stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic and reopened Dallas salon. She was eventually jailed after a judge found her in contempt of court after she refused to apologize for her actions, which included publicly tearing up a cease-and-desist letter from Dallas County.
Gov. Greg Abbott has already taken to Twitter to congratulate Springer “Congratulations to @DrewSpringer on the overwhelming victory tonight for Texas Senate District 30. We look forward to working with you to secure our border, support police, protect unborn, cut taxes, safeguard 2nd Amendment rights, fund schools & open up businesses in Texas,” he said.
Congratulations to @DrewSpringer on the overwhelming victory tonight for Texas Senate District 30.
We look forward to working with you to secure our border, support police, protect unborn, cut taxes, safeguard 2nd Amendment rights, fund schools & open up businesses in Texas.
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) December 20, 2020
Both candidates told CBS 11 News earlier this month that changes need to be made to the governor’s authority during a disaster, including the pandemic.
Springer said Abbott should have called a special session of the legislature to deal with the pandemic — and that he believes the governor should have similar powers as top county officials during a disaster.
“The County Judge has seven days before he has to involve the rest of the Commissioner’s court. We would have a panel of four other folks that would join the Governor, Speaker, Lieutenant Governor, the two chairs to State Affairs (legislative committees), they would have another seven days and another seven days. And at that time, the legislature would be automatically called in for special session,” Springer said.
Luther said she opposed government mandates. “People are smart enough to know if they want to go out of their house. The only time they should step in is if there’s enough people that are staying in their homes because they can’t work and they need to step in and help these people financially. But other than that, they don’t have the right to tell them to wear masks. They don’t have they don’t have the right to tell businesses to shut down,” she said.
Abbott endorsed Springer this month after Luther sharply criticized the governor.
Luther said, “I called him a tyrant because he’s actually going against our rights, and he’s acting like he’s the only one responsible for telling people what to do in Texas, especially not calling a special session, to allow anyone else to have any input.”
Although Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick did not offer an endorsement in this race, both Springer and Luther supported Patrick’s plan to ask state senators in the upcoming legislative session in January to lower the number of votes needed to bring a bill to the Senate floor from 19 to 18, the Republican majority in the new session. This would keep Democrats from blocking bills from getting to the floor.
Springer also said his other top legislative priorities are providing everyone with broadband in rural areas and lowering property taxes. He said he would favor rebalancing how the state relies on property taxes compared to sales or consumption taxes.
Luther said, if elected, her other top priorities are passing constitutional carry, which would allow people to carry concealed firearms without a state license. She also said she wants to abolish abortions.
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