Texas State House District 12 heads to runoff, Republican candidates selected for Districts 14, 17

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – After a string of contentious legislative sessions in 2023, Texas State House Districts 12, 14 and 17 are up for grabs, and only one race includes an incumbent seeking reelection.

John Raney is not running for reelection in District 14 after 13 years in the statehouse, which ended in his taking a dramatic stand against school vouchers pushed by Gov. Abbott. District 14 represents the majority of Bryan-College Station. Two men were vying for the Republican nomination to replace Rany in representing the district, businessman Paul Dyson and lawyer and former judge Rick Davis.

Dyson comfortably won the primary with 64% of the vote. He’ll run against Democrat Fred Medina and Libertarian Jeff Miller in the November general election. In total, Dyson came away with 9,719 votes and Davis garnered 5,546.

“We felt really confident. I’m proud of the work that our team has done and I appreciate all of the support that we’ve received out of the community. We’re looking strong and looking forward to November,” Dyson said.

In District 12, Kyle Kacal made the decision to head back to his ranch after 11 years in Austin representing much of rural Brazos County and the eastern Brazos Valley. Three men want to take Kacal’s place on the Republican ticket.

Trey Wharton, the Greg Abbott-endorsed Huntsville ISD trustee, came away with the most votes on Tuesday, but failed to garner enough support to avoid a runoff. As of early Wednesday morning, the race remained too close to call whether Brazos County businessmen John Harvey Slocum or Walker County’s Ben Bius would face Wharton in the runoff.

Tuesday night, all three men were thinking about next steps.

“Get some sleep for a day, that would be the next step,” said Trey Wharton. “And then plan on how we move to the next step.”

“We will take a few days off and start working again. You know I think that’s very important, when you’re going to propose to serve the people you really need to work at it very diligently,” said Ben Bius about the possibility of competing in the runoff.

“First thing I’m gonna do, and I’ve promised along the campaign, is to engage in these communities, to get business leaders steering committees and make sure that I know from day one what we need to work on,” said John Harvey Slocum.

After the runoff, the Republican candidate will face off with Democrat Dee Howard Mullins and Libertarian Robert Profili.

District 17 covers much of the western Brazos Valley down to Lockhart and Luling. Incumbent Republican Stan Gerdes is the only Brazos Valley legislator asking his party for a trip back to Austin next year. Gerdes beat his repeat challenger Tom Glass. Glass had been endorsed by Ken Paxton after Gerdes voted to impeach the sitting attorney general.

Gerdes came away with 58% of the vote. He’ll face off against Democrat Desiree Venable in November.

For a full rundown of election results, click here.