FLOWER MOUND, Texas — The 26th Congressional District needs to send a new representative to Congress -- and lots of people want the job.
Eleven candidates are competing to be the GOP nominee for the safe-Republican district, which includes parts of Denton, Tarrant, Wise and Cooke Counties. Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Lewisville) announced last fall he would step down at the end of his term.
The race has attracted hundreds of thousands of dollars of big-money donations and big-name endorsements: Former President Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz threw their support behind Brandon Gill, a newcomer to the district who is the son-in-law of conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza.
Some names in the race are more familiar.
Scott Armey ran for the seat when his father, former Majority Leader Dick Armey, stepped down twenty years ago. He lost to Burgess then, but is betting his local ties will help his campaign this time.
"Quite frankly, a lot of the candidates don't even live in the district and others have moved here just to run," Armey said. "I am the conservative candidate who people already know, who they've kicked the tires on."
He accused Gill and others of trying to "buy" the election with "Daddy's money."
Other candidates said the amount of outside attention on the open seat is par for the course in a race like this.
"In an open primary there's always a lot of money that gets involved," said candidate John Huffman, who is the mayor of Southlake. "The reality of all of this is that the race is going to come down to the voters."
Huffman hopes the voters pick him for the job and points to his conservative records as mayor and city councilmember before that.
"The endorsements that I want the most are the ones from the voters of District 26," he said.
In all likelihood, none of the candidates will reach the 50% threshold needed to win the primary outright on Tuesday. Both Armey and Huffman said they are aiming to make the May runoff.
"We love this stuff," Huffman said. "We want to talk to as many voters as we can and we’re looking forward -- I hope -- to be in the runoff and keep working for another 3 months."
Gill's campaign did not reply to multiple interview requests. Ernest R. Lineberger III is the only candidate for the Democratic primary.
These are the candidates for the Republican primary:
- Joel A Krause
- Mark ''BigRut'' Rutledge
- Brandon Gill
- Burt Thakur
- Luisa Del Rosal
- Doug Robison
- Neena Biswas
- Scott Armey
- Vlad de Franceschi
- Jason Kergosien
- John Huffman
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