With the Christmas season behind us, campaigns across the Lone Star State are ramping up with the March primary elections only two short months away.
Vigilant voters know it has become commonplace for liberal Republicans to ignore the facts surrounding their bad voting behavior in Austin. Often, these politicians cloak their misdeeds in Austin through obfuscation and half-truths. It is more rare, however, when a politician chooses to offer complete and total lies about their record.
State Rep. Ken King (R-Canadian) is doing just that.
King was confronted with the charge that he had voted against border security funding in the legislature during a recent radio interview.
“Absolutely not! I voted for border security funding every time it has come up,” King boldly declared.
King’s claim, however, is “absolutely” and verifiably false. Texas Scorecard readers may remember in 2015, during the budget debate in the Texas House, State Rep. Tony Dale (R-Cedar Park) offered an amendment that would have redirected funds tapped for diversity training to instead fund border security equipment. The amendment failed after a group of liberal Republicans voted with Democrats to defeat it.
That group included former State Reps. Doug Miller, Wayne Smith, and Marsha Farney—all of whom were forcibly retired by voters last election cycle due to their liberal voting records—and…drumroll…. Ken King!
That isn’t the only flat-out false statement King has made on the campaign trail.
In the same radio interview, King was asked if it was true that the Rice University Liberal-Conservative Index had ranked him as the fourth most liberal Republican in the Texas House. King quickly responded with an indignant, “No!”
The non-partisan index, consisting of 1,460 record votes compiled by Rice University Professor Mark Jones, lists lawmakers in order from the most conservative voting record to the most liberal record. In the most recent installment, published following the 2017 legislative session, King is clearly listed as the fourth most liberal Republican in the Texas House.
King must be counting on his constituents not looking up the facts to verify whether he is telling the truth.
Voters in House District 88, however, will have an opportunity to hold King accountable for his liberal record and his attempted deceit as he faces off against Perryton businessman Jason Huddleston in the Republican primary.
Huddleston has been endorsed by Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Texas Homeschool Coalition, and Texas Right to Life.
The Republican Primary election on March 6th will show whether King will face a similar fate as Miller, Smith, and Farney, who were all defeated in the previous elections due to their liberal voting records.
