Former Southlake Mayor Laura Hill and local activist Nate Schatzline are competitors for the open seat in Texas House District 93. The runoff election in May will determine the Republican candidate for the district. However, Schatzline has alleged that Hill is not living in the district, as required by election eligibility rules.
According to Schatzline, recent filings with the Texas Ethics Commission list Hill’s residency as Southlake, which is not included in House District 93.
Earlier this year, Nate Schatzline and former HD 93 competitor Cary Moon released a joint statement accusing Hill of not residing in the district.
Schatzline’s campaign workers left a mailer on the door to Hill’s apartment in the district, and the mailer was not removed from the door for several days. Therefore, Schatzline and Moon concluded that Hill is merely maintaining an address, not a residence, in the district in an attempt to meet election eligibility requirements.
Texas Scorecard confirmed that Hill did indeed list her residency in Southlake as recently as December 2021. However, Hill also listed a residence in Fort Worth within the same time frame.
“Residency is a finicky concept, especially if it must be litigated,” Austin election law attorney Tony McDonald told Texas Scorecard previously. “In Texas, residency is not simply where you sleep at night, where you vote, or where you file taxes. It can involve a personal sense of home and even where someone plans to retire. It’s more of a state of mind. A court looks at all those factors, and there is typically a deference to leaving the issue up to the voters.”
Nevertheless, Schatzline said, “The voters of this district deserve a representative who puts honesty and integrity before political gain, not to mention a representative who stands by conservative principles.”
“As more and more information comes out about my opponent’s history, it’s clear that she doesn’t pass the test for either. I have been upfront about where I stand and where I live from the beginning, and that’s just the bare minimum of our responsibility as Republican candidates. If Laura Hill becomes the next representative for House District 93, I anticipate many conservative voters will feel deceived and sorely disappointed.”
The runoff election is slated for May 24.
Texas Scorecard reached out to Laura Hill for comment. She did not respond prior to publication.
