On Friday, State Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R–Fredericksburg) announced he would not be seeking re-election to the Texas House of Representatives.
Biedermann was first elected in 2016, ousting the incumbent liberal Republican Doug Miller. He currently represents Texas House District 73, which encompasses Gillespie, Kendall, and Comal counties.
In the wake of the recently concluded decennial redistricting process, new political boundaries were approved for the next decade, and District 73 was changed to only include Comal County and a portion of Hays County. Kendall and Gillespie counties were drawn into a new House District 19.
Over the past few weeks, other candidates have emerged for the newly drawn House District 73 and House District 19.
Former Austin City Councilwoman Ellen Troxclair suspended her initial campaign for Senate to instead run for House District 19. A short time thereafter, Austin police officer Justin Berry announced that he was also running for the seat, even though he had announced back in March he intended to again challenge State Rep. Vikki Goodwin (D–Austin) for House District 47.
Carrie Isaac, who was a Republican challenger to State Rep. Erin Zwiener (D–Driftwood) in the last election cycle, announced weeks ago that she was running for the Republican nomination in the redrawn House District 73.
This would have meant that Biedermann would have had to go through a Republican primary election in either district, as he also had a residence in Comal County.
Legislative Tenure
In the most recent regular legislative session, Biedermann championed legislation relevant to legislative priorities of the Republican Party of Texas, including items seeking to protect monuments like the Alamo Cenotaph as well as his own version of constitutional carry. Biedermann also authored the Texas Secession Referendum legislation.
Biedermann left the Texas Freedom Caucus in October of 2020 over disagreements on the then-upcoming vote for speaker of the Texas House.
Biedermann’s announcement brings the current total of lawmakers not seeking re-election to 18. Fifteen of these are from the Texas House of Representatives.