In a low-turnout runoff set just a few weeks ago, North Texas voters chose Jacksboro attorney David Spiller to represent them in the Texas House.

Spiller won Tuesday’s special runoff election for the vacant House District 68 seat with 63 percent of the vote over fellow Republican Craig Carter, a Nocona businessman.

Turnout was 6.6 percent, according to unofficial results posted on the Texas Secretary of State’s website.

About 100,000 Texans are registered to vote in the vast district, which covers 22 rural North Texas counties: Childress, Collingsworth, Cooke, Cottle, Crosby, Dickens, Fisher, Floyd, Garza, Hall, Hardeman, Haskell, Jack, Kent, King, Montague, Motley, Stonewall, Throckmorton, Wheeler, Wilbarger, and Young.

Voter turnout during early voting was cut by last week’s deadly winter storms that left millions of Texans without power for days.

In January, Spiller and Carter finished first and second in a five-way “expedited” special election to fill the vacancy left by now-State Sen. Drew Springer (R–Muenster). Turnout then was 9 percent.

Running for two legislative seats at the same time, Springer won a fifth House term in November but declined the seat in December after winning a special runoff for the state Senate spot vacated by Pat Fallon—setting up the current round of special elections that ended Tuesday.

Once the results are official, Spiller will be sworn in as the 83rd Republican in the 150-member House. The Texas Legislature is in session now through May 31.

Erin Anderson

Erin Anderson is a Senior Journalist for Texas Scorecard, reporting on state and local issues, events, and government actions that impact people in communities throughout Texas and the DFW Metroplex. A native Texan, Erin grew up in the Houston area and now lives in Collin County.

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