Faced with long odds at gaining re-election in a seat drawn to elect a Republican, one-term Democrat State Sen. Beverly Powell of Burleson announced today she is removing her name from the 2022 general election ballot. The Republican nominee for the seat, State Rep. Phil King (R–Weatherford), will now cruise unopposed through the November election.
“We were looking forward to continuing our service through our re-election campaign,” said Powell in a video posted to social media. “It has become clear, however, that my path to continue in this important work beyond my current term in office will lie outside the walls of the Texas Senate.”
The Tarrant County-based district Powell held was changed significantly in the 2021 redistricting process. She enlisted the help of disgraced State Sen. Kel Seliger (R–Amarillo) to offer deceitful testimony against Republicans in an attempted court fight against the map. With that effort stalled out, Powell has chosen to abandon her campaign. (In that, she is following the example of Seliger, who abandoned his own re-election bid rather than lose to Midland businessman Kevin Sparks.)
Powell was first elected in 2018. She amassed a far-left-of-center record, despite coming from a swing district. She had a 3 percent rating with Texas Right to Life, a 15 percent rating with Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, and a 26 percent rating with the Young Conservatives of Texas.
