Former State Rep. George Lavender to Again Challenge VanDeaver for Texas House Seat

On Tuesday, former State Rep. George Lavender announced on Facebook he would be seeking re-election to his former seat for Texas House District 1, challenging the incumbent Republican State Rep. Gary VanDeaver (New Boston).

In his announcement, he said:

We desperately need a Representative that will actually represent us. One that will respond to our concerns and answer our questions. Someone that will work every day to protect us from the damage being done to our country. We need a strong Conservative.

Lavender previously served in the Texas House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015, when he lost re-election to VanDeaver by slightly more than 1,500 votes. Lavender challenged VanDeaver again in 2016, losing by a much larger margin of almost 7,000 votes.

VanDeaver went unchallenged for both the 2018 and 2020 primary elections.

Since first being elected, VanDeaver earned a career rating of an “F” on Texans for Fiscal Responsibility’s Index. Lavender, in contrast, earned a career rating of a “C” on the same Index during his time in office.

The candidate filing deadline is December 13, 2021. It is possible additional candidates will enter the race. As of now, the primary election is set for March 1, 2022.

Jeramy Kitchen

Jeramy Kitchen serves as the Capitol Correspondent for Texas Scorecard as well as host of 'This Week in Texas', a show previewing the week ahead in Texas politics. After managing campaigns for conservative legislators across the state, serving as Chief of Staff for multiple conservative state legislators, and serving as Legislative Director for the largest public policy think tank in Texas, Jeramy moved outside of the Austin bubble to focus on bringing transparency to the legislative process.