A North Texas House race is heating up, with an incumbent Republican State Rep. Kronda Thimesch of Lewisville blasting her opponent Mitch Little as a “liberal.”
Making this race unique, however, is the fact that Thimesch has actually designated Little as an emergency successor.
When taking office, lawmakers appoint a group of designated emergency interim successors to take their place in the event of a major attack or if the lawmaker is “dead or unavailable for physical, mental, or legal reasons to exercise the powers and discharge the duties of a legislator.”
According to records obtained from the Texas House by Texas Scorecard, Thimesch has appointed Little as her number two choice to be her successor should such an event arise.
Her husband is designated as number three.
As of publishing, Thimesch did not respond to a request from Texas Scorecard as to why she would appoint someone she now characterizes as “liberal” to replace her in an emergency.
Little, however, says he was honored by the appointment.
“I was flattered at the time that Kronda wanted me to carry on her legacy in the event she died or was incapacitated. Praise God that didn’t happen. I feel as though it is much safer for her if the voters simply replace her with me on March 5,” said Little.
Little had served as the campaign treasurer for the freshman representative. When announcing his campaign for office last year he said he was disappointed by her votes once entering office.
He jumped into prominence as part of the defense team representing Attorney General Ken Paxton in his impeachment trial in September that saw him acquitted on all counts. Thimesch, meanwhile, supported and voted for impeachment.
Thimesch’s top contributor this cycle is the Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC, a group that has strongly opposed Paxton. Capitol sources say that they expect TLR to spend even more in the coming weeks and that, at the current trajectory, her campaign could spend over $1 million.
