A special runoff election for a vacant North Texas House seat has been set for later this month.

Today, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott set Tuesday, February 23, as the date House District 68 voters will select a new state representative to replace Drew Springer (R–Muenster).

Running for two legislative seats at the same time, Springer won a fifth term representing HD 68 in November but declined the seat in December after winning a special runoff for the state Senate spot vacated by Pat Fallon—setting up another round of special elections.

Republicans David Spiller and Craig Carter finished first and second in January’s five-way “expedited” special election to fill the vacancy left by Springer, advancing to the special House runoff.

Spiller is a Jacksboro lawyer who has served more than 30 years as the city attorney and more than 20 years on the local school board. Carter is a Nocona businessman and philanthropist who also ran in the recent special election for state Senate.

Earlier this week, Carter’s young daughter and mother-in-law were killed in a car crash. His son remains hospitalized.

Just over 100,000 Texans are registered to vote in HD 68, 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.

In four of the most populous counties—Cooke, Montague, Young, and Jack—voters had already faced two special elections in 2020 in the overlapping state Senate District 30 before getting called back to the polls in January for the special House race. The voter turnout in January was 9 percent.

Now, voters must return to the polls one more time to have full representation in the Texas Legislature, which has been in session since January 12.

All registered voters in the district are eligible to vote in the special runoff election.

Early voting starts on February 16.

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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