Primary 2012: House District 47 Republican Candidates
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Texans go to the polls May 29th for the state’s primary. The date was moved back amid legal challenges to the state’s new election maps. KUT News will have previews of many of the contested races in Central Texas.
First up is Texas House District 47 in western Travis County, where the lone Democrat running for the seat awaits the winner of a contested GOP Primary.
50 percent of the land and almost 40 percent of the people in House District 47 are new to the district, thanks to the new elections maps passed by the legislature last year. That means even the incumbent, Republican Paul Workman, is a first time candidate to people who, under the old maps, are represented by Democrat Donna Howard.
“And so there’s a little bit of an education process,” Workman said, “well she technically is still is your representative, but you’re gonna get a new one.”
That means extra campaigning and block walking for Workman. And extra hope for his challenger Ryan Downton. A candidate that’s pushing his conservative credentials in a district made more Republican by redistricting. It’s a district that remains strained with infrastructure needs even under its new configuration, Downton Said.
“There are a lot of challenges facing any high-growth area. But we don’t want to be expanding taxes to deal with those problems,” Downton said.
Downton believes keeping taxes low will let the private sector do what’s needed to help the district and the state.
“We’ve got a great free market system in Texas. The areas that are poised for expansive growth often have developers very interested in working on projects,” Downton said, “so I think there is private money to take care of a lot of those issues.”
One of those issues are new roads. The area needs them and there’s no money from the state to build them. Workman said the lack of funds comes in part because the state’s gas tax hasn’t been raised in decades.
“I don’t propose that we increase the gas tax,” Workman said, “however we’re going to have to look at how we fund roads and we’re going to have to deal with that issue relatively soon.”
He points to hybrid vehicles, electric cars and other high mileage options as the reason gas tax revenues are down. And billions of dollars in gas taxes have been diverted to other parts of the state budget. Which means local money will have to take the lead. Like the millions being cobbled together in Hays and Travis Counties in hopes of funding the long awaited State Highway 45 South West.
“The state doesn’t have the money. And the reality is that they don’t have the money. Should they? That’s debatable, everyone’s going to have their own opinion on that,” Workman said, “but I certainly believe that we’re a nation of people who are likely to roll up our sleeves and get things done. I think that’s what needs to happen in this case. We just need to take the bull by the horns and get it done.”
Downton is also against raising the gas tax. But he thinks there is state money for roads. It’s just tied up in a state agency that he says doesn’t have the right priorities.
“High growth areas in the state, to me, should be getting priority from TxDOT in where they decide to allocate their limited resources. And I’m not sure at this time they are prioritizing that particular project as high as they need to,” Downton said.
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