Looking at my sample ballot for McLennan County, I see all the races I expected.
At the top, there’s President & Vice President, US Senator, then a bit further down State Representative for District 56, a court of appeals seat, State Representative for District 56 … Wait… that can’t be right.
But it is.
Earlier this year, after almost two decades representing HD 56, Charles “Doc” Anderson, a Republican, said he wouldn’t run for reelection. Then in August, he announced he’d retire early, leaving the seat empty.
"So that necessitated a special election. And so what that means for voters is you will see on your ballot two races," said Pat Flavin, a political science professor at Baylor University.
After Anderson said he’d retire, Governor Greg Abbott called a special election for District 56 to occur on November 5.
Whoever wins the special election will start in November…for a term that ends nine weeks later.
"Functionally, it doesn’t really make a huge difference," Flavin said.
That’s because Texas has a part-time legislature, and won't reconvene between election day and January, when all the other newly elected representatives get sworn in.
"It would be only problematic if it was during a session when there’s actual voting happening," he said.
Both the district 56 special election and regular one have the same two candidates: Republican Pat Curry and Democrat Erin Shank.
Shank says Anderson’s early retirement will be good for whichever of them wins.
"Whoever presumably wins both of those elections, will come in more senior," she said. "We won’t be freshmen."
That’s what Anderson intended. In a statement announcing his retirement, he said those two months of seniority would allow the district’s new representative to “more effectively serve our constituents.”
This year, there’s a larger-than-usual number of Texas House races with no incumbent running - more than 30. That means a bunch of new, or freshman, representatives coming into the Texas House in 2025. And they’ll be the lowest in the pecking order.
Shank says that with such a large freshman class, the added seniority means a lot.
"That helps for committee assignments, floor seating, and parking. In a very old building, parking can be difficult, so you’d want be a little higher on that list," she said.
Given all that, Republican candidate Pat Curry says, after Anderson’s nearly 20 years in office, his early retirement was the right move for the people of District 56.
"It couldn’t have been a better service for Doc to retire on," Curry said. "A freshman replacing a senior representative with a lot of seniority and a lot of experience can set a district back."
Baylor’s Pat Flavin says this situation is pretty unique. It's very rare for a representative to retire early to guarantee seniority for their successor.
"Just looking at recent retirements, this has not been the norm. So I think in that regard it’s a good move by representative Anderson," Flavin said.
But Flavin worries about what kind of precedent this might set.
"I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes more common. And then if it becomes more common there might be a collective agreement among retiring representatives that, yes we's all like more seniority, but we can't all retire early," Flavin said.
The special election for Texas House District 56 will be held at the same time as the General Election. Early voting begins Monday, October 21 and election day is November 5.
If you live in the district, make sure to select a candidate for both races on your ballot.
