Saturday, Dec. 19 is Election Day in the Special Runoff vote for Texas Senate District 30.
Voters are deciding between Drew Springer and Shelley Luther for the vacated seat of Pat Fallon, who was recently elected in a bid for a U.S. Representative seat. Neither candidate drew a decisive lead in the special election, falling within a percentage point of each other.
A total of 920 people voted in-person during early voting for the Runoff and 566 absentee ballots had been received as of Wednesday at Noon.
Election day polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Dec. 19 at the following locations: Erath County Courthouse, Dublin County Annex (219 S. Grafton), Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Center (1229 N. Highway 281, Stephenville) and Texas Bank (988 Wolfe Nursery Rd.).
Drew Springer is a Parker County native who resides in Cooke County. Springer announced his candidacy minutes after Abbott’s announcement of the election in a release which included an endorsement from Fallon. Senator Fallon said, “Drew Springer will make an excellent addition to the Texas Senate. He has been a champion for the people of House District 68, and he will continue to fight for conservative principles for the great citizens of Senate District 30.”
Shelley Luther, the Dallas salon owner who was jailed over reopening her business when state orders were to keep salons closed, announced that she would also be vying for the seat vacated by Fallon during a ‘Back the blue’ rally in Denton County. At the rally, Luther said she was someone who would “stand up and go to jail for you,” saying she would “do it again and again because I’m gonna fight to keep our Texas values.” Luther became a hero to some on the right earlier this year after she was jailed for contempt of court for refusing to apologize for reopening her salon in violation of the state mandate at the time. She was freed two days later after Gov. Greg Abbott removed the threat of jail time from an executive order and the Texas Supreme Court granted a motion for her release.