Native Blizzard interviews Spencer for Texas Horn

n Garrit and Chris discuss parental empowerment, property rights, and East Texas

Special to the Journal-Sun

Cass County native Garrit Blizzard’s Note (now former editor for the Texas Horn): The interview took place via Zoom on 3/12/24. Below is a transcription of the interview, which has been lightly edited for clarity. Chris Spencer is a Republican candidate for Texas House District (HD) 1— HD 1 is in northeast Texas and includes Bowie, Cass, Lamar, Morris, and Red River Counties. Spencer is a businessman and the former chairman of the Sulphur River Basin Authority. He is the father of two and grandfather of one. He lives in Hughes Springs, Texas with his wife Debbie. Spencer will face off against incumbent State Representative Gary VanDeaver in the May 28th runoff election. VanDeaver and Spencer received 45.5% and 43.1% of the vote in the March 5th primary respectively. A third candidate, Dale Huls, received 11.4%. Spencer’s website can be found at chrisspencer.com.

Garrit: I’m going to start off talking a little bit about your race. You’re currently in a runoff with incumbent State Representative Gary VanDeaver. Can you speak about why you’re running and give a little bit of background about this race?

Chris: Well, I’ve always wanted to serve in some capacity for the state of Texas. Fortunately for me, Governor Abbott appointed me as chairman of the Sulphur River Basin Authority back in February of 2018. The Sulphur River Basin Authority is charged with the conservation and development of the state’s natural resources within the Sulphur River Basin. What spurred me, initially, to run is that I felt like the incumbent, based on his voting record, was insufficiently conservative to represent House District 1.

Garrit: Can you speak a little bit about what are some of the issues you have with Gary VanDeaver?

Chris: Well, one of the issues that I have is the fact that House District 1 is a conservative district. House District 1 votes for Republicans. The State of Texas has elected a Republican legislature. Yet the incumbent, Gary VanDeaver, supports the current speaker of the house, Dade Phelan, who in turn appoints Democratic chairs. That is not in line with the values of East Texas. East Texans are rural, they’re conservative, and they do not want Democratic chairs. Texas is the only state in the United States with a Republican-controlled legislature that appoints Democratic chairs in the House, and that is one of the main reasons that I ran against Gary.

Garrit: Many incumbents [who opposed Education Savings Accounts] either lost or were forced into runoffs on the March 5th primary. What are your thoughts on the election, and how are you feeling about the next legislative session?

Chris: Well, first off, you had a lot of incumbents that were defeated. I think about Ernest Bailes being defeated, Travis Clardy being defeated, Glenn Rogers being defeated, and others. What we’re seeing is a cultural realignment in the Texas House toward more conservatives, and I think that that is what this election is about. I think that the runoff is going to be about that in an even more profound way.

Garrit: How are you feeling about the runoff election?

Chris: I feel good. We’re going to have to work very, very hard. Runoffs typically have a lower voter turnout. In fact, this runoff is unique. We’re going to have one week of early voting, May 20 through the 24th. Then Election Day is Tuesday, May the 28th, following the Memorial Day holiday on Monday. So, it’s going to take an intensive effort on the ground to get people to turn out. But we feel very, very good about the runoff. An incumbent that has 54 and a half percent of the folks in House District 1 not believing that they need to be reelected puts him in a precarious position, and we look forward to winning this runoff.

Garrit: You’ve been vocal in your opposition to Speaker Phelan. What would you look for in the next speaker of the house? What are some qualities you would look for?

Chris: I would look for a conservative, number one. It absolutely has to be a conservative. Having said that, I would want the commitment from whoever I supported for speaker that they would appoint only Republican chairmen and chairwomen. That’s what I would want from the speaker. But first and foremost, a conservative that would not appoint Democratic chairs.

Garrit: Brad Johnson from The Texan has reported that there’s a group of anti-Phelan legislators and candidates that want to get a group of at least 10 members to challenge the ruling of the chair. If you were to win, do you plan on joining that group?

Chris: I haven’t seen or heard anything about that. I haven’t read that article by Brad. So, I’d have to look at it.

Garrit: Shifting the focus a little bit to policies, a common argument you hear from many of these challengers is that the incumbents go to Austin and lose their way from their district. So I’m asking you, if you were to be elected, how will you best represent East Texas in Austin?

Chris: Well, fortunately for me, I’ve got a wife that keeps me very grounded— number one— and I am a businessman. I own and operate a supermarket, as you know, in Linden, Texas, and I see my constituents every day. Fortunately for me, they are going to hold me accountable. There are specific things that they’re going to want to see from their legislator, and as I said, they hold me accountable. So I do not worry about myself getting caught up in what some might refer to as the “Austin Swamp.” I do want to be there. I do want to work with my colleagues to pass good legislation, to defeat bad legislation, and to represent House District 1 in a godly way. So I think that not only my wife but my constituents back home will keep me grounded.

Garrit: What are some of the pieces of legislation that you’re hoping to work on if you were to be elected?

Chris: Well, obviously, I want to continue to help the governor strengthen and secure the southern border. So I think that whatever policy proposals are there that will help finish building the wall that is what I want to support— legislatively or appropriations wise. I want to see that wall completed, and I want to help the governor in this effort. I believe that that is why he has endorsed our campaign— to help secure that southern border. Another piece of legislation that I would like to see passed is parental empowerment, or education savings accounts. That proposal this time was Proposition 11, [and it stated] do you support, and I don’t know the exact words, parents being able to select the school of their choice with the funding following the child? Overwhelmingly, Texans and East Texans still support that. That is one of the differences between Representative VanDeaver and myself. I want to fortify, financially, public schools in Texas. I’m a proud product of Texas public schools. If my wife and I had a child right now, he or she would go to the Hughes Springs public schools. It’s that great of a school. But I support the right of a parent to make the decision best for them with their tax dollars supporting that decision. So that is the type of legislation that I would like to see passed.

Garrit: On the issue of parental empowerment and ESAs, many opponents of ESAs have argued that, particularly Representative VanDeaver, there aren’t any private schools in East Texas and that students wouldn’t benefit from this policy. What is your response to that, and why do you think ESAs are important for people in House District 1?

Chris: Well, the good thing about our rural public schools in East Texas is that they do a tremendous job. They do. And Representative VanDeaver is correct in saying that there are not a lot of options in East Texas. But where I would like to differ on what he has said publicly is that Representative Van-Deaver has said that if there are educational savings accounts, if there is school choice, that it will take money away from East Texas schools, East Texas school districts, and send it to the urban areas. I’m wondering how that’s the case. If there’s no choice in East Texas, then Representative VanDeaver has nothing to worry about.

Garrit: What should be done, if anything, to address or improve public schools?

Chris: Well, I think there’s two things. Number one, teachers need a pay raise. In fact, the vast majority of Texans and East Texans, just like they support school choice, they support a teacher pay raise. In fact, over 80% of HD 1 residents believe that teachers need a pay raise. It’s long overdue. They work hard for not a lot of money. The second thing that the state of Texas should do is get rid of this STAAR test. I think that I would support completely eliminating the STAAR test starting in the next legislative session. I think those two things alone strengthen public school. I think that teachers and administrators need to discipline students. If there are unruly students that continue to be unruly, they ought to be able to kick those kids out of school. I think they ought to be able to bring back the paddle. I don’t know whether schools have the paddle anymore, but I will say this much: it was used on me whenever I was growing up, and I certainly deserved it. Administrators and teachers need to have discipline in their classroom. So when you combine a teacher pay raise, the elimination of the STAAR test, and a return of discipline to the school environment, I think those things, obviously, improve public education and improve the morale of the teaching workforce.

Garrit: A common argument that you might hear is that if you eliminate the STAAR Tests, what exactly is going to be used as a way of gauging and assessing the performance of schools? What are your thoughts on that argument?

Chris: I think the state of Texas and your local educators are able to come up with whatever that metric is to be able to gauge the success or lack of success of that district. I don’t know what that particular legislation would look like. But I’m confident that the state of Texas will be able to come up with something that meets that unique criteria.

Garrit: Shifting the post a little bit to some other issues. You stated at the beginning of the interview that you recently served as the chairman of the Sulphur River Basin Authority. Could you briefly speak about your experience on the board, and could you speak about the water issues that HD 1 is facing?

Chris: First off, House District 1 is blessed with an abundance of water and the Sulphur River, and water is one of God’s natural resources that he graciously provides for us. We have to be good stewards of that water. Having said that, surface water, whether it’s my pond at home or the water in the Sulphur [River], belongs to the state of Texas. Those water resources are allocated based on purpose and need. What I have wanted to make sure [of is] that any development that occurs within the Sulphur River is smart development. For instance, anytime you speak of the Sulphur River Basin or the Sulphur River Basin Authority the word Marvin Nichols Reservoir comes up. That is a reservoir that’s been in the state water plan for decades that is designed to meet the water needs of North Texas, [which is] where they’re experiencing exponential growth. Let me say unequivocally that I do not support the Marvin Nichols Reservoir, not one bit. I think there are better ways to meet those water needs of Texas. But having said that, I would love to serve on the Natural Resources Committee in the House of Representatives to eliminate Marvin Nichols from the state water plan [and] find other ways to meet those water needs, particularly in North Texas. That is where the population growth is occurring in Texas. That is where the water shortage is going to be. There are a lot of alternatives to meeting those needs, rather than coming into East Texas in what would be the biggest land grab in the history of Texas.

Garrit: Yeah, and to that point, for those who don’t know about this yet, could you speak about what the Marvin Nichols Reservoir would do to East Texas, and could you talk a little bit about why that’s a bad thing?

Chris: Well, you and I certainly would [know], and our descendants would certainly experience this if Marvin Nichols ever comes to fruition. There’s two components to Marvin Nichols. First is the footprint of that lake, and it’s gigantic. The proposal for this lake is 66,000 acres. That’s four times as big as Lake Wright Patman right in our backyard. But it’s not just that. The real devil in the details on any reservoir development in Texas is what is called environmental mitigation. What that means Garrit, is that whatever natural habitat, forestry, spotted owl, or whatever exists within the footprint of that proposed reservoir, that particular footprint has to be set aside somewhere else. In other words, recreated somewhere else. What that would mean is the state of Texas can technically take up to three or four times the footprint of the lake to satisfy mitigation requirements. So in other words, on the low end of the scale, you would have 200,000 acres of land, particularly timberland that comes out of production— that would be devastating to the northeast Texas economy. For instance, just in my local county, I would guess that over 10% of the population gets their livelihood from the timber industry. It’s not just the footprint of the lake. The footprint of the lake is bad enough, but the mitigation is that silent killer that comes out and takes folk’s land, and I intend to stop it.

Garrit: On this topic of natural resources. In East Texas, it was recently discovered that portions of East Texas contain high concentrations of lithium. The largest concentration of lithium in North America. I think many people, including myself, are a little unsure about what this means and what this means for the land and property rights. So I want to get your thoughts. What are your thoughts on lithium mining in East Texas?

Chris: Well, it’s such a new phenomenon that’s come along. I have a lot of people asking me about it. They often ask, “should I lease out my right to my land for lithium production?” And let me say that one of the big arguments out there is, is lithium, as it’s defined, considered a mineral right? And one of the big arguments out there is that if it’s a mineral right, like oil and gas, then it may not belong to the landowner, but it may belong to whoever holds the mineral rights. Which, as may you know, in Texas, you can own land and someone else owns your mineral rights. So I don’t know the answer to that. This is very, very new, and I look forward to being involved in the conversation.

Garrit: As you’ve campaigned around House District 1, what are some of the other issues that have come up that are a concern for people?

Chris: I think that one of the big concerns in East Texas is property taxes. And I support, as do the majority of Texans, the future elimination of personal property taxes and real estate property taxes. That is obviously a futuristic goal and will take several sessions to accomplish. The Texas Public Policy Foundation has many proposals out there that can satisfy elimination of property taxes. The thing is, we know that we just had historic property tax relief as it was defined. I will say this: when property taxes drop, most folks have experienced higher appraisals that eat up those savings within a two-year cycle. So while property tax relief was good, it appears to only be temporary, and we need longer-term solutions. So I support a path to feature elimination of property taxes.

Garrit: I recently saw that Dale Huls has endorsed your campaign. So as we get close to the end of this interview, what would you say to those who didn’t support you initially in the primary?

Chris: Well, let me say that I’m grateful to have the support of Dale Huls. He’s a conservative, he’s a patriot, he’s an honorable man, he’s a veteran, and he’s served his country well. Let me say this much, Dale Huls’ supporters are passionate. Dale can’t be bought, and if he had gone to Austin, he would have voted in a way that would have made East Texas proud. I’m glad to have his support. Dale and I are so much alike on the issues. We both support strengthening and securing that southern border. So I would just say to those that are disappointed that Dale did not win and get in the runoff, that you will not be disappointed with me. I will serve you with honor and distinction and as a conservative.

Garrit: As we conclude the interview, do you have anything you’d like to say?

Chris: I’m just grateful for the support that I’ve had in northeast Texas. I look forward to a spirited campaign where we’re running to win. We’re already on the ground working hard. I know that folks are tired of the election, but there’s just a little while longer that they have to endure this. Then of course, it’s on to the fall campaign where we look forward to seeing President Donald Trump once again elected President of the United States.

This interview was reprinted from the April 2 article in the Texas Horn with permission of Blizzard. Shawn Larson will be interviewing Gary VanDeaver, which will be printed in the May 15 edition of the Cass County Citizens Journal-Sun.