Monday was the first day of filing for the 2012 Republican Primary Election, and three Denton County representatives made their intentions officially known that they would like to continue to serve.
State Senator Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, State Representative Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, and U.S. Congressman Michael Burgess, R-Lewisville, filed to seek another term in office.
Nelson filed for re-election in the newly drawn Texas Senate District 12, which includes portions of Denton and Tarrant counties. She has held office since 1993.
“We must continue our fight to improve education; secure our streets and borders; protect our most vulnerable citizens; and maintain the economic success we have worked so hard to achieve,” Senator Nelson said.
Because legislative maps approved by the Texas Legislature are still awaiting approval from a federal court in Washington, D.C., those maps will not be applicable until the 2014 election. A federal court in San Antonio last week issued interim maps for the 2012 election. However, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has asked the United States Supreme Court to grant an emergency stay to block the maps, stating that the San Antonio court exceeded its authority by substituting its judgment for that of the people’s representatives.
“Having represented every inch of Denton and Tarrant counties over the years, I will be a candidate for the Texas Senate, regardless of what the final map looks like,” Senator Nelson said. “I’m disappointed that the court needlessly divided 17 cities and 18 school districts in its version of Senate District 12. The court also ignored public input and unraveled months of deliberations on a map the Senate approved by a bipartisan 29-2 vote.”
Initially elected to office in 2006, Rep. Parker will be seeking his fourth term as the State Representative for District 63, based in southwest Denton County.
“I am honored to be running for re-election as the State Representative for such a wonderful part of North Texas. It has been a great privilege to serve Denton County for the last five years, and I look forward to representing the county’s views on the important issues facing Texas during another term,” said Parker.
Reconfigured during the recent redistricting process, House District 63 now comprises the southwest corner of Denton County. It entirely includes communities currently represented by Rep. Parker, including: Flower Mound, Argyle, Lantana, Trophy Club, Justin, Northlake, Bartonville, Copper Canyon, Double Oak, Ponder, Roanoke, Dish and portions of: Lewisville, Southlake, Denton and Ft. Worth.
After spending nearly three decades practicing medicine in North Texas, Congressman Burgess was first elected to Congress in 2002, and was re-elected in 2004, 2006, 2008, and most recently in 2010.
Burgess serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and is the Vice Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health. He is also a member of the Oversight and Investigations and Energy and Power subcommittees. In addition, Burgess is a member of the bicameral Joint Economic Committee, and in 2009 he founded, and currently serves as Chairman, of the Congressional Health Care Caucus.
Burgess strongly opposes the president’s health care law and supports a judicial review to consider if the federal government has exceeded its authority by requiring that every American obtain health insurance by 2014.
“What Congress should have done was tackle the one-third of Americans who needed help. We could have addressed and accomplished reform in stand-alone bills, and at a much lower cost,” said Burgess.
“We have seen that the new health care law is not what the American people want and I am encouraged that the law will now be heard by the court and hopeful that they will overturn this government overreach.”
Burgess represents the majority of Denton County, Cooke County, and parts of suburban Dallas and Fort Worth.
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