Republican Tony Dale claims new HD 136
Updated: Updated 11/06/2012 11:43 PM
By: John A. Salazar
With Republican Tony Dale sitting on a 15 point lead, the newly created Texas House District 136 will add more ammunition to a heavily-armed Republican house chamber.
On stage with his family for now, House District 136 winner Tony Dale, who previously served on the Cedar Park City Council, is ready to get to work.
"Keeping taxes down, making sure we have real local control over our schools and compensating teachers properly so those are some of the issues I want to work on at the Capitol," he said.
His challenger, Democrat Matt Stillwell, a business owner, hoped to cash in on the Austin suburbia that crosses into the new district.
Williamson County Political Consultant Bill Gravelle says two key factors aren’t in place for a Democrat to take over the county.
“The money infrastructure is not there for the Democrat candidate and the volunteer structure is not there as well so it is an uphill battle for any Democrat that wants to run in Williamson County,” he said.
Gravelle also said the new district is indicative of how Williamson County is changing.
"For the first time in the State House, we'll have three folks from Williamson County on the house side and one in the Senate side,” he said. ‘”That's big for Williamson County and a result of the mega-growth in the area."
Also in Williamson County, Republican Larry Gonzales keeps his District 52 seat and Marsha Varney, running unopposed, claims District 20.
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