Three-term incumbent Texas state Rep. Steve Allison and his primary opponent, criminal defense attorney Marc LaHood, clashed Monday over school funding and the best approach to immigration and property taxes in a House District 121 Republican primary debate hosted by the San Antonio Report.
When asked by moderator Andrea Drusch whether Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton can be trusted to serve in his role after the House voted 121-23 to impeach him on articles including bribery and abuse of public trust before being acquitted by the Senate, LaHood said yes and Allison said no.
Impeaching Paxton would have amounted to overturning the will of the voters, said LaHood, whom Paxton has endorsed. “The voters unequivocally reelected him,” LaHood said. “… If you don’t like them you don’t elect them. You don’t just kick them out of office.”
Allison countered that it was “totally false” that impeaching Paxton would have negated an election. The issue, he said, was Paxton’s request to the Legislature for $3.3 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit against him.
“I was on the subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee,” Allison said. “He came before us to do his dog and pony show about what the attorney general’s office needed. But also on that document was the $3.3 million, and he wouldn’t answer a single question from us. … Yet he has the gall to say, ‘ Well, I didn’t have the chance to tell my story.'”
He added: “I think the people of Texas deserve much better.”
Both candidates stressed the need for stronger border security, calling it the top issue for voters in District 121. While Allison touted his role as a co-author of Senate Bill 4, which makes illegal immigration a state crime, LaHood dismissed the legislation as “not strong.” “I don’t know about you, but I lock my front door,” LaHood said. “The border should be no different.”
Allison touted his experience and familiarity with the issues, while LaHood, who has also been endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott, criticized Allison’s legislative record and opposition to vouchers, or whether the state should spend taxpayer money on private school education.
Defending his stance on school vouchers, Allison said there was a “big difference” between school choice opportunities like charter schools and magnet programs within traditional public school districts and the Abbott-backed education savings accounts that could be used for private school tuition. ESAs would be a form of entitlement program, he asserted. “That’s not conservative. That’s not Republican.”
Watch the full debate, which was streamed live, below.
