Redrawn congressional district expected to favor Republican Williams

By Anna M. Tinsley

atinsley@star-telegram.com

With just weeks to go, three candidates can see the finish line.

Republican Roger Williams, Democrat Elaine Henderson and Libertarian Betsy Dewey are scrambling to finish first Nov. 6 in the multimillion-dollar race for the 25th Congressional District, which stretches from the edges of Tarrant County to the Hill Country.

As the days tick away, each candidate is working to reach out to voters in the massive district by speaking to clubs, putting up signs and hoping interested voters will read their campaign websites.

"Our country needs leadership," said Williams, a well-known Weatherford auto dealer with deep local roots who recently moved to Austin. "We have enough politicians in Washington. But we don't have enough conservative business leaders who know how to create jobs and rein in spending. I do, and I will help turn the economy around."

Henderson, a retiree in Lago Vista, said she's the right candidate.

"I think I'm very sensible and a responsible person," she said.

"I don't know that much about Roger Williams. I'm sure he's a nice guy. ... But I think the Republican agenda right now is very extreme for women. They have this social agenda of wanting to control women's reproductive rights. There's just little excuse for that. Most of us are smart enough to manage our own healthcare."

Dewey, meanwhile, believes she's the person voters need to send to Washington, D.C., to shrink government, cut federal spending and adhere to the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

"Her goal is to magnify the growing Liberty movement -- the one that champions individual freedom, personal responsibility and small government -- all under the umbrella of non-aggression," according to Dewey's website. "Let your neighbor be, and just be."

The district

Last year's redistricting flipped the district so much from Democratic-leaning to Republican-leaning that the incumbent, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, switched to District 35 for his re-election bid.

With no incumbent in the race, the overhauled U.S. House district -- now home to the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant near Glen Rose, Fort Hood near Killeen, the University of Texas at Austin and the Capitol -- drew the interest of a dozen Republicans earlier this year. Williams was the ultimate winner.

Henderson was unopposed in the Democratic Primary, and Dewey won the Libertarian Party's nomination.

This district draws its biggest population base, about 240,000 voters, from the Austin area. But it also includes 150,000 residents in Johnson County and more than 7,000 in Tarrant County.

Political observers say the new boundaries flipped the district from supporting President Barack Obama in 2008 with 59 percent to one in which only 43 percent voted for Obama.

The Republican

When Williams was growing up, his father, Jack, was a well-known Chevrolet dealer in Tarrant County. Roger Williams went on to make his own mark as a car dealer -- and the state's top election officer -- and became instrumental in the Texas Republican Party along the way.

Through the years, he became a powerhouse in raising money for GOP candidates, including George W. Bush in his campaigns for governor and president. He has raised more than $2.5 million for this race and still has more than half a million in cash on hand, according to federal campaign reports.

Williams, who has homes in Weatherford and Fort Worth, was appointed to serve as Texas secretary of state from 2005 to 2007. He first planned to run for Kay Bailey Hutchison's U.S. Senate seat, then the newly drawn 33rd Congressional District. But after courts intervened, changing boundaries on some districts, Williams switched races and moved to Austin.

"I want to cut taxes, reduce spending, shrink the size of the government, repeal Obamacare and put people back in charge," Williams said.

"I understand how to get the economy moving again. We do it the way we do it in business: cutting spending, creating incentives and rewarding innovation."

The Democrat

Henderson, born in Missouri and raised on a dairy farm, spent much of her adult life in Houston, where she worked at public schools, ran a small airplane business that offered flight lessons and worked for the city of Houston's aviation department, ultimately serving as airport operations supervisor and airport security coordinator at Houston's William P. Hobby Airport.

In her first bid for public office, the 74-year-old said she's devoted to environmental causes, would like to see work done on global warming studies, would support a carbon tax and wants to see people become environmentally pro-active, perhaps by putting solar panels on their homes to conserve electricity.

She has yet to file a campaign finance report with the federal government but plans to soon. So far this cycle, she has invested about $5,000 of her own money in this campaign and collected about $5,000 from others. "It's a low-budget campaign," she said.

Her top priorities are to help people find jobs so they can stop collecting unemployment benefits and food stamps.

Overall, she said she hopes to "be a vote for common sense in Congress."

The Libertarian

Dewey, an Austin-based writer, business owner and speaker, describes herself on her personal website as a Libertarian, believer in limited government and protector of the U.S. Constitution.

She says she grew up a typical American but, as an adult, has chosen a lifestyle that involves "not using ... dryer sheets, diapers or very many doctors." She now grows her own food and has "questioned vaccinations, birthed at home and empowered [herself] to homeschool." She notes that she's a "homebirth enthusiast, homeschool mom, truth seeker, teacher, optimist ... patriot, fiddler [and] freedom junkie."

Dewey, whose age was not available and did not respond to the Star-Telegram, grew up in Houston. On her political page, Dewey says she's running for Congress to shrink government, reduce federal spending, restore guiding documents, end wars and "expose the ponzi scheme which is our Keynesian economy."

"Why am I running for Congress? Because I have to. I have no choice that I can see," according to a statement on her website. "In order to insure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to my kids and grandkids, I had to run for office."

Anna M. Tinsley, 817-390-7610

Twitter: @annatinsley

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