How a school voucher supporter won in a TX House district with almost no private schools
Gov. Greg Abbott felt vindicated when nine Texas Republican lawmakers who helped block a school voucher program he championed last year lost their seats in the March primary. The governor portrayed their removal from office as clear evidence that Texans wanted
“Republican primary voters have once again sent an unmistakable message that parents deserve the freedom to choose the best education pathway for their child,” Abbott said back then, before helping unseat six more lawmakers in the May runoff elections.
But Marilyn Snider got a different impression while talking to voters outside the election administration office in Coldspring during the primary season. There, she worked under a tent campaigning for Janis Holt, the Abbott-backed candidate she supported and who eventually defeated state Rep. Ernest Bailes in Texas House District 18, lodged in between Houston and Beaumont.
“Nobody mentioned school vouchers; everyone that came by mentioned Colony Ridge — every one of them,” said Snider, 78, referring to the residential development north of Houston that attracted widespread criticism last year after Republicans falsely portrayed it as a magnet for criminals, drugs and illegal immigration.
Statewide, the governor framed the election as all about vouchers. But things were not as straightforward in House District 18, the only district without any state-recognized private schools where a pro-voucher challenger defeated an anti-voucher incumbent during the primary.
Bailes campaigned, in part, as a champion for public schools. He argued that school vouchers are not what’s best for children and accused Abbott of wanting the program for his own political benefit. While many residents in Bailes’ district love and support the local public school system, only a small share of them decided the election. Roughly 21% of eligible voters cast a ballot in the primary, which are usually low-turnout affairs in Texas.
State Rep. Ernest Bailes, left, speaks to constituents in Shepherd on March 9, 2020. Credit: Michael Stravato for The Texas Tribune
Abbott fulfilled his promise to go after Republicans who opposed vouchers last year and invested heavily to unseat Bailes. On the ground, that money was largely used to mount a forceful campaign questioning him not so much on vouchers but on his conservative values. Many of the attacks harped on immigration fears associated with the extraordinary growth of Colony Ridge.
Still, some of the House district’s voters said they agreed with the idea of vouchers, even though the community’s limited private schvoucher supporters’ooling options meant residents would likely not benefit from the program as much as other Texans. Local Republican leaders said oft-repeated argument, that parents should have full control over where their kids attend school, resonated with them — and Bailes failed to recognize it.
“I met Representative Bailes several times and liked him, thought he was really, basically, a conservative,” said Kent Batman, former chair of the Hardin County Republican Party. “But on the issue of school choice, he was arrogant.”
