House District 63 - the race is on!

Pretty fast turn of events this week with regard to next spring's Republican primary. After Ricky Grunden from Denton announced he would file to challenge Mary Denny (R-Incumbent), Anne Lakusta from Flower Mound did the same. And now Denny's saying she'll run again too.

Here's what's important:

District 63 is shaped like a C (see PDF map). It runs from Flower Mound and Highland Village west to the Wise county line, up north around the west side of Denton, and across the top of the county, ending at the Collin County line. It's pretty much everything except Denton, Lewisville, The Colony and Carrollton.

Mary Denny has represented District 63 ever since I've lived here, but only recently has the district included Flower Mound. She lives in Aubrey, northeast of Denton, though she opened an office in Flower Mound a couple of years ago. Rep. Denny chairs the Elections Committee, which gained a little higher stature after the 2000 election controversy, but it's still a second-tier assignment. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have never seen her stand out among her colleagues in the House. Am I wrong to think she's a perennial backbencher?

District 63 needs a leader to make the House (and its Republican leadership) more aware of, and responsive to, Denton County's needs. Further, I think the District 63 representative needs to be a bigger advocate for southern Denton County, notably Flower Mound.

Flower Mound has a population of 60,000. That's about half the total population of District 63. Flower Mound votes, better than almost any other place around.

CONCLUSION:

The next elected representative from District 63 needs to come from Flower Mound. We have the power to make that happen.