While the election is a year away, candidates are already starting to line up in the upcoming race for the Texas House District 45 seat, currently held by Jason Isaac (R-Dripping Springs).
Elizabeth Bryant, a first responder from Driftwood, and Erin Zweiner, an educator and author from San Marcos, are the first to throw their hats into the ring for the HD45 race, which will be decided in Nov. 2018.
Zweiner, a fifth-generation Texan, is a conservationist, children’s book author and an educator, according to a press release.
She sought to run for the office to “ensure our government protects and serves all Texans.”
Zweiner announced her candidacy in May and has traveled all throughout the district, which encompasses Blanco and Hays counties. In February, Zweiner organized a mock town hall in Dripping Springs in order to seek an audience with U.S. District 25 Congressman Roger Williams.
“Everywhere I go, I hear disappointment in our state legislature’s choice to focus on narrow and negative legislation that doesn’t address the problems of real Texans,” Zweiner said. “Texas must put aside divisive politics and move forward on the issues that matter to all Texans, like education and health care. It’s time to put the all back in y’all.”
Bryant, a Driftwood resident, is a search-and-rescue dog handler, as well as a science educator, according to her campaign website.
Bryant, who announced her candidacy in July, said she’s running as she believes the voices of people in HD 45 “have gone unheard in Austin, not because they cannot hear us, but because our representative has chosen to ignore us.”
“It is time for us to come together as a district and put our feet down,” Bryant said. “This government will bend to the will of the people come hell or high water, and that is why I am running for state represenative.”
Isaac, a fourth generation Texan and Dripping Springs native, has served as the HD 45 representative since he was first elected in 2011.
However, Isaac ran unopposed during the 2016 HD 45 election. His last contested election was in 2014 when he defeated Jim Duke, a Liberterian candidate, in a landslide.
Isaac plans to run again for the HD45 seat.
The election for HD 45 will be Nov. 6, 2018.
