Matt Hellman | Lariat Photo Editor
Reporter
Republican incumbent Brian Birdwell was successful in his bid for Texas Senate District 22 Senator, which includes McLennan, Bosque, Coryell, Hood, Johnson, Ellis, Navarro, Hill and Falls County.
Birdwell received 85.7 percent of votes, with a total of 164,335 votes, while his opponent, Libertarian Tom Kilbride, received 14.3 percent of the vote with 27,383 votes.
“I’ve been vigorously traveling throughout the district for more than a year, meeting several times per week with school superintendents, local officials, business leaders and individual citizens to discuss the key successes of the 82nd legislative session and the challenges facing our state. When asking constituents for the opportunity to serve them once more, I promised to uphold my record of honest and accountable actions,” said Birdwell in a statement released after the results were posted.
Kilbride’s campaign was unavailable for comment at time of publication.
Birdwell, a Fort Worth native and decorated military veteran who now lives in Granbury, Texas, was first elected to the Texas State Senate in a 2010 special election, and will now serve his second full term as the representative of the 22nd District.
Birdwell’s conservative platform includes an anti-abortion stance, with a commitment to preventing tax dollars from being spent on abortions.
Birdwell, who supported $1 billion in spending cuts in the state budget in his first session as state senator, is opposed to new taxes and spending the $6 billion in Texas’ “Rainy Day” fund.
Birdwell will seek to improve the state’s economy by protecting businesses from regulations or restrictions and to overturn Obama’s health care legislation, continue to support pro-gun legislation and protect private property from eminent domain claims on land.
Birdwell was endorsed by the Texas Hospital Association, Texas Association of Business, Texas Heritage Alliance, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Americans for Prosperity, The Texas Alliance for Life and the National Rifle Association.
Birdwell has served on the Higher Education committee, the Veteran Affairs committee and the Economic Development , Government Organization committees, the Sunset Advisory Commission and the Joint Interim Committee to Study Human Trafficking.
Birdwell graduated from Lamar University, where he was named Distinguished Military Graduate of the campus’ Army ROTC program, and earned his Master’s of Public Administration at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
The retired lieutenant colonel earned a Bronze Star for Exceptional Meritorious Achievement for his service in Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, the Purple Heart for the wounds he received in his Pentagon office on Sept. 11, 2001 and the Legion of Merit award, which he received upon retiring from military service.
Birdwell and his wife, Mel, founded a non-profit organization, Face The Fire Ministries, which aims to provide financial assistance and information about rehabilitation to critical burn victims and their families and to support research on medical care and treatment options for burn patients.
“Today the voters of Senate District 22 honored me with tremendous support, re-electing me to serve a second term as their conservative voice in the Texas Senate, and I feel extremely privileged for the opportunity to do so,” Birdwell said in a statement.
