(Seguin) – Guadalupe County’s future state representative is not only thanking those who supported him during Tuesday’s Election. He also shares more about his plans to connect with all voters during his move up to Austin.
Republican Alan Schoolcraft defeated Eric Norman, the Democratic opponent, for the District 44 seat in the Texas House of Representatives.
Schoolcraft received 57,278 of the votes cast, or 65 percent, while Norman managed only 30,658 votes or 35 percent.
Schoolcraft says the level of support garnered throughout his campaign has been incredible.
“I so much appreciate their support and the confidence that they have placed in me and I feel a very strong responsibility to follow through and do a good job for them in Austin and I realize that there are some really really serious issues that they care about – not the least of which is the border security, and property taxes trying to get those under control, issues with the growth in our area. So, those are huge issues that we all really care about that I’m going to really be digging into,” said Schoolcraft.
With so much support, Schoolcraft says he understands the responsibilities of this new job and is committed to making sure that the needs of his future constituents are being met.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about how I could go about making contact with even homeowners’ organizations. I really do want to get out and be able to speak to groups whether its chambers of commerce or whether it’s just local HOAs and so forth. That’s a big way that I want to get involved and be able to know everybody. But also, we are going to have an open-door policy. My staff, I’m going to be very selective in finding the folks who are very responsive and recognize that our first duty is to our constituents. When they have issues, we are going to deal with them. Email, call the office etc. I also intend to be using an email newsletter so I’ll be trying to collect emails of the folks who want to be kept abreast of what is going on and we will try to give them regular newsletters that way so a lot of different approaches but mostly, I just want to hear from people and interact with them,” said Schoolcraft.
Schoolcraft replaces longtime State Representative John Kuempel, who Schoolcraft defeated for the Republican nomination during the runoff election in May. The seat was decided by voters across District 44, including Guadalupe and Gonzales counties. Schoolcraft will be sworn into office on Jan. 1