Race to watch: State Representative District 68

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - As voters across Texoma wish to have their voices heard down in Austin, many will find that the best way to do so is through the representative of the Texas House District 68 seat.

The race features four candidates: incumbent David Spiller, pastor Mark Middleton, Army Veteran Gary Franklin and Nocona businessman Craig Carter.

News Channel 6 tried getting in contact with Mr. Carter over the last few weeks, but he never responded.

The race is specifically interesting after state redistricting left those in district 68 with a new representative.

Here’s what we asked the candidates:

Why did you decide to run?

“I’m running for reelection. I felt like my background and my experience made me best qualified and the main thing is, I’m used to dealing with people and I’m used to dealing with problems and issues and we deal with quite a bit of both at the state legislative level,” Spiller said.

“For too long we’ve been voting for republicans and sending them down to Austin and the republican party platform hasn’t changed in essentially 20 years now and nothing seems to be getting done because we keep sending the same people down there,” Middleton said.

“Prior to redistricting, I thought I had the ideal state representative. Redistricting hit and he’s no longer going to be my state representative and I thought perhaps I could do the same type of job,” Franklin said.

What sets you apart from other candidates?

“I feel like my experience, my desire, and my work ethic. It’s kind of like my dad used to tell me when practicing law, ‘you don’t have to be the smartest guy, you just have to work hard,’ and I work hard,” Spiller said.

“I’m a fan of actually getting rid of a lot of laws, pulling a lot of laws off the books. The government that governs the least, governs the best and that is one of my deep-held philosophies in life,” Middleton said.

“I have experience living in multiple parts of our district and I feel like that gives me a decent feel and a good perspective on how my fellow citizens feel,” Franklin said.

What is one thing you would want to change?

“The biggest struggle right now is border security. We’re not on the border, but border security affects everything. It affects healthcare, it affects schools and funding, it affects our infrastructure, our cities, and our counties and we have to deal with it,” Spiller said.

“The government has its place, but it needs to stay in its box. The people of Texas, the Texas economy, the people of the United States need to be unleashed to do what we do best and that is industrious,” Middleton said.

“We need to test. We need to find out who needs help or who needs remediation. We don’t need to use testing as a way to determine which teachers are retained. We don’t need to use testing to determine which child graduates and which child does not,” Franklin said.

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