Don Huffines

Donald Blaine Huffines is an American politician and businessman from the state of Texas. Huffines co-owns and operates Huffines Communities, a real estate development company in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. A conservative,[1] Tea Party[2] Republican, Huffines represented District 16 in the Texas Senate from 2015 to 2019. He lost his re-election campaign in 2018.

Don Huffines
Member of the Texas Senate
from the 16th district
In office
January 13, 2015 – January 8, 2019
Preceded byJohn Carona
Succeeded byNathan M. Johnson
Personal details
BornCommerce, Texas, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Mary Myers
Children5
EducationUniversity of Texas, Austin (BBA)

Remaining active in politics, Huffines ran an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Texas in the 2022 Republican primary, challenging incumbent Greg Abbott.[3]

Background

Early life, education, and family

Don Huffines is a fifth-generation[4] Texan born in Dallas on April 26, 1958. He has two older brothers, James and Ray, and an identical twin brother, Phillip. In his childhood, his brothers and he spent time assisting at their grandfather’s car dealership. Don Huffines' grandfather, James Lecil "J.L." Huffines, started the Huffines Motor Company in Denton, Texas, in 1924. The company has grown into a large network of metroplex dealerships run by Don's brother, Ray Huffines.

Huffines graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.B.A in finance.[5]

Huffines and his wife Mary Catherine have five children and four grandchildren.[6]

Real-estate career

Huffines and his brother Phillip are the founders and co-owners of Huffines Communities, a real-estate company established in 1985 that is located in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.[7][8]

Texas Senate
Huffines in 2014

In 2014, Huffines ran for a seat in the Texas State Senate. He challenged the incumbent of Senate District 16, Senator John J. Carona, in the Republican primary. Huffines ran to the right of Carona, claiming Carona was not a true conservative, and ultimately won the primary against him on March 4, 2014. A combined total of $6.3 million was spent by both candidates in the primary race.

In the November 4 general election, Huffines ran unopposed.[9] Huffines campaigned on the themes of teaching creationism in public schools, term limits, school choice, funding highway construction, opposing new toll roads, and cutting taxes.[10]

Tenure

During his time in office, Huffines authored, but did not pass, many bills addressing Republican priorities.[11] These bills included legislation on constitutional carry, term limits, and anti-abortion policy. Huffines consistently voted along his party line on conservative legislation; political science fellow Mark Jones named Huffines the fourth-most conservative member of the 2017 Texas Senate.[12] In 2017, Huffines proposed a bill, which did not pass, that would have required 30% voter turnout for any bond election in Texas to be successful. At the time, most such elections drew fewer than 10% of voters to the polls. The San Antonio Express-News claimed that were Huffines' bill to become law, it would make a successful bond election nearly impossible in Texas.[13]

On November 6, 2018, Huffines lost his re-election bid to Democrat Nathan M. Johnson, who was the first Democrat to win Senate District 16 in over three decades. Huffines received 45.9% of the vote.[14]

2022 gubernatorial candidacy

Huffines remained politically active after losing his Senate re-election campaign. He was critical of Governor Greg Abbott's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically lockdowns, and spoke at numerous far-right rallies calling for the reopening of the state.[15]

On May 10, 2021, Huffines announced that he would challenge Abbott in the 2022 Republican primary for governor of Texas.[16] As a candidate, Huffines has warned of a Communist invasion of Californians moving to Texas and has advocated to bring prayer back to schools and dared "the Supreme Court to come to Texas to enforce the separation of church and state."[17]

In August 2021, Huffines accused Abbott of using tax dollars to "advocate for transgender ideology". Huffines was referring to two pages on the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services' (DFPS) website that contained resources for LGBTQ youths, including a suicide hotline. The pages were removed from the site within hours.[18]

In January 2022, Huffines declined to fire a staffer who had previously worked for far-right conspiracy website InfoWars and who had ties to the white nationalist movement; in a statement, Huffines said that his campaign would not engage in "cancel culture".[19][20]

On March 1, 2022, Huffines lost the Republican primary, receiving only 12% of the vote against Abbott, who won the primary by a large margin.

Election history

2022
2022 Texas gubernatorial Republican primary results[21]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Greg Abbott (incumbent) 1,286,454 66.4%
Republican Allen West 238,023 12.3%
Republican Don Huffines 232,166 12.0%
Republican Chad Prather 73,903 3.8%
Republican Ricky Lynn Perry 62,079 3.2%
Republican Kandy Kaye Horn 23,352 1.2%
Republican Paul Belew 11,253 0.6%
Republican Danny Harrison 10,713 0.6%

2018
Texas general election, 2018: Senate District 16[22]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Nathan Johnson 159,228 54.13
Republican Don Huffines (incumbent) 134,933 45.87

2014
Texas Republican primary election, 2014: Senate District 16[23]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Don Huffines 25,141 50.64
Republican John Carona (incumbent) 24,509 49.36
Texas Republican general election, 2014: Senate District 16
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Don Huffines (unopposed) 106,546 100

References
  1. KERA, Elizabeth Myong (May 11, 2021). "Who Is Don Huffines? Former State Senator Challenges Gov. Greg Abbott". Houston Public Media. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
  2. "Huffines victory shows the fight for the soul of the Texas GOP is over, and the tea party won". Dallas News. August 17, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  3. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/03/01/us/elections/results-texas.html
  4. https://donhuffines.com/about/
  5. https://donhuffines.com/about/
  6. https://donhuffines.com/about/
  7. Hethcock, Bill (October 4, 2019). "Building on Inspiration: Q&A with Don Huffines, co-owner of Huffines Communities". BizJournals.com.
  8. https://donhuffines.com/about/
  9. "Donald Huffines". ballotpedia.org.
  10. Shelley Kofler. "Don Huffines, Likely Headed To Texas Senate, Supports Term Limits, School Choice, Creationism". keranews.org.
  11. Rocha, Polo (July 8, 2015). "Just One Bill Among Three Freshman Senators". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved February 13, 2022.
  12. "The 2017 Texas Senate, from Right to Left, by Mark P. Jones". TribTalk. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  13. "Bill would wreck bond elections" (opinion), San Antonio Express-News, February 26, 2017, p. F2.
  14. "Election Returns". Texas Secretary of State. November 6, 2018. Archived from the original on November 10, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2018.
  15. Wallace, Jeremy (July 22, 2021). "Sen. Rand Paul wades into Texas governor's race against Abbott". Houston Chronicle. Hearst Newspapers. Retrieved July 24, 2021.
  16. Svitek, Patrick (May 10, 2021). "Republican former state Sen. Don Huffines launches primary challenge to Gov. Greg Abbott". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  17. Rowen 4, Ben (January 11, 2022). "Greg Abbott's GOP Challengers Debated Without Him on Monday—and Gave Him Hell". Texas Monthly. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  18. Yurcaba, Jo (October 12, 2021). "Texas agency removes webpages with resources for LGBTQ youths". NBC News.
  19. Hernandez, Emily (January 20, 2022). "Texas GOP gubernatorial candidate says he won't fire staffer tied to white nationalist movement". The Texas Tribune.
  20. "Texas Candidate For Governor Won't Fire Staffer With White Nationalist Ties". HuffPost. January 19, 2022.
  21. "Candidate Information". Texas Secretary of State John B. Scott. Retrieved December 17, 2021.
  22. "2014 Republican Party Primary Election". Office of the Secretary of State (Texas). Archived from the original on November 8, 2006. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
  23. "2014 Republican Party Primary Election". Office of the Secretary of State (Texas). Archived from the original on January 9, 2014. Retrieved March 4, 2014.
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