In Collin County, Republican Angela Paxton defeated Phillip Huffines for the State Senate District 8 seat. It was the most expensive primary race – and among the most heated.
Cheers erupted when Angela Paxton took the stage inside the Courtyard Marriott in Allen Tuesday night. She said her opponent, Phillip Huffines, had called to concede and congratulate her.
“And I appreciate it very much. He said I will do everything I can to help us to defeat the Democrats in the fall, and I appreciate it very, very much.”
She faces either Democrat Mark Phariss or Democrat Brian Chaput; votes were still being counted early Wednesday morning.
Paxton said the battle against Paxton was hard-fought, but that she was looking forward to Republicans coming together in the November election.
The two campaigns spent a total of about $10 million, and they blanketed the airwaves with TV ads in recent weeks – ads that bashed each other.
Both candidates appealed to conservatives, but in those ads Paxton painted Huffines as having ties to liberal Democrats. Huffines, meanwhile, called attention to Paxton’s husband, Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was indicted for securities fraud; he denies the allegations.
Angela Paxton, a former guidance counselor, says if she wins this fall she plans to focus her attention on education.
“In the Texas Senate, we have two-thirds of our senators are biz people and attorneys, and we really don’t have anyone with an education background," she said. "So I’m very eager and excited to have an opportunity to work from that platform.”
Another area Paxton wants to focus on is helping kids. Paxton is an adopted child, and she says she wants to improve the state’s troubled foster care system.
