Congratulations to Roger Williams for winning the run-off election for U.S. Congress Texas District CD25. He won over our preferred candidate, Wes Riddle, in the run-off on July 31st, 2012.  Roger will make a good representative for this district.

Information on our Republican Candidates for U.S. Congressional District TX25
This is a new district due to the redistricting of Texas because of the 2010 Census changes. The old District 25 was Congressman’s Lloyd Doggett’s district and our current District 17 [Bill Flores] has changed so Johnson County is no longer in this district.  For the 2012 Election….we will have to elect a new congressman for our new district.The March 2012 Republican Primary will be an important election.  If there is no Democrat challenger for this seat, the winner of the Republican Primary in March will become our new U.S. Congressman. Our Tea Party has not endorsed any one of these candidates yet and encourages you to become familiar with these candidates.

These were the original candidates for the Republican Primary election for U.S. Congress for the new District 25:

David Garrison [http://garrisonforcongress.com/]

Justin Hewlett [http://www.justinhewlett.com/]

Wes Riddle [http://www.wesriddle.com/]

Chad Wilbanks[http://chadwilbanks.com/]

Michael Williams [http://www.williamsfortexas.com/]

Roger Williams

David Garrison

Candidate for U.S. Congress from Texas District #25 [Garrison spoke to the Texas Patriots Tea Party on Oct 25th, 2011]

David (Dave) Garrison is a Texas businessman, attorney, and educator with over 38 years of executive business experience with top United States companies such as USAA Inc., Halliburton Corporation and Aetna.  He is married to his high school sweetheart, Rachel, and they are the parents of four children and have 15 grandchildren and have served as foster parents to eleven children.  Dave has strong core values and religious convictions and has served as an elder, deacon, Sunday School teacher and youth leader at church.  As a child, Dave lived in a home without running water or electricity. He learned early on the values of hard work, education and getting the most out of every dollar — principles that have served him well over the years. As a young husband and father, he worked while going to school to support his young family and eventually obtained his law degree and became a successful business executive.  For 17 years, Dave was directly responsible for Halliburton’s international supply chain operations in more than 56 countries and nearly $17 billion in annual expenses and contracts.  He retired as the Executive Vice President of Corporate Services for USAA in January 2008, after producing over $1 billion in cost savings for the corporation. He was also responsible for oversight of $5.6 billion in expenses and annual contract placements for the company.  He owns a home in Horseshoe Bay and is a resident of Travis County. David is a major contributor to candidates at the federal, state and local levels. A member of the Republican National Lawyers Association and member of several county Republican organizations throughout District 25. He is a President’s Club member of the Heritage Foundation.

Justin Hewlett

Candidate for U.S. Congress from Texas District #25 [Hewlett spoke to the Texas Patriots Tea Party on Oct 25th, 2011]

Justin is part of the 4th generation of Hewletts living and working in the heart of District 25. He was born and raised in Cleburne by Jack and Elizabeth Hewlett, devoted parents of three who taught all of their children the value of hard work and the importance of giving back to their community. Jack led by example serving his hometown for many years as the local Chrysler-Plymouth dealer, as a member of the Cleburne City Council, and as a County Commissioner.  When Justin graduated from Texas A&M University in 1981 he turned down a job with a national accounting firm to return to Cleburne to help run the brand new First State Bank (now First Financial) and raise his four children in an area where Christian values still matter.  Justin’s business expertise is just what we need to get America working again. Since 1984, he has managed and owned businesses providing jobs and opportunities to local families. He knows from experience what it takes to start and grow a new business … the skills we desperately need in Washington.  Justin will be the first to tell you that he is a businessman and volunteer, not a politician. He has taken time from work and family to serve his hometown over the years, first as a member of the Cleburne ISD school board and now as Mayor of Cleburne, where he has earned a reputation as a no-nonsense conservative. Justin also served on the Board of Directors of the Cleburne Chamber of Commerce and as President of the UnitedWay of Johnson County.  Justin and Sydney Hewlett have been married for 33 years and are the proud parents of two sons in the United States military, two daughters, and one granddaughter. The Hewletts are members of Granbury Street Church of Christ where Justin has served as a Deacon since 1985.

Wes Riddle

Candidate for U.S. Congress from Texas District #25 [Riddle spoke to the Texas Patriots Tea Party on Oct 25th, 2011]

Wesley Allen Riddle was born and raised in Houston, Texas. He went to Northbrook High School and then to the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY (Class of 1983). He spent twenty years in the U.S. Army and, at the time of his retirement, Lieutenant Colonel Riddle served at Fort Hood on III Corps Staff as the Chief of the Air Defense Element (ADE). Previous assignments include both stateside and overseas tours in Europe and the Pacific. Awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal. During the Gulf War, he commanded a Patriot Missile battery that shot incoming SCUD missiles in northern Saudi Arabia. From August 2000 to August 2002, he worked at the Office of Military Cooperation-Kuwait, U.S. Embassy, as Air Defense Advisor to the State of Kuwait.
Wes obtained his Master of Philosophy (M. Phil.) degree in Modern History from Oxford University in 1993 where he graduated with Distinction and was recipient of the University’s Sara Norton Prize for thesis work on nineteenth century political history of the United States. After which he joined the History Faculty at West Point for three years and taught Advanced American History, as well as the elective in American Political Tradition. While on faculty at the U.S. Military Academy he started what would be a prolific writing and lecture career. He was awarded a Salvatori Fellowship by The Heritage Foundation for 1996-97, and is widely published in the academic and opinion press on matters of American history and political theory.
In December 2000 he began writing his signature weekly conservative opinion column called “Horse Sense” in The Belton Journal, which spread to more small Texas newspapers and numerous opinion blogs including DallasBlog.com. In 2004 Wes placed second in the three-way Republican primary race for U.S. Congress (TX-District 31). After that he joined Vinnell Arabia, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman, and went to work in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as a defense contractor for 5 ½ years. In May 2010 he finished his overseas employment and leaving his position as Manager of the Force Integration Division (FID) joined again with the political fray. He founded the Central Texas Tea Party and became its chairman. He was also elected state director of the Republican Freedom Coalition (RFC) for the 2010-2012 term. From July to December 2010 he served as Policy Advisor to the Chairman of the Texas Workforce Commission.

Chad Wilbanks

Chad Wilbanks, 41, is self-employed since starting his consulting business in 2004 where he has advised elected officials, conservative grassroots leaders, and businesses. He started the GOP Leadership Conference, a training battleground for campaigns and the legislative process. Chad has also worked closely with GOPAC, the organization Newt Gingrich once led when Republicans took control of the United States House of Representatives in 1994.  Prior to starting his business, Chad was the Executive Director of the Republican Party of Texas. Many of the candidate and grassroots training manuals he wrote during his time at the Texas GOP are still being used today.  Active in his community, Chad is President of the Lake Travis Youth Association, which is a $1.5 million non-profit organization serving over 4,300 children in multiple youth sports programs. He has also served as President of the Lake Travis Youth Association for Soccer, as a board member for the Central Texas Youth Soccer Association, and as a board member for Leadership Lake Travis with the Lake Travis Independent School District.  Chad and his wife Rachelle have also served their church as Sunday school teachers.  Chad served on the 2001 Presidential Inaugural Committee for President George W. Bush, the 2003 Inaugural Committee for Governor Rick Perry, and to HAVA – Help America Vote Act in Texas – in 2002.  Chad and Rachelle are proud to call the Lake Travis area their home for the past 12 years. They have three children and are members of Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church.

Michael Williams

Candidate for U.S. Congress from Texas District #25 [Williams spoke to the Texas Patriots Tea Party on July 26, 2011].

Williams is a former member of the elected Texas Railroad Commission, a regulatory body over, not railroads, but the oil and natural gas industries. Williams is the first African American to hold a statewide elected executive office in Texas history. He was appointed to the commission by Governor George W. Bush in 1999, and won elections in 2000, 2002 and 2008 to retain the office before eventually resigning in 2011.  Williams served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Law Enforcement at the United States Department of the Treasurywith oversight responsibility for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. Customs Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (August 1989 – June 1990).In 1990, U.S. President George H. W. Bush appointed Williams to be Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, a post previously held by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.  He also served as Special Assistant to Attorney General Richard Thornburgh at the United States Department of Justice (January 1988 – June 1989). In 1988, former U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese awarded Williams the Attorney General’s “Special Achievement Award” for the conviction of six Ku Klux Klan members on federal weapons charges. Williams was a federal prosecutor from 1984–1988 and a former assistant district attorney in his hometown of Midland, Texas.Michael Williams was one of the speakers at the 2004 Republican National Convention, where he endorsed President George W. Bush. He also spoke at the 2008 Republican National Convention, where he endorsed Senator John S. McCain for president.

NOTE: If I have made any errors in the text above, please contact me at info@texaspatriotsteaparty.org.  Thanks.  Barry A. Schlech, Ph.D.