Tarrant County holds on to its reputation as one of the most conservative counties in the state and nation, and a new list underscores the county's conservative credentials.
The freshman class in the Texas House of Representatives is likely going to be the most conservative group of incoming lawmakers ever in Austin, concludes longtime Texas Capitol watcher Mike Hailey. And the most conservative of the members in the freshman class are coming from Tarrant County, says Hailey, editor of the Capitol Inside website.
In fact, in Capitol Inside's "conservative rankings" of all 40 House freshman, the top three are from Tarrant County: Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth (pictured), Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, and Stephanie Klick, R-Fort Worth.
The rankings are based on endorsements they received as candidates, the sources of their campaign contributions, their stands on key issues and other factors.
Krause and Stickland deserved special notice because they already have filed a state constitutional amendment proposal that would give voters the chance "to make private schools in Texas more immune from state and local government regulation than they are now," Hailey wrote.
Klick, a former chair of the Tarrant County Republican Party, may ultimately wind up being the most conservative freshman in the House, Hailey added.
Other Tarrant GOP freshmen and their ranking on the Capitol Inside list: 11) Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth, and 12) Giovanni Capriglione, R-Southlake.
Conversely, Tarrant's freshman Democrat in the House, Fort Worth's Nicole Collier, ranked next to last on the conservative list, ahead of only Toni Rose, D-Dallas.
-- John Gravois
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