Bay Area Houston

Local politics. It’s important to your life. And wallet.

You might be wondering about the political signs with someone running for House District 129. It’s an important position and can affect your wallet. Texas is divided into 150 State House districts. House District 129 or HD129 is fully within Harris County and includes the Bay Area. You can see the map below. HD129 runs from Friendswood to Seabrook, from the Harris/Galveston County border to Beltway 8. There are 50 voting precincts within HD129.

HD129 has been represented by a Republican for over 30 years. The district has been gerrymandered to maintain that representation no matter who is running in the Republican primary. Because of this the winner of the Republican primary usually will win the general election but this year may be different for a number of reasons. The district was redrawn in 2020 with about a 10 point advantage for the republican candidate. With the recent unrest in the district and the country this 10 point difference might not be enough for a win by a Republican especially by a horrible candidate.

Over that 30 years the district has been represented by John Davis for 16 years, and Dennis Paul for 12 years. Both elected officials never met with their constituents. Both neglected what was impacting homeowners in the district. Because of this neglect HD129 has some of the highest home insurance premiums in the State. Our schools continue to be underfunded. Both supported school vouchers. John Davis actually sponsored a voucher bill when he was in office. Paul literally sat on the Insurance Committee as he watched our premiums go out the roof and insurance companies fled the district. Besides insurance, the cost of electricity is shocking, the cost of health insurance is out of reach for many, the general cost of living is also just simply out of control.

In November of 2026 the voters in HD129 will have a choice between former CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen and Albert Wittliff. You might want to check your wallet and vote. Here are the election results since 1998.

Mitchell beat out Bowen on fundraising for his 8 day out report. Mitchell raised $102,869 of which only $2025 came from within the district. $86,194 came from in-kind contributions. The donation from the major donors are listed below.

Two PACs the Associated Republicans of Texas Campaign Fund and Houston Region Business Coalition donated the $86,194. $11,500 came from other various PACs including $4,000 from the Texas Sands PAC an organization spending millions to promote gambling in Texas. Other PACs include Conservative Citizens’ Club PAC funded in part by Senator Money Mayes Middleton, HillCo PAC, Houston Police Officers Union PAC, ILA Local 24 Political Action Fund, and PAC of the Texas Hospital Assn. $2025 or about 2% came from donations within the district.

Between Bowen and Mitchell the PACs outside of the district are dominating the Republican race for the Bay Area State Representative.

You would think more people in the district would be supporting him. They are not.

In his 8 day out report Bowen received most of his money from PACs and outside of the district donors. He raised $89,000 which is a considerable amount and much more than his predecessor ever raised in one period. Of the $89,000, $65,000 came from 3 PACs, Texans for Lawsuit Reform ($40,000), Texans for a Conservative Majority ($15,000), and surprisingly Texas Trial Lawyer PAC ($10,000). That doesn’t make cents.

Texans for a Conservative Majority is the PAC formerly named Defend Texas Liberty. DTL was disbanded after they were caught meeting with Nick Fuentes, a well known white supremacist. This PAC is funded by two billionaires out of the Dallas area.

Of the remaining $24,000, only $3,700 came from within the district.

Tame when compared to other republican primaries.

Bob Mitchell, former President of the Bay Area Houston Economical Partnership took a swipe at Scott Bowen with one of his mailers. “35 years old, unmarried, lives alone”. Hum. To be fair that is what people said about him when he was on the School Board. He was a partisan hack running to take over the board. He had no experience in education besides graduating from Clear Lake High School. He had no children. He wasn’t married. He lived alone. Luckily his attempt to take over the board was stopped. Mitchell’s push card claims Bowen lost his school board race because of his support of the mask mandates. I think it was his support of school vouchers which made him lose by 8 points. I believe Mitchell is also in favor of school vouchers.

Bowen has struck back claiming Mitchell lives outside of the district and comparing him to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. It is a stretch claiming Mitchell’s support for policies supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the work place. Many companies actually embrace diversity in the workplace. It makes cents. It’s a lame attempt at a smear but it works on republicans.

Republican voters, especially those in the business sector, should know Mitchell is far more capable of representing the district. He has experience working with elected officials. He is the adult in the room. He has the support of the business community. Bowen has a history of failed leadership on the School Board. He has a history of taking a knee and doing the bidding of his party and Greg Abbott. He will be Abbott’s boy doing what he is told to do.

Early voting is ongoing.

Former CCISD Trustee Scott Bowen, seen here taking a knee to Greg Abbott, and former President of Bay Area Economic Partnership, Bob Mitchell, are raking in outside special interest money for their race to represent the Bay Area.

Scott Bowen and Bob Mitchell are running for the Republican nomination for State Representative of the Bay Area. Both have raised significant amounts of money for the primary election to be held March 3. You probably have seen the Bowen and Mitchell signs littering the district. Most of their money is coming from outside of the district and from Political Action Committees (PACs)

Scott Bowen has raised about $213,000 with $108,000 coming from Texans for Lawsuit Reform. Only $19,774 of all of Bowen’s donations came from within the district. TLR was created by David Weekley, a homebuilder, and his brother to limit lawsuits against those who harm consumers. Another $25,000 came from Texans United for a Conservative Majority PAC. This PAC is funded by the two billionaires out of Dallas, Timothy Dunn and Farris Wilks both featured on CNN (How two Texas megadonors have turbocharged the state’s far-right shift). They used to be called Defend Texas Liberty until their leadership was caught meeting with Nick Fuentes, a known extremist, white supremacist. (Go ahead and google him) Bowen recruited Defend Texas Liberty to fund candidates running for CCISD Trustee. They all lost. Defend Texas Liberty also financed the campaign for Bryan Slaton. Slaton was caught providing alcohol to an underaged staffer and having sex with her. He was the first House Representative to be removed from office.

Bob Mitchell raised $145,000 with $107,000 coming from the Associated Republicans of Texas Campaign Fund. About $18,331 came from within the district. Early voting starts Tuesday.

If you choose to attend to hear the Republican candidates for State Representative for the Bay Area discuss Sharia Law, expanding school vouchers, and Immigration. Hosted by the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership.

This should be interesting. I45Now is sponsoring a forum between the two republicans for State Representative of the Bay Area. Come learn how they intend to abolish property taxes, end Sharia Law, and expand the school voucher program. You can submit your questions here: https://form.jotform.com/i45NOW/SH129GOPForum