四虎影院

The Dec. 11 deadline to file for the March 5 primaries is fast approaching.

Several candidates have already filed and announced their intentions to run for the 26th Congressional District after Rep. Michael Burgess announced that he would not seek reelection.

Burgess, a longtime obstetrician, has represented District 26 in the U.S. House since 2003.

The district, which resembles a jigsaw puzzle piece on the state鈥檚 political map , covers a large portion of Denton County, including the southwestern part of Denton as well as Lewisville, Corinth, Highland Village and Little Elm. It also includes all of Cooke County and portions of Wise and Tarrant counties.

Several Republicans have filed for Burgess鈥� seat, and one Democrat has considered it while another filed for it.

Here鈥檚 a rundown of candidates so far, based on filings with the Federal Elections Commission, for a race that no doubt will be heated in early March.

Scott Armey, former Denton County judgeFormer Denton County Judge Scott Armey, a , announced this week that he is once again seeking the seat his father, Dick Armey, held for nine terms.

The elder Armey was a GOP icon, served as the House majority leader and co-authored the book Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto. He鈥檚 also for his legal battle over a half-built water tower in Bartonville.

Scott Armey sought his father鈥檚 seat in 2002 and was considered a shoo-in but was beaten by Burgess, whom D Magazine called 鈥渁n obscure gynecologist who voted Democratic during the Clinton years,鈥� in 2002.

As D Magazine reported, people in Denton County didn鈥檛 think Armey, who was in his early 30s then, was ready for the big leagues.

When Armey was county judge, he also began approving developers鈥� use of special taxing districts in the early 2000s to turn horse country into suburbia. It drew the ire of then-state Sen. Jane Nelson who, in 2001, penned a fiery letter to then-Attorney General John Cornyn, as D Magazine reported in the 2002 profile.

鈥淭he legislature never intended for county development districts, fresh water supply districts, and other utility districts to be used as a mechanism for subdivision developers to create their own governing boards with access to millions upon millions of public tax dollars but no accountability to taxpayers,鈥� Nelson wrote in the 2001 letter. 鈥淎t the very least, these practices constitute gross manipulations of law.鈥�

鈥淎nybody who鈥檚 got a complaint about [special taxing] districts needs to talk to their state reps and legislators,鈥� Armey told D Magazine then. 鈥淭hey are the people who created the laws and enacted them. We talked until we were blue in the face to get them to tighten up those laws [and] close the loopholes, and they wouldn鈥檛 act.鈥�

Two decades later, Armey believes he鈥檚 ready for his father鈥檚 old seat.

Brandon Gill is the founder of the DC Enquirer, a conservative website that aggregates content. Media Bias/Fact Check has rated DC Enquirer as right-biased, noting that the outlet uses articles and headlines that 鈥渁re highly emotional that appear designed to anger conservatives to induce article sharing.鈥�

Gill is a recent transplant to Flower Mound who in Texas earlier this year. He isn鈥檛 as familiar with the area as other candidates on the list but does support former President Donald Trump for president.

Burt Thakur, Jeopardy!

Burt Thakur鈥檚 motto is 鈥淭exas first. America first,鈥� according to .

Thakur, a Navy veteran, became a Jeopardy! champion in November 2020. He called it a childhood dream, and as he that December:

鈥淢y grandfather was my hero. He was the one who raised me. And after he died 鈥� I was very young 鈥� there was a giant hole in my heart because I felt so alone for so long. [Winning that first game] was the first time I remembered what his face looked like, in decades. So, if you want to know what Alex Trebek is to me, he鈥檚 鈥� in a sense 鈥� the guy who brought my grandfather back into my life.鈥�

Thakur in 2022, when he was running in the primaries for California鈥檚 25th Congressional District.

Thakur had filed for a neighboring Texas congressional seat last spring but switched to run for U.S. House District 26 three days after Burgess鈥� announcement, The Dallas Morning News .

Though Clint Burgess isn鈥檛 related to Rep. Burgess, the candidate鈥檚 last name could give him a shot in this race.

Clint Burgess is a former constable who represented Precinct 7 in Tarrant County from the early 2000s until 2020. He ran for reelection in November 2020 but to Sandra Lee, a Democrat who received nearly 10,000 more votes than Burgess, according to .

A Mansfield High School graduate, Burgess is also an Air Force veteran and served three tours of duty in Saudi Arabia and two tours in Turkey as a surveillance operator over Iraq after Operation Desert Storm, according to a in Mansfield Now, a community magazine.

Luisa Del Rosal鈥檚 campaign team that she grew up in a place 鈥渨here there was no rule of law and where individual ambition and talent are not given free reign鈥�

According to her campaign website, Del Rosal legally immigrated to Texas from Mexico and obtained her U.S. citizenship. She later enrolled at Southern Methodist University, where she earned dual bachelor鈥檚 degrees and a master鈥檚 in higher education policy and leadership.

A former executive director of SMU鈥檚 Tower Center for Public Policy and International Affairs, Del Rosal , a coach and consultant for sales and fundraising and a contributing columnist at The Dallas Morning News.

Del Rosal is a founding member of the Texas Latino-Jewish Leadership Council. She also has campaign experience. In 2020, she sought the Texas House District 114 seat but lost to John Turner, a Democrat.

Vladimir de Franceschi, a veteran corporate and securities lawyer, entered the District 26 race shortly before Thanksgiving. The candidate listed an address to a Lewisville strip mall with the Federal Election Commission.

The newcomer to Texas politics received his political science degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, a master鈥檚 degree in comparative politics from UC San Diego and a doctorate from Stanford Law School.

He was also a global director at the Founder Institute, a startup accelerator, and mentored startups from the U.S. and around the world, on Liu, Chen & Hoffman LLP鈥檚 website.

Ernest Lineberger Robinson III鈥檚 name website Thursday evening.

Robinson filed as a Democrat.

Newcomer Kelvin Leaphart had planned to seek the District 26 seat, made an announcement on social media and even met with the Robson Ranch Democratic Club in July. He told the club that he worked in higher education as a financial director.

He also served as a civil affairs specialist in the U.S. Army Reserves.

In a July 15 post, the Robson Ranch Democratic Club wrote that Leaphart and focus on college for all, criminal justice reform, responsible government spending and universal health care.

A month later, Leaphart announced on social media that he was no longer seeking office.

鈥淎fter careful consideration and discussions with party officials, I have come to the conclusion that my vision and platform may not align with what the party is currently seeking in a candidate,鈥� Leaphart posted to X, formerly known as Twitter.