U.S. Rep. , R-Sherman, is quitting Congress and running for his old seat in the Texas Senate.
Fallon filed Monday for Senate District 30, a seat that is newly open after its incumbent, Sen. , R-Muenster, announced Tuesday he would not seek reelection. That means Fallon will leave Congress at the end of his current term.
Fallon quickly earned the support of Lt. Gov. , the powerful presiding officer of the upper chamber.
"At the end of the day, the decision came down to, If we lose Texas, we lose the nation," Fallon said in a brief interview. "It鈥檚 just terribly important to ensure that Texas has written a great success story and I want to keep moving that forward."
Fallon held the state Senate seat for two years prior to Springer. He called those "the best two years I ever spent" in politics.
Fallon gave up the seat to run for Congress in 2020 after former President Donald Trump tapped then-U.S. Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Heath, to be director of national intelligence.
Senate District 30 is a solidly Republican district that stretches from the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs up to the Oklahoma state line.
Patrick said in statement that SD-30 voters "couldn鈥檛 ask for a better candidate."
"Pat was a solid member when he served in the Senate, and now he returns from Washington with a wealth of new experience," Patrick said. "I am proud to endorse [Fallon] and look forward to joining him on the campaign trail."
Frisco trauma surgeon Carrie de Moor is already running in the GOP primary for SD-30. She was originally running against Springer before he announced his retirement.
Before serving in Congress and the state Senate, Fallon was a member of the Texas House.
Fallon鈥檚 decision to run for his old Texas Senate seat means there will be a vacancy in Texas鈥� 4th Congressional District. The district is safely Republican and covers a swath of northeast Texas.
Candidate filing for the March primary opened Saturday and closes Dec. 11.