Lance Gooden

Lance Gooden
Member of the Texas House of Representatives
from the 4th district
Assumed office
January 10, 2017
Preceded by Stuart Spitzer
In office
January 11, 2011 – January 13, 2015
Preceded by Betty Brown
Succeeded by Stuart Spitzer
Personal details
Born (1982-12-01) December 1, 1982
Terrell, Texas, U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s)
Alexa Calligas (m. 2016)
Education University of Texas, Austin (BA, BBA)

Lance Gooden (born December 1, 1982) is a Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 4. He initially served from 2011 through 2015 before losing his November 2014 re-election bid. He was returned to office in the 2016 elections and sworn into his most recent term in office on January 10, 2017.

Early life and education

A native of Terrell in Kaufman County, a city east of Dallas, Texas, Gooden graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, from which he received both a Bachelor of Arts in government and a Bachelor of Business Administration.

Texas House of Representatives

In the 2010 primary election, Gooden won 50.5 percent of the vote, upsetting six-term incumbent Republican Representative Betty Brown.[1] Gooden had formerly been Brown's legislative assistant.

Upon taking office early in 2011, Gooden worked on the state budget in an attempt to eliminate wasteful spending. He served on these House committees: Appropriations, County Affairs, and House Administration, the latter of which handles employment by the House. In 2010, Gooden had no Democratic opponent in his heavily Republican district.[2][3]

Gooden won renomination to a second term in the Republican primary held on May 29, 2012. He polled 6,385 votes (53.5 percent) to 5,545 (46.5 percent) for his opponent, Stuart Spitzer.[4][5] Gooden was then unopposed for his second term in the general election held on November 6, 2012.

However, on March 4, 2014, Spitzer, in a second bid for the office, unseated Gooden in the Republican primary. Spitzer polled 8,421 votes (51 percent) to Gooden's 8,079 (49 percent).[6] Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio, made a campaign stop for Gooden's behalf in Forney in Kaufman County, a month before the primary election. Accompanying Straus to Forney was State Senator Bob Deuell,[7] who lost his own seat in the subsequent May 27 runoff election to the Tea Party movement choice, Bob Hall.


In 2016, however, Gooden staged a successful comeback and defeated Spitzer in the March 1 Republican primary, 14,500 votes (51.8 percent) to 13,502 (48.2 percent). He returned to the state House in January 2017.[8]

He is currently the Republican nominee for the 5th Congressional District of Texas.

Personal life

On October 1, 2016, Gooden married Alexa Calligas, whose family is from Shreveport, Louisiana.[9] On February 1, 2018 the couple welcomed their first child, a boy.[10]

References

  1. ↑ ""Gooden upsets Brown"". Athens Review. March 3, 2010. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  2. ↑ Dallas News
  3. ↑ Kaufmann Herald
  4. ↑ "Republican primary election returns, May 29, 2012". enr.sos.state.tx.us. Archived from the original on June 10, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2012.
  5. ↑ "About Stuart Spitzer". stuartspitzer.com. Archived from the original on April 4, 2015. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  6. ↑ "Republican primary election returns, March 4, 2014". enr.sos.state.tx.us. Archived from the original on March 5, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Denise Bell, "Texas Speaker of the House Straus Visits Forney to Endorse Rep. Gooden," February 4, 2014". The Forney Post. Archived from the original on March 6, 2014. Retrieved March 6, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Republican primary returns". Texas Secretary of State. March 1, 2016. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Off to Rio". The Shreveport Times. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
  10. ↑ http://lancegooden.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com/meet-lance/
Texas House of Representatives
Preceded by
Betty Brown		 Member of the Texas House of Representatives
from the 4th district
2011–2015		 Succeeded by
Stuart Spitzer
Preceded by
Stuart Spitzer		 Member of the Texas House of Representatives
from the 4th district
2017–present		 Incumbent
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