Texas Republicans Want to Disqualify Greg Abbott's Candidate

Texas Republicans are seeking to disqualify one of their primary opponents—a candidate backed by Governor Greg Abbott—over residency questions they say should have him removed from the ballot.

Two of Brent Hagenbuch's primary rivals have filed lawsuits challenging his candidacy for the only GOP-held Senate seat open in 2024. There are four Republican candidates running for the solid-red district in North Texas: Hagenbuch, emergency room physician Carrie de Moor, conservative activist and attorney Jace Yarbrough, and former police officer Cody Clark.

Hagenbuch's residency has sparked upset from his opponents, who point to the state Constitution's requirement that mandates candidates for legislative office to have lived in the district they seek to represent for at least a year before an election. This would require all four of the candidates to have lived in Senate District 30 since November 5, 2023.

Hagenbuch, a Denton County businessman who formerly chaired the county GOP, listed his address as an office building in the district when he filed, saying he had lived in the district for a month and a half at that point. But his rivals argue that property, tax and voter registration records—including his vote in the November 2023 election—all undermine his claims as they indicate that he resided at an address in a neighboring district as of November 5.

Hagenbuch has the support of Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick in his bid to succeed retiring Senator Drew Springer. De Moor is backed by Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Newsweek reached out to Abbott's office via email for comment.

All three of his primary opponents have taken action in light of the questions raised about Hagenbuch's residency. De Moor filed a lawsuit in Denton County, Yarbrough is asking the Second Court of Appeals to intervene and Cody has asked the Texas Rangers to investigate Hagenbuch.

Those efforts have been unsuccessful so far. The challenge brought by de Moor faced a setback Monday after the hearing in the case was postponed when the judge learned that Hagenbuch had submitted a filing that argued he "slept there, showered there, ate there and lived there" at the "corporate apartment" he leased in his office building.

The hearing was pushed until January 19, a day before mail ballots have to start going out to military and overseas voters. The primary is March 5.

Hagenbuch's campaign blasted his Republican opponents for trying to disqualify him, likening them to Democrats seeking to remove former President Donald Trump from 2024 presidential election ballots.

"They fear the candidate, so they're trying to knock him off the ballot," Hagenbuch spokesperson Allen Blakemore told reporters on Monday.

De Moor's lawyer cast suspicions over Hagenbuch's last-minute filing on Monday, asking the judge, "A guy shows up in court with a $1 lease that, if it's true, would solve all of these problems for him, and it just magically shows up at the last minute?"

Judge Lee Gabriel said she was "at a complete loss as to why" Hagenbuch's lease wasn't disclosed until hours before the hearing and agreed to move the date at de Moor's request. Hagenbuch's lawyer insisted that the timing of the disclosure was "not strategic" and blamed it on a heavy workload.