Rogers, Olcott race draws statewide attention, big money and big names

February 29

13:21 2024

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By Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan

A story published Wednesday, in the Texas Tribune, Greg Abbott, Tim Dunn spend millions in Texas GOP primary fights over vouchers, impeachment, once again highlights just how big the story about the race for the House District 60 State Representative seat in Stephens, Palo Pinto and Parker counties has become.

The battle between incumbent Glenn Rogers and challenger Mike Olcott has attracted media attention from across the state and money from a slew of billionaires and millionaires, Political Action Committees and Special Interest groups from Texas and beyond.

According to some of the stories, it’s also become a grudge match with Texas Governor Greg Abbott looking to punish Rogers for his vote against Abbott’s school voucher bill by switching his endorsement from Rogers to Olcott and making a personal appearance with Olcott in Mineral Wells, and Ken Paxton likewise looking to punish Rogers for joining a majority of Republicans and Democrats in the Texas House to impeach him earlier this year.

While the Breckenridge Texan does not have the resources to cover this race as extensively as we would like, we understand it’s an important race, not just for House District 60, but also for the state of Texas. So, we’ve gathered up some links and some stories and opinion pieces about the races from some larger media outlets, like the Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news site based out of Austin that has covered the race extensively, and an interesting column in Texas Monthly about attacks on Rogers (which included a Breckenridge Texan photo of the billboard in Breckenridge attacking Rogers) and a cover story in that issue about the outsized influence of billionaire Tim Dunn on Texas politics.

Also, we’re listing links to Letters to the Editor we’ve published in the Breckenridge Texan recently about the race. And, as always, we invite readers to send us their letters to the editor. We feel despite the large amount of attention this race has attracted statewide, it’s still important that the voice of our readers who actually live in the district should be heard. They are, after all, the ones who will decide the outcome of the race. To submit a letter to the editor, send your letter, along with your name, city where you live, and phone number (for verification purposes only) to: tony.pilkington@breckenridgetexan.com or P.O. Box 1228, Breckenridge TX 76424.

While these links are just few of the many stories that have been written about this race, we’ve feel the information covered in them is important to our readers to know. And because this is such an important race, we encourage our readers to go beyond the links we’ve included and do their own research to familiarize themselves with the issues in making their choice on the ballot. Rogers and Olcott have distinctly different views, especially on the school voucher issue. While the Breckenridge Texan does not endorse candidates or accept political advertising, we do feel it’s important to provide our readers with resources for information.

Here are the links to the stories and letters:

Breckenridge Texan