Voters will decide in November to elect Republican Andy Hopper or Democrat Angela Brewer to represent District 64 in the Texas House of Representatives.
Hopper defeated incumbent Lynn Stucky in a runoff for the Republican nomination, while Brewer ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the March primaries. This will be her second attempt at the District 64 seat.
In interviews with the Denton Record-Chronicle, Brewer stressed her focus on public education and reproductive rights, while Hopper said his priorities are in immigration and property taxes.
District 64 covers the entirety of Wise County, as well as most of the city of Denton, plus Krum and northwestern Denton County.
Angela Brewer
Brewer is a native of Denton who graduated from Denton High School and the University of North Texas. Brewer currently teaches at UNT.
Brewer ran for the same seat four years ago, losing to Stucky. Two years later, after district realignment, she decided not to run again. Brewer told the Denton Record-Chronicle she regretted not running since Stucky ran unopposed during the general election.
“He was the only name on the ballot — I actually kind of cried,” Brewer said. “I was pretty upset with myself for not getting in the race and not giving people a choice.
“Democracy really requires that we have a choice and seeing people go unopposed in the race, Republicans or Democrats, I think it’s just — it’s kind of heartbreaking.”
Brewer said one of the biggest reasons she wanted to run again is Gov. Greg Abbott’s current push for education savings accounts, also called school vouchers.
“There’s going to be the governor’s effort to push private school vouchers,” Brewer said. “I am 100% committed against private school vouchers and to keeping all of the public money in public schools.”
She said she will advocate for abortion rights in Texas since the state has some of the strictest abortion laws in the nation. Brewer said the ban is harming women and also affects the medical field, noting that medical students are choosing to leave Texas.
“In addition to protecting women’s autonomy and kind of right to decide what goes on with their bodies, we really have to look at some of these unintended consequences of the abortion ban, too, and making sure that we can fix that,” Brewer said.
Brewer said that when she first ran against Stucky, they both had different ideologies, but he was rational and paid attention to constituents across the district.
She said Hopper is different from Stucky.
“[Hopper] intends to go to Austin to represent Wise County, not the entire district,” Brewer said. “And he is a guy who is just very ideological and kind of unwilling to work with anyone who doesn’t see the world the same way he sees it, and I think that’s a huge problem for our district because, at the end of the day, we have to do politics to get elected. But when we get to Austin when a legislative session starts, it is all about partnerships and coalition building and figuring out who shares my interest — not my worldview, but my interest to benefit the constituents, to benefit my district.”
Andy Hopper
A former Missouri and Denton resident, Hopper co-founded the Wise County Conservatives organization. He joined the Texas State Guard in 2014 and is currently a chief warrant officer.
Hopper holds a master’s in computer science from UNT, where he has taught as an adjunct professor. He has worked in the private sector and defense industry as a software engineer for more than two decades.
Hopper succeeded in his second primary attempt at the seat that Stucky has held since 2016. In 2022, Hopper lost to Stucky in the GOP primary by less than 100 votes.
Although Hopper lost in 2022, he didn’t retreat. He continued to spread his platform message in the area and said he started campaigning early in June last year, ultimately winning him the nomination in May.
“I really think it was just a time of getting the message out, getting your name out there, and proliferating our ideas and allowing folks to evaluate those [ideas],” he said.
During the primary, Stucky accused Hopper of taking donations from a super PAC associated with a “known Nazi sympathizer” and white supremacist, Nick Fuentes.
Stucky called on Hopper to denounce the PAC, called Defend Texas Liberty, after Hopper received $55,000 in a previous campaign.
“I didn’t know who he was at the time,” Hopper said. “I think that the argument that they were trying to make is that if someone met someone, and you’d met someone who had met that person, that therefore you’re complicit in some way. It’s a ridiculous argument.”
Hopper said the border crisis is one of the main issues he will address if elected, saying it’s a state and national issue.
“It is an existential threat to the continued existence of our state and our country, to continue to allow the flood of fentanyl, the sex trafficking, the largest slave trade in American history is going on right now,” Hopper said. “And so it is something that affects people. It’s not a faraway problem. So, without a doubt, that’s the most important issue.”
Another issue Hopper hopes to address if elected is property taxes in Denton County.
“[People] are really having a hard time trying to understand why their property taxes and their homeowners insurance are oftentimes more expensive or as expensive as their mortgage,” Hopper said. “And that’s a real kitchen table sort of problem.”
If elected, Hopper aims to bring the ideology of reevaluating how the Legislature works. He said that while the state has a Republican majority, Democrats are still passing bills at a high rate. It’s something other states with a Republican majority don’t really deal with, Hopper said.
“People are acutely aware that the issue that we face as a state and as a country is the rise of the ‘uni-party,’ which is basically, Republicans that conspire with Democrats to advance the agenda that is threatening our stake in our country,” Hopper said.
Early voting for the Nov. 5 general election runs from Oct. 21 through Nov. 1.