Mitch Little, a Republican nominee for the Texas House, recently discussed his victory in the primary election and his plans for school choice and more in the upcoming legislative session.
Little joined Brad Johnson from The Texan for a podcast episode this week.
As reported by The Dallas Express, Little beat out that Little won the Republican primary for Texas House District 65, which covers the northern suburbs of Dallas and Fort Worth, as well as part of southern Denton County, defeating state Rep. Kronda Thimesch in March.
An attorney, Little represented during his impeachment trial. His campaign focused on opposing the appointment of Democrats to chair committees, reducing property taxes to make home ownership more achievable, and defending the Second Amendment.
“My opponent talks like a Republican but votes like a Democrat,” Little had stated about Thimesch in a January interview with The Cross Timbers Gazette.
Now preparing to go up against Democratic nominee Detrick Deburr in November, Little told Johnson that he has been balancing his time between practicing law and familiarizing himself with the legislative landscape by meeting with legislators, lobbyists, and constituents.
“I jokingly told my wife that I woke up on March 6 with a lot of new friends,” he said.
Many of these friends are also signatories of the “Contract With Texas” intended to reform the Texas House and outline demands for the future speaker, as covered previously reported in The Dallas Express.
“I think we are going to have a very solid conservative voting bloc in the Republican caucus, and it’s probably going to be the largest block of any at the end of the day,” Little remarked.
In terms of legislative priorities, Little explained his belief that school choice will be one of the first issues addressed.
“I think many of the new legislators are going to review the bill from the last special session and conclude that it wasn't good enough, so we're basically starting over with much more support for the school choice issue than we had at the end of the last special session.”
His own viewpoint is to ensure that school vouchers are accessible to everyone.
Discussing what the new bill might entail, Little said. “Gov. Abbott never explicitly endorsed the previous bill as fulfilling his promise of school choice for all. It seemed like he was possibly okay with a compromised outcome at the end of the last special session.”
“I think the approach to school choice needs to be different from where we left off in 2023,” he continued. “We need a better bill that will have a greater impact on more families.”
The movement for school choice has been gaining momentum in Texas, with Gov. Abbott expressing optimism about the next legislature introducing a new bill that would bring significant changes to public and private school funding, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Opponents of school choice have criticized it as a way to divert funding from underfunded public schools, labeling it as a form of “welfare for the wealthy,” as Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) described it, according to Fox 4 KDFW, polling indicates that Texas voters — both from the Republican and Democratic parties — desire affordable education options.
While numerous publicly funded school districts are struggling currently facing challenges due to the loss of federal COVID-era funding and new security requirements, Little indicated that this is a separate issue from school choice.
“We should have well-managed and adequately funded public school systems that operate within a reasonable budget, and we should also have school choice — so how do we achieve all of these objectives?” he stated.
