GOP state Rep. Lyle Larson, who has increasingly broken with his party, won’t seek reelection

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State Rep. Lyle Larson, R-San Antonio, who bucked his enactment connected a fig of large issues this year, announced Wednesday helium volition not question reelection.

In an email to constituents, Larson said helium was pursuing done connected authorities helium has repeatedly introduced that imposes a word bounds of 12 years connected immoderate elected authoritative astatine the authorities level.

"As a beardown proponent of word limits, volition travel the limits we antecedently projected successful this legislation," Larson wrote.

Larson was archetypal elected successful 2010 to correspond House District 122 successful the San Antonio area.

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He had been progressively expected to walk connected a 2022 reelection run arsenic helium grew disillusioned with his enactment and imaginable GOP candidates lined up for his seat. Larson was the lone Republican to reason the GOP's precedence elections measure that led House Democrats to interruption quorum this summer. He besides was the lone Republican to ballot against authorities that Republican supporters argued would ace down connected the teaching of critical contention theory successful Texas classrooms. More recently, helium filed a long-shot bill during the existent peculiar league to supply rape and incest exemptions for Texas' caller near-total termination ban, contempt antecedently voting for it.

Larson, a erstwhile San Antonio City Council subordinate and Bexar County commissioner, has besides stood mostly unsocial wrong the House GOP for his enactment for expanding Medicaid, filing authorities to bash truthful during this year's regular session.

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Larson has travel to regularly usage his Twitter relationship to lament the partisan divisions astatine the Capitol, and helium has advocated for ending America's two-party governmental strategy and floated a "Texas Independent Party."

Larson was a apical state of erstwhile House Speaker Joe Straus, R-San Antonio — and has remained an admirer, publicly encouraging the mean Straus past period to tally for statewide office.

This twelvemonth was not the lone clip Larson recovered himself astatine likelihood with his party. Abbott battled to unseat him successful 2018 arsenic the politician sought to marque examples retired of a trio of House Republicans who had fallen retired of favour with him. Larson easy defeated the superior challenger whom Abbott had backed.

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Larson's determination not to tally for reelection opens a Republican-leaning sprawling territory northbound of San Antonio, and a fewer candidates person already circled the seat. Nico LaHood, the erstwhile Bexar County territory attorney, has already said helium is moving successful the GOP superior for HD-122. Elisa Chan, a erstwhile San Antonio City Council member, has formed an exploratory committee for the primary. And Mark Dorazio, a subordinate of State Republican Executive Committee and erstwhile Bexar County GOP chair, has filed paperwork with the Texas Ethics Commission indicating his involvement successful the seat.

In his email to constituents, Larson noted that the boundaries of HD-122 are acceptable to "significantly" displacement owed to redistricting, spreading much into the northwest suburbs of San Antonio. However, Larson remains a nonmigratory of the projected caller district, according to the Texas Legislative Council.

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