Drew Springer Jr.

Background

Springer graduated in 1985 from Weatherford High School in Weatherford in Parker County west of Fort Worth, Texas. He then studied accounting at the University of North Texas in Denton. He and his wife, Lydia, who married in 1991, have three children, Austin, Grant and Kate. They reside in her native community of Muenster in Cooke County. A businessman, Springer is a former controller of a railcar company. He thereafter was a manager of three companies with a total of more than one thousand employees. In 2005, he joined his father in business in the financial services industry.

Political career

Springer was elected in 2012 when the incumbent Republican, Rick Hardcastle of Vernon, stepped down after fourteen years because of multiple sclerosis. Representative Springer was appointed to the Agriculture and Livestock and the Land and Resource Management committees.

It initially appeared that Springer had lost the 2012 Republican primary election, when his chief opponent, Trent McKnight, a rancher from Throckmorton County, backed by Governor Rick Perry, state agriculture commissioner Todd Staples, the Texas Farm Bureau, and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association. finished with 49 percent of the vote. However, in the runoff election on July 31, with backing from two eliminated candidates in the primary, Springer topped McKnight, 8,434 (56.4 percent) to 6,521 (43.6 percent). Springer was unopposed in the 2012 general election in his heavily Republican district.

Himself a favorite of the Tea Party movement, Springer noted that McKnight is a former Democrat who had never voted in a Republican primary election until his own race in 2012. McKnight, the winner in eighteen of the twenty-two counties, blamed his loss on a high turnout in Springer's Cooke County, where there was also a competitive election for sheriff, and the much less participation in the counties in which McKnight led in the primary, despite the high-profile U.S. Senate primary between David Dewhurst and the winner, Ted Cruz. In addition to Cooke, Springer won in neighboring Montague County and Garza and Floyd counties.

In 2013, Springer, who considers himself a conservative in politics, joined the large Republican majority in the Texas House in supporting the successfully-passed legislation to limit the time during which a woman may procure an abortion from twenty-six to twenty weeks and to require upgraded health and sanitary conditions wherever abortions are performed. "This legislation will save thousands of unborn lives, while at the same time improving health and safety conditions for Texas women", Springer said.

Springer introduced the Shopping Bag Freedom Act, based on his opposition to an Austin municipal law which requires reusable shopping bags in stores in the capital city; he contends that banning one-time-use bags may pose a threat to consumers through the ready spread of food-borne illnesses, a view disputed by some of his critics. Springer calls the ban on plastic bags in Austin part of the "nanny-state" agenda.

Springer also filed HB 3218, commonly known as "Concealed Carry Everywhere", the most thorough Second Amendment bill filed in the Texas Legislature during the 83rd Legislative Session. He refiled the bill a second time during the first Special Session of the 83rd Legislature, but the bill was not given a hearing. Springer did however have some luck revising the law surrounding finger printing for Concealed Handgun Licenses, making the process simpler for citizens of rural Texas.

In 2015; Republican state representative Drew Springer filed HB 464, a bill to require minor party nominees to pay filing fees. "Republican Drew Springer's bill is a fairness fee on minor parties, including the Libertarian and Green Parties. All Parties should have the same level of commitment to have their name on the ballet"

The bill would require all minor party nominees to pay fees or get signatures to be allowed to appear on the November election ballot. The fees range for most is a few hundred dollars or a few hundred signatures, depending on the office.

The Libertarian Party of Texas, claims, This law would effectively shut down third parties in Texas because they don't want to work or pay to a small fee to be on the ballet.

According to ballot access expert Richard Winger, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled twice that this sort of filing fee is unconstitutional. But the Texas law addressed these issues and was not thought to be unconstitutional.

On April 6, the Texas House Elections Committee voted 5-1 in favor of the bill. (Five Republicans voted yes, one Democrat voted no.) Similar bills have been filed by Texas Republicans in past legislative sessions.

Opponents explained, "Republicans have claimed in the past that their bills make things 'fair' because Republicans and Democrats have to pay filing fees for their primaries. Nothing could be further from the truth.

"Republicans and Democrats have to pay primary fees because it is the law. The filing fees pay for a tiny fraction of these costs.

"Libertarians and Greens, on the other hand, don't use primaries. They send in an email and our on the ballot. So they should have to pay a fee as well to be treated equal as a candidate to represent the citizens of Texas.