Lance Gooden

Early life and education

A native of Terrell in Kaufman County, a city east of Dallas, Texas, Gooden graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, from which he received both a Bachelor of Arts in government and a Bachelor of Business Administration.

Texas House of Representatives

In the 2010 primary election, Gooden won 50.5 percent of the vote, upsetting six-term incumbent Republican Representative Betty Brown. Gooden had formerly been Brown's legislative assistant.

Upon taking office early in 2011, Gooden worked on the state budget in an attempt to eliminate wasteful spending. He served on these House committees: Appropriations, County Affairs, and House Administration, the latter of which handles employment by the House. In 2010, Gooden had no Democratic opponent in his heavily Republican district.

Gooden won renomination to a second term in the Republican primary held on May 29, 2012. He polled 6,385 votes (53.5 percent) to 5,545 (46.5 percent) for his opponent, Stuart Spitzer. Gooden was then unopposed for his second term in the general election held on November 6, 2012.

However, on March 4, 2014, Spitzer, in a second bid for the office, unseated Gooden in the Republican primary. Spitzer polled 8,421 votes (51 percent) to Gooden's 8,079 (49 percent). Speaker Joe Straus of San Antonio, made a campaign stop for Gooden's behalf in Forney in Kaufman County, a month before the primary election. Accompanying Straus to Forney was State Senator Bob Deuell, who lost his own seat in the subsequent May 27 runoff election to the Tea Party movement choice, Bob Hall.

In 2016, however, Gooden staged a successful comeback and defeated Spitzer in the March 1 Republican primary, 14,500 votes (51.8 percent) to 13,502 (48.2 percent). He returned to the state House in January 2017.

Personal life

On October 1, 2016, Gooden married Alexa Calligas, whose family is from Shreveport, Louisiana.