School voucher advocate Marc LaHood wins San Antonio race for Texas House

San Antonio attorney Marc LaHood narrowly defeated Democrat Laurel Swift in Tuesday’s race to represent Texas House District 121. The Republican criminal defense attorney grabbed 52.6% of the vote compared to his opponent’s 47.4%.

The race in HD 121 — which snakes from Alamo Heights through Northwest San Antonio up through Stone Oak — mostly revolved around the issue of school vouchers.

Indeed, LaHood defeated fellow Republican Steve Allison in the spring primaries after Gov. Greg Abbott targeted the three-term incumbent for not supporting school vouchers. Allison later threw his support behind Swift, citing fears about how vouchers would hurt Texas’ public schools.

Following Abbott’s embarrassing failure to pass vouchers last legislative session, he vowed to primary every member of his party who challenged him on the issue.

The Republican governor visited San Antonio at least four times in the past seven months to stump for LaHood, who ran a failed campaign for Bexar County District Attorney.

During her campaign watch party at Stone Werks Big Rock Grill in Lincoln Heights, Swift called Tuesday’s results disappointing. Even so, she said she’s not giving up on her budding political career.

“I’ve been more inspired in the last year trying to run for office than I was in the last 20 years of my job,” the healthcare sales rep-turned-politician said. “We will keep doing this and keep doing this. I want to serve this district. I want to serve the people of Texas. I want to do things that make this world a better place.”

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This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2024.