High Plains Republican Women host newly elected state senator

Incoming Texas Senator for District 31 Kevin Sparks was the featured speaker Tuesday night at a High Plains Republican Women event held in Amarillo.

Sparks will take over for long-serving Amarillo resident Kel Seliger who has been in the Texas Senate for nearly two decades. Seliger decided not to seek re-election during the 2022 election cycle in response to his district being redrawn, removing four Texas Panhandle counties and adding more counties closer to the Midland area.

In March, Sparks won the Republican Primary over Tim Reid of Amarillo and Stormy Bradley of Big Spring, Texas, garnering 55% of the vote. Spurring the victory for Sparks was an overwhelming number of endorsements from conservative political action committees and high-profile endorsements from party leaders, including former president Donald Trump. Sparks also had an overwhelming advantage in campaign contributions raising over $1.4 million compared with Reid’s $222,000 and Bradley’s $42,000.

Jana May, president of the High Plains Republican Women, spoke about having the newly elected Sparks speak at the group’s monthly meeting. May said she had just returned from five days of campaigning in Georgia to get Herschel Walker elected to the Senate.

“I have known him for a couple of years and it's an honor to have him here and to have him as our new state senator,” May said.

Before speaking to the crowd, Sparks took some questions from the Amarillo-Globe-News. Sparks said he had been a frequent visitor to the area since he was elected in an effort to give proper representation to the largest city in his congressional district.

Asked what he had been discussing with groups across the Panhandle, Sparks said he had been trying to get a stronger grasp of the needs of the Panhandle.

“I have been meeting with all kinds of groups trying to understand their needs,” Sparks said. “So, as we go into the legislative session, I will have developed some relationships with some folks that I can call with issues that are critical to our district come up. “

He said he had met with law enforcement leaders across the Panhandle to see what is required to make their jobs easier and more effective for rural law enforcement.

When asked about the concern of some people in the Amarillo area that feel that the Panhandle will be less of a priority, with the leadership of the state senate position going to someone from the Permian Basin far removed from the panhandle.

Sparks said that with the continued growth of the Texas population, there was no other place for the district to expand to other than the Midland area.

“From my perspective, I think the district is fairly well balanced in people being represented,” Sparks said. “We have spent an awful lot of time in the north part of the district since I won my primary because I intend to represent them just as fervently as the south part of the district.

Speaking about his priorities as the state senator for the district, Sparks focused on the Texas power grid issues.

“One of the things that we have to have some movement on this legislative session is going to be correcting some of the problems we have had with the ERCOT power grid,” Sparks said. “We saw some effects from winter storm Uri two winters ago. We still have a long way to go to put Texas in a good position so that we have good reliable electricity for the long term.”

Sparks also spoke about the lack of available mental health care in the Panhandle.

“One of the things that I have heard quite a bit about in Amarillo is Mental illness and caring for those suffering from mental illness,” Speaks said. “Judge Tanner has been a big proponent of getting a facility up here. That is one of the things I have been working with the Lt. Governor on and I am extremely optimistic that we will be able to make strides in securing a facility up here.”

Sparks also commented on the growth of the Amarillo area and the need for better highway access to the region. He said much of the responsibility will be on the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the city to address these issues.

“I know there is going to be a lot of TxDOT dollars that are going to be available to address these matters and it will be a matter of the state working with Amarillo and local communities to figure out what will be the best for everybody involved," Sparks added.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: High Plains Republican Women host Kevin Sparks