King says Basin, Panhandle politically similar
Feb. 26—Now that statewide redistricting has added Andrews and Gaines counties to Rep. Ken King's 88th District, the Canadian Republican will include them in his plan to bolster security in public schools.
Having recently driven the 700-mile round trip from his hometown to Andrews for a chamber of commerce banquet, King said the extra $30 billion in revenues that legislators will appropriate for the coming biennium should also enable them to address rural health care and road-building and maintenance.
"On the heels of the tragedy in Uvalde, we'll be talking about allowing local control in every school district for school security," he said, referring to the legislative session that's underway in Austin. "Those that don't have the ability to have their own police forces may still need software monitoring, security sensors and mental health training for health and school personnel to counsel troubled students before something else happens.
"Andrews and Seminole are fantastic communities. It was an absolute blessing to drive down there. I made a lot of new friends who are a pleasure to work with."
Asked what the Permian Basin has in common with the Panhandle High Plains north of Amarillo, King said his home county of Hemphill has a lot of oil and natural gas production and there is a good deal of political cohesion throughout his 19-county district.
"In both the southern and northern halves of my district, people are concerned about water, education, transportation, border security and property taxes," he said. "We love our small towns and small town values.
"You could substitute the populations of Andrews or Seminole with Canadian's and the communities would be pretty much the same. We love our Friday night football."
King is a native of Canadian who graduated from its high school in 1990 and earned a bachelor's degree in business management at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla. He and his wife Robin have two children.
He grew up working in the family oilfield service company and he worked for three years after college as an oilfield mechanic in Western Siberia.
"My family has owned King Well Service since 1959 and my first work experience was sweeping out the shop," he said.
King owns Black Gold Pump & Supply and works in commercial real estate in Canadian, which has a population of 2,248.
"Hemphill County is not as flat as the rest of the 88th District," King said. "We have mostly oil and gas and ranching with some farming."
Each one of Texas' 150 state representatives represents about 194,000 people.
