Bastrop, Tx–Bastrop County cattle raiser Patti Jacobs will challenge Giddings lawyer Tim Kleinschmidt for re-election this year to the District 17 seat in the Texas House of Representatives.
KIeinschmidt, a Republican, was first elected to the House in 2008. He has no GOP primary opponent this year as he seeks a second term Jacobs put her name on the Democratic primary ballot Jan. 4. She does not have a Democratic opponent in the March 2 party primary.
District 17 includes Bastrop, Lee, Burleson, Fayette and Colorado County.
Jacobs heads Bastrop Cattle Co. which raises and markets organic beef. She was also a lead organizer of the 1832 Farmers Market in Bastrop. She has prior experience in politics and public affairs. She challenged Ronnie McDonald for re-election as Bastrop County Judge but subsequently helped guide one of his priority projects to completion, the Opportunity Bastrop County master plan for economic and community development.
In an interview this week, Jacobs said her campaign themes will include education and job creation, agriculture as “a 21st century industry,” and groundwater conservation for local development needs. Local residents “should be in control of our own future,” she said.
Kleinschmidt has already sold or leased water production rights to his own property in Lee County to water marketing interests looking to export groundwater to growing urban areas, said Jacobs. “We should keep our own water and kids” rather than exporting them to urban centers, she said.