Ben Leman
Ben Leman (Republican Party) was a member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing District 13. He assumed office in 2018. He left office on January 10, 2023.
Leman (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 13. He won in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Leman ran in one of 48 contested Texas state legislative Republican primaries in 2018. To read more about the conflict between Republican factions in the primaries, including who the factions were, which races were competitive, and who key influencers lined up behind, click here.
Leman previously served as a judge for the Grimes County Court in Texas from 2015 to 2017.[1][2]
Biography
Ben Leman was born in Magnolia, Texas. He earned a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Texas at Austin. Leman's career experience includes working as the CEO of Merrimac Manufacturing, Inc. Leman was elected to serve as a Grimes County judge in 2014 and served in that position from 2015 to 2017. He resigned in order to run for the Texas House of Representatives, saying, “I don’t believe it is right for tax dollars to pay the salary of a County Judge at the same time that individual’s name is appearing on the ballot for a different office.”[3] He is a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Texas State Rifle Association (TSRA).[4][5]
Committee assignments
2021-2022
Leman was assigned to the following committees:
2019-2020
Leman was assigned to the following committees:
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2022
Ben Leman did not file to run for re-election in 2022.
2020
See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 13
Incumbent Ben Leman won election in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 13 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ben Leman (R) | 100.0 | 72,890 |
| Total votes: 72,890 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 13
Incumbent Ben Leman advanced from the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 13 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ben Leman | 100.0 | 26,393 |
| Total votes: 26,393 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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2018
Regular election
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 13
Incumbent Ben Leman defeated Cecil R. Webster Sr. in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 13 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ben Leman (R) | 79.1 | 51,126 |
 | Cecil R. Webster Sr. (D) | 20.9 | 13,494 | |
| Total votes: 64,620 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 13
Incumbent Ben Leman defeated Jill Wolfskill in the Republican primary runoff for Texas House of Representatives District 13 on May 22, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ben Leman | 57.3 | 8,062 |
 | Jill Wolfskill | 42.7 | 6,000 | |
| Total votes: 14,062 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 13
Cecil R. Webster Sr. advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 13 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Cecil R. Webster Sr. | 100.0 | 3,191 |
| Total votes: 3,191 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 13
Jill Wolfskill and incumbent Ben Leman advanced to a runoff. They defeated David Stall, Daniel McCarthy, and Marc Young in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 13 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jill Wolfskill | 38.5 | 8,874 |
| ✔ | | Ben Leman | 36.2 | 8,349 |
 | David Stall | 13.7 | 3,163 | |
 | Daniel McCarthy | 6.0 | 1,385 | |
 | Marc Young | 5.5 | 1,270 | |
| Total votes: 23,041 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Overview of 2018 Republican primaries
The 2018 Texas state legislative Republican primaries featured conflict between two factions. One group was opposed to House Speaker Joe Straus (R) and his preferred policies on issues like education financing and property taxes. The anti-Straus wing included members of the Texas Freedom Caucus and organizations such as Empower Texans and Texas Right to Life. The other group was supportive of Straus and his policy priorities. The pro-Straus wing included incumbent legislators allied with Straus and organizations such as the Associated Republicans of Texas and the Texas Association of Business. To learn more about these factions and the conflict between them, visit our page on factional conflict among Texas Republicans.
The primaries occurred on March 6, 2018, with runoffs on May 22, 2018. There were 48 contested state legislative Republican primaries, outnumbering contested primaries in 2016 (43) and 2014 (44). To see our full coverage of the state legislative Republican primaries, including who key influencers were backing and what the primaries meant for the 2019 House speaker's race, visit our primary coverage page.
The charts below outline the March 6 primary races for the state Senate and the state House. They show how the factions performed on election night.
| Texas Senate Republicans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before March 6 primaries | After March 6 primaries | |
| Pro-Straus | 2 | 1 | |
| Anti-Straus | 1 | 3 | |
| Unknown | 3 | 3 | |
| Open seats | 1 | - | |
| Runoffs | - | - | |
| Too close to call | - | - | |
| Total | 7 | 7 | |
| Texas House Republicans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before March 6 primaries | After March 6 primaries | |
| Pro-Straus | 20 | 20 | |
| Anti-Straus | 4 | 9 | |
| Unknown | 2 | 5 | |
| Open seats | 15 | - | |
| Runoffs | - | 7 | |
| Too close to call | - | - | |
| Total | 41 | 41 | |
Primary we watched
This primary was one of 48 we tracked for the March 6 elections.
Did the incumbent file to run for re-election?
| No. |
What made this a race to watch?
| Five Republicans filed to run in the election to replace state Rep. Leighton Schubert (R): Ben Leman, Daniel McCarthy, David Stall, Jill Wolfskill, and Marc Young. All candidates in this race signed the form committing to vote for the Republican caucus' choice for speaker on the House floor. Wolfskill said she might join the Texas Freedom Caucus if elected.[6] See our coverage of the primary runoff in this race here. Schubert announced that he would resign on January 25 in order to begin working for Blinn College. This set up a separate special election to fill the rest of his term until a replacement was selected in the November 2018 election. Leman, Stall, Young, and Wolfskill filed for the special election as well as the regularly scheduled election.[7] Gov. Greg Abbott set the special election date for May 5, 2018. Endorsements for Wolfskill
Endorsements for Leman
Endorsements for Stall
|
Campaign finance
Special election
A special election for the office of Texas House of Representatives District 13 was held on May 5, 2018. Candidates had until March 5, 2018, to file nomination papers with the secretary of state.[12]
On February 4, 2018, state Rep. Leighton Schubert (R) resigned from the state House to accept a position with Blinn College.[13]
Ben Leman (R) and Jill Wolfskill (R) defeated Cecil R. Webster Sr. (D) in the general election and advanced to a runoff election. Leman then defeated Wolfskill in Texas' regular primary runoff election for the seat on May 22, 2018, prompting Wolfskill to drop out of the special election race for the seat. As a result, the runoff was cancelled, and Leman was declared the winner.[14][15][16]
General election
Special general election for Texas House of Representatives District 13
Ben Leman defeated Jill Wolfskill and Cecil R. Webster Sr. in the special general election for Texas House of Representatives District 13 on May 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ben Leman (R) | 43.2 | 6,792 |
| Jill Wolfskill (R) | 35.1 | 5,528 | |
| Cecil R. Webster Sr. (D) | 21.7 | 3,408 | |
| Total votes: 15,728 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
2014
- See also: Texas judicial elections, 2014
Leman ran for election to the Grimes County Court.
Primary: He was successful in the Republican primary on March 4, 2014, receiving 68.9 percent of the vote. He competed against John Louis Pierce II and Pamela Beard.
General: He won without opposition in the general election on November 4, 2014.[1][17][18]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Ben Leman did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2018
Leman provided the following description of his political philosophy to Ballotpedia:
| “ | Ben Leman is a pro-life, pro-business, pro-gun rights Conservative.
He is strongly opposed to illegal immigration, believes in low property taxes, has fought tirelessly for private property rights and he is a staunch supporter of traditional family values.[5][19] |
” |
| —Ben Leman, 2018 | ||
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Texas scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2022
In 2022, the Texas State Legislature was not in session.
2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Texas State Legislature was in session from January 12 to May 31.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Texas State Legislature was not in session. |
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Texas State Legislature was in its 86th legislative session from January 8 through May 27.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Texas State Legislature did not hold a regular session. |
See also
2020 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Texas House of Representatives District 13 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Texas Secretary of State, "2014 March Primary Election Candidate Filings by County (A-L)"
- ↑ The Eagle, "Grimes County judge sworn in to replace outgoing Leman," December 21, 2017
- ↑ The Navasota Examiner, "Leman steps down, files for District 13 Rep," December 13, 2017
- ↑ Ben Leman for State Rep HD13, "Ben Leman Campaign: Bio," accessed January 29, 2018
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Information submitted on Ballotpedia's biographical information submission form on January 25, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedFreedomC - ↑ Texas Tribune, "The Blast," January 26, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastf8 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBlastf16 - ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Information submitted to Ballotpedia via email on February 21, 2018
- ↑ Email communication with Ballotpedia staff, February 22, 2018
- ↑ Office of the Texas Governor, "Governor Abbott Sets Date For Special Election In HD 13," February 16, 2018
- ↑ The Seattle Times, "Special election May 5 to fill Schubert’s Texas House seat," February 16, 2018
- ↑ Vote Texas, "Candidates for State Representative, District 13 Special Election," accessed March 21, 2018
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2018 Special Election House District 13," May 5, 2018
- ↑ Twitter "Patrick Svitek," May 23, 2018
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2014 March Primary Election Candidate Filings by County (M-Z)" (Search "Grimes")
- ↑ Grimes County Board of Elections, "Republican Cumulative Results – Unofficial," March 4, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Texas House of Representatives District 13 2018-2023 |
Succeeded by Angelia Orr (R) |
| Preceded by - |
Grimes County Court 2015-2017 |
Succeeded by - |
Federal courts:
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas
State courts:
Texas Supreme Court • Texas Court of Appeals • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals • Texas District Courts • Texas County Courts • Texas County Courts at Law • Texas Statutory Probate Courts • Texas Justice of the Peace Courts
State resources:
Courts in Texas • Texas judicial elections • Judicial selection in Texas
