Ending months of speculation, County Commissioner Lyle Larson announced his candidacy this morning for the Republican nomination in Congressional District 23.
In the March 4 primary, Larson will face attorney and banker Francisco “Quico” Canseco, who has spent nearly a year lining up support around the district and pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars — much of it his own — into the effort.
Other candidates could still pop up. The filing deadline for office seekers to get their names on the primary ballot is today at 6 p.m.
At a rally outside the Bexar County Courthouse, Larson described his voting record on Commissioners Court, where he’s represented Precinct 3 for 11 years, as “pretty conservative.” But he said he’d side-step Belt Way partisanship, and played up his experience in local government.
“There’s a lot of frustration in the 23rd Congressional District and across the country with what’s going on in Washington — a lot of bickering, a lot of fighting,” Larson said. “We’ve got to work with folks. For 15 years, I’ve worked with Democrats at the City Council level and at Commissioners Court… If you work with folks, it doesn’t matter what party you’re in.”
He served on the San Antonio City Council from 1991 to 1995.
Larson also said the representative for District 23, which sretches from San Antonio nearly to El Paso and takes in more than 600 miles of the Texas-Mexico border, should take the lead in Congress on immigration and border security issues. He said he favors a border fence in some areas, and advocated getting “the Mexican government involved” in the thorny issue of illegal immigration.
He plans to hang on to his Commissioners Court seat, though he said he’d probably step down at some point to concentrate fully on his campaign.
Waiting til the last day of filing deadline means he’s getting a late start on fundraising. Larson has several fundraisers planned, including an event in early February at the home of AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson. Still, he said he’s not looking to raise bushels of cash and spend heavily.
“I’m going to use experience and reputation more than financial resources.”