Meet The Candidates: Paul Thomasson For Texas Senate District 05
Can a pastor unseat Texas's coal Senator?
This series is called Meet The Candidates. Over the next six months, I’ll spotlight a handful of Democratic races each month, mainly in the Legislature and in Congress. These aren’t endorsements. They’re introductions, a way to understand who’s running, the districts they hope to represent, and what’s at stake for people across Texas.
Who is Paul Thomasson?
Paul Thomasson is a pastor, and for more than 40 years, that meant showing up at Ben Taub Hospital in the middle of the night and at food pantries serving hundreds of hungry families every week. Showing up in communities across Texas, from Wharton to Coldspring to Houston, helping build Boys and Girls Clubs, Habitat for Humanity chapters, and ESL programs for immigrant neighbors that some politicians now want to demonize. That’s his record. Decades of actual service.
Thomasson spent 40½ years as a United Methodist pastor, guided by what Methodists call the Social Gospel, which is the conviction that you serve God by serving people. That theology built hospitals, universities, and community institutions across this country, and it built Paul Thomasson, too. When he looks at a family priced out of healthcare, a kid in an underfunded public school, or an immigrant child in a detention center, he sees a moral failure that demands a response.
After a full generation of Republican governance in Texas, the poor are getting poorer, and the rich are getting richer. Thomasson sees that clearly, and he sees the Democratic Party as the vehicle for reversing it. That’s why he’s running for Senate. Not because it’s easy, but because someone has to.
The district.
Texas Senate District 5 is not typically friendly Democratic territory. The district spans a wide swath of Central Texas, Williamson County (partially), Bastrop County, Brazos County (home to Bryan-College Station), and a string of smaller, predominantly rural counties, including Freestone, Leon, Limestone, Madison, Milam, Robertson, San Jacinto, and Walker. It’s a district that mixes booming suburban growth with deep red rural Texas.
In 2024, Donald Trump carried the district with nearly 61% of the vote. Kamala Harris pulled just 37.6%, nearly five points below her statewide performance of 42.4%. It tells you this district runs redder than Texas as a whole, and Texas as a whole was no picnic. In 2022, things were even bleaker. The Democrats didn’t even field a candidate. Incumbent Charles Schwertner, who has held this seat since 2012, faced only a Libertarian challenger.
But here’s where it gets interesting. This isn’t a static district. Williamson County, which makes up the largest chunk of the population at 384,791 residents, more than 40% of the total, has been trending. It was ruby red not long ago and is now genuinely competitive. State Rep. John Bucy holds HD136, which covers part of Williamson County, with 60% of the vote. Bastrop County, meanwhile, is growing fast, it’s got more new housing than nearly anywhere else in the district, with 28% of units built after 2010.
The demographics are relevant but complicated. The district is 54.6% Anglo, notably whiter than the state as a whole (39.9%). Hispanic residents make up 27.1% of the population but only 14.5% of registered voters, a mobilization gap that represents both a challenge and an opportunity. The district has a relatively high share of college-educated residents (35.3% hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, slightly above the state average), and a significant government-sector workforce at 19.2%, driven largely by A&M and the state agencies clustered in the region.
What would it take to flip it? Realistically, everything has to break right. Democrats need a massive Williamson County performance, combined with respectable showings in Bastrop and Brazos. The rural counties (Leon, Limestone, Freestone, Madison, Robertson) are not going to move. They are going to do what rural Texas does. The path runs through the growth corridors, the college-educated suburban voters, the A&M community, and the Hispanic voters who remain dramatically underregistered relative to their share of the population. The environment in 2026 is genuinely favorable for Democrats nationally, and Schwertner is not an invincible incumbent. Paul Thomasson is the first Democrat to show up in years. That matters.
The incumbent.
A few years ago, I went through all the donations and found that Republican incumbent Charles Schwertner takes more money from coal than any other Republican in Texas. He also votes like someone who enjoys licking coal for fun.
Schwertner does not believe we’re in a climate crisis and is deeply committed to the exploitation of Earth through fossil fuels. Plus, he got in trouble for drunk driving, so he obviously has a problem with booze.
Oh, and he’s a licensed doctor who doesn’t believe in science.
In Paul Thomasson’s own words.
Below are some questions I asked Thomasson, based on previous reader polls, along with his answers.
Q: Do you support a statewide minimum wage increase to at least $15/hour?
YES, the minimum wage hasn’t been raised by ONE PENNY since 2009, which is 17 years ago. The current living wage in Texas is 40,000 per year; minimum wage will bring in $15,080 per year. It needs to be raised to $19.25 per hour as soon as possible.
Q: Should Texas end tax subsidies and abatements for large corporations?
Yes. It is ridiculous to give tax breaks to the rich and expect the rest of us to pay THEIR way.
Q: Do you oppose school vouchers and efforts to privatize public education?
I completely oppose vouchers. So do my wife, son, daughter, and son-in-law, all of whom are public school teachers. (Wife Dyane is really retired).
Q: Do you support automatic voter registration and same-day registration in Texas?
YES. YES. Jim Crow is coming back, courtesy of the GOP and the Supreme Court. That needs FIXING!
Q: Should local police be barred from enforcing federal immigration law?
YES. And ICE’s reign of terror must be stopped! 2.1 million personas en esta estado no son criminales.
Bonus Question: What does being a Democrat mean to you in 2026?
The only cavalry riding over the hill to save the US Constitution that has a chance to succeed is the Democratic Party. I’m not a politician, but I got “off the bench” so I can tell my progeny I did my best to save my state and nation when it faced its greatest threats in over 100 years.
Paul Thomasson is not going to walk into an easy race.
SD05 is Republican territory, Schwertner has incumbency and coal money, and the path to victory is narrow even in a good Democratic year. Thomasson knows all of that. He ran anyway.
That’s actually the point. For forty years, this man showed up at hospitals, food pantries, halfway houses, ESL classrooms, and Boys and Girls Clubs in towns most Texas Democrats couldn’t find on a map. He didn’t show up because the work was easy or because the odds were good. He showed up because someone had to, and he believed that was him.
He believes the same thing now.
The people of District 5, the families paying $1,400 a month in rent, the workers still making the same federal minimum wage they made in 2009, the Hispanic residents who make up more than a quarter of the district but barely show up in the voter rolls, they deserve a Democrat on the ballot who takes their lives seriously.
Whether Thomasson wins or loses in November, his candidacy is a message that this district is not conceded. The Democratic Party is not going to leave Central Texas to a coal-funded incumbent who doesn’t believe in science and can’t drive home sober. Not this cycle.
Paul Thomasson got off the bench. Now it’s your turn.
You can learn more about Paul Thomasson on his website, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.
May 18, 2026: First day of early voting (Democratic primary runoff elections)
May 22, 2026: Last day of early voting (Democratic primary runoff elections)
May 26, 2026: Last day to receive ballot by mail (Democratic primary runoff elections)
May 26, 2026: Election day! (Democratic primary runoff elections)
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If he was in my area, he would have my vote
Wow is that one big gerrymandered district! I swear if we ever finally win statewide, we have to gerrymander this whole state much better so communities are together. The fact that I know several of these counties and I am in Dallas County shows how bad it is. But this candidate sounds amazing! I can’t wait to meet him!