Game changer in Texas: Roger Williams switches from Senate race to House

Former Texas Secretary of  State Roger Williams is announcing today that he is switching races ahead of the 2012 GOP primary, moving from the hotly contested Senate race and into the contest in one of Texas’ four new congressional districts, District 33 in north Texas. According to a campaign press release going out today, Roger Williams was recruited into switching races over the past couple of weeks.

Longtime local businessman and former Texas Secretary of State Roger Williams today announced that he is running for the new 33rd Congressional District , which includes Arlington, South Fort Worth, portions of Wise County and all of Parker County.

“Since the Texas legislature created this new district, I have been approached by countless friends and neighbors who have asked me to run in this new district,” Roger said. “This area has been my home and the area in which my businesses have operated for decades. I am both humbled and honored to have such enthusiastic support from the people of this area and numerous community leaders.”

Williams counts scores of local leaders, including Arlington City Councilman Robert Rivera and Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief, among his district-wide support. State Rep. Phil King, one of Texas’ most influential conservatives in the legislature, is also on the Williams leadership team. According to a campaign source, nearly every local elected official is supporting Roger Williams’ run for Congress in District 33.

In the press release, Roger Williams focuses on his agenda should he reach Congress:

“The people of our district deserve to have a Representative who has both the business experience and committed conservative values to challenge the Obama Administration’s policies which are damaging our children’s future,” Roger continued. “As the Representative for the 33rd District, I will work every day to undo the reckless, social-engineering of Barack Obama. This includes: repealing Obamacare; stopping the EPA’s efforts to enforce a Cap-and-Trade system; preventing tax increases on small businesses; devolving years of government growth; and reducing America’s federal debt.”

Williams, who has lived and owned a successful business in north Texas for decades and whose adept campaign “welcomed” President Obama to Texas with a powerful video a when the president visited last month, is also sending out an impressive list of local endorsements that is five pages long and includes some very familiar names: former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; Rep. Kay Granger; and Major League Baseball legend Nolan Ryan, currently co-owner and president of the Texas Rangers baseball team (endorsements: Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

Roger Williams’ switch changes the contours of the race for Texas Senate, where former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz, former Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert, and Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones are already in the running, and in which Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst may enter within weeks, or not at all depending on whether Gov. Rick Perry runs for president. Roger Williams hits the race for Texas 33 running, where he will face former Texas Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams, who also switched from the Senate earlier this month.