Get to Know Your Candidate: Stan Gerdes — Texas House District 17

Stan Gerdes's road to the Texas House ran through two governor's offices' worth of Texas politics — a decade working for Gov. Rick Perry, a stint in Washington at the U.S. Department of Energy, and a seat on the Smithville City Council. Now the Republican is seeking a third term representing House District 17, which covers Bastrop, Burleson, Caldwell, Lee and Milam counties.

Who he is

Gerdes is a fifth-generation Central Texan who grew up in Waco. He and his wife, Samantha, an attorney, live in Smithville with their son. Both are graduates of the University of Texas at Austin.

He went to work for Gov. Rick Perry right out of college and stayed for more than a decade, starting in the Governor's office, later directing scheduling for a Perry political action committee and working on Perry's presidential campaign. In 2017 he became a senior advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy under Secretary Perry.

Back home in Smithville, he was elected to the City Council in May 2021. The next year he won the District 17 seat in the Texas House, succeeding John Cyrier, and took office in January 2023. In Austin he serves on the Calendars, Energy Resources, and Licensing & Administrative Procedures committees. He won the Republican nomination again in March, defeating Tom Glass in a rematch of their 2024 primary.

In 2025 he drew national attention as author of the FURRIES Act, a bill to ban "non-human behavior" by students in public schools. "No distractions. No theatrics. Just education," he wrote of the proposal, which was backed by Gov. Greg Abbott but did not pass committee.

What he stands for

"Texans deserve leaders who will put America, and Texas, first," his campaign says. On property taxes — perennially the loudest issue in the district — he told the League of Women Voters' Vote411 guide that he "remain[s] committed to eliminating property taxes while capping local spending hikes," and his campaign credits the Legislature with major property-tax cuts.

His platform includes border security, election integrity measures such as requiring that only U.S. citizens vote, pro-life and Second Amendment positions, and bail reform. On water and energy — issues with real weight in Milam County — he supports the Texas Water Fund and groundwater protection, an "all-of-the-above" energy policy emphasizing nuclear and natural gas, and, in his Vote411 answers, strict regulation of data centers to protect local communities, including barring foreign adversaries from buying land near key facilities. His campaign also points to $8.5 billion in public education funding, nearly half of it for teacher pay raises.

House District 17 voters will decide the race on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. Early voting runs Oct. 19–30.