Tea-party favorite and retired businessman Bob Hall has defeated incumbent Bob Deuell in the Republican Party primary runoff election for the Texas State Senate District 2 seat.
Deuell, a physician based in Greenville, has served in the Texas Senate since 2002. He is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Development, the vice-chairman of the Senate Affairs Committee and Health and Human Services Committee. He also serves on the senate Finance and Natural Resources committees.
“God is in control of the results and we’ll honor the votes,” Deuell told the Greenville Herald-Banner. “We’ll look at the data before we concede. I look forward to serving Texas in another way.”
During the campaign, Hall characterized Deuell, once considered by some the most conservative Texas Senator, as a liberal.
“I’m kind of out of breath and words right now,” Hall, a Van Zandt County resident, told the Greenville Herald-Banner. “I ran a race on the issues, and the people made their decision based on the issues. I cannot say enough thank you’s to the people who worked so hard [on my campaign] and to my God who guided me all the way though this.”
Hall finished with 18,230 votes to Deuell’s 17,930, or 50.41 percent to 49.58.
With the final margin at less than 500 votes, Deuell has not formally conceded, but he has not indicated he will contest the results.
