George Lavender

George Edward Lavender (born September 7, 1955)[1] is an American state politician and a Republican former two-term member of the Texas House of Representatives, having been first elected on November 2, 2010.

Though he was reared in Texarkana, Arkansas, Lavender is a businessman in Texarkana in Bowie County, Texas, where he resides with his wife, the former Jan Timberlake. He graduated in 1973 from Arkansas High School in Miller County, Arkansas. He holds an undergraduate degree in management from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.[2]

Lavender was defeated, 45–55 percent in the 2008 general election by the Democratic incumbent Representative Stephen James Frost of New Boston, also in Bowie County. However, in 2010, with 51.5 percent of the vote, Lavender unseated Frost. Earlier, in both 1994 and 1996, Lavender ran unsuccessfully for the District 1 seat in the Texas State Senate, first as a Democrat, then as a Republican.[3]

In the 2011 House session, Lavender served on the Transportation and the Land and Resource Management committees.[1] He worked for passage of legislation signed by Governor Rick Perry, which permits the manufacture of incandescent light bulbs in Texas. Lavender contends that fluorescent light bulbs contain mercury and are manufactured mostly in China. Lavender said consumers should have the choice of light bulbs and jobs in the industry should be kept in the United States.[4]

In the 2012 general election Lavender faced no Democratic opponent. To secure his second term, he received 42,049 votes (82.6 percent) to the Libertarian Tim Eason's 8,830 ballots (17.4 percent).[5]

In the Republican primary election held on March 4, 2014, Lavender was unseated in his bid for a third legislative term by Gary VanDeaver, the former school superintendent of the New Boston Independent School District in New Boston, Texas, who received 9,400 votes (54.3 percent) to Lavender's 7,898 (45.7 percent).[6]

On March 1, 2016, VanDeaver defeated Lavender in a rematch in the Republican primary.[7] VanDeaver polled 18,263 votes (61.9 percent) to Lavender's 11,242 (38.1 percent).[8]