Stan Gerdes, the freshman incumbent in Texas House District 17, works for a lobbying firm.

The firm that hired Gerdes in August, 2023 is Hance Scarborough LLC.  Kent Hance, current Chancellor of Texas Tech and who has held numerous elective offices as a Democrat is the Hance in the firm name.

Stan Gerdes is not an attorney.  His title with this law firm is Legislative Consultant. He has no known real-world experience in the energy industry.

This link on the Hance Scarborough page said that Rick Perry brought Gerdes to the job.  Rick Perry has been in the news, lately, endorsing against Trump in Speaker Phelan's district primary race.  Speaker Phelan and Stan Gerdes support sharing power in the Texas House with Democrats.

"The theme of my campaign has been that Stan Gerdes, the incumbent I challenge in the GOP primary that starts February 20, was installed and is controlled by the Austin swamp," said Tom Glass. "But this news which we just learned tells us more than that. Gerdes IS the swamp!"

"I have repeatedly said in the campaign that if the voters of HD 17 want a representative of us to Austin, instead of a representative of the Austin swamp to us. This latest news establishes that fact beyond all doubt," Glass continued.

Glass has previously offered other proof of the swamp control over Gerdes. The Texas Ethics Commission reports from the second half of 2023 show that the incumbent received 83% of his funds from the Austin Swamp, the largest donation being a group that pushed the Paxton impeachment. The second largest donation was from Speaker Dade Phelan, also a leader for impeachment. (See this Tom Glass blog post for more details.)

"I wish I had known this about Gerdes sooner," said Glass.  "I don't have a swamp PAC that will fund $6,500 opposition research on me like Gerdes did. I do have dedicated volunteers, one of whom alerted me of this only yesterday."

"To defeat the war on Texas and everything we hold dear by DC and globalists, we must drain the Austin Swamp," Glass said. "When you have an occupied DC, the Texas government is the next line of defense of Texans against the assault on everything Texans hold dear is Texas government, but the Texas House is the weak link in that defense."

"The Austin swamp wants to act like it is business-as-usual time when it is not in Texas or the US," Glass concluded.