Little Elm voters will choose among three candidates for the U.S. House on the Nov. 3 ballot: Republican incumbent Brandon Gill, Democrat Steven Shook and Libertarian Phil Gray.
The 26th Congressional District covers the southern part of Denton County, including Little Elm, The Colony, Flower Mound, Lewisville, Corinth and Carrollton, plus rural Cooke County and parts of Wise and Tarrant counties, the Denton Record-Chronicle reported in a candidate rundown published this week.
How they got here
Gill, a Flower Mound Republican first elected in 2024, is asking for a second term. He won the March Republican primary against Sanger business owner Robert Chick with 90.7% of the vote, according to the Record-Chronicle.
Shook's primary was much closer. He beat Ernest Lineberger III, a Navy veteran, by 1,017 votes for the Democratic nomination. Gray was chosen for the Libertarian line at his party's District 26 convention on March 21.
The incumbent
Gill, 32, studied economics and history at Dartmouth College and worked in investment banking and as a hedge fund analyst before starting the DC Enquirer, a conservative outlet that shut down after he took office, the newspaper reported.
President Donald Trump has endorsed him, calling him a "MAGA warrior." Gill's platform centers on tight border security, broad limits on immigration, ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs and promoting traditional conservative values, according to the Record-Chronicle, which also noted he has said in posts and in House floor remarks that there should be "no more Muslims immigrating to America."
The challengers
Shook holds degrees from Tarrant County College, Texas Tech University and the University of Texas at Arlington. His campaign website lists goals that include creating jobs, protecting Social Security and Medicare, making health care more affordable and easier to get, backing local businesses and improving infrastructure. He has said North Texas deserves a representative who puts people ahead of politics, the newspaper reported.
Gray, a business owner and property manager who holds a master's from UT Tyler, ran against Gill in 2024 and got 2.3% of the vote. He has run as a Libertarian in several other congressional districts since at least 2016, and his campaign's most recent public posts focused on the national debt.
Early voting continues through Friday, Oct. 30. Sample ballots and polling places are posted at votedenton.gov.
Sources
Denton Record-Chronicle
