LONGVIEW, Texas (KLTV) – Pine Tree ISD Superintendent Steve Clugston will not appear on the November ballot after falling short of the required signatures needed to run for Texas Senate District 1, a seat currently held by Republican State Sen. Bryan Hughes.
Clugston had planned to run as a conservative independent. He said he submitted 640 signatures to the Texas Secretary of State, but the state invalidated 162 of them, leaving him with 478 — short of the 500 required to qualify. It was not immediately clear why the state invalidated the signatures.
“I apologize for coming up short,” Clugston said. “We believed 140 extra signatures was more than enough to meet the required number.”
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