Chad Seay said Lubbock County was in good shape after he was Precinct 4 commissioner from the start of 2019 through the end of 2022.

“I was happy with how things were going,” Seay said.

Ongoing coverage: Learn what’s coming as Lubbock Lights kicks off Texas Primary ‘26 coverage

But he lost in the 2022 primary to Jordan Rackler by 71 votes. His wife had a tumor at the time, Seay said.

“That’s God telling me, ‘Yeah, you barely lost, but it’s time to take care of other business. … “Hopefully he’d do a good job, and I would have no reason to ever come back,” Seay said.

That’s not how he feels four years later.

“Basically, defunding our public safety is the wrong way to go,” Seay said of county budget cuts in the last two years.

“I’ve decided me or somebody’s got to step in,” Seay said.

Seay grew up in Whiteface, about 50 miles west of Lubbock. Starting in 1991, he attended South Plains College – earning an associate degree.

His day job as owner of Cornerstone Construction is utility line construction. That’s what pays the bills.

“We put in water, sewer, gas, electric, fiber optics, anything that goes in the ground as far as a utility,” Seay said.

But his passion is diving, which started during his days at SPC. Seay also created and owns Southwest Aqua Sports.

“I don’t think it’s ever paid me anything that I’m aware of,” Seay said of diving.

But he loves diving – it’s the first thing he and his wife did together as a married couple.

“We got certified on our honeymoon,” Seay said. He kept learning and training.

“I’m considered a ‘course director,’ which currently there’s about 2,500 of me in the entire world,” Seay said.

“Making people happy in the water is what I do. … I teach public safety dive teams like fire departments, police departments, sheriff’s departments.” Seay said.

He also teaches local lifeguards.

Seay also leans on his faith, he said.

“I believe in one true God, and that’s it. … without God, I’m nothing – can do nothing,” Seay said.

Priority if elected

“Number one, we got to get our funding back to our first responders. I mean, public safety is number one,” Seay said.

As one example, Seay pointed to a $250,000 reduction for volunteer fire departments. He also mentioned a $1.4 million reduction in the sheriff’s department during budget talks for 2025/26.

Commissioners at the time pointed out the money was set aside for housing inmates with other counties. The money was unused in the 2024/25 budget. So a majority wanted to cut it.

But Seay said (and public discussions confirmed) a portion of the jail has a leaky roof.

“We’re going to have to shut down some of the pods because they’re going to try to fix the roof leaks out there. We’re going to have to remodel the places that the roofs were leaking. So, we’re going to have more people out of town,” Seay said.

Not only will the repairs cost money, but if the sheriff needs to temporarily put inmates in other jails to make way for the work, then that costs money too, Seay said. Taking money out of reserves will hurt the county’s bond rating.

“I’m really worried that when we call for this bond rating to issue these bonds to go over to the LCEC group for the Expo Center, I think we’re going to be downgraded,” Seay said.

Seay also pointed to heated budget discussions over the summer.

“Arguing on the dais is one of the worst things we can do, because if I’m somebody that’s trying to sell a bond to us – like, for example, the Expo Center – I got these yahoos that can’t even agree and will fight publicly on the dais over budget stuff. I don’t want to loan this county money if I’m in their position,” Seay said.

When asked if the county should do a capital projects bond to pay for building repairs and replacing a parking garage, Seay said no.

“We’ve used all the money on the [2019] road bond election, but we didn’t finish the projects we promised, which COVID hit us. That’s not anybody’s fault,” Seay said.

“I think we have to finish what we pledged,” Seay said.

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