LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The Seventh Court of Appeals unanimously ruled in favor of Gary Boren, determining he must be allowed a spot on the ballot for a city council special election. <\/p>\n
Earlier this month, the Lubbock city secretary determined Gary Boren did not meet the residency requirements and rejected his application for the special election for council District 4<\/a>. Boren then appealed the ruling, taking it to the Seventh Court.<\/p>\n In his candidacy filing, Boren wrote he lived full-time in District 4 for two months. This falls four months short of the required time in a region, as outlined by state election law. However, Boren and Austin-based attorney Eric Opiela say state law allows home rule cities, like Lubbock, to follow local charters.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s sort of like the Constitution of the U.S.,\u201d Boren said April 6<\/a>, \u201cWhat does the text say? You know, the charter, which is our constitution, [it says] if you live in a district the day you file, that\u2019s your residence. It\u2019s real plain and simple.\u201d<\/p>\n Lubbock Central Appraisal District records show the estate of his mother Geneva Boren sold a home on Memphis Avenue near 97th Street to Gary Boren with a deed date of August 8, 2025. For the 2026 tax year, Gary Boren is listed as owner with a homestead exemption active 1\/1\/2026.\u00a0The home is in district 4.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThis is my homestead. My driver\u2019s license shows this address, my voter, my everything,\u201d Boren told KCBD earlier this month. \u201cSo, I am a resident.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Green<\/a> and Bill Curnow<\/a> have also announced they are seeking the District 4 seat. Current councilman Brayden Rose announced in March<\/a> he would resign, to focus on taking care of his family, including his young son who has significant health challenges.<\/p>\n Boren\u2019s response<\/p>\n Boren issued this statement after the legal victory Friday:<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m proud to share that the 7th Court of Appeals in Amarillo has ruled in my favor, ensuring that I will be on the ballot for Lubbock City Council, District 4.<\/p>\n City officials twice claimed I wasn\u2019t qualified to run. <\/p>\n The court unanimously rejected those claims and affirmed what the City Charter has made clear for more than 100 years.<\/p>\n This matters\u2014not just for me, but for every voter in Lubbock.<\/p>\n Our City Charter exists to protect fairness and ensure that no one in government can pick and choose who gets to run for office.<\/p>\n That principle was upheld.<\/p>\n But this situation also raises serious concerns. <\/p>\n Taxpayer dollars were spent defending a position that the court ultimately found to be wrong. <\/p>\n That deserves reflection\u2014and better judgment going forward.<\/p>\n Now, we move ahead.<\/p>\n This campaign is about serving District 4 with transparency, accountability, and respect for the rules that govern our city. <\/p>\n I believe voters\u2014not city officials\u2014should decide who represents them.<\/p>\n In closing, one question remains:\u2028<\/p>\n Why were the City Secretary, City Manager, and City Attorney\u2019s Office so desperate to keep me from running for City Council\u2026<\/p>\n not once, but twice FALSELY claiming that I was not qualified. <\/p>\n Why this rogue decision?\u2028<\/p>\n Why are they afraid I\u2019ll be elected?\u2028<\/p>\n And why did they spend thousands of your tax dollars in a desperate and illegal effort to block my candidacy for District 4?<\/p>\n What is it they don\u2019t want me \u2014 or YOU \u2014 to know?”<\/p>\n KCBD has contacted the City of Lubbock for a statement. If one is provided, this story will be updated with it. <\/p>\n Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The Seventh Court of Appeals unanimously ruled in favor of Gary Boren, determining he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238131,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[99094,81285,168,22683,170,169,99093],"class_list":["post-264600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-city-secretary","tag-gary-boren","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-city-council","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-seventh-court-of-appeals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}