{"id":450075,"date":"2026-09-28T12:18:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T12:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/450075\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T12:18:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T12:18:14","slug":"button-herbert-battle-in-competitive-north-texas-state-house-district-112-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/450075\/","title":{"rendered":"Button, Herbert battle in competitive North Texas state House District 112 race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Angie Chen Button<\/a> and Zach Herbert<\/a> disagree on plenty.<\/p>\n

The Republican incumbent and Democratic challenger split over school vouchers, insurance costs, taxes and the role of state government during separate appearances Sunday on NBC5’s Lone Star Politics.<\/a><\/p>\n

Their differences are playing out in one of North Texas’ most competitive state legislative races. House District 112 includes parts of Richardson, Garland, Sachse, Sunnyvale and Rowlett.<\/p>\n

Long held by Republicans, the district has become increasingly competitive as Democrats try to flip the seat Button has represented since 2009. She is one of only two Republicans from Dallas County in the Texas House.<\/p>\n

In the joint interview with NBC5 and The Dallas Morning News, Button presented herself as an experienced leader who understands the district’s tech-focused economy as well as residents’ struggles with rising costs. She recalled growing up poor in Taiwan, then coming to the United States and working to achieve a slice of the American dream.<\/p>\n

“I want to give back to this great country and to this great community,” Button said. “The voter knows every time they send me back to Austin, I cut taxes and I work hard to reduce the everyday cost of living expenses.”<\/p>\n

Herbert, a Marine veteran and personal injury lawyer, accused Button of being out of touch and criticized her for not holding town hall meetings.<\/p>\n

“I have spent my whole career standing up for people,” he said. “And I’ve sat by and watched as our representative has failed us\u2026 we aren’t being represented by somebody who passes laws that help the people that live in my district. And so I said I can do a better job.”<\/p>\n

Voucher dispute<\/p>\n

The candidates’ sharpest disagreement centered on the state’s private school voucher program<\/a>, a centerpiece of Gov. Greg Abbott’s 2025 legislative agenda. The program provides families with state-funded education savings accounts that can be used for private school tuition and other approved education expenses.<\/p>\n

Supporters say it gives parents more choices over where their children are educated. Critics say it diverts students and funding from public schools, which receive state money based partly on attendance.<\/p>\n

Herbert has made Button’s support for the program a focus of his campaign, saying public schools in the district are facing budget shortfalls.<\/p>\n

“The schools are the most important thing to most of us that live here,” he said. “My opponent voted for the voucher scam to gut those schools.”<\/p>\n

Button said she supports public education but believes education savings accounts could be a better fit for some students.<\/p>\n

“There’s no doubt I am supporting public education, but I am also supporting the education saving accounts,” Button said. “Some students just cannot function well in certain types of settings. We need to give them options.”<\/p>\n

Fight over costs<\/p>\n

The candidates also sparred over the cost of living, including taxes and insurance.<\/p>\n

Button proposed eliminating business inventory taxes, particularly those on groceries and medicine, and said she would work to lower automobile insurance rates. She said auto insurance rates had risen 58% over the past three years even as car accidents and related deaths declined.<\/p>\n

Herbert opposed proposals backed by Abbott and the Republican-led Legislature, including limits on local jurisdictions’ ability to set their own tax policies.<\/p>\n

He also questioned Abbott’s plan to eliminate property taxes <\/a>that fund public schools, saying it would require “a clear replacement funding source.”<\/p>\n

On insurance, Herbert rejected suggestions that trial lawyers and their lawsuits drive up rates.<\/p>\n

“It’s a complete farce,” he said. “The insurance companies have put up record profits year after year. They are raising the rates and they are making money off of us, while us attorneys are trying to represent individual people.”<\/p>\n

The candidates agreed that cities should have a role in decisions about data centers, which power artificial intelligence and other parts of the new economy.<\/p>\n

Button said cities should decide where centers are placed and that their operations should be monitored and audited as conditions and technology change.<\/p>\n

Herbert said data center owners should pay for the infrastructure, electricity and water they use instead of shifting those costs to residents.<\/p>\n

Lone Star Politics<\/a>, produced by NBC5 and The News, airs at 8:30 a.m. Sundays.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Morning Roundup, a free newsletter delivering the latest North Texas news each morning.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at Button, Herbert battle in competitive North Texas state House District 112 race<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Angie Chen Button and Zach Herbert disagree on plenty. The Republican incumbent and Democratic challenger split over school…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":450076,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[149229,10504,7852,430,30311,27,29,2332,28,149230],"class_list":["post-450075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-angie-chen-button","tag-dallas-morning-news","tag-education-savings-accounts","tag-north-texas","tag-public-schools","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-house","tag-texas-news","tag-zach-herbert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450075","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=450075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}