Former New Yorker Runs for Texas House Seat on GOP Ticket

Portrait of Larry Delarose
Pflugerville Republican Larry Delarose (Credit: Bob Green)

Austin area Republicans are running a New York transplant as their candidate in a state legislative race against an entrenched incumbent, Celia Israel. 

Israel, the vice chair of the Democratic Caucus in the Texas House of Representatives, first won election in January 2014 and has never come close to defeat. 

She ran unopposed in 2018 and took about 60% of the votes in contests against Republican opponents in 2014 and 2016.

But Larry Delarose figured he’d give it a shot anyway. The Pflugerville resident describes himself on his website as “not your grandpa’s Republican.”

He once ran for New York Senate as a Democrat — a fact that he’s not ashamed to admit — but now he says he’s a “strong supporter of Governor Abbott.”

Delarose also calls him a supporter of President Trump, while adding, “by saying you support someone doesn’t mean you think they’re infallible or they never make a mistake.”

House District 50 covers certain North Austin neighborhoods, about half of Pflugerville, Wells Branch, and unincorporated parts of eastern Travis County (map).

Celia Israel has raised about ten times as much money as Delarose in her bid for reelection, according to mid-year campaign finances disclosures. As of June 30, her campaign had $48,414 cash on hand, compared to Delarose’s $4,772.

Honest Austin interviewed Delarose about his background and policy views. The below transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What’s your background and how do you think those experiences have prepared you for office as a legislator?

I’m originally from upstate New York, and I basically had two careers. I worked for the Associated Press in New York as a writer and editor, and then I switched careers and went to work on Wall Street for a while. 

So that’s two different worlds there. AP has basically two wires, one is for print and the other is for broadcast. I worked on the broadcast side.

In financial services I worked for several companies, mostly for Prudential Securities in New York where I was an associate vice president in the training department. I also worked as a broker for a while. 

While I was in New York I was also involved in local politics. I was a town councilman and a town supervisor in a small town called Blooming Grove which is up near West Point on the Hudson River. I was on the county parks commission and served as the executive director for something called the Natural Heritage Trust, which is part of the state parks commission but works with the private sector.

I also ran for the state senate as a Democrat when Barack Obama ran the first time for president. I didn’t win, because it was a pretty heavy Republican area, but I did get over 46,000 votes. 

So I have some experience, but here’s my feeling on experience: When push come to shove when dealing in government, if you’ve got common sense, I think you’ll do alright.

What brought you to Texas?

My daughter moved down here with my grandson in 2017, so that’s pretty much our immediate family, so we decided to move down here with them. Overall, it is also a little less expensive to live in Texas.

Why are you running for office?

My belief in government is like this: If you’re in office because of partisan politics, I think that’s the wrong reason. My feeling is you should be there because you have something you want to do or something you want to support — not because you just want to support your party in power. 

The incumbent in this race has her own record to run on but she’s basically a political operative who has been involved with the Democrats since Ann Richards was governor 25 years ago. She’s had many turns, and it’s time for a change.

Earlier you said that you ran for state senate as a Democrat — so when did you transition to the Republican party and what prompted that transition? 

Well, I was really impressed by Obama. One day I was channel surfing on television, and I come across Obama giving his speech — I think it was on Lincoln’s birthday — announcing he was going to run for president. 

And I had never heard of the guy, and I’m looking at this and I say, “Geez, who is this guy? He sounds great. He sounds intelligent, he sounds measured, it’s about time we had a Black president, or somebody of color — somebody other than White man — let’s get it over with.”

And so I was impressed by him and the Democrats had an opening, they didn’t have a candidate, so I approached them, they endorsed me, and I ran. 

I still have the copy of the election form that shows the candidates, and I was proud of the fact that I was on the ballot with the first Black man to run for president on a national ticket. So that’s my feeling on that.

But had you consistently been a Democrat to that point? 

No, that’s the only time I went off the reservation, as the saying goes, and got involved as a Democrat.

And in more recent years, what are your thoughts on the direction of the two parties and where do you feel more at home?

The Democrat Party, if Obama were to run today to become the Democrat Party nominee, I think he’d have a hard time making it. I think Jack Kennedy never would come close. So I think they’ve gone to the extreme because they think that’s where the leverage is, that’s where their momentum is, that’s where their chance to win national elections is. And now they’re kind of stuck with it. 

As far as the Republicans are concerned, as Ronald Reagan used to say, I don’t necessarily expect to get 100% of what I want, but if I get 75% or 80% I’ll be a happy camper. So in politics you’ve got to compromise. It can’t be my way or the highway.

Bringing this closer to home, what would you say is the biggest difference between you and your opponent?

We have a difference substantively on social programs and the role of government. To sit down and say, ‘I want free school, I want free healthcare, I want free housing’ — all this is great. Everybody would like that. But it’s not practical. You can’t just sit down and say, ‘I want this and I’m going to hold my breath until I get it or I’m going to throw all my toys out of the crib.’ It doesn’t work that way. 

I believe government can offer help but not solutions. What I mean by that is that the government can help you with your education, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it can pay for your whole education. It can help with job training, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to guarantee you a good-paying job.

If elected, what’s the first bill that you would introduce in the legislature?

There’s a local situation that nobody’s paying attention to. I think it’s one of the first things that I would do. I live in Pflugerville in a subdivision called Avalon, which is technically not within the physical boundaries of the city of Pflugerville. There are several here like that. 

So while our mailing address if Pflugerville and we pay taxes to Pflugerville, we can’t vote for Plugerville local candidates like mayor and city council. I want to change that. Because my feeling is that if I’m paying taxes, if I have to abide by the regulations of the city, then I ought to be able to vote for the people running it. 

What’s something you miss about New York?

Well, the Hudson Valley where I lived was like a mile wide, and there are mountains on both sides. I know you have what you call ‘hill country’ here, but they’re not really hills, they’re bumps. I’m not knocking it, but it is what it is. 

You know, when you’ve lived in one place most of your life there are always things you get sentimental about. The change in the seasons are different up there — I don’t miss the winters, I’ll give Texas that — though summers here are brutal.