{"id":279983,"date":"2013-10-18T12:04:01","date_gmt":"2013-10-18T17:04:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ktbb.com\/post\/?p=279983"},"modified":"2013-10-20T05:32:51","modified_gmt":"2013-10-20T10:32:51","slug":"merritt-to-run-for-agriculture-commissioner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=279983","title":{"rendered":"Merritt to Run for Agriculture Commissioner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2013\/07\/tommy-merritt-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2013\/07\/tommy-merritt-2.jpg\" alt=\"tommy merritt-2\" width=\"131\" height=\"113\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-270639\" \/><\/a>KILGORE &#8212; Former East Texas State Representative Tommy Merritt has announced he will be a candidate for the Republican nomination for Texas agriculture commissioner.  That&#8217;s according to the Kilgore News-Herald.  \u201cAfter months of canvassing the state, I am flattered and encouraged by the overwhelming support I have received from across the state to take this important step,\u201d Merritt said. \u201cTexas needs an agriculture Commissioner who understands what farmers and ranchers are facing in these tough economic times.\u201d  Merritt has spent his entire life working in and around agriculture. \u201cI\u2019m no newcomer wannabe looking for a temporary job on the political career ladder,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is an opportunity for me to bring the state what I know best \u2013 the needs of farmers, ranchers and landowners.\u201d  <!--more--> <\/p>\n<p>The Gregg County Republican Party Chairman is one of the first to publicly endorse Merritt\u2019s campaign.  \u201cHaving land in East Texas and West Texas, he is familiar with the needs of farmers and ranchers across the whole State of Texas, which is what is needed for the Texas Agriculture Commissioner,\u201d said Dr. Keith A Rothra, chairman of the county Republican party. \u201cTommy will make an excellent Agriculture Commissioner and I support his decision to run for this crucial office.\u201d  Merritt said he will make a formal announcement in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Besides Merritt, here&#8217;s the full field of candidates, according to politics1.com:<\/p>\n<p>J. Allen Carnes (R) &#8211; Uvalde Mayor, Farmer &#038; Businessman<br \/>\nSid Miller (R) &#8211; Ex-State Rep., Nurseryman &#038; Rancher<br \/>\nEric Opiela (R) &#8211; Attorney, Rancher &#038; Ex-State GOP Executive Director<br \/>\nKinky Friedman (D) &#8211; Country Music Singer, Author, &#8217;10 Candidate &#038; &#8217;06 Gov. Candidate<br \/>\nRocky Palmquist (Libertarian) &#8211; &#8217;10 Bastrop County Commission Candidate<br \/>\nBilly Engle Jr. (Write-In) &#8211; &#8217;10 St. Rep. Candidate &#038; &#8217;12 US Rep. Candidate<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>KILGORE &#8212; Former East Texas State Representative Tommy Merritt has announced he will be a candidate for the Republican nomination for Texas agriculture commissioner. That&#8217;s according to the Kilgore News-Herald. \u201cAfter months of canvassing the state, I am flattered and encouraged by the overwhelming support I have received from across the state to take this &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=279983\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Merritt to Run for Agriculture Commissioner<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-09 00:43:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=279983"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279983\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":279997,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279983\/revisions\/279997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=279983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=279983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=279983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}