Voters in McLennan County may have one more name on the ballot this November when voting for a new District Attorney.
Daniel Hare launched a campaign to run as an Independent in hopes of facing republican nominee Barry Johnson who defeated Abel Reyna in the March primaries.
Daniel Hare never practiced law, but he did receive a degree from Baylor Law School. He passed the bar and is eligible to practice Texas. By June he must have 500 signatures on a petition to get his name on the November ballot. Those signatures have to be from voters who did not vote in the primaries. Hare is working as Director of Career Development at Baylor law school. He filed to run as an Independent back in December, but election rules required him to wait until after the primaries to start his campaign. He said if he gets elected as District Attorney one of his first steps is to get justice for families of Twin Peaks victims. Hare wants to start over and find the people who played a bigger role in the shooting and prosecute them. He said his ability to seek the best people and create an environment where they would want to stay qualifies him for the position, even though he does not have a background in criminal law.
“You have to give them the everything they need to be successful. When you have twenty-five prosecutors handling hundreds of cases, it’s not that you need a 26th prosecutor to come in and handle more cases,” said Hare. “I think you have to strategize the office so that everybody has what they need to do their best work. I think that’s where my strengths will come into play.”
Hare said he decided it was best for him to run, because he wanted to give voters who are not pleased with the republican party a choice during the election.
Hare spent a number of years working as an Athletic Director before moving to the Waco area. If he gets the 500 signatures he needs, he will run against republican nominee Barry Johnson on November 6.