Will Hickman

From Ballotpedia
Will Hickman
Texas State Board of Education District 6
Tenure
2021 - Present
Term ends
2027
Years in position
5
Predecessor:Donna Bahorich (R)
Elections and appointments
Last election
November 8, 2022
Education
Bachelor's
Texas A&M University
Bachelor's
University of Houston
Law
University of Houston
Personal
Profession
Lawyer
Contact

Will Hickman (Republican Party) is a member of theTexas State Board of Education, representingDistrict 6. He assumed office on January 1, 2021. His current term ends on January 1, 2027.

Hickman (Republican Party) ran for re-election to theTexas State Board of Education to representDistrict 6. He won in the general election onNovember 8, 2022.

Hickman completed Ballotpedia'sCandidate Connection survey in 2022.Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Will Hickman earned bachelor's degrees in mechanical engineering and industrial distribution from Texas A&M University, a bachelor's degree in Spanish from the University of Houston, a master of laws degree, and a J.D. from the University of Houston. Hickman's career experience includes working as a lawyer and as an in-house counsel with Shell Oil Company.[1]

Political career

Texas State Board of Education (2021-present)

Hickman was elected to the board in November 2020 and assumed office in January 2021.

Elections

2026

See also:Texas State Board of Education election, 2026

Will Hickman did not file to run for re-election.

2022

See also: Texas State Board of Education election, 2022

General election

General election for Texas State Board of Education District 6

IncumbentWill Hickman defeatedMichelle Palmer andRebekah Plourde in the general election for Texas State Board of Education District 6 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Will Hickman
Will Hickman (R) Candidate Connection
 
60.3
 
364,447
Image of Michelle Palmer
Michelle Palmer (D) Candidate Connection
 
39.7
 
240,384
Image of Rebekah Plourde
Rebekah Plourde (Independent) (Write-in) Candidate Connection
 
0.0
 
59

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 604,890
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas State Board of Education District 6

Michelle Palmer advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas State Board of Education District 6 on March 1, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Michelle Palmer
Michelle Palmer Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
53,055

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 53,055
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas State Board of Education District 6

IncumbentWill Hickman defeatedMike Wolfe in the Republican primary for Texas State Board of Education District 6 on March 1, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Will Hickman
Will Hickman Candidate Connection
 
64.9
 
81,302
Image of Mike Wolfe
Mike Wolfe
 
35.1
 
43,944

Ballotpedia Logo

Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 125,246
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Campaign finance

Endorsements

To view Hickman's endorsements in the 2022 election, pleaseclick here.

2020

See also: Texas State Board of Education election, 2020

General election

General election for Texas State Board of Education District 6

Will Hickman defeatedMichelle Palmer andWhitney Bilyeu in the general election for Texas State Board of Education District 6 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Will Hickman
Will Hickman (R) Candidate Connection
 
49.8
 
371,958
Image of Michelle Palmer
Michelle Palmer (D) Candidate Connection
 
47.4
 
354,179
Image of Whitney Bilyeu
Whitney Bilyeu (L)
 
2.9
 
21,414

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 747,551
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Texas State Board of Education District 6

Michelle Palmer defeatedKimberly McLeod in the Democratic primary runoff for Texas State Board of Education District 6 on July 14, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Michelle Palmer
Michelle Palmer Candidate Connection
 
64.2
 
39,757
Image of Kimberly McLeod
Kimberly McLeod Candidate Connection
 
35.8
 
22,139

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 61,896
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas State Board of Education District 6

Michelle Palmer andKimberly McLeod advanced to a runoff. They defeatedDebra Kerner in the Democratic primary for Texas State Board of Education District 6 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Michelle Palmer
Michelle Palmer Candidate Connection
 
46.7
 
51,778
✔
Image of Kimberly McLeod
Kimberly McLeod Candidate Connection
 
34.7
 
38,439
Image of Debra Kerner
Debra Kerner Candidate Connection
 
18.7
 
20,712

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 110,929
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas State Board of Education District 6

Will Hickman advanced from the Republican primary for Texas State Board of Education District 6 on March 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Will Hickman
Will Hickman Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
88,900

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 88,900
Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for Texas State Board of Education District 6

Whitney Bilyeu advanced from the Libertarian convention for Texas State Board of Education District 6 on March 21, 2020.

Candidate
✔
Image of Whitney Bilyeu
Whitney Bilyeu (L)

Ballotpedia Logo

There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Candidate Connection = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Campaign finance


Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Will Hickman completedBallotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hickman's responses.

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Will Hickman, a Republican from Houston, serves as the current member of the Texas State Board of Education representing District 6. He won the 2020 Republican Primary and General Elections and was sworn into office on January 2, 2021. Hickman earned two bachelor’s degrees from Texas A&M University, one in Mechanical Engineering and another in Industrial Distribution. He later attended the University of Houston Law Center and graduated with a Juris Doctorate (JD) degree. He continued to advance his career and pursued a Master of Laws (LLM) degree specializing in Intellectual Property. He recently returned to the University of Houston and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish.Hickman has been a lawyer since 2001 and an in-house counsel for a major energy company since 2004. He and his wife are actively involved in the Texas public school system with children in high school and middle school. He actively supports the parents, teachers, and students through having served in many roles such as the PTA legislative liaison for elementary and middle schools and being a member of Dad’s Club and Watch Dog programs. Hickman is an active member of Tallowood Baptist Church where he serves as a deacon and served as a 7th grade Sunday school teacher. He and his wife of 24 years, Jennifer Hickman, have three children in Texas public schools.
  • He is a parent with three kids in public schools. He brings a parent’s perspective to the SBOE and is in favor of full parental access to their kid’s classrooms. He is in favor of parents choosing the best educational options for their kids. He is against school closures, virtual learning, vaccine mandates, and mask mandates.
  • Empower families to choose a high-quality education that meets their child’s unique needs, which includes allowing access to educational choice and charter schools.
  • He has positive and compelling vision where every student will have a customized “Flight Plan” to achieve their own American Dream. One of the metrics Texas uses to measure the success of our educational system is “Career, College and Military Readiness.” In other words, are Texas students prepared for upon graduation to enroll in technical certification programs, military training programs, or college? Unfortunately, Texas currently has an “F”, with only 54% of our graduating students being prepared for career, college, or military, while 46% are not.
Will Hickman is chairing the ad-hoc Flight Plan Committee with SBOE colleagues from North, East, and West Texas. This committee is looking around the state for how different ISD’s implement the requirements of TEC 28.016, for college and career exploration in middle school, and deciding what the best options are for the existing SBOE career and college classes. The goal for this committee is to develop a new class that will include a process for students to learn about many different career options, to be tested to identify their interests and aptitudes, and then to work with their counselors to build a personalized, customized individual high school plan that positions each student to achieve his or her dreams. Many ISD’s are already doing parts of this, and best practices across the state can be utilized and incorporated into a state-wide SBOE option.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2020

Candidate Connection

Will Hickman completedBallotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hickman's responses.

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Will Hickman has been working as an attorney at Shell for over 15 years, first in the area of intellectual property, and now supporting LNG transactions in Latin America and the Caribbean. Will has been involved for many years as a precinct chair in Bellaire and West Houston, served 6 years on the Bellaire City Council, was elected to represent CD7 in the 2016 Electoral College, and now serves as the General Counsel for the Harris County Republican Party. Will and Dr. Jennifer Hickman have been married 21 years, and have 3 kids in high, middle, and elementary schools in Spring Branch ISD. Will has been active at their schools as a frequent volunteer, Dad's Club, Watch Dog, and PTA legislative liaison for at the elementary and middle schools. Will is also active in the community coaching basketball for SBMSA and Kingdom, working for the International Committee at the HLSR, and serving as a deacon and Sunday school teacher at Tallowood Baptist Church.
  • Apply over 20 years of business, finance, and investment experience to oversee the $44 billion Permanent School Fund investments and distributions for the 5.4 million students of Texas
  • Leverage educational, public service and professional learnings and experiences to build a consensus of parents, educators, subject matter experts, and other board members to develop and approve curriculum standards and approve instructional materials that will best prepare our children for college, career, or military upon graduation
  • Expanding the process to include feedback from students about creation of courses that are more relevant and meaningful to prepare for a 21st century workforce
Creating and shaping Texas educational policy that enables each student to realize their own version of the American dream: creating a path for each student to be ready to start a career, enter the military, or enroll in a college or university after graduating high school.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

See also


External links

Candidate

Texas State Board of Education District 6

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    Texas State Board of Education District 6

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    • Footnotes

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    Donna Bahorich (R)    		Texas State Board of Education District 6
    2021-Present    		Succeeded by
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