Three candidates are running to represent the Central Lubbock District 3 on the city council, after outgoing councilmember David Glasheen announced in December 2025 that he would not be seeking reelection.
With his announcement, Glasheen endorsed outgoing Lubbock County Republican chair David Bruegel to replace him. Bruegel, a Lubbock real estate broker, former Shallowater alderman and volunteer firefighter, sat down with KTTZ to discuss his campaign and the issues he's focused on for District 3.
Election Day for Lubbock's 2026 municipal election is May 2 and early voting runs April 20-28. You can find more information and polling locations here.
The following interview has been edited lightly for clarity.
Brad Burt: David, thank you very much for joining us.
David Bruegel: Hey, Brad, thanks for having me today.
Brad Burt: Just for starters, tell our listeners a little bit about yourself.
David Bruegel: Yeah. So I'm from here in Lubbock, Texas, born and raised. I've spent a little bit of time elsewhere in the state; Lived for a short time in Austin and San Antonio, and even over at Shallowater just up the road. But I keep coming back to Lubbock. You know, I spent all my childhood years here, all my early 20s. Lived out in Shallowater in my late 20s, and got a strong sense I needed to move back into the city, and so moved back a few years ago.
My family and I live at 54th and Quaker, my wife, Katherine, and our daughter over there. And we live just a couple blocks up Dupree Park, which is a beautiful, really unknown treasure here in Lubbock. We've got mature willow trees, it's a great place to take a walk. Central Lubbock is really special, and so we're glad to live here. Business wise, I run Wise Cardinal Realty, which is a full service real estate brokerage. And then I run a residential maintenance operation called The House Medic, where we do residential repairs, you know, minor drywall work, painting and flooring, things of that nature.
BB: What motivated you to run for District 3?
DB: Sure, so David Glasheen came to me, he was expecting his fourth child on the way, and needed to go ahead and step aside and let someone else take the job. And so he asked me to run. He knew about my experience running the Lubbock County Republican Party, and thought I might be a good fit, and asked me to consider running. Wasn't really on my radar at the time, but gave it some consideration.
I've always had a degree of interest in public service, and I'm very intrigued by how local government could have such an impact on our lives. Really two fold, through funding public safety and funding quality of life things. I care very much about making sure Lubbock is a safe place to live, particularly central Lubbock. When I moved back to the city several years ago, I could have chosen Northwest Lubbock, Southwest Lubbock, but I wanted to be right in the middle of all the action. You know, growing up, I lived off of 60th Street, and just loved the old part of town, and so running for city council was a no brainer for me, it'll be a great opportunity to have an impact and be a voice for the inside the loop.
BB: What are some of the issues that you've heard from voters in the district so far?
DB: Sure, so voters are concerned about several things. We hear a lot of talk about road infrastructure. Lubbock has been very smart about that, historically, particularly our forefathers before us, planning for the impending transportation needs of our region. We saw back in the 70s when Loop 289 was put in, more recently, when Marsha Sharp Freeway was put in. Both of those projects didn't make sense to a lot of people when they were initially put into place, but now we don't know how we'd get around without them. The same can be said for Loop 88 which is being built now, which even when it was started in the planning process. I thought, ‘What are these guys thinking? Why are we building a highway in the middle of a cotton field?’ But now, when you drive down to 130th Street, you can clearly see our cities on the grow quickly. We need to manage it well.
Once upon a time, I lived in Austin, worked for a member of the State Legislature down there as a legislative aide early on in my career, and Austin very much decided that they didn't want to expand their road infrastructure back in the 70s and 80s. They liked the city the way it was, and they didn't want it to grow, which is understandable. Was a really neat place back then, in the same way that the Lubbock is a really neat place to be right now. Because they didn't make those investments, now it can take 50 minutes to an hour to make a rather short commute, which here in Lubbock would be a 10 minute drive or less. So we really need to invest in our road and street infrastructure. We need to continue doing that, and that's twofold, Brad, we need to continue to maintain the streets we have here in central Lubbock. We've got a wonderful grid built, and we want to make sure it's not full of pot holes for years to come. And then we've got to continue to develop the edges of town as well, to where we're not driving around on two lane farm roads in the middle of the city.
BB: You talked a lot about Loop 88 and the development that is coming with the city's growth outward, specifically in the southern and western parts. But District 3 being in the center of the city, what have you thought about in terms of development for that area of town? Because the big project that a lot of people think of in District 3 is the student housing project going down the street on 19th, and that was met with some controversy.
DB: It really was, Brad, there were a lot of people who had some great concerns there in that neighborhood, and I think we're going to be managing the impact of that project for several years to come, particularly with pedestrians crossing 19th. But I'll tell you how I've been involved in redevelopment efforts in central Lubbock. Like I told you, central Lubbock matters to me very much. It's where I was born and raised initially, and where I've chosen to be now.
Some friends of mine and I have been involved in redevelopment projects up and down 34th Street between Slide and University. And what we've been doing, between about five of us guys, is we've redeveloped a number of buildings all across up and down the street. The office building I'm in right now actually was a project I was involved in a couple years ago, and I've got a friend that developed one across the street. Just a few years ago, all these buildings were halfway abandoned or at minimal occupancy. But what we've done is we've chosen to invest our private capital. There a lot of people say, hey, what can you do at the City Council to open up more buildings on 34th and 50th Street? And I say, well, we're not going to go out there and buy buildings from the city. That's the private investor's job. What our job is to do is to make sure we provide foundational infrastructure for these to work, and what that looked like for 34th Street was a major road redevelopment project. I'm sure that's on the horizon for 50th Street. We don't know if that's 5, 10, 15, or 20 years out, but it's something we've got to begin to plan for sooner than later.
BB: You talked about the parks in the district and 19th street right here with a lot of pedestrians, there's a lot of concern about pedestrian safety, but District 3 also has some of the most schools in Lubbock. Is pedestrian safety for both the students at Tech and the students of Lubbock schools a concern for you?
DB: Yes, pedestrian safety is a concern. A little bit of that's a public relations issue, a little bit of it's an engineering issue. It's something we'll continue to monitor. I really liked how you brought up the parks, Brad. So I'm a big park guy. I love to go walk.
Once upon a time, I was at a luncheon and I heard Tech Chancellor Kent Hance get up and speak about how he's getting on so well in health at his age. And he said he likes to take a 30-minute walk a day. That's the secret to his well-being. And I really took that to heart. So I try to get out and walk as often as I can. I like to enjoy one of our parks. I walk in Dupree Park by my house, Wagner Park over in Tech Terrace, and some of the others. And we've got to continue to invest in those. We've got some beautiful trees that were planted years and years ago. We've got to continue to take care of those and plant new ones. The walking trail project that was done a couple years ago was a great improvement to several of our parks, and I'd like to see more amenities like that put in, but not just installed, but maintained. Maintenance is so critical.
BB: All of the candidates for District 3 right now — none of them are holding an elected position. None of them are currently on the council, but whoever gets elected is going to be coming in right at the start of budget season. Have you thought about what you would present for the budget if you were to be elected?
DB: Sure. So there are two imminent concerns, immediately that we'll need to look at. I know the mayor's already got these on his radar from my conversations with him. But two of those are funding for our police patrol division and funding for our Animal Services. We're starting to look at those things now. I'm not totally a neophyte when it comes to municipal budgeting. When I – lived – in my 20s – when I lived in the City of Shallowater just up the road, I actually had the opportunity to serve five years on the council there. So I'm familiar with the municipal budgeting process. It won't be – of course, there's a lot more going on here in Lubbock than there is in a smaller town, but I'm not immediately going to be without any knowledge. I'll be jumping into the budget process, understanding the basics of how the tax rates work, how the bond indebtedness works, and how the different funds work. So got a lot to learn, but definitely not starting from zero. I've got some education there.
BB: The incumbent for the seat in District 3, David Glasheen raised a lot of concerns in his time about policy when it comes to the scope of Lubbock's Public Health Department. Do you agree with his position on that, and do you see a value with Lubbock's Public Health Department?
DB: Sure. So one of the things I'm concerned about in the public health regard are mosquitoes. It's a big problem here in Lubbock. You would think, given our dry climate, it really wouldn't be, but what we've done in vector control has been impactful to help control the mosquito populations when we're not in a drought year. So that's a very valuable use our public health department has been involved in.
We may yet see another pandemic someday in the future, and we'll have to take a very measured approach to how we deal with that. Personally, I would like to take the side that errs on the side of making sure we protect people's freedoms while also providing reliable information to the community. And the public health department will play a role in that, without a doubt. I certainly hope we don't see anything like the COVID-19 pandemic again, but we do want to be prepared. Make sure we are communicating well with our citizens and keeping them apprised of the situation.
BB: Lubbock’s stray animals and overpopulated shelters have been another concern for many people. How would you go about supporting Lubbock Animal Services in addressing some of these issues?
DB: Sure, the current council has started to work on this issue. It's an issue of great concern to me. So as a walker and a park guy, it's harder to enjoy our parks when we've got stray dogs running around. Some of them are friendly as can be, right? We've all met those fun little dogs, but some of them have been dangerous. We actually had a gentleman pass away from a dog attack over the Canyon Lake system. He was an activist here in the Democrat Party named Mr. Loony, and I was very sad to see that. And not just sad, but deeply concerned. Wondering what we can do to improve that situation in the future.
Whenever you're looking to affect change in public policy, you've got several levers you can pull. One of them is funding; that's usually the first thing people go to. They say, ‘Okay, we've got a problem. We need to fund it.’ Well, that can only work under certain conditions. We've got to look at two other levers we can adjust. The next is personnel, and the next is policy. So do we have the right rules in place, the right rules and procedures? Do we have the right people in place, and do they have enough funding to do what they need to do? And I believe that's going to be a combination of those three things to get Animal Services where it really needs to be here in central Lubbock. Things have no doubt improved over the last four years, but we've got more progress to make.
BB: Well, getting into the politics side. You come from the Lubbock County Republican Party just recently, wrapping up your service there, but the city council is a non-partisan position. A lot of people are concerned. What is it like to set aside your personal politics and ensure you're reaching all of the residents of the district?
DB: Sure, so the city government's a lot different, Brad. If I was one of the guys running for Congress, this would be a whole different thing. But in the City of Lubbock, my job is to be elected to represent District 3. I don't represent the Republican Party, the Democrat party, or any other party. My job is to make sure my citizens have abundant clean water, safe roads to travel on, and a healthy environment for their businesses to grow.
And I'm very pleased to say that in this campaign, I have broad-based support among Republicans, Democrats and independents. I've had, albeit privately, many activists from the Democrat Party come to me and say they're not satisfied with the extreme rhetoric that's come from some of my opponents. They want to see somebody that's got a level head in the seat that can work to represent central Lubbock well.
BB: Working on the city council requires working with other council members and city staff, as well as residents that may think differently. Is there an example of a time where you heard from someone and may have changed your mind on something?
DB: Yeah, so I've actually had the interesting opportunity to visit with most of the members of the council in depth at this point in the run-up to this election, and it's been interesting to hear their different viewpoints on issues. And what I try to do, Brad, the approach I try to take, is I don't nail down a firm position that I've dug in on until I've got all the facts. Now, there does come a time to make a choice and make a decision, but one has got to know what one's talking about before one gets to that point. And that's my objective, is to always be learning.
BB: David Bruegel, candidate for District 3 and city council. Thank you very much, David for joining us this afternoon.
DB: Thanks for having me, Brad, I really enjoyed it.
You can find conversations with other candidates in Lubbock's municipal elections here. And check out KTTZ's 2026 Mayoral Candidate Forum here.