Fresh off his victory in the Congressional District 17 race, retired energy executive Bill Flores, R-Bryan, is approaching his transition to office like some of his past private-sector ventures.

“Essentially, it’s not terribly different from building a business,” he said. “You lay out what your goals are and what kind of team you need to build to accomplish those goals.”

Flores said he hasn’t made personnel decisions, apart from keeping his campaign scheduler.

Bill Flores said he intends to have three district offices, including one in Waco.
Rod Aydelotte / Tribune-Herald

“I’m still trying to design what I think is the optimal organization structure,” he said.

Flores said he intends to have three district offices, including one in Waco.

“I had a luncheon for my team in Bryan-College Station, and we started transition discussions at that point in time and came up with the plan to close the (campaign) offices over the next few weeks,” Flores said.

Election results

Flores said he was “cautiously optimistic” about his chances going into Tuesday’s election, but “I was surprised by the margin of victory.”

He won 62 percent of the vote to U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards’ 37 percent, taking Edwards’ home county of McLennan County and every other county save for Robertson.

Flores said he thinks the reasons for the wide margin were twofold.

“I think we ran a good campaign, but I also think people were angrier than I expected,” he said.

After the race was decided, former President George W. Bush called Flores to congratulate him.

Bush largely has stayed out of politics since leaving the Oval Office, but he has a ranch near Crawford and votes in McLennan County. In one exception this year, Bush endorsed his longtime friend David Sibley, who was running in a special election for state Senate.

Bush started by congratulating Flores on the win, according to the congressman-elect.

“And then he said, ‘Now I’m getting ready to send you a bunch of letters to tell you what I want you to do,’ ” Flores said.

“He was very funny, but very genuine.”

Post-election politics

Flores said he started getting calls almost as soon as the election was over, mostly congratulatory but also from his soon-to-be GOP colleagues seeking his support for party leadership positions.

Flores said he has pledged his support to Dallas Rep. Jeb Hensarling, the leading candidate for Republican Conference chairman following the announcement by Indiana’s Mike Pence that he will relinquish that post.

Hensarling is vying against Minnesota’s Michele Bachmann, founder of the Tea Party Caucus and considered the anti-establishment candidate.

“And I’ve committed for (Virginia Rep.) Eric Cantor to be majority leader,” Flores added.

In a week and a half, Flores will attend an orientation for new members in Washington, D.C., and he said at that point he and his wife, Gina, will work out a housing arrangement.

But Flores emphasized he plans on spending as much time as possible in Central Texas at his home in Bryan.

“All I’m trying to do is find is a place I can crash,” he said of his Washington, D.C., housing.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

757-5707

RELATED SEARCHES

• Edwards dreams of teaching, moving back to Waco and more compromise in Congress