When a reporter called him Tuesday night for comment on his unexpected Republican runoff victory over State Board of Education hopeful Mary Lou Bruner, the 45-year-old Lufkin school board president asked whether it was true. "I didn't want to be the one to call it," said the chiropractor and father of three, who declined to criticize Bruner, an East Texas Tea Party activist and retired schoolteacher who drew national attention for bizarre and bigoted social media posts.