 However, two days after his 2010 re-election, on November 4 Edmund Kuempel died, thus requiring a December 14, 2010 special election to fill the position.Kuempel was the only candidate in the field openly committed to the retention of Joe Straus of San Antonio as Texas House Speaker.Edmund Kuempel had also been a Straus backer in 2009, when Straus deposed the more conservative former Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland.