LEADERSHIP
FOR THE PEOPLE

I'm a product of Texas public schools. So is my son. Public education isn't just where kids learn — in many communities across TX-36, the local school district is the largest employer in the area. When you defund public schools, you don't just hurt kids. You gut entire communities. The voucher scheme being pushed in Texas is a direct attack on public education — a plot to drain resources from the schools that serve working families and redirect them to private institutions that answer to no one. I oppose it completely. We should be investing more in public education, not less — paying teachers what they deserve, and the bus drivers, custodians, cafeteria workers, and every support staff member who makes those schools run. These are not expendable jobs. They are the backbone of our communities.

I believe in climate change. The Earth is telling us something — and we need to start listening. How many times have we watched Houston flood in ways that used to happen once in a hundred years? The temperatures keep rising. The storms keep intensifying. This isn't a coincidence. This is a crisis. We need to protect our natural resources and invest seriously in renewable energy — solar and wind in particular. I'm not saying we quit fossil fuels overnight. I understand what energy means to the economy of Southeast Texas. But we all know fossil fuels won't last forever, and the time to build toward what comes next is now — not later.

Donald Trump once said he could stand on a corner and shoot someone and nobody would care. That's essentially what we have going on right now with ICE — a force with a budget three times the size of the entire U.S. Marine Corps, operating with masks on, no body cameras, and virtually no accountability. My neighbor's family was taken by ICE last fall. Someone from my church was taken just weeks ago. These are not abstractions. These are people — and they are vanishing. No human being is illegal. That word is used to strip people of their dignity and make it easier to do terrible things to them. I refuse to use it, and I refuse to accept a system built around it.

I will not support the SAVE Act. Period. Voter ID is already the law. You already have to show identification when you go to the polls. Undocumented people cannot vote — I cannot say that enough. The premise of this legislation is a lie, and the consequences are real and devastating. The SAVE Act would block an estimated 39 million Americans from voting — including married people who changed their name, transgender Americans who updated their documents, and even the Vice President of the United States. Requiring a Real ID before you can vote is a poll tax by another name. That cost should never stand between an American citizen and their right to vote.

We need to stop sending our troops into random, unnecessary wars in the Middle East. No more soldiers should die because of reckless decisions made by people who have never served. The current Secretary of Defense is systematically dismantling the diversity and professionalism of our armed forces. The ban on transgender troops must be reversed. Shaving profiles for soldiers of color must be restored. Barriers to promotion for women and people of color must be eliminated. As a disabled veteran who receives all of my care through the VA, I know firsthand how broken the system can be. If we can spend billions sending people to war, we can spend what it takes to take care of them when they come home.

Working families in TX-36 are being squeezed from every direction — at the grocery store, at the gas pump, at the housing market. And too much of it is the direct result of choices made in Washington. End the war in the Middle East. End the chaotic, reckless tariffs. Stop deporting the workers who build the homes that people in this district need. You cannot complain about a housing shortage and then systematically remove the workforce that builds the houses. Raise the minimum wage. Tax billionaires. Create a healthcare system that doesn't hold people hostage to insurance company profits. Every American deserves healthcare that isn't tied to a paycheck or a premium.

Healthcare should be affordable and accessible to all Texans. Brian Babin voted for the "Big Beautiful Bill" that cut Medicaid and put countless Texas seniors at risk. Rhonda will fight for:

Rhonda's daughter Kimberly was killed in the Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018. She worked to pass the Kimberly Vaughan Safe Storage of Firearms Act, part of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Rhonda will continue fighting for: