Editor’s note: We sent out questions to 17 candidates in eight different races on the ballot in the Nov. 3 General Election. We heard back from at least one candidate in each race with the exception of Lubbock County Justice of the Peace Precinct 2. Our invitations went out on October 1, shortly after we launched Lubbock Report in late September. We would have preferred to give candidates more time to respond, so we have extended our deadline if candidates still choose to send us their responses.

What are your top three priorities?

1. Pass the County Voice Act. County commissioners courts have no power to regulate heavy users, especially in unincorporated areas, except through bargaining away property tax revenue for safety. This act fills that gap. Before any approvals, permits or tax paperwork is ever done in Austin County, the Commissioners Court have 90 days to consider approving or denying heavy users like Data Centers through an already established process that they use for setting tax rates.

2. Fight back against the school vouchers, it hurts public schools. It not only hurts public schools it hurts retired educators. Public money belongs in public schools.

3. Advocate for re-enrollment in the summer EBT program, feeding children is a good thing. And more investment from the state in rural food banks.

Yes, schools should not have to jump through hoops to get our money for our schools. Texas should first get on par with the rest of the nation in money per student and livable wages for teachers. Riley Rodriquez

What changes, including funding, should Texas consider for public schools? How much of the policy for things like teacher compensation and per-student funding should come from Austin instead of local school boards?

Yes, schools should not have to jump through hoops to get our money for our schools. Texas should first get on par with the rest of the nation in money per student and livable wages for teachers.

What is the proper oversight of the state’s higher education? What limits should the Legislature put on college-level instruction including Texas Tech?

First, we remove billionaire oil tycoons, CEOs of real estate development, and energy corporations that make up the board, some of whom have given several million in campaign donations to Greg Abbott and bring actual educators in. Not one person on the higher education board has a background as an actual educator. Higher education should be overseen by educators.

I do not believe the Legislature should play much of a role at all in limiting higher education. I feel it is the state’s job to maintain and improve the structures that keep the education system stable, accessible for the public, and ensures the rights of all students are protected.

What restrictions, if any, should Texas place on large-scale or hyperscale data centers? Should cities and counties have more authority to attract and/or regulate them?

The bill I introduced is a bill that I believe will cover a lot of the regulation that hyperscalers need. The County Voice Act lowers the threshold for data centers. At 25 megawatts of usage or 25,000 gallons of water a day, a process is triggered giving county commissioners courts 90 days to approve or deny the appropriate paperwork from the developer’s plans before they are approved for any state permits.

Furthermore, requiring investment in actual green practices such as salt batteries instead of lithium batteries. Our rural volunteer fire departments are already having enough trouble without having to put out a lithium fire.

What should the Legislature do to address property taxes?

The state could start taking a real approach to fixing the downward pressure on working young families by exploring options like a flat dollar homestead exemption helping working-class Texans, renter rebates and a cost-of-living refund matching the federal EITC at 25 percent, helping millions of Texans.

What needs to happen in the next legislative session to ensure West Texas has sufficient water for future generations and how should those projects be paid for?

Massive scaling down of heavy users is a start particularly in West Texas. The bigger, the more water they need not just to run but to be built out during the construction phase. The Legislature needs to take a real approach to the rule of capture loophole. A data center in Childress bought land and drilled two wells and they are saying they’ll send it to the city. That may be but the state has nothing in place to make sure they don’t also start selling it to other heavy users.

What standards should public schools meet in terms of materials that are available to students including school libraries? How much of that should be balanced by parental preferences and First Amendment considerations?

Reading material should be appropriate for each age group. Texas has a program called SLAC for Parents, Teachers and Librarians to meet, analyze and decide on what material should be in the school libraries or not. Parents that might be concerned can advocate for either side and then a decision is made. I think that process should be allowed to play out.

Should Texas expand Medicaid, increase reimbursement to rural hospitals or take other actions to address rural health care?

Yes, we need to expand Medicaid. My father died not just from poor health but because he was “too young” to receive benefits that would’ve helped sooner. Working class rural Texans watch their family members wilt away and suffer while the state tells them that it’s just too bad. Rural hospitals need money and the state has to fight harder to get reimbursement rates.

What role should, if any, Texas play in immigration enforcement?

We are a border state. It’s important that we have a robust, efficient and constitutionally aligned immigration policy.

I believe we need more immigration judges to help process claims and cases faster. We should play a large role in enforcing border security and humane treatment of migrants.

What are the legislative priorities for West Texas agriculture?

Water security is at the top of the list this year with everything going on.

Also land and property rights, a lot of folks bought land to homestead and now they are being pushed around with data centers, solar farms and 765 lines.

Oil & gas and power companies get pretty much anything they want from our Legislature. They make money hand over fist in this state regardless of what their lobbyists might spin in Austin. The Legislature must ask what we the people need. Riley Rodriquez

A lot of energy policy is set by the federal government, but what does the West Texas oil and gas industry need from the Legislature? What do electric power providers including those who maintain the power grid need?

Oil & gas and power companies get pretty much anything they want from our Legislature. They make money hand over fist in this state regardless of what their lobbyists might spin in Austin. The Legislature must ask what we the people need.

We need more protection from these companies’ poor practices. Old oil wells leaking into ground water, hundreds of tons of toxic chemicals being spewed into our air and little regulatory authority to bring consequences to bad actors short of a fine.

The Legislature has and will do plenty for oil & gas and power corporations because they own our representatives.

What these companies need from the Legislature is policy with teeth holding them accountable for putting people in danger. Fines for these companies need to be raised to be a real financial deterrent and update policies of regulatory agencies like the TCEQ to make stronger protections for folks.

Texas has declined to participate in the federal Summer EBT program. What role, if any, should the state government play in addressing food assistance?

The state should do everything it can to feed children. The fact that our state thinks that feeding a child is something to be debated is cruel and does not at all align with my values as a Texan.

There is no debate for me when it comes to putting food in the mouths of children. It is a good and worthwhile thing to feed children for free and those are my values. We ought to be able to depend on our elected officials to look out for us in that regard.

The state should and could create a channel of funding and supply for rural foodbanks so folks that see the suffering and want to help don’t have to take the little they already have and try to splice to help feed their neighbor.

Has the state taken too much power away from local governments? What is the proper role of local control in cities, counties, schools, water conservation districts and the like?

Yes. With my County Voice Act it identifies and fixes one of those huge gaps.

Our legislators are part-time workers. They aren’t there the other 19 months between sessions, yet they are the ones with the keys to the door.

The local governments are being put in a hard spot by the Legislature because the Legislature took away their ability and by extension the people’s ability to engage in our American civic duty.

Right now it doesn’t matter if you vote out your entire city council and county commissioners court, the new officials would have the same problem. They would not be able to make any different decisions because of state control.

The County Voice Act addresses that. It takes the same process counties use for setting tax rates and applies it to industry. In rural Texas, typically you don’t know about the data center ’til the rock hauler arrives.

Election ‘26

Click here to see our Election ‘26 coverage including an article with voting locations.