Meet the Democratic candidates running for Congress in District 25
The Star-Telegram sent questionnaires to all candidates. Responses have been edited for clarity and length.
Julie Oliver
Occupation: Non-profit finance & accounting
Age: 47
Website: https://julieoliver.org
Public offices you’ve held or run for, with years:
Appointed to Central Health by City Council, 2017 Democratic nominee for US House, District 25, 2018
Have you ever been arrested, charged with a crime or otherwise been part of a criminal proceeding? If yes, please explain:
No
Have you been involved in a civil lawsuit or bankruptcy proceeding? If yes, please explain:
No
Why are you seeking this office?
My mom was a public school teacher and cleaned houses for extra money. I was born poor, grew up working class, was pregnant at 17, briefly homeless, and relied on Medicaid for prenatal care before getting through college and law school with Pell grants, the EIC, and my community’s support. I know the struggles that Texans face, and I’ve got 20 years of experience in healthcare finance and know how we get everyone in this country covered. This district deserves someone with real expertise who knows what reality looks like for people here in Texas fighting for them in Congress.
What would your top 3 policy priorities be?
Ensuring that every single American has high-quality healthcare, is able to see a doctor, and can afford prescriptions—no matter if they’re young or old, have pre-existing conditions or not.
Fighting the climate crisis by transitioning the U.S. economy to 100% renewable electricity by 2035 and creating thousands of high-paying clean energy economy jobs right here in Texas.
Ending the public cancer of corruption in Congress by getting PACs, corporations, and big money out of Congress and out of our democracy.
Why should voters choose you over your opponent(s)?
My life experience as a working class woman born in poverty, who relied on Medicaid for prenatal care as a teenager in Texas, means I know what millions of working Texans face.
I’m the only candidate with experience crafting legislation. I have a deep financial accounting background, legal expertise and 15 years of experience in healthcare finance.
I know how to organize for local wins, whether by saving Sendero or the $15/hr minimum wage initiative I led at Central Health. I know how to organize at scale, swinging a district from 21 points for the GOP to within single digits without a single dime from any PAC.
The federal government is accumulating record debt, with massive deficits even in a strong economy. What specific steps would you endorse to reduce the deficit?
The GOP tax cuts, which blew a 2 trillion dollar hole in the deficit to pass a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans and multinational corporations who ship the jobs overseas — socialism for the rich and corporations -- was short-sighted and self-defeating. We can afford to fund healthcare, have paid family leave, rural broadband Internet, world class public education, infrastructure, and other public goods that the American people deserve. This is very simple -- crack down on corruption, stop allowing corporations to game the system through tax avoidance and offshore tax havens, and to raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy and corporations.
What changes should be made in U.S. trade policy?
We need to stop handing America’s leverage to multinational corporations that turn around and ship the jobs overseas and sell out American workers. We should use American bargaining power for deals that create and defend good American jobs, increase wages and farm income, combat climate change, and lower drug prices. But we also need to use our leverage to raise living standards worldwide by not entering trade deals with countries that have abysmal records on labor, environmental, and human rights issues.
What changes to immigration law do you support? Would you vote to build any additional border wall or fence? Do you support a path to citizenship for those currently here illegally?
Donald Trump’s “wall”—an environmental disaster allowing the federal government to seize Texans’ private land through eminent domain—is corrupt, ineffective and racist.
Texans know how much we benefit from immigrants’ contributions to our economy, culture and communities. To create a rational immigration system providing justice to those who’ve suffered from enforcement—including families separated by Trump’s administration—we need concrete policies ensuring that TPS, DED and DACA recipients can live without fear of persecution; an emphasis on workers’ rights; a demilitarized approach to our borderlands; and addressing root causes of forced migration like climate change and the US’ failed “war on drugs.”
What steps should the federal government take to combat climate change, if any?
The existential crisis of climate change demands urgent, equity-oriented action, at scale.
Texas produces sufficient wind and solar power; our state is uniquely positioned to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels while creating thousands of good-paying jobs. End handouts to fossil fuel corporations, transition the U.S. economy to 100% renewable electricity by 2035, and restore the American landscape through reforestation and sustainable farming soil practices. This country mobilized against existential threats like WWII. We traveled to the moon. We can invest in renewable energy, smart grid, energy storage, and other clean infrastructure to reach our decarbonization goals, stimulate our economy, and have a habitable, equitable future.
Heidi Sloan
Occupation: Manager of the farming program at Community First! Village, a housing project for the chronically homeless.
Age: 35
Website: heidisloan.com
Public offices you’ve held or run for, with years: I’ve been a member of the Austin Community Development Commission since June 2019.
Have you ever been arrested, charged with a crime or otherwise been part of a criminal proceeding? If yes, please explain:
I was arrested on a picket line standing in solidarity with striking Texas airport workers over Thanksgiving as they demanded living wages and better healthcare. I’m proud to support workers and to be endorsed by the Texas AFL-CIO, and I deeply value this country’s rich history of civil disobedience as a tool for regular folks to have our voices heard and create change.
Have you been involved in a civil lawsuit or bankruptcy proceeding? If yes, please explain: No.Why are you seeking this office?
I am running because I believe working people deserve more power over our political system and our economy. We won’t get there through voting alone, so I am running to be both an organizer and a legislator, someone who can work with one foot in Congress and another in our communities, mobilizing regular working class people to fight for bold, necessary change like universal healthcare, a Green New Deal, and a strengthened labor movement. We need legislators who will organize to accomplish these goals in office, but in our gerrymandered district we’ll also need that organizing energy to win.
What would your top 3 policy priorities be?
My top three priorities are 1) implementing a Green New Deal to transition to renewable energy nationwide with a federal jobs guarantee, 2) passing Medicare for All to provide real healthcare to everyone in the country regardless of income, and 3) strengthening the labor movement so all our goals will be attainable through the power of working people taking action. I believe the problem in our democracy is that working people are struggling too much to engage in politics. If we focus on the issues affecting our lives, we can build a society that works for people, not for profit.
Why should voters choose you over your opponent(s)?
We differ in our understanding of how political change occurs and our ability to affect it. I believe the role of an elected official is not to hand down good policies to people, but to bring us closer to the fights that affect our lives and into a seat at the legislative table. We can only defeat the power of organized money with organized people, which is why I’ve spent years organizing in my community and across Texas. We’re mobilizing hundreds of volunteers to knock a hundred thousand doors by the primary. Our campaign can unite this District and win.
The federal government is accumulating record debt, with massive deficits even in a strong economy. What specific steps would you endorse to reduce the deficit?
Our economy doesn’t work for us - it works for the ultra-rich. While our families have to choose between healthcare and rent, the rich undermine our democracy and squander tax dollars on a bloated military budget and subsidies for their friends in industry. My plan is to tax the rich so that the wages working class people earn through our labor are no longer taxed at a higher rate than the income rich people make from investing. I also plan to shift resources away from military spending and into domestic programs that will make life better for the working class.
What changes should be made in U.S. trade policy?
In broad strokes, American trade policy has for decades been hashed out behind closed doors between politicians and multinational corporations. This leads to trade deals designed to move jobs overseas and create a race to the bottom for wages. A sustainable global economy and a strong U.S. must be built upon trade deals where a strengthened labor movement is brought into a seat at the bargaining table. Workers create all wealth - trade should be oriented for the benefit of working class people. We need trade deals that center labor and environmental practices that protect our families and our planet.
What changes to immigration law do you support? Would you vote to build any additional border wall or fence? Do you support a path to citizenship for those currently here illegally?
I oppose the border fence as a wasteful and ineffective solution to a problem created by our foreign policy and failure to address climate change. I absolutely support a swift path to citizenship for the undocumented immigrants here, many of whom work and pay taxes. We must create stronger labor protections for immigrants as workers, because if immigrants are paid living wages and don’t experience less safe work conditions, it is more difficult to pit citizen workers and immigrant workers against each other for the benefit of the ultra-rich who exploit us all.
What steps should the federal government take to combat climate change, if any?
Climate change is humanity’s greatest threat, but it’s also our greatest opportunity to rebuild the economy so it works for the many rather than the few. I support a Green New Deal, a federal jobs program with a federal jobs guarantee. This program would put millions of Americans to work in good union jobs with high wages rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, investing in small sustainable farms, constructing millions of beautiful public homes and public transit, and fixing our public schools. We would transition to 100% renewable energy with a just transition for fossil fuel workers so nobody is left behind.
This story was originally published February 12, 2020 at 1:16 PM with the headline "Meet the Democratic candidates running for Congress in District 25."
