Candidates for State Senator of Texas District 30 attended a forum hosted by MSU and moderated by SGA on Feb. 6. District 30 encompasses Denton, East Wichita Falls and part of Flower Mound.
The current state senator, Drew Springer, is not running for re-election, meaning the seat is up for grabs without incumbent competition. Seven candidates are running: Brent Hagenbuch (R), Cody Clark (R), Jace Yarbrough (R), Carrie de Moor (R), Michael Braxton (D), Matthew McGhee (D) and Dale Frey (D). Every candidate except McGhee attended MSU’s forum.
The event opened with a speech from Springer, who spoke about his 12-year career as state senator. Springer touched on his participation in policies regarding end-of-life healthcare and the importance of a public servant to work for the people they represent.
SGA President Zetta Cannedy and Vice President Joseph Arthur asked each candidate questions about their platforms, specifically regarding Wichita Falls, the economy, healthcare and education.
SGA interviewed the Democratic candidates, Braxton and Frey, first.
Braxton focused his answers on boosting other facets of the district by strengthening education and the economy.
“One of the greatest things that’s happening in Wichita Falls concerning your schools is that, how many people you’re graduating, how many people that’s going into the job market,” Braxton said, adding “And y’all are really blessed to have Sheppard Air Force Base here, because they have a lot of employment.”
Frey concentrated on the U.S. healthcare system, speaking about a healthcare provider he knows who said she was told to turn away Medicaid recipients to avoid going out of business.
Both candidates stressed the importance of collaboration across the aisle and spoke about their concerns about harming immigrants at the border with concertina wire.
Frey pointed out his legality concerns with the concertina wire on Rio Grande riverbanks, saying, “We need to at least focus here and understand that this is something that the federal government should be taking care of.”
The Republican candidates had more in common between their platforms. All four said they support aggressively tightening border security despite Supreme Court rulings.
“I think we need to get our Texas National Guard down. I think we need to get them shoulder-to-shoulder with our D.P.S. troopers and eliminate every single one from crossing that border,” Clark said.
“This is my number one priority. We have to stand with the governor here against the federal government,” Hagenbuch said.
Yarbrough expressed concerns about foreign agents coming to the United States, “If a Chinese national comes across our border between the ages of 20 and 40, it’s not coming from McDonald’s and university education. It’s the age of the Chinese Communist Party.”
De Moor, an emergency room doctor, focused on Medicaid, saying that Medicaid pays insurance companies for patients’ healthcare, not the medical professionals directly. She also mentioned her concerns regarding school funding.
“Why, if I have three children in private school, and that is what I decide, why do I need $30,000 of money that I am, quite frankly, not paying personally in school taxes?” she said, adding, “One size fits all approaches are not going to work. We have to make sure we are not harming our rural systems.”
Cannedy stressed the importance of local and state politics for MSU students.
“From the local, state, national level, MSU students should be caring about these things. Our state senators are the people that help us get funding for renovations, like the renovations going on in Bolin,” Cannedy said, “And if we didn’t have reliable senators in that spot, that will hurt MSU students today, in the future, I mean this is the future of their state and our country and they should care.”
