From Cape Hugh News in Austin,
you're watching Texas this
week with Ashley Goodale.
Good Sunday morning,
early voting for the May 7th
election is still happening,
but there's another election.
Voters have to get ready
for the primary runoff.
Early voting in that contest starts
in two weeks to help viewers in our
area get ready for Election Day.
We're bringing you interviews
with the candidates today.
We're talking about a district
that's gone through a lot of
dangerous District 19 in the Texas.
House of Representatives now
D19 used to be in East Texas.
Now it includes parts of Travis County,
along with Burnet, Blanco,
Gillepsie and Kendall counties.
These voters were previously separated
into four different districts.
During the March,
primary Democrat Pam Baggett ran
unopposed on the Republican ticket,
voters decided to send former
Austin City Council member Ellen Troxclair
and Austin Police Officer Justin
Berry to a runoff.
I sat down with both candidates
to talk about their campaigns
and the March primary election.
You came out first place
in a four person race, earning
about 38% of the vote. The
person who then came in 3rd
place endorsed you in this race.
You've gained a lot of
other notable endorsements.
Talk to us about why you believe
you're the best candidate to
represent District 19. Yes,
absolutely. I'm a mom of three kids.
I'm a Christian. Conservative,
I'm a small business owner and I'm
the only one in the race with a
proven record of actually following
through on campaign promises,
which I sure wish we had more of these days.
I am endorsed by both of the other
candidates that did not make it into
the runoff and obviously we were on
the campaign trail together so they
had a good insight into my work ethic,
my character and my goals for the district,
and they joined Senators Ted Cruz.
Congressman Chip Roy.
Roger Williams,
Texas Alliance for Life Texas right
to life Gun Owners of America and
many more conservative organizations
who are uniting behind electing a
true conservative for this district.
And I'm running because I'm tired
of being sold out.
We have got to secure the border.
We have to protect our kids and
we have to stand up for truth.
I feel like our country is at risk
and Texas must lead the way back to
sanity. In the March primary election,
you came out in second place
in a four way race gained
in about 35% of the vote,
just behind former Austin City
Council Member Ellen Trucks declares
38% the candidate who came in 3rd
in this race turned around
and endorsed Troxclair, so I
want you to tell voters why you believe you
are the better candidate.
You know, I asked people not to
necessarily hear what I say,
but look at my record.
Look at what I've done as a public servant
for the last 15 years as a police officer,
I think it's very important to look at.
Both of our times and the public alike,
you know, former Council member had some
votes that necessarily may not have
been some of the most favorable votes,
especially those of us in the
law enforcement community.
And so I I challenge people to
look at the difference between her
vote record in my time as a as a
police officer as a public servant,
I think that speaks volumes to
not just my character,
but also to how best I'm there to
serve the community in law enforcement.
You know, when?
When I don't think there's much
difference between being a public
servant as a lawmaker as a policymaker,
or as a police?
As a police officer because.
Were there to solve problems,
you know when people reach out to us
whether it be a call for 911 for help,
they're there.
We're there to solve a problem.
When people are calling your office
because they need help with property tax
relief or issues with their water supply.
Or you know,
worrying about infrastructure issues.
Those are things right there that as
a lawmaker you're there to look at.
How do I find a solution to a problem?
And so to me,
I don't think there's much
difference between the two,
and I think my time in public
service really sets me up to be the
better candidate because I'm really
focused on how do we solve a problem.
Rather than maybe trying to find
ways to just just spin it this way,
or spin it that way rather than
address the issue.
Sometimes rural interests clash with
urban interests at the Texas Capitol, so
I want you to talk to us about how you,
as an Austin police officer living
in an urban area. How are you
going to represent the interests
of those rural district 19
voters? I think that's a great question.
And actually if you look at how I
ran that race when I ran in 47,
we spent a lot of our time actually.
Working on a smaller communities
like Lago Vista and B,
Cave and Lakeway and Spicewood,
we spend a lot of time listening
to their issues, their concerns,
their needs because they haven't had a voice,
and one thing that you find out in
the rural communities that we're
trying to be the representative for.
There's a lot of the same feelings is how
do I know you're going to give me a voice?
How do I know our issues
are going to be heard?
And so it's it's because of that is
why I think that we're better set
up to be the better representative
for these small communities.
You know out there some of the big
issues they're focusing on really
are a lot of public safety issues.
You know we're dealing with.
They want to have a secure border.
There are concerns with some of the
illegal immigration that's taking
place because it's impacting some
of the property owners out there.
They're worried about the fentanyl
that's coming through.
I can't tell you how many times you
hear of a fitting all issue taking
place in a lot of these counties,
and so there is a lot of similarities
that are going on out in the in the
rural areas that you know my time
and law enforcement has set me up to
actually have some knowledge of some
of these issues of what's going on,
where the policy failures are to
help improve and and and make things
a little better for the community.
Sometimes at the capital,
what we see is rural interest in
urban interests tend to clash,
so you as someone who comes from
that urban background.
Austin City Council living
within you know, an urban city.
How are you going to best represent the
interest of those role members of district?
I guess? Well, a great question and.
Both my husband and I are
from more rural communities.
He's from Uvalde County and
graduated with 15 people in his
graduating class of Knippa, Texas,
and I'm from Flower Mound where it was
more pastorally in than strip malls.
So that is our background we
found ourselves in Austin because
that's where the jobs were after
we graduated from college.
And even though it wasn't where
we planned on raising our family
and setting down our roots,
it was really the property tax issue.
That I realized.
Somebody's got to do something.
We're going to be taxed out of our home.
We had saved money both worked
two jobs to save money to buy
our first home in Austin.
And it was shortly after that that we
got our first property tax bill and
realized we're going to be taxed out
of our home sooner rather than later.
And rather than give up,
I mean the easy thing to do would have
been to run and to sell the house and
to get back to our more rural roots.
But we prayed about it and
ultimately kind of woke up.
With the true conviction that we have
to fight where we're most needed,
and so even though the odds
were not in my favor,
I did run and win and serve as the only
conservative as on the Austin City Council,
and we've since moved out.
And I,
of course I stayed in the city during
my entirety of my four year term.
But we have since moved.
Outside of Austin,
about 45 minutes West of here,
we also own land in Mason County
and we spend as much time out
there as possible in the Frederick
close to Fredericksburg.
So this is a district that.
That we do have roots in,
I would say,
and in fact my father-in-law
has worked with farmers in these
communities for decades as the
agrilife extension agent,
making sure that the ranchers
and farmers have the tools and
resources that they need to produce
crops and raise cattle.
So so yes,
I served on the Austin City Council
because I thought that was where I was
being called and where I was most needed.
But this district,
the Hill Country,
really is.
The true heart of Texas it is.
It is the last gosh,
I just when I when I think of what
we need to do to keep Texas red.
I think of the people across
the Hill Country who have stood
up time and time again from the
encouragement on the big cities.
And there's no one that is
better prepared than I am.
After serving as a chief of staff for
conservative legislators for 10 years,
serving on a local City Council,
serving on as a senior fellow
at the Texas Public
Policy Foundation, and just being a
absolute conservative fighter for the past
two decades to really understand those
dynamics and ultimately stand up for.
For what is right and get
Texas back on the right track,
what do you believe is the most pressing
issue for the residents in District 19,
securing the border?
If we do not get that under control,
it is impacting all other
parts of our government.
All other parts of our schools.
It is an absolute financial and a
humanitarian and a public safety crisis.
I have been to the border.
Personally,
I think it's only getting worse and
that should be priority number one
for the legislature and the governor.
And from there, of course we
can do more things at once,
and I will still continue to
be an audit on all the all the
other issues that I listed,
but I think border security
is priority number one.
What do you believe is the most pressing
issue for the residents in District 19
right now? You know a lot of it's
coming down to is the everyone's
getting property tax bill right now,
so hearing a lot of calls about
I'm being taxed out of my house.
You're actually hearing this no longer.
I may be taxed at my house.
You're now hearing the conversations.
I will be taxed on my house.
I am going to have to look
for a place to move.
But then where do I move to?
Because I can't afford anything else,
so you're hearing that not just in Austin,
but you're also hearing
that in Kendall County.
You're hearing that out
there in Burnett County,
you're hearing that out there in
Gillespie County and Blanco County.
There are real concerns about the
growth and the the rise in property
values and the ability to afford
the taxes that are coming with that.
What you've seen this morning is just a small
portion of my interviews with the candidates.
You can watch our full interviews to
learn more about them and their stances
on policy on the K view YouTube channel.
Now a few reminders.
At the May 24th election,
the last day to apply for a mail
in ballot is May 13th.
Early voting starts May 16th and
runs through May 20th.
And please don't forget there is another
election happening this month as well.
The May 7th election with amendments
to the state constitution dealing
with property taxes and local races.
You can find more information about that
election plus where to vote and what's
on your local ballot in our cave view.
Voter guide is that kanview.com/votetexas
that's Texas this week.