Laura Jones

This is in our backyard now. Since the first confirmed case in June, USDA’s counted 37 domestic cases across Texas. That’s ranchers watching their herds and families losing income.

We must fund the sterile fly shortage. We need 500 million sterile flies a week to beat this; we’re producing 100 million. Congress put up $1.3 billion — I want it spent fast, with oversight, not press releases.

Build permanent domestic capacity. The bipartisan STOP Screwworms Act would fund a US-based sterile fly facility so we’re not dependent on Panama and Mexico. That stops the next crisis before it starts.

Get real information to producers. Most ranchers have never seen a screwworm case — it’s been gone 60 years. I want direct funding to county extension offices and vets in Walker, Waller, and Montgomery Counties for training and a real hotline.

Pair quarantines with relief. TAHC’s containment zones are right, but they cost ranchers money. Any biosecurity response needs a relief fund so small operations aren’t left holding the bag.

The people who pay for a slow response are our ranchers and rural communities — not lobbyists in DC. I’ll fight for the funding and the facility to get ahead of this.

Keywords:- “This is in our backyard.”, “We need 500 million sterile flies a week to beat this — we’re producing about 100 million.”, “Never again dependent on Panama and Mexico for our own biosecurity.”, “Most ranchers have never seen a screwworm case — it’s been gone 60 years.”, “Any biosecurity response needs a relief fund so small operations don’t foot the bill alone.”, “This is a working-family issue, not a DC talking point.”, “I’ll fight for the funding and the boots on the ground — not another press release.”

Texas is on track to become the nation’s top data center market, and ERCOT’s power demand forecast has more than doubled in a year. That’s not a win for Texas families — it’s a warning sign.

End the tax giveaways. These are some of the most profitable companies on earth. They don’t need our subsidies.

Full freight for the grid, or no connection. If a data center needs new transmission lines and substations, the company pays — not families’ utility bills.

Water first. No priority access over ranchers, farmers, and families. Bring your own supply.

Local communities get to say no. That decision shouldn’t be made in Austin for people who never agreed to live next to it.

This industry has been treated like an honored guest. Time it earned its place here instead.

Keywords: “That’s not a win for Texas families — it’s a warning sign.”, “End the tax giveaways.”, “Some of the most profitable companies on earth.”, “Full freight for the grid, or no connection.”, “Water first.”, “Local communities get to say no.”, “This industry has been treated like an honored guest. Time it earned its place here instead.”

I’ve served three years on my rural community’s small water board. I’ve seen firsthand how hard rural systems fight for resources big cities take for granted — this isn’t abstract for me.

Texas floods in some counties and runs dry in others, with hundreds of polluted waterways on top of it. Voters just approved Prop 4, dedicating up to $1 billion a year to the Texas Water Fund starting 2027. Here’s how I’d make it work:

Get funding to rural communities first. Small systems often can’t compete with big-city grant-writing departments. I’d push for direct technical assistance so our counties aren’t left behind.

Treat farmers and ranchers as partners. Ag conservation grants have saved 700,000+ acre-feet of water since 2014 on a shoestring budget. Expand that funding — don’t treat it as an afterthought.

Fix leaks before building new supply, with dedicated grants for rural systems. Most of our rural water lines date back to the 1970s and don’t get replaced until a repair becomes essential. Rural areas can’t afford to fix this on their own — grant funding for line replacement is cheaper in the long run than waiting for failures.

Enforce clean water standards, with grants to help rural systems comply — not just deadlines they can’t afford to meet.

Plan flood and drought together. They’re two sides of the same infrastructure failure.

Water is the most basic promise a state makes its people. I’ll fight to make sure this investment reaches small towns and family farms, not just the cities with the biggest lobbyists.

Keywords: “This isn’t abstract for me.”, “Water is the most basic promise a state makes its people.”, “Most of our water lines date back to the 1970s and don’t get replaced until a repair becomes essential.”, “Rural areas can’t afford to fix this on their own.”, “Treat farmers and ranchers as partners.”, “Fix leaks before building new supply.”, “Not just the cities with the biggest lobbyists.”

ERCOT just broke its demand record — 90,000+ megawatts in July’s heat wave — and we still haven’t solved for winter. Since Uri, we’ve been playing catch-up on a grid with almost no backup if it fails.

Big loads go first during emergencies. Data centers and industrial users curtail before families do.

Build real winter backup. Battery storage and dispatchable power, not just solar and wind.

Weatherize permanently. Regular inspections, real penalties, not a one-time fix.

New large loads prove they won’t destabilize the grid before connecting. Capacity commitments and cost-sharing up front.

Relief from high bills. Texans are paying more for a grid strained by industrial growth they didn’t ask for. I’d push for rate protections and rebates that shield residential customers from costs driven by data centers and large industrial users — not pass that bill down to families.

Grid reliability is life-and-death in extreme heat and cold, not a business issue. I won’t let industrial growth get priority over Texas families, on reliability or on their power bill.

Keywords: “We still haven’t solved for winter.”, “Big loads go first during emergencies.”, “Build real winter backup.”, “Weatherize permanently.”, “New large loads prove they won’t destabilize the grid before connecting.”, “Relief from high bills.”, “I won’t let industrial growth get priority over Texas families, on reliability or on their power bill.”

Courts permanently blocked the 15% indirect cost cap, and the administration didn’t even appeal to the Supreme Court. Texas’s negotiated rates are protected — for now. But the White House’s FY27 budget still calls for the same cap, meaning the fight just moved to Congress. Texas gets $1.9 billion a year in NIH funding across 118 sites — real jobs, real breakthroughs. I won’t let it get gutted through a budget line.

Make the protection permanent law, not just court precedent and yearly appropriations riders.

Oppose any 15% cap revival in the federal budget.

Protect the full infrastructure — lab safety, compliance, equipment — not just headline grants. Cutting indirect costs doesn’t save money, it just shifts the cost.

Defend Texas’s negotiated rates specifically. A flat national cap ignores that our hospitals and universities have different infrastructure needs than anywhere else.

This funding is researchers and lab techs working in Texas right now. I’ll fight any attempt to slash it through the back door of a budget bill.

Keywords: “The fight just moved to Congress.”, “Real jobs, real breakthroughs.”, “Won’t let it get gutted through a budget line.”, “Make the protection permanent law.”, “Cutting indirect costs doesn’t save money, it just shifts the cost.”, “One-size-fits-all is bad policy here.”, “This funding is researchers and lab techs working in Texas right now.”

762 cases, two dead kids, the worst outbreak since 1992, and last year Texas made vaccine exemptions easier to get, not harder. Vaccination rates barely moved while exemptions kept climbing. That’s not a coincidence.

I don’t talk down to families with questions. Most aren’t anti-science, they’re worried and don’t trust a system that’s given them reasons not to. The answer is trusted messengers, not lectures— funding pediatricians, school nurses, and rural clinics to have these conversations directly.

I support keeping medical and religious exemptions on the books. I don’t support making the process easier to game during an active outbreak. An affidavit isn’t a barrier, it’s a basic check.

Texas law already allows schools to exclude exempted, unvaccinated students during a declared outbreak. I’ll fight to make sure that rule is actually enforced, not just sitting on the books— a parent’s right to opt out doesn’t extend to putting other people’s kids at risk once there’s a confirmed outbreak in their district.

I’d fully fund school nurse positions and rural immunization outreach, push real-time public reporting of vaccination and exemption rates by school, and fund free catch-up vaccination clinics in outbreak-prone counties like Gaines.

Sadly two kids died from a disease we eliminated twenty five years ago. That’s a policy failure, not politics. I’ll fight for the funding and enforcement it takes to fix it, not empty reassurances.

Keywords: “That’s not a coincidence.”, “The answer is trusted messengers, not lectures.”, “An affidavit isn’t a barrier, it’s a basic check.”, “A parent’s right to opt out doesn’t extend to putting other people’s kids at risk.”, “Make sure that rule is actually enforced, not just sitting on the books.”, “That’s a policy failure, not politics.”, “The funding and enforcement it takes to fix it, not empty reassurances.”

Evidence comes first, not an afterthought bolted onto a decision I’ve already made.

When claims conflict, I weigh the strength of the evidence, replication, and whether the experts actually work in that field. One outlier study doesn’t outweigh a broad consensus.

When consensus and public opinion diverge, I don’t chase the polls. My job is to tell people the truth and explain it, not tell them what they want to hear. That’s the same approach I take on vaccines, the grid, water, and screwworm response. Ignoring the science to chase applause is how kids die from a disease we already eliminated.

Evidence tells you what’s true. It doesn’t tell you what to do about it, that’s where values come in, and I stay accountable to working families, not donors.

I’ll follow the evidence even when it’s not popular, and I’ll tell people the truth.

Keywords: “Evidence should be the starting point, not an afterthought.”, “I don’t split the difference and call it balance.”, “A single outlier study doesn’t outweigh a broad scientific consensus.”, “My job isn’t to tell people what they want to hear, it’s to tell them the truth.”, “Ignoring the science to chase applause is how you end up with dead kids from a disease we already eliminated.”, “Evidence tells you what’s true. It doesn’t automatically tell you what to do about it.”, “I’ll follow the evidence even when it’s not popular.”