In the race to replace Rep. Steve Stockman in CD-36, I’ll be voting for Ben Streusand.
I think that this is a rare opportunity for the voters of a relatively new district to put our stamp on the U.S. Congress. That’s a bold statement when endorsing a person that will be a freshman representative. But Ben Streusand is no ordinary candidate and will command immediate respect from his colleagues on Capitol Hill.
Streusand’s ability to articulate conservatism and free market capitalism is sorely needed by Republicans in Washington, D.C. His free market solutions to the problems that our district faces are just as sorely needed. We need to be the district that separates ourselves from the politics of bringing home the bacon and racking up massive debt. Whether you are a logger in deep East Texas, a shift-worker in the Golden Triangle, a truck driver traversing the district daily, an engineer looking for new opportunities after NASA, or an educator at one of the many educational facilities in the district, you will benefit from an expanding economy and free market capitalism.
Streusand’s conservative bonafides and activism are unmatched by any candidate in this race. The only negative that I hear people leveling at him is that he does not currently live in the district. To which I respond, I believe in the Constitution and the Constitution doesn’t require that. Moreover, no one can legitimately say that he is not familiar with the district – a native Houstonian, he has lived and worked in the Southeast Texas area for most of his adult life. The district was carved out by a three judge panel and is a very large geographical area. No candidate in the race can lay claim to living in every part of the diverse district but Streusand’s work on conservative policy with Americans for Prosperity Texas gives him a unique perspective of the entire district.
He has received a diverse range of conservative endorsements, including the Kingwood Tea Party, the Battleground Texas Tea Party, Comptroller Susan Combs, former Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, former Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Paul Bettencourt, Houston City Councilman Michael Kubosh, the Texas Alliance for Life, Dave Welch of the Houston Pastors Council, and Peggy Venable of Americans for Prosperity Texas.
Frankly, I think it would be a shame if the voters of CD-36 pass up the opportunity to elect Ben Streusand. I love the opportunity to vote FOR quality candidates and in this race, I think that Ben Streusand is the clear choice.
I attempted to interview each of the twelve candidates in the race. Some of the campaigns did not have contact information available on the Harris County GOP website when I sent the initial requests on January 1st and still don’t. I managed to talk to eight of the candidates and obviously waited until the last minute before saying who I was going to vote for. I was very impressed with several of the candidates, particularly John Amdur. If he doesn’t get in the runoff, I’d count on seeing him again in the future. Here is a list of all of the candidates, in ballot order – those that I was unable to interview will have a link to their website by their names.
Kim Morrell (website)
Doug Centilli (website)
Pat Kasprzak (website)
Phil Fitzgerald (website)