House - Texas 24th - Candace Valenzuela

Democrat running for open seat in suburbs between Dallas and Ft. Worth

Candace Valenzuela is running to fill an open seat vacated by a Republican in this rapidly changing district. If elected, she will be the first Afro-Latina/o in the U.S. Congress. She was born in El Paso, into a family of U.S. Army veterans. Her great-grandfather fought in World War I, her grandfather in World War II, and both her parents were in the military. Her father is Black, her mother is Mexican American. After her mom left the military, her family struggled. As a child Candace escaped with her mom from domestic violence, sheltering in a gas station where she slept in a kiddie pool. The two lived in homeless shelters until her mom got back on her feet. School became her personal refuge, and she eventually became the first in her family to graduate from college, earning a full-scholarship at Claremont McKenna College. She became a teacher and eventually was elected to the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District Board, the first African American woman and first Latina on that board. She defeated an 18-year incumbent for an at-large seat. She is married with two young children.

While the district has remained in Republican hands for the last 15 years, the demographics are rapidly shifting. Obama in 2012 won 39%, Clinton in 2016 won 47%, and O’Rourke won 51% of the vote in 2018. In 2018 the Democratic candidate for Congress in this district won 48% of the vote, the closest margin in 15 years. The population is highly educated and diverse, with 36% of eligible voters African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos and Asian American Pacific Islanders.

Candace’s opponent, Beth Van Duyne, is a Tea Party Republican who as mayor of Irving, Texas, lost her town hundreds of jobs by failing to keep the headquarters of the Dallas Cowboys in the district. Van Duyne is also infamous for her anti-Muslim rhetoric as mayor, and she happily accepted awards from two different national organizations with anti-Muslim reputations. The Southern Poverty Law Centre has written about Van Duyne’s association with anti-Muslim hate groups in its Hatewatch blog. She has a 92% rating by the NRA and is endorsed by the Texas Right to Life Committee. Van Duyne’s top five contributors to her 2020 campaign are corporations.

Van Duyne was one of the few big-city mayors to endorse Trump in 2016, writing in an op-ed after the Access Hollywood tapes were released, “The most important reason I support Trump is my belief and support of the fundamental principles our Founding Fathers recognized — that checks and balances are essential in maintaining a constitutional republic.” She was rewarded with a regional administrator role in Ben Carson’s Housing and Urban Development department of the Trump administration. She got Trump’s endorsement in this race with her very vocal opposition to his impeachment, calling it a “sham” by “extremists.” She opposed the Affordable Care Act, saying it was “based on lies.” As mayor of Irving she saved $1.5 million annually by cutting healthcare for city workers.

In contrast, Candace has rejected all corporate PAC money and is endorsed by End Citizens United and EMILY’s List. She supports the Justice in Policing Act of 2020. As her website states, “Candace champions policies like paid family and medical leave, universal pre-K and more. Candace will work with groups like EMILY’s List, Planned Parenthood and NARAL to ensure that a woman’s right to choose is protected.” She supports protecting and expanding the Affordable Care Act, reducing prescription drug prices and holding drug companies accountable for their role in the opioid crisis. She will work for Medicaid expansion in Texas, which would expand coverage to 1.5 million Texans.

Candace tweeted after winning the Democratic nomination: ““I’m no longer that toddler that slept with her infant brother in a kiddie pool outside of a gas station but that little girl is always with me, just as I carry around the thought of the children that were at Tornillo that were in the cages, just as I carry around Tamir Rice, just as I carry around every family that is hungry in this pandemic or literally dying of preventable diseases in the most prosperous country on earth.”

Congressman John Lewis said in his endorsement of Candace, “Candace’s compassion, kindness, intellect, and perspective strengthen our country, and she’s a leader I want standing with me to fight the good fight in Congress.” With our help, Candace can flip this seat and once again make history.