First and foremost, I want to thank the voters of South Texas for once again sending me back to Austin to continue being a voice for the people.
Serving our region has and continues to be the greatest honor of my life, second only to being married to my best friend.
Through tireless work and an amazing staff the office entrusted to me has delivered Billions in Higher Education Funding and Billions in infrastructure funding to South Texas.
Our delegation through the creation of UTRGV and the UTRGV School of Medicine has made our flagship University the second highest funded school in the UT System when historically it was the lowest. We also ushered in the creation of our own A&M campus creating yet another landmark expansion of higher education opportunity in South Texas. My office has passed and been instrumental in passing hundreds of landmark bills in to law, and all while being in the minority party. The ability to navigate and reach across party lines allowed me to secure what is often called the 4th most powerful chairmanship in the House. The Committee on transportation which made me the first Latino to ever hold the position. That post allowed me to actually sit at the table and secure unprecedented infrastructure funding for the foreseeable future. To put it in perspective, when I begin, our regional funding was in the hundreds of Millions, today its in the multiple billions. Thriving as a member of the minority party is no easy task, and I often tell my wife it feels like a miracle what we have been able to accomplish for South Texas.
Last night, Texas voters ended the compete dominance of the Republican Party which has ruled Texas with an iron fist for decades. The numbers were staggering, and although I believed we would win some races, I don’t believe anyone could have predicted such staggering results.
Nevertheless the voters have spoken. The assignment is clear. Texans want a Government by the people and for the people. Not a Government that serves the billionaires and leaves the working men and women out in the cold with no healthcare and a public education system that ranks as one of the lowest in the nation.
Last night Democrats were entrusted with the keys to the car, and it is imperative we deliver by focusing on the things that really matter to Texans and leaving the culture wars at the door. Yesterday, the South Texas delegation met at my house to begin rolling our sleeves up for the enormous task at hand. While hundreds of thousands celebrated across the State, our delegation was outlining our core priorities and forming a plan well past 2a.m. in the morning.
We left each other in the early morning hours after making hundreds of calls, more unified than ever, and with a renewed energy to continue delivering life changing results for South Texas.
The rules may have changed but our mission remains: Affordable Healthcare and Prescription Medication, Fully funding public schools, lowering property taxes, making sure our law enforcement and first responders have the resources and tools they need so that our level of emergency preparedness is second to none. Affordability, from Housing to the food on your table, lowering insurance rates, taking control of our power grid and making sure we have a robust system that can weather the worst of storms while promoting lower energy costs. Good roads, good transit and shoring up our emergency management systems to meet the needs of a state which is scheduled to double its population by 2050.
We will undoubtedly be working on unraveling some of the terrible policies Republicans shoved down our throat like the School Voucher Plan and the closure of rural hospitals all over the State. In addition to Expanding health care and worker protections, child care
opportunities and much more. We will be looking for and studying long term solutions for water security, and creating the regulatory framework to govern Data Centers working to protect our water supplies and the Texans who feel invaded by these facilities.
This is just tip of the iceberg and the struggle is real. To say the least we have our work cut out for us, and we need to meet the moment and seize the opportunity entrusted to us by the citizens of Texas. From creating high paying jobs to making corporate welfare queens pay their fair share instead of riding on the backs of working Texans.
But let me be clear, we didn’t just end one party rule in Texas to usher in another era of the same thing just different party. We stand ready to reach across the aisle roll up our sleeves and start the work the people are begging us to get done.
In the words of my good friend newly elected Congressman Bobby Pulido this is not about team Red or team Blue, we need to be delivering for team you. Meaningful change doesn't happen over night, but I pledge to the people of Texas that I will work tirelessly to try and solve the problems and address the issues that really matter to Texans and leave the extremely polarized politics and culture wars in the dumpster fire where they belong. Texans deserve better and last night's elections show they are demanding it!
Editor's Note: The above guest column was penned by state Rep. Terry Canales of Edinburg. The column first appeared on the author's social media pages.
