Border security, school vouchers and WF economy dominate state senate candidates' forum
Six candidates for the Texas 30th District state senate seat came to Wichita Falls Tuesday night, each trying to persuade an audience at Midwestern State University that he or she should be elected to the seat that represents Wichita Falls in Austin.
Border security was the most frequently addressed topic as the four Republicans and two Democrats answered questions from a panel.
Republican Brent Hagenbuch, former chair of the Republican Party in Denton County, called the flow of migrants into Texas an “invasion.”
“Over 10 million illegal aliens have come across the border since Biden has come into office. That's ridiculous. We have to stop it,” Hagenbuch said.
He said the state must find “creative ways to fight this and do whatever it takes to close off the border.”
Hagenbuch has been endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Fellow Republican Jace Yarbrough, a Denton attorney, called the border situation a “crisis and should have our complete and total attention.”
The Air Force Reserve officer said the state should create a unit that employs “aggressive rules of engagement to capture and detain any illegals who come into our country and our state without our permission.”
Yarbrough said he also advocates banning foreign adversaries and their agents from owning Texas land.
Cody Clark, a business operator and former Denton police officer, said if the federal government “abdicates” responsibility for the flow of migrants, “we Texans will fill the gap.” He said he believes the Texas National Guard should be deployed “to get them shoulder to shoulder with DPS troopers and eliminate every single one from crossing that border.” He advocates requiring employers to use an electronic verification system to avoid enticing migrants to come into Texas.
Carry DeMoor, a Frisco physician and business operator, said she’s witnessed the impact of mass migration as an emergency room doctor.
“They're coming across enslaved and trafficked. I am seeing kids as young as 13 years old being sex trafficked. They are in our schools and that's driving our costs up. They're flooding our emergency departments and that's driving your costs up. We have to stop it and make sure people are entering the country only in the correct way,” she said.
The two Democratic candidates had different ideas.
Dale Frey, a Denton web developer, said border security is largely a federal issue. He thinks Republicans in Texas are addressing the issue by doing things they know will get shot down in courts, “So they can point and say, ‘Oh, my gosh, look at this. This is terrible.’ They’re playing games.” He also said he thinks putting razor wire in the Rio Grande River is cruel.
His opponent, Denton pastor and barber Michael Braxton, said he has visited the border and sympathizes with a man “who walks 32 miles to come into the U.S. and is willing to work and then go back home.”
On the simmering legislative battle over school vouchers – giving taxpayer money to families with children in private schools -- Hagen said he supported public schools, which he called an important part of an operating democracy, but he said he is also a supporter of school choice for parents in districts “that indoctrinate kids in their own philosophy.”
Yarbrough, whose children go to a Christian school, said, “I am very committed to giving parents more power on the education of children.” He said he wanted to get what he called pornography out of public schools. “I would rather my kids be illiterate but know intuitively what’s good, true and beautiful,” he said.
Clark said parents should be “the ones that make not only the education decisions in their child’s education, but make sure they’re the caretakers in all the decisions in their child’s life.” He said getting social theories out of schools would free up administrative positions and leave more money for teachers.
De Moor, who educates her children in a private Christian school, said it would be important to ensure no strings are attached to money available for non-public education.
“I do not want the government's money in my private Christian school. I don't want it in my home school, if that's what I choose,” she said. She also said a “one-size-fits-all approach” to education would not work. “We have to make sure we are not harming our rural system. We've got to make sure that we're not hurting our smaller districts,” she said.
The candidates were asked what they would do to bolster the economy of the Wichita Falls area.
Hagen said if he’s elected, “I’ll attract businesses the way Drew Springer did,” referring to a Texas Instruments plant that located in Sherman. Hagen said he would also push for better roads, including U.S. highways 281 and 287.
Both Yarbrough and DeMoor referred to Wichita Falls’ slow growth compared to other Texas cities and the future of its water resources.
“We really need to take a look at why that is. I think one of the big things has become clear to me is that we do have an issue with our water availability here and we don't have time to wait 25 years for for a fix,” DeMoor said, referring Wichita Falls plans to build Lake Ringgold in Clay County.
Yarbrough stressed the importance of Sheppard Air Force Base to the Wichita Falls economy and said he would work with base leaders on their priorities. He said the area needs something that is long-term for water security.
“All solutions should be on the table to achieve water stability,” he said.
Clark said Wichita Falls has a growth problem, which he called “wild” in light of most of Texas experiencing huge growth. He sees elimination of property taxes as a way to stimulate growth.
On the Democratic side, Frey said he was aware the use of eminent domain to acquire land for Lake Ringgold could hurt people and suggested looking at other solutions, such as dredging Lake Arrowhead.
Braxton kept his comments to a broader scope, calling Wichita Falls one of the “greatest cities.”
“One of my roles is to improve the economy,” he said.
The only political jab of the evening came from Clark, who referred to himself “as one of the three candidates who is on this stage who is eligible to run for this office and one of the three who prepared tonight.”
The comment was aimed at Hagenbuch, who faces a legal challenge to his residency in the district and who relied heavily on reading notes from his cellphone throughout the forum.
The March 5 party primaries will determine which Republican will face which Democrat in the November election to replace Republican Drew Springer, who is not running for re-election.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Border security, school vouchers and WF economy dominate state senate candidates' forum
