We recommend Democratic incumbent Mihaela Plesa over GOP challenger Steve Kinard in the race for Texas House District 70.
Plesa, who is seeking a second term representing this Collin County district, has established herself as a pragmatic lawmaker who is willing to embrace solutions on gun safety and educational funding and who earned recognition as freshman of the year from the Texas Legislative Study Group.
In light of serious concerns about the safety of students, we agree with her support of extreme-risk orders, also known as red flag laws, which would allow police or family members to request that a judge temporarily remove guns from a person who may be a danger to others or themselves, expanded background checks, and a minimum age to purchase a semiautomatic rifle.
On school funding, Plesa, 41, opposes using taxpayer money from our state’s public schools to fund charter schools or voucher programs. We wish that she would be open to limited voucher programs as an important factor in allowing parents and students in underperforming schools to have better educational options.
Kinard, 38, said his primary focus is on securing the Texas border, favoring the creation of a dedicated Texas Border Unit, increased penalties for human and drug trafficking, and greater investments in supporting our law enforcement to combat these criminal activities.
However, we are concerned about Kinard’s support of Texas’ constitutional-carry gun laws without changes, a position we think is too ideological given the level of gun violence and threats to law-abiding citizens who are often in the wrong place at the wrong time.
We applaud Kinard for wanting to devote a majority of the Texas budget surplus to reduce property tax burdens and fund that investment at the state level. However, on his website Kinard talks about returning sovereignty to the people, resisting unconstitutional executive orders and regulatory mandates masquerading as law. He also calls for the decentralization of political, economic and monetary control to ensure “liberty for all.” This is a level of ideological vagueness that makes us question whether he would be the right fit in a deliberative body that requires compromise and collaboration.
Our nod in this contest goes to Plesa, whose focus on making sure that suburban school districts get the dollars they need to educate students, and attract and retain top-flight teachers are important priorities that need to be addressed this next legislative session. She is better suited to addressing the state’s many economic and strategic challenges in ways that encourage full-fledged debate and creative solutions.
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