Q&A: Texas primary Republican candidates for Texas House of Representatives

In 2011, I ran a small business that employed about a dozen people. That year, in the 82nd Legislative Session, legislators, including the one who represented me, passed a bill that nearly put me out of business. Over the next few months of talking with people in House District 15 I began to see greater and greater unrest towards our Representative. Parents, Children, Administrators and Teachers were also very upset with high stakes testing (the STAAR Exam). He also supported a speaker that was calling for new taxes. Based on those three facts, I launched my campaign.

My dad was, is and always will be my greatest inspiration. His father came to America with nothing more than a dream. My dad, built on that dream through hard work and devotion to my mom and his six kids.

My dad is a World War II Veteran. He and my mom lost countless friends to that terrible war. I felt a great sense of responsibility in voting for what they sacrificed so greatly for.

This is a question I ask the next generation all the time. How much liberty do you want? Every time we grow government, we extend power to nameless, faceless, stealth bureaucrats who think they know more than we do about how to best live our lives. This past year, the Texas Legislature decided that an 18-year-old wasn’t smart enough to make a decision about smoking. They were smart enough to lay their life in the line to join the military but not to smoke. We also have an unequal legal system in our country. A kid in the suburbs, who’s caught with weed sees no jail time while an inner city kid starts a reoccurring pathway in to the criminal justice system.

Please visit the Capital every two years when we’re in Session. Next session kicks off in January 2021. It’s essential to develop relationships with the people who represents you.

I decided to run for the Texas House of Representatives because I noticed a lack of support for the Matagorda and Brazoria Counties. I have worked my whole life for Texas families and I knew that our rural part of the state need someone to better their lives. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to continue that work.

I believe God has given me the abilities He has to serve my community. For the last four years, that has been on Angleton City Council. After much prayer and encouragement from members of my community, I felt led that I needed to seek to serve my community in the Texas House of Representatives. I believe we need a proven conservative policymaker in Austin representing our interests and fighting for our values. I believe I am best suited to do just that given my record of lowering property tax rates in Angleton, actively serving my community on numerous boards, and supporting the sanctity of human life.

I have been lucky enough to have several inspirational mentors. From my previous bosses to leaders ahead of me. I have learned so much from people throughout my life that I’m thankful for the opportunity to share all I have learned. One of my more well known inspirations has to come from Ronald Reagan. He had such a common sense way of digging through the political trenches that I really admire him. He reached across the aisle to focus on getting the job done for his constituents, not just the politics behind it.

William Wilberforce. He was a member of the British Parliament in the early 18th century who fought hard to end the moral failing of his society: slavery. He was one of the leading English abolitionists. I hope to follow his example of stepping forward to confront the moral failing of our society: abortion. We need modern abolitionists like William Wilberforce to step up and guide our society to recognize that every human life has inherent dignity and value, not because you have merit, someone wants you, or you have perfect genetics, but because you are a human being beautifully made in the image of almighty God.

I remember voting for Gerald Ford when I turned 18. It was a turning point in my life because I knew it was my civic duty and I knew the impact my voice could have on our amazing country.

The first time I remember voting was when I was five years old. My kindergarten held a mock election between George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. I voted for Bush. I have no clue why. Don’t be like me as a kid. Know why you should vote for someone. Study the candidates. Study the issues. One of the best ways you can fulfill your civic duty to the country you have been blessed to be a part of is to be an educated voter. That is what should motivate you.

Listen, this is a great time in your life. This is the time you get to research the issues and figure out who you are and what you believe. While I can’t say that you will have the same opinions and beliefs in 20 or 30 years, I can promise that the impact of your vote will still be there in 20-30 years. What decisions you make today can help shape the state and country for years to come.

Many presume that our generation does not support conservative ideals, but I do not believe that is true. I was a college student myself not too long ago. Our generation wants to better our community. And, one of the best ways to better our community is to support the free market, personal responsibility and accountability, and limited government that will respect our rights, protect life, and pursue common-sense solutions. That is what drives me. If that drives you, I believe I am the best candidate to fight for those values on our behalf in Austin because that is exactly what I have been doing for the last four years on Angleton City Council.

I am a family man and have worked hard all my life to provide for my family. I have three kids and six grandkids with my beautiful wife of 35 years, Carolyn. Carolyn and I get up every day thinking about how to better our community and what roles we can take to improve the lives of the families just starting out. I have seen firsthand what we need and how to make the changes happen.

There’s no learning curve here. I don’t have to spend valuable time in office playing catch up and learning how to be a state rep. I already know and I am already working hard for my community. With the resources and staff of a state representative’s office, I will have an even better chance of enhancing the lives of those around me.

I am an open book. If you live in HD-25 (southern Brazoria County and all of Matagorda County), please feel free to reach out to me with any questions you may have. My website is www.votevasut.com and I can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/votevasut. Do not vote for someone just because they are your friend, or you have heard their name before. Vote for someone who you believe best represents your interests. I believe you will find after you study my record, values, and platform that I am that candidate.

I decided to run because House District 26 encompasses my hometown of Sugar Land, and I believe that if I have the capacity to serve, there is an obligation to attempt to do so. We should not be afraid to engage in public policy discourse especially if our government is intended to be by people, for the people, and of the people.

Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln assembled a team of rivals to help advise and guide him through times of crisis. He fully appreciated the necessity of considering different perspectives, but he maintained steadfast in upholding his moral principles and values. Under his leadership, the administration unified behind the common goal to maintain the viability of the United States.

My first time to vote was for a local election, so no household names were on the ballot. That day was still memorable since I also bought my first lottery ticket and had my first date, which was junior year prom. I voted because I believe we have a responsibility to contribute our own experience and insight in helping shape our communities.

Engaging in public policy does not have to be divisive where it is a game of winner and losers. Disaster recovery, public safety, education, and transportation affect Republicans and Democrats alike, and we need to work together to address these issues. Trying to solve these issues without the proper knowledge and competition, however, is irresponsible. Because I dedicated my academic and professional life to understanding and shaping policy, I believe I am the best candidate to build coalitions in developing pragmatic solutions.

Building relationships with a community should not start when someone files their candidacy. Community involvement should come first and because of the relationship built, the desire to serve will grow stronger.

I am what American is about – opportunity. I was born in India and immigrated to this country when I was a baby. I am an American Dream story. In Texas, I received my education, met my beautiful wife, had two wonderful daughters, started a business and earned success. I want others to have the same opportunities I had. Texas has long been a beacon of hope and opportunity and I want to do all I can to ensure we remain so for decades to come.

My father has always been my biggest inspiration and hero. He brought his family to this country for a better life and future. I remember as a child, he would work two jobs to provide for his family and to make sure my brother and I never lacked for anything. I learned the meaning of hard work and what it means to be a husband and a father from him.

The first time I ever voted I remember looking at this long list of candidates and realizing I only recognized the top few names. It’s unfortunate this is often the case as these candidates, if elected, have a tremendous amount of power to impact our lives. State representatives can impact the property taxes you pay. Judicial candidates can jail you and take away your kids. We should all do a better job of learning who they are.

When you leave college I want you to have every opportunity to be successful, no matter what you do. If you decide to start your own business, I want to do everything possible to help make that happen and make it a success. I want you to have plentiful job offers when you graduate so you can start the working years of your life on the right foot. If we burden businesses with regulations, those offers will be less prevalent.

I am very pro-business. I work as a CPA in my daytime job. I used to be a certified fraud examiner, auditor, and corporate controller.
I have two daughters with my beautiful wife, Rumana, and a dog named Biscuit. And I am a die-hard Texas Longhorn fan, and pizza is my favorite food.

I am an advocate of grassroots welfare, security of lives and properties, neighborhood development, Veterans welfare, independent school district standardized provision and advancement to the level where other nations will be emulating them and also I support affordable independent healthcare choices with great emphasis on promoting prevention more than curing pre-existing condition with the sole intent of boosting the citizens of the District 85 and the State of Texas a tangible access to the dividends of democracy which any constitutionally inclined governments should guarantee.

In any human life, there is an appointed time and season when what you expected others to do and they did not do or have not done will require yourself to take a bold action and you have to proceed to get it done for the benefit of all that is entitled to enjoy the benefit of governance. Instead of criticizing the person or the situation, one must stand up and take the mandate and pursue that position to correct the situation in good faith so that the upcoming generation will enjoy the fruits of the price paid by the ready, willing and able person towards leaving such enduring legacy.

Seriously, there is no earthly person that is my biggest Inspiration; except the Almighty Yahweh (Jesus Christ the Son of the Living God). I admired great people and the monumental works they have done. However, I believed that every generational level have their Unique Oscar (Great Achiever). Until when we locate each of those kind of people in this generation we will always [live] in the past and not advance into the future. People talked about their biggest inspirations result but they do not take into cognizance their shortcomings from the inception before they reach their legacy.

We look at the finished product and not the process that it went through before becoming the best it became. In a nutshell I am my own biggest inspiration because I believed I was created uniquely by God and purposely to make a great difference positively in this generation globally. I don’t read the success of great inspirators I read their weakness, their failures, and their shortcomings and how they turn it around to become successful. Any wannabees can be whatever they aspire to be. As for me I want to be what he created me to be and to finish by leaving a lasting and life changing legacy God fully helping me to accomplish this. Why? 
Philosophically; I aspire to Inspire so as to respire and never expire.

This happen way back in Africa; Nigeria precisely in 1993. I was in college studying civil engineering and about to graduate. The country have been under the autocratic rule of the military for many years and now there is a transition to civilian rule. And the presidential candidate that we were supporting happen to be a great man whom when we met him during campaign promised the young graduates Job security, housing, personal transportation and all basic need of life and we believed him because he was very serious and he has traveled all over the world to see how things can be turn around for the youths of those era in the country. The man is a philanthropist who has helped lots of people also. So the whole nation was excited to vote him to power and we did wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, the election was criminally annulled by the military Junta for selfish reason and the mandate was taken away. This became a setback for the nation that has not been restored till today making African elections a mere exercise and not a reliable civic responsibility. However, in America it was a totally different experience.

When I became a U.S. citizen and the power to vote and be voted for was vested in me, I really get into the frenzy of a kind of emotional feelings that my own vote casted can become the deciding vote for any candidate contesting and it can also impact the policies of the ruling government in any direction. I felt elated and I participated actively in all the subsequent elections since then. In [order] to avoid election day disaster, I summoned courage to vote early so that my vote can be counted as part of a decision making exercise to elect the candidate of my choice. I remembered the long lines, the voting booth, The ease of picking the ballot and the turning of the diebold machine to select the candidate of my choice. It was a very amazing experience and a great privilege to be part of the greatest democracy in the world.

Therefore, I encourage voters of voting age to make this a point of duty to exercise their civic right and participate in all local, state and national elections so as to keep the tradition of democracy going in a free and fair way.

What motivated [me] to? 
Simple civic responsibility and power vested in one person one vote principles of American democracy, to determine the day to day running of the government and shape the lives of the Voters each election year and keep the politicians accountability for their stewardship within their term limits office holding.

First of all I sincerely covet and seek the votes of first time voters in the Texas District 85 that I am running for as their representative. I want them to know that I was once a college student and I have passed through all the rigors and excitement of being a college student. I went to University of Detroit Mercy; a jesuit college in Michigan where I earned my master’s of engineering degree in civil and environmental engineering in the year 2005 and I am a proud Titan and I still have deep ties to the alumni association up till date. Prior that I went to Undergraduate College back in Africa (Nigeria precisely). It was the Oldest College in Nigeria named Yaba College of Technology, in Lagos, Nigeria where I earned my bachelor’s of science equivalent degree in civil and structural engineering degree in 1995.

So I knew what college life looks like and what college students experience in their colleges. When I am elected into the House of Representatives I will keep an open door policy to entertain college students engagement and creates an enabling environment to hear their voices, their concerns and legislative policy formulation ideas and suggestion that can be of immense benefits to the students from all levels from K-12 to all college levels. To let you know, I have three young Children that are looking forward to college education ahead of them. I will use my position to create an enabling environment to make college attendance a smooth and conducive atmosphere for them either through public education which I greatly support or private education for those that are privileged to afford it.

Thank you and thank all your readers for giving me the opportunity to share my personal views on all the questions submitted to me. I am a very opinionated person and I respect the views of everybody. However, I ask your readers to keep an open heart and digest the responses to all [these] questions with accommodated heart. I have a compelling story and I have a great desire to practicalize all this things that I have theorized in this questionnaire once I am given the mandate to represent the Texas District 85 at the Capitol in Austin in 2020. However I must secure your mandate through the Republican primaries against two of my opponents (one incumbent rep who has been in the position since 2013 and another young man who is running in the parallel race). But I believed I am the best candidate that can take the Texas District 85 to the new platform; to revolutionize the legislative environment by harnessing the state resources to create 21st century compliant and viably conducive opportunities for the citizens of Texas District 85 and the state of Texas in general.

If you cannot hear my voice, feel my heart of service and my willingness to transform the political environment from where it is presently to a revolutionized voters centered priority level in a tangible way. I sincerely covet your support, your donations and your votes. Let us all remain cool, calm and calculated. Texas District 85 is on the threshold of a new dawn and revolutionized glory. Remember, vision that is clear; virtue that is right; victory that is certain is our mantra. God bless District 85; God bless the state of Texas and God bless the United States of America.

I have decided to run for election for the Texas House of Representatives because I want to continue to serve our community. I think that my life experiences have prepared me to be a good representative for our district and feel I can provide good service. I want to continue to serve to work on issues like flooding, storm protection, border security, campus free speech, a growing economy, pension reform, and second amendment rights.

My inspirations have been my family and their record of service, my faith in Jesus Christ and his example of sacrifice and service, and our country’s Founding Fathers who sacrificed so much to form our nation and provide a great government to serve us.

I voted for the first time in 1980. I will always remember it as I had waited so long to get to vote. I was 19 years old. I was very excited to vote for Ronald Reagan as president of the United States. I was motivated by his campaign and his goals to re-establish the USA as an economic leader and world leader after the previous administration had made America so week both economically and in world politics.

I think they should vote for me since I am a person fighting for issues they care about. I am a University of Houston graduate, and the only professional engineer in the Legislature. I have lead in the legislature on issues like flooding and how we can provide a better future for our region on this issue. I have also passed legislation to get the Coastal Barrier we so desperately needed to prevent a deadly storm surge from devastating our area. I have also worked and passed legislation protecting your liberties and freedoms to ensure all Texans have their rights protected. As a father of a recent college graduate I know the pressures on young people and will work to help provide a growing economy so that they can work and provide a future for their families.

I’m currently the only Professional Engineer in the Legislature. Additionally, we would be glad to meet with your readers and look forward to them checking us out at www.dennispaul.com and or they can follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

I want to give back to my community. I stepped into this opportunity because I want to be there for the residents of District 132. I know my community and the conservative values we stand for.

Although I get inspiration from many things, God and family are my biggest inspiration.

God wakes me up to see my beautiful family and bring me peace at night to be able to take care of my family. Philippians 4:13 “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

My parents taught me the strong values of faith and family. They have supported me and loved me unconditionally. My children inspire me to continue to work hard. They are honest, hard workers, supportive, loving, resilient and never lose hope.

I remember being excited to use my voice and my right to defend convservative values. Every time I vote it is to defend faith, family, and freedom. I always say, “if you don’t vote, don’t complain.”

As a business owner, one of my priorities is job growth for Texans. I will take the side of people who want to achieve, succeed and thrive no matter their background. Wealth creation is good but being able provide jobs and to impact the community and give back is what’s most important to me.

I started AIM Family Ministries to give back to the community of Katy and now we send donations to Venezuela. AIM Family Ministries provide vital emergency food, supplies, and service to at-risk families. I believe in being blessed to be a blessing to others.

As a local Mayor, I embraced the calling of public service. This calling leads me to run for state representative for House District 135. This is the district where I was raised and served. As a result, I understand this community’s unique opportunities and challenges in a growing and modern Texas.

The iconic actor John Wayne. The Duke was a steadfast Republican whose views appeared more and more out of step with the progressive youth of 1960s and 70s America. In 1974, Harvard University students invited him to the radical and politically hostile campus to engage in a raucous debate. Wayne accepted, arriving in a tank to admirers and jeerers both. The Duke took questions from the young anti-establishment audience but won them over with wit, charm and humility. That event taught me to never lose my sense of humor over politics and that a little humor and levity can go a long way in an era of deep political divide.

I cast my first vote for Bob Dole for President two months after I turned 18 at the Jersey Village Civic Center. I was excited and motivated to vote because from an early age I knew that participation at the ballot box was the best way to positively impact my community.

The Republican values of liberty, freedom and economic prosperity resonate with everyone. I want Texas to remain the beacon of opportunity and growth where everyone has a chance to succeed. At the same time, I understand that Texas is growing and dynamic State with numerous opportunities and challenges. I represent the new Republican Party that embraces the evolving and modern Texas while promoting our timeless values of opportunity and prosperity.

Go Coogs! (Class of 2002)