Lloyd, Brady and Weber are our picks for congressional candidates in the Republican primaries.

Republicans should back Lloyd, Brady and Weber in primary races.

District 7: James Lloyd

It is easy to hate on Congress — fun, too. But Houstonians who take a closer look at their local delegation may be surprised to discover that they’re represented by several impressive elected officials.

We have the chairs of the Homeland Security Committee and the powerful Ways and Means Committee. We have advocates for local industry and needy neighborhoods. We have people whom you’ll see arguing on cable news and providing expert opinions for their colleagues. All of these representatives have used their years in office to work for their party and advocate for their constituents.

And then there’s U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston.

Culberson has been in Congress since 2001, and was a state representative before that, but he has little to show for his service. He isn’t an influential fighter for conservative ideals, nor is he an invaluable link between local needs and federal resources.

More of a backbencher than a leader, his biggest accomplishments have involved meddling with Metro and working with local officials to expand Interstate 10 — but there were no improvements to mass transit and the traffic still stinks. By the way, we’re still confused as to why Culberson insists on public votes for any rail construction, but not for freeway expansion.

Culberson will tell you that he’s an important friend to NASA, but NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has expressed frustration at the congressman’s meddling — there’s that word again — with individual missions.

However, the greatest indictment of Culberson is that he’s lost the support of local leaders: County Commissioners Jack Morman and Steve Radack, and the mayors of Spring Valley Village, Hunters Creek Village and Hilshire Village, have all refused to back him in this Republican Party primary. These are the people who know when a politician isn’t doing his job, and they’re supporting James Lloyd for Congress.

Add the Houston Chronicle editorial board to that list.

The wealthy and highly educated 7th District, which stretches from West University through the Galleria to the Energy Corridor then north to Jersey Village, has the potential to elect a Republican who can represent our city’s interests on a national scale.

We believe James Lloyd can be that representative.

Lloyd, 31, currently works as an energy attorney, but he previously served on the White House national security staff in the George W. Bush administration. A graduate of Rice University and the University of Texas School of Law, he has also clerked for the Texas Supreme Court.

When he interviewed with the Houston Chronicle editorial board, Lloyd forcefully argued for traditional Republican positions on issues like immigration, national security and federal spending, yet never relied on Trump-style xenophobia or Rubioesque repetition of talking points. He specifically focused on addressing visa overstays by improving tracking systems and updating biometric collection, and also integrating those databases with welfare systems to make sure that benefits aren’t being paid incorrectly.

He also said that, if elected, he wants to hire the foremost energy expert on Capitol Hill to serve on his staff.

“I want to be a leader on energy. This is the energy corridor. Nobody would ever know that with Culberson,” Lloyd said.

He’s running in the model of other young Republican candidates and gave the example of U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, RArk., as someone he’d want to emulate.

“You just go up there and be smart about your policy. You have the support of all segments of the Republican Party without being stuck in one.”

Culberson also f aces a challenge from Maria Espinoza, who is running almost exclusively on the issue of preventing illegal immigration.

District 8: Kevin Brady

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, is one of the most conservative members of Congress, but the congenial 10-term incumbent is not conservative enough for a tea party triumvirate in the 8th Congressional District that wants to Brat him out — Brat as in Dave Brat, the tea-party unknown in Virginia who blind-sided House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, presumptive Speaker-to-be, in a huge upset two years ago. Brady’s three challengers — Steve Toth, Andre Dean and Craig McMichael — hope to slice deeply enough into the primary vote to force the powerful chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee into a runoff, where they expect tea-party zeal to unseat the longtime lawmaker and bring him home to The Woodlands.

Among the three, only Toth has held elective office. The 55-year-old Conroe businessman and former minister was elected to the Texas House in 2012 and served one term.

Dean, 54, served in the Army for 27 years before retiring as a colonel three years ago; he now teaches high-school ROTC. “If you love Colonel Allen West’s politics … you will love Colonel Dean, as we are lock-step American warrior brothers,” Dean says on his web site. He ran an unsuccessful race against Brady in 1999.

McMichael is a Spring resident whose decade of service in the Marines included tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. He lost to Brady in the 2014 primary.

It’s hard to distinguish among the three challengers, as they all recite from the same tea-party playbook. They’re pro-life and ardent defenders of the Second Amendment; they want to drastically cut spending; and they want to abolish Obamacare (“Americans don’t need free medical care,” Dean says. “They’ve got too much free stuff already.”) They also stress border security. Dean, for example, wants to begin what he calls a “30-year deportation of all illegal non-citizens.”

All three claim that Brady has lost touch with his district — the fourth most conservative district in the country, Toth claims — and that he’s more interested in national issues than in the needs of the 8th, which includes all of Montgomery County, as well as six other counties and parts of two. Huntsville and The Woodlands are the largest urban areas in the district.

Brady, of course, disagrees that he’s out of touch, noting that he comes home almost every weekend and that he’s held 50 town-hall meetings during the past year. The congressman says he, too, wants to replace Obamacare and shrink the size of government. He also wants to reform Medicare and adopt a f air tax code. As chairman of Ways and Means, he’s conversant with many of the major issues affecting the nation, including tax matters, Social Security, Medicare, trade, energy and health care. That f amiliarity with significant issues redounds to the benefit of his district, we believe.

You don’t have to agree with Brady on all the issues — and we don’t — to acknowledge that he’s a f air-minded, influential and effective elected official. To replace him simply because he thinks for himself and doesn’t always adhere to tea-party orthodoxy would be extremely short-sighted.

District 14: Randy Weber

U.S. Rep. Randy Weber of Friendswood, a former state representative and before that a Pearland air conditioning contractor, is seeking a third term in Congress. Weber, 62, takes pride in being one of the most conservative lawmakers in Congress and often is quick with the cutting quip about President Obama. He sticks close to the tea party playbook — pro-life, ardent Second Amendment supporter, abolish Obamacare, border security, etc. — but he also pays close attention to his coastal district. The 14th encompasses Beaumont, Galveston and Lake Jackson, as well as the massive oil, gas and petrochemical conglomerate that employs many district residents. Weber is vice-chair of the House Energy Subcommittee and a member of the Environmental Subcommittee of the Science, Space and Technology Committee.

His opponent is Keith Casey, a business consultant and perennial candidate. We recommend Weber.