For Congress

Voters should ask whether their elected officials are putting Wall Street before Texas.

United States Representative, District 8: Steven David

Kevin Brady, Republican Party: ½ Steven David, Democratic Party: A Democratic candidate hasn’t run for the 8th Congressional District since 2012, so no doubt this will be an uphill battle. Nevertheless, voters should back challenger Steven David for this sizable north Houston seat.

David, 34, is a Houston City Hall staffer who has focused on rooting out waste and abuse in local government. He’s running to ensure that Congress protects the best parts of the Affordable Care Act, including guaranteed coverage for maternity and newborn care, and chronic disease management.

What really convinced us, however, is a quote from President Lyndon Johnson.

After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the newly ascendant Johnson made it his top priority to pass Kennedy’s civil rights bill. When his aides tried to dissuade him from pursuing such a politically risky agenda, he replied, “Well, what the hell is the presidency for?”

We find ourselves asking a similar question about the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee. The position offers an abundance of opportunity to deliver for local constituents, so Houstonians had reason to celebrate when Brady took the gavel for that vastly powerful role.

Imagine our surprise — and deep disappointment — when Brady’s first major policy initiative involved a tax on trade. His so-called “Border Adjustment Tax” proposal would levy an extra 20 percent surcharge on all imports into our country.

As we said at the time, “He might as well propose a tax on Shiner Beer and Blue Bell ice cream.”

No state benefits more from international trade than Texas, from the Port of Houston to border factories dependent on a transnational supply chain.

The underlying purpose of the BAT was to raise billions in revenue to pay for a corporate tax cut. The reality, however, would be a pipeline that ships cash from Texas to Wall Street.

It was a plan so bizarre — so un-Texan — that even Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick opposed it. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, says he had “concerns.” Local representatives were pressured by industry groups to oppose the plan. Eventually it fell apart.

Brady could have pursued a revenueneutral corporate tax cut by filling loopholes and lowering the tax rate. That sort of plan would have even attracted a few Democrats. Instead he ended up pushing through the Trump administration’s reckless tax bill. The result? Handouts to the wealthiest, stock buy-backs for Wall Street and a skyrocketing national debt for the next generation of Americans.

The whole scheme can only make you wonder: What the hell is the House Ways and Means chair for?

There was once a time when we could trust Brady to fight for Texas and represent our specific Lone Star interests in Washington. Now, it seems, he’s abandoned Team Texas for Team Trump.

Brady’s fallen silent on free trade. When Texas needed him the most after Hurricane Harvey, he instead used precious time before the media to whip support for Trump’s tax bill.

We have routinely endorsed Brady for this seat, but he wouldn’t meet with us this election cycle.

Power reveals something in people, and we don’t like what we’ve seen over the past two years. All Texans should be disappointed in Brady’s performance.

United States Representative, District 10: Mike Siegel

Michael T. McCaul, Republican Party: Mike Siegel, Democratic Party: ½ This is a tough call because we’re fans of incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike McCaul, but in this race Mike Siegel has our endorsement.

An assistant city attorney in Austin, Siegel has a specific focus on helping the rural parts of this district. He pointed to preventing rural hospitals from closing and expanding high-speed Internet access outside cities. Overall he’s running on a New Deal-style policy and wants to see the return of national public works projects. We were also impressed with how his campaign succeeded in bringing early voting to Prairie View A&M.

The incumbent is McCaul, a seventerm Republican who has has developed a reputation for his keen insight on foreign policy and wise foresight on cybersecurity, especially when when it comes to Vladimir Putin. He’s involved in the fight to prevent human trafficking and held hearings about the lessons learned from Hurricane Harvey.

We’ve routinely endorsed him for office, but he didn’t meet with the editorial board this cycle.

Despite his impressive record, McCaul has spoken all too softly over the past two years when it came time to put his foreign policy toughness to the test.

United States Representative, District 14: Randy Weber

Randy Weber, Republican Party: Andrienne Bell, Democratic Party: ½ Three-term Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Weber founded a small business and served in local government until voters sent him to Washington as a conservative defender of borders and industry. Democratic challenger Adrienne Bell is a school teacher and former campaign organizer running on education, “Medicare for All,” eliminating student debt, and a general policy of looking out for working families and the little guy.

Weber did not meet with the editorial board.

Bell told us she lives outside the district. The Constitution doesn’t require that congressional candidates reside in their districts, but we believe voters should demand it nonetheless.

United States Representative, District 18: Sheila Jackson Lee

Ava Reynero Pate, Republican Party: Sheila Jackson Lee, Democratic Party: Sheila Jackson Lee has her haters. However, she cares deeply about her constituents and works hard to deliver for them. It shows. According to the Center for Effective Lawmaking at the University of Virginia, Jackson Lee is the second most effective Democratic member of Congress. It’s an accomplishment that earns her our endorsement.

Her Republican challenger, Ava Reynero Pate, might be the single worst candidate we met this entire election cycle. What truly shocked us was, despite bringing a Bible to the meeting, she expressed brazen heartlessness to the plight of global refugees. She even said the United States shouldn’t have welcomed Jews trying to flee the Holocaust and instead said that was the responsibility of the United Nations, which didn’t exist at the time.

United States Representative, District 29: Sylvia R. Garcia

Phillip Aronoff, Republican Party: Sylvia R. Garcia, Democratic Party:

State Sen. Sylvia Garcia is running on immigration concerns, which are particularly relevant in a district nearly 80 percent Hispanic, and said she wants to repeal and replace U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

She has an aggressive working-class platform that includes better jobs, paid sick leave, a higher minimum wage, universal pre-K and Medicare for All. Garcia also called for the creation of a coastal storm surge barrier.

Garcia has a history of public service that includes city controller and county commissioner, and she understands how government can work to improve people’s lives.

Her Republican opponent is Phillip Aronoff, a longtime fixture of local Republican politics. He is earnestly running with the hopes of blunting his party’s anti-Hispanic rhetoric and avoiding the fate of Pete Wilson. The former California governor’s war on undocumented immigrants awoke a Chicano voting bloc that turned the state over to Democrats.

Aronoff doesn’t live in the district.

United States Representative, District 36: Dayna Steele

Brian Babin, Republican Party: Dayna Steele, Democratic Party:

½ A longtime DJ for 101 KLOL — they call her the First Lady of Rock and Roll — Dayna Steele later became a motivational speaker and prolific writer, and also a successful business woman as the owner of an online store for space memorabilia and NASA merchandise. She has a contagious energy, impressive fundraising chops and undeniable communication skills that have some political observers looking at this typically deep-red district with renewed interest.

She’s running against two-term incumbent Brian Babin, who has thorough experience in local government.

We like Babin and were particularly glad when he helped a space program that has been somewhat adrift, which explains why we have endorsed him before. But he’s on the wrong side of too many issues, including the complete pass he gave Trump for his sleazy personal behavior.

We like Steele’s policy proposals and her focus on how the government can and should help people who don’t live in major economic centers. It’s a reminder of why New Deal Democrats were popular in Texas for so many years.

Steele may not be not your typical candidate, but she wouldn’t be the first radio personality to find success in politics.

After all, Texans elected current Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former Houston city council member Michael Berry.