Recommendations
Three-term incumbent checks all the boxes for GOP-strong 36th Congressional District.
In the solidly Republican 36th Congressional District, three-term incumbent Brian Babin checks all the appropriate GOP boxes: unyielding support for President Donald Trump, the border wall and low taxes while steadfastly opposing abortion rights and gun restrictions.
The combination has helped him win re-election by 45 points in 2018 and 77 points in 2016.
Those margins are not expected to change much as Babin faces littleknown Democrat Rashad Lewis, a former city council member in Jasper who works in the timber industry. His platform broadly aligns with that of the national Democratic Party.
While we disagree with many of his policy positions, we recommend Babin, 72, based on his experience and his support for NASA as the ranking member of a key subcommittee of Science, Space and Technology. His platform no doubt reflects the priorities of the majority of voters in Texas 36.
In announcing his re-election bid in November, Babin said he wanted to “continue rebuilding our communities better and stronger than ever from Harvey and Imelda and keep NASA’s Johnson Space Center at the forefront of the next generation of space exploration.”
He successfully sponsored legislation that authorizes NASA to provide medical monitoring of former astronauts to better understand the long-term health effects of human spaceflight. NASA had been pushing for such monitoring in recent years.
In addition to recognizing the importance of the space program to America and to Houston, Babin also showed leadership in proposing the Threat Assessment, Prevention, and Safety Act, a bipartisan bill designed to help identify and address potential acts of mass violence.
Like Texas and the rest of the nation, the district, which stretches from Lake Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend in East Texas to Galveston Bay, will be looking to strongly rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic crash.
Babin is the best choice to speed that recovery.