Mihaela Plesa says knocking on 10,000 doorways helped her join with voters in the Republican county.
PLANO, Texas — As the primary Democrat to win a Collin County House seat in almost three decades, Representative-elect Mihaela Plesa understands the importance of her victory.
The boundaries for her district, HD-70, modified over the last spherical of redistricting. And the redrawn district was truly constructed to favor Democrats, so two different districts might be strengthened for Republicans.
Plesa says the Collin County GOP nonetheless did every part it may to maintain onto the seat.
“They can outspend us, but they will not out work us,” the Democrat stated on Inside Texas Politics. “We took the time to knock on every door in HD-70 and ask those constituents what can their government do for them. And we started every conversation like that.”
Plesa says that was round 10,000 doorways in whole and that private connection, she continued, made an enormous distinction in her victory.
As a now former legislative director who helped write payments in the Texas House, she says her expertise will assist her in Austin subsequent yr.
She’s already filed laws coping with well being literacy throughout the pre-filing interval (HB 733) earlier than the subsequent legislative session kicks off in January.
And Plesa says she will draw on earlier expertise to assist her attain throughout the aisle and minimize by the partisanship in Austin.
“The bills that I’m filing aren’t just going to be beneficial to HD-70, they’re going to be beneficial to the entire state,” stated Plesa. “And when you approach members and say that your constituents are going to want this, they have a tendency to listen.”
It might be troublesome, although, as Republicans nonetheless take pleasure in a major benefit in the Texas Legislature.
Plesa says she targeted her marketing campaign on public well being, public training, fixing the grid and restoring rights.
And she’s already discussing one of many elephants in the room right here in Texas: skyrocketing property taxes.
The Democrat says she’d like to start making an attempt to decrease them by growing the state’s contribution to public training.
“My priorities are going to be raising the basic allotment for per-pupil spending. The state of Texas is one of the least when it comes to paying per pupil for public education,” she instructed us. “I want to index that to inflation, so it keeps up with perpetuity. And we have the money to pay for our teachers and pay for the stuff that parents expect to get when they’re paying these property taxes and sending their kids to school.”
story by Source link