Stephen’s Priorities
Protect Democracy
We need to elect people of integrity who take the meaning of public servant seriously. When growing up overseas, Stephen had 2 different friends whose innocent fathers were wrongfully imprisoned by a rash dictator, and one of those fathers was sadly executed after a sham trial that was condemned throughout the world. The USA is a great experiment which has lasted for 2 and a half centuries, but Americans need to be on guard against falling down a slippery slope towards autocratic rule. If we give a little too many times, the exceptional Constitutional rights we enjoy could be eroded, and this would no longer be the land of the free. In 2025, numerous services authorized by Congress are being threatened and even shut down without the approval of Congress. The aim is supposedly to improve efficiency, but instead of looking in more appropriate parts of the budget, they went after valuable programs serving millions of people, and one of their software engineers admitted they found very little fraud. Taxpayers have already paid for these services, do not want them discarded, and the way they are being shut down is actually wasting money. Even worse, no serious methodology is being applied. In numerous technology projects Stephen has worked on in the business world, the standards for thoughtful planning were much higher. Our cherished government of the people, by the people, and for the people requires intelligent work, not a chaotic wrecking ball. Good government requires data-driven decisions based on reality. Inciting fear is not an acceptable way to lead a democracy. A few Republican legislators have been bold enough to admit that most of their Republican colleagues are fearful right now, so I will fight for stronger limits on the misuse of power in our government to ensure the Constitution is respected and our rights are preserved. Government officials should wield their power to serve the people, never for personal vendettas. Voters were dissatisfied with the status quo, but those issues should be addressed in a meaningful way instead of replacing them with something worse. Americans need to demand more of their government, not less.
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Economy & Jobs
The USA has been a leader in making the most valuable goods and services that the world needs, and our nation needs a sensible strategy so that continues. We need to move the country forward, not backward. The current administration is abandoning trade agreements with some of our closest allies, and this shortsighted mistake ultimately hurts us. We already knew from history that blunt tariffs will fail, and everyone from farmers to manufacturers to retailers are being hit with rising costs from the current administration’s risky games with defective ideas. Now “affordable housing” has been added to Trump’s censorship list, but Stephen has spoken to Trump supporters who said they wanted affordable housing and lower prices, and now they realize he is making the cost of living worse. So far Trump’s policies have been working against those priorities, and even worse, his massive budget bill appears to prioritize making the rich richer while the rest of us are expected to pay for a massive deficit.
The president demanded that the energy industry ramp up production but oil company executives had to explain it’s more complex than he thinks; they can only ramp up if it makes economic sense to do so. Recently, these companies have been struggling and are laying off thousands of workers. Multiple energy companies in Houston have teams that are now stalled on existing carbon capture projects due to the president’s blunt policies. Texas is a leader in solar and wind, but the current administration is working against those. In the 21st century we must leverage a multi-pronged approach to energy sources; Stephen will work on legislation that ensures we have enough incentives to keep all viable energy possibilities on the table. The uncertainty from haphazard government policies is making it difficult for businesses to move forward in an era when we should be firing on all cylinders and pursuing all projects that will raise the broad prosperity of the American people.
In order to achieve this, we need a healthy and equipped workforce who can enable us to compete with the most productive countries in the world. Stephen will work on incentives for more relevant training programs so new workers and others making a career change will quickly get up to speed on the skills needed today. We have too few people going into electrician jobs and other higher-paying skilled trades, so we must provide more apprenticeships to high school students and young adults. The USA lags behind in some advanced manufacturing such as making computer chips, and we must focus on equipping Americans with the ability to work in such strategically critical industries.
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Education
When Stephen was in elementary school in Texas, he understood that one of the remarkable characteristics of life in the USA is that all children are given an education. Halfway through his childhood, when his family moved to Nigeria, his appreciation for that gift was further cemented because he saw many children who lacked the same opportunities. After moving back to Texas, he sadly realized that not everyone in the USA prioritizes education as much as he had originally thought. It should be a priority for this country because it’s the clearest way to provide all Americans with a foundation for success. When children are deprived of that, the whole country is ultimately worse off. Here in Houston we see the terrible effects of high teacher turnover after the HISD takeover, and the battles over funding in the state legislature, and of course the attack on funding at the federal level. Stephen has recently spoken with many educators in Houston who point out the misguided plans being implemented here. We need less emphasis on teaching to the tests and instead should focus on increasing pay and support to recruit passionate and capable teachers. They will make the most positive impact on students, and with adequate funding to enable smaller class sizes they will have more time to get to know each of their students’ needs and tailor their approach accordingly. Most importantly, absolutely zero schoolchildren should be hungry, and the cost to fix that is extremely low. Stephen will strive to be an advocate for all children in this country to have a better baseline of learning, because if we do not care for our country’s children, what future is there for the USA?
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Our Community
As you know, flooding is a major risk here, and Stephen will enlist federal support for flood mitigation tunnels and other SAFER initiatives in the county. Kashmere Gardens and other neighborhoods suffered too long with life-threatening environmental waste not of their own doing, so Stephen will leverage federal assistance to ensure 18th district residents have a clean and safe place to live. We must also incentivize businesses and local governments with financial support to invest in neighborhoods that have food deserts and lack transportation options, basic services, and affordable housing.
Many families here are being hit hard with reduced food assistance, cuts to healthcare and education and other vital services such as programs for people with disabilities. Even our veterans are seeing threats from the current administration. We can debate various aspects of government spending, but ensuring children have enough to eat should never be up for debate, and it’s tragic how little it costs and how heartlessly our leaders are turning their backs on the need. These cuts are not a wise long-term policy because they will lead to increased costs and suffering down the road, whereas a healthy population would result in a more prosperous nation.
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Immigration
For centuries, the story of America has been one of people coming to our land in search of new opportunities and a better life for their family. Immigrants have always strengthened the USA, and they continue to strengthen our nation today. Our leaders are characterizing all undocumented immigrants as vicious criminals even though most are not. Even conservative studies show they commit crimes at a much lower rate than citizens, and a government analysis of Texas records concluded the same result. In 2006, the Texas State Comptroller analyzed the economic data and determined that undocumented Texans pay more in taxes than they receive in services such as public education and healthcare, and very importantly, they contribute billions of dollars to the Texas economy. Rick Perry, the governor of Texas at the time, actually pushed for work permits for undocumented immigrants based on the simple fact that these immigrants were financially beneficial to our society. In 2024, a Texas Monthly article explained that businesses in Texas and throughout the USA have long said there is a huge shortage of workers and that they need these immigrants, and we should be creating laws which provide a way for them to work here legally. Trump and Abbott know this but are not admitting it to the public. They know food and housing prices would increase, but they use border theatrics to get your vote. Too much taxpayer money is being spent to cast a wide net when our limited law enforcement resources should be focused on only the dangerous ones. The administration has also been disrespecting the due process guaranteed to all people by the Constitution, so Stephen will push for stronger limits on executive overreach and collaborate on bipartisan bills which provide clear paths to work permits for all these people who contribute so much to our society.
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Science & Innovation
Multiple cancer treatments, programmable pacemakers, the LVAD heart pump, tools for cataract surgery, laser angioplasty, artificial heart defibrillators, MRI and CT scans, and voice-controlled wheelchairs are examples of scientific breakthroughs which have arisen thanks to NASA research, and countless other scientific breakthroughs have resulted from government investment in so many research labs across the country. Only half a penny of each tax dollar has been going to NASA, and Trump eviscerated its funding. He is also threatening funding for numerous Texas Medical Center research groups and universities here in Houston, and so many talented and hardworking people serving in the National Institutes of Health and other American organizations have been fired while working on projects to help us. If we allow this to continue, we and future generations will suffer, because the healthcare we have today came about from decades of government investment in scientific organizations all across the country. We have been the world leader in innovation, and now there is a serious risk we could lose that. We have long attracted the best students from around the world and Americans have benefited from so many health and other scientific breakthroughs which happen on our soil, but now international students are wondering if they have to steer clear of the USA and take their intelligence and enthusiasm to other countries who are more welcoming right now. Countless top researchers who are already here are now thinking about leaving the USA. Government grants fund many projects through years of painstaking research, so we taxpayers have already put a lot of our hard-earned money toward projects that are being shut down before they are finished. This is a terrible waste of so much investment from taxpayers, and we are not getting what we paid for! Stephen will restore commitments to invest in pioneering research that will benefit us, our children and grandchildren, and beyond.