My biggest qualifications are:

I’m a real life working mom who was forced out of the workforce because of our country's lack of affordable childcare and knows how to better support working families;

I’m a Mexican American female raised in rural Texas that experienced, first hand, what happens when communities lack health care, reproductive education, and history education that is inclusive of our diverse population (hint: addiction, child abuse, teen pregnancies, domestic violence, racism, homophobia, xenophobia, etc);

I’ve helped thousands of local business owners, in Texas and across the country, grow their budding companies;

I’ve helped build multiple successful tech startups over the past decade and understand the importance of humane tech policy, so technology and social media innovation encourage the best of us instead of the worst;

I’ve fueled entrepreneurial growth that created new jobs and boosted our economy;

I’m a wildly different and refreshing statewide Texas candidate with a lot of hopeful energy and enthusiasm – and I’m a woman dangit! Lol. But seriously, Democrats haven’t won a statewide race in 30 years – we need someone different, and I’m your best bet to finally oust Ted Cruz.

I decided to run for the U.S. Senate because we need 60 Democratic votes to get anything done in Washington. And because the Democratic party in Texas hasn't won a statewide race in over three decades, I no longer could stand on the sidelines and watch our party repeat past mistakes and expect different results. Every time, we go along with whatever cookie cutter establishment-picked money-backed Democrat who gets propped up as the so-called "safe" or "more viable" candidate, and yet, we. keep. losing. How much more of Texans’ hard earned money are we going to continue to waste doing this?

To finally flip Texas, we need a different kind of candidate – I kept hoping to see someone that represented more progressive values, someone more uplifting and inspiring, someone non-white and woman, like me. Eventually, I got angry and tired of waiting around while our hard won rights continued to be chipped away and decided to be the change I wanted to see. I'm a Mexican American farm girl raised in small-town Texas, that made it to the heights of Silicon Valley, and back again to serve my home state that I love.

I have a very particular set of skills and unique background story that will resonate with ordinary Texans who are desperate for a fresh perspective and an inspiring female Democratic leader. Everyone is exhausted with the fear-mongering and immature social media bickering of most politicians these days. Plus, y'all know Ted Cruz is terrified of and extremely triggered by intelligent women – he will struggle and ultimately lose if I receive the honor of your votes in the March 5th Democratic Primary. I can't wait!

1. Economy: We need to rethink how we beef up the economy. Innovation can’t happen when we’re all burnt out and stretched thin. We need to support working parents, young entrepreneurs, and small businesses with more childcare and funding.

2. Healthcare: We need a universal health insurance program (Medicare for All!) that includes mental health, maternal health, and overall care for you and me – that’s not attached to an employer.

3. Democracy: For Texans to have a voice in government, we must get money out of politics with comprehensive campaign finance reform, pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and beef up public education.

Childcare, Housing, Healthcare (includes mental & reproductive), Immigration, Climate

There is a severe lack of affordable child care options for working parents and a lack of affordable mental health care. We can address this by dramatically increasing funding for public school teachers, counselors, therapists, and other child development professionals, and create a 24/7 drop-in flexible and affordable child care system within the public school system. Every public school student should have access to options of licensed therapists and the ability to attend weekly therapy appointments consistently while at school.

Another huge issue that is consistently overlooked is the prevalence of unaccountable domestic violence and its connection to gun violence in our country. Trauma informed education and extensive training for our educators and police forces to be able to spot and help victims, as well as hold accountable and rehabilitate previous abusers (especially the 40% of our police force that currently have domestic violence on their own records).

Texas A&M University, Mays Business School B.B.A., Class of 2009 #whoop!

Outside my extremely brief stint as Student Senator at Texas A&M University, this is my first time running for political office! I’ve volunteered for a variety of political candidates over the years, from serving former Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price during her first winning mayoral campaign in 2011, to knocking on doors and donating where I could for Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Democratic Primary for U.S. President, Gwenn Burud for Texas State Senate District 9, Trey Hunt for U.S. House TX-12, and Jessica Cisneros for U.S. House TX-28 in 2022.

I also serve as an advisor to startup founders from historically excluded backgrounds with my work at FourthWave.io and Black Ambition Project.

My previous community involvement includes volunteering with Houston Area Women’s Center, Safe Haven of Tarrant County, Reading Partners, La Casa de las Madres, and within kids ministry at the various churches my family and I have attended over the years. I’m also a member of Kappa Delta Sorority, Texas A&M University Association of Former Students, Junior League, and a former Stephenville High School Varsity Cheerleader and Stingerette High-Kicker!

My job is to serve Texans by getting us universal health care, child care, reproductive rights, campaign finance reform, etc. by getting us closer to 60 votes in the U.S. Senate. My job is also to inspire more young people and women of color to run for office, and be the kind of hopeful compassionate leader that we so desperately need to be able to move people in our very broken Congress.

I'm currently challenging multiple incumbent Democrats, while also challenging the extremely broken establishment politicking in the Texas Democratic Party as a whole. It's overrun by a lot of cynical folks who continue to believe that running political campaigns as they have always been done (which is only fundraising focused and usually wasting a ton of people's hard earned money for minuscule gains in percentage points) is somehow magically going to get us a statewide win. Hasn't worked in 30 years.

I'm the refreshing Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate for Texas who will inspire Texans to unite with fresh ideas and unbridled enthusiasm – my campaign is the startup for a Texas we can ALL be a part of.

I'm a Democrat because the Democratic Party Platform has values-based policy positions that I align with. However, I consider myself a progressive independent and feel that the current Democratic Party overall has some serious issues that need to be addressed. I look forward to helping our party heal and change for the better, as I'm a fresh voice and perspective will push for more inclusivity and bridge rebuilding within groups, leadership, and party members. It seems like everyone within the party is at each other's throats, so I want to set a different example. Our family of Democrats needs some group therapy!

Yes on all counts: I'm a female, Mexican American (Indigenous Mexican and Spanish descent), Mom, under 60! It's about time we have a Tejana in the U.S. Senate.

I participated in Emerge America's Southern Regional Candidate Training in 2022 and have an upcoming training with Annie's List in Fort Worth on January 27. Yes, I will have a field team and all the campaign bells and whistles once I'm able to raise more moola. (donate to helifortexas.com thanks and gig em!)

Here's my current social media strategy – don't contribute to the divisiveness and screaming at one another online, instead promote fun civics/history/how to run for office educational content. Like hosting live candidate conversations on Instagram, hosting weekly online Townhall Q&A's, etc. and working with my network of startup influencer friends to help me distribute content. At my past startups, I've built email marketing campaigns, designed direct mail, print collateral, written blogs, so I've been able to produce marketing communications material when I've needed to – but I need more monied Democrats to invest in my campaign so I can hire folks to help me move faster! Lol, most of our community doesn't come from money y'all know that! But also, based on my experience in startup world, not all money is good money and God has his way of providing resources and good people when we need it.

We need to create more access to affordable childcare by investing in and creating better paying jobs for caregivers so more parents can go back to work. We need universal healthcare that is not attached to an employer so small businesses can finally attract more workers. We also need to invest small business capital in a wide variety of young entrepreneurs instead of only investing in those who already come from wealthy backgrounds and lots of assets.

I’m for common sense gun reform like most everyone in Texas. A huge issue that is consistently overlooked is the prevalence of unaccountable domestic violence and its connection to gun violence in our country. The common denominator in mass shooting events are previous records of domestic violence. Guns must be removed from abusers. Trauma informed education and extensive training for our educators and police forces to be able to spot abusive behavior and help victims, as well as hold accountable and rehabilitate previous abusers (especially the 40% of our police force that currently have domestic violence on their own records).

I would push for Medicare for All – a universal health insurance system, that includes mental and maternal health care that is not attached to an employer, by working with current members of Congress who have already championed single payer healthcare (Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez). I'm not saying the Affordable Care Act can't be improved, but I'm gonna spend my time trying to get Medicare for All, because I'm not confident in a health care system still driven by profits not people. We also have burned out so many of our health care workers – many have left the workforce in the aftermath of the pandemic. Because of our shortage of caregivers, I would also lead efforts to invest in recruiting more doctors, nurses, therapists, and psychologists by covering medical or technical school tuition for anyone wanting to join these fields. Same for teachers!

With aquifers and wells dwindling from climate change and multinational corporate overuse, the federal government must review all water rights laws so vulnerable communities don’t run out of water. Prioritize weatherization of electrical grids and housing insulation. Train and transition workers to the clean energy industry as we continue to invest in solar, wind, nuclear, and other renewables.

Work with other smart folks to see where we can kill two birds with one stone – combating climate change in itself protects the world’s economies from instability.

No. I’m fairly confident it’s next to impossible to actually complete Abbott/Trump’s mythical border wall. We need comprehensive reform from Congress, not short term inhumane fixes via executive orders. Our biggest issue on this front is housing – we need to ramp up construction in underutilized areas. We can do that by giving migrants social security numbers so they can work, help us build creative housing solutions, fill empty job openings, and start paying taxes.

Give immigrants a fair and humane path to citizenship. If you’re here and want to work, we should make it easy: get them social security numbers so they can work and start paying taxes. If they keep a clean record, let them become citizens. We need to fix the visa and asylum processing bottlenecks (a 5 year wait before an appointment?!), address the gaps that allow child migrant workers, and force a culture reset by forming a new agency.

We need to comprehensively reform our campaign finance laws to get billionaire and corporate money out of politics. Today, unless you come from wealth and powerful connections, it's almost impossible to run for office. Ideas: Publicly funded elections, launch civics and media literacy initiatives, regulate online attention economy, vote-by-mail, term limits, and holding accountable the bad actors.

I would work with current members of Congress who have campaigned for the passing of the Voting Rights Act (Senator Warnock for example) and lead on-going media literacy efforts to educate constituents on our political processes and combat divisive voter misinformation.

Ban gerrymandering, expand voter and civics education, and require independent redistricting commissions that promote core values and have stronger checks and balances.

We need to comprehensively reform our campaign finance laws to get billionaire and corporate money out of politics. Today, unless you come from wealth and powerful connections, it's almost impossible to run for office. Ideas: Publicly funded elections, launch civics and media literacy initiatives, regulate online attention economy, vote-by-mail, term limits, and holding accountable the bad actors.

Instead of pandering, I'll do more storytelling and educate on our people's history in Texas so more of us understand one another and learn how we ended up in this extremely divided mess.

For instance, there's a crazy history of why there are so many of us “no sabo” Latino kids — in my family’s case, my maternal grandmother, along with her siblings, were tortured in 1930s-50s Fort Worth segregated schools for speaking Spanish (the only language they knew). My grandma was forced to put her nose on a spot on the wall and stand for hours if she spoke a word of it.

Speaking English and assimilating was what so many of us were taught to do for our families’ safety. Instead it created this division and judgment between Latinos, we’ve been pitted against each other instead of fighting the oppression we all receive from those that demonize our people. ❤️ When we all know better, we do better!

I supported the passing of the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022 to ensure the Supreme Court can’t undo marriage equality, but I don’t support any of the anti-trans bills, the removal of gender affirming care, the attacks on bodily autonomy and reproductive rights, the removal of LGBTQ+ books and history, etc.

It’s extremely important to me to support and invest in young entrepreneurs from the LGBTQ+ community and others historically excluded from business ownership. As an Indigenous Mexican American female founder, I saw first hand how the venture capitalists, the ones with the power to write the +$100,000 checks to invest in startups, are still mostly straight white men who came from wealthy backgrounds and elite institutions that continue to invest in entrepreneurs who resemble themselves. That means big innovative ideas from, and/or built to serve, the LGBTQ+ community aren’t getting funded that could be solving some of our country’s biggest problems, creating jobs, and boosting our economy. I’ve worked alongside, mentored, and partnered with many technologists and startup founders from the LGBTQ+ community within my work as a Backstage Capital founder (founded by Arlan Hamilton to invest in startup founders from marginalized backgrounds), an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at FourthWave.io (startup accelerator for female entrepreneurs), and Black Ambition Futurists Program Mentor (accelerator for Black and Latine founders) to further opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs from LGBTQ+ and other marginalized communities.

Ideally, we put into law that doctors and their patients make the ultimate calls on these extremely private medical matters. But we can't do much unless we get sixty Democratic U.S. Senators in office now can we? So, we need to do a better job of supporting new Democratic faces (especially women!) that aren't the traditionally establishment-money backed ones (a.k.a. don't have access to establishment political networks or wealthy connections) and/or try to get through to some of the hard headed knuckleheads on the Republican side. I'll talk to anyone to get this done. I’m going to do whatever I can to help get us those sixty votes in the U.S. Senate, and inspire more women and young people to run in the process.

When it comes to protecting democracy around the world, our role should involve less aggressive posturing (end the unaccountable funding of weapons and war) and more focused on promoting global education and diplomacy. Honestly, our economic interests would work themselves out if we adequately funded childcare, healthcare, education, and mental health care for the American people instead of wars.