3News has partnered with the League of Women Voters, a non-profit and non-partisan organization dedicated to voter education, to help make sure the community has access to all the information they need before hitting the polls Nov. 3.
The following information was gathered and compiled by the League and published in their Voters Guide and on Vote411.org.
Duties: One of two members of the U.S. Senate from Texas. The Senate has the exclusive power to advise and consent on presidential nominations to executive and judicial offices, to ratify U.S. treaties, and to try impeachments. With the U.S. House, the Senate adopts budgets, levies taxes, borrows money, regulates interstate commerce, provides services, adopts regulations, and declares war. Current annual salary: $174,000
Term: Six-year term.
Deberes: Uno de los dos miembros de Texas para el Senado de ee.UU. el Senado tiene el poder exclusivo para asesorar y dar su consentimiento para las nominaciones presidenciales para los cargos ejecutivos y judiciales, para ratificar los tratados de los ee.UU. y procesar destituciones. Con la Cámara de los ee.UU., el Senado adopta presupuestos, recauda impues- tos, obtiene préstamos, regula el comercio interestatal, brinda servicios, adopta reglamentos y declara la guerra. Salario anual actual: $174,000.
Plazo: Plazo de 6 años.
John Cornyn (Republican)
Website: http://www.johncornyn.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/johncornyn
Twitter: @teamcornyn
Background: What training, experience, and background qualify you for this position?
John Cornyn was elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1990. In 1998, he was elected Attorney General of Texas. In 2002, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. Senator Cornyn serves on the Senate’s Judiciary, Finance, and Intelligence Committees.
Immigration: What are your priorities regarding the immigration system?
Recognizing we are a nation of immigrants, Senator Cornyn has voted in support of a permanent legislative solution for Dreamers who call Texas their home. The Senator cosponsored the Secured and Succeed Act in 2018, which proposed a solution for DACA recipients that provides a pathway to citizenship for 1.8 million young adults.
Healthcare: How would you address access to and the cost of healthcare?
Senator Cornyn supports a system that: protects those with preexisting conditions; lowers the cost of prescription drugs by increasing generics; increases competition by allowing cross-state health insurance; lowers out of pocket costs for seniors on Medicare; reestablishes the privacy of the doctor patient relationship
Gun Violence: What are your recommendations to protect students from gun violence?
Sen. Cornyn believes the right to keep and bear arms is a sacred Constitutional right for Texans. But we must ensure guns are kept out of the hands of criminals and domestic abusers. He believes we need to eliminate unlicensed firearm dealers, which will mean more people get background checks because all Federal Firearms Licenses are required to complete those.
COVID-19: What actions, if any, do you believe are needed to address the health and economic impact caused by COVID-19?
Sen. Cornyn voted for the CARES Act, which sent stimulus checks to individuals who – through no fault of their own – were unable to work and earn a paycheck, and established the Paycheck Protection Program – a critical lifeline that helped ensure businesses could bridge the gap without laying off employees.
Voting Rights: What actions, if any, would you take to ensure that all eligible voters have equal access to safe and fair elections?
Sen. Cornyn believes that any Texan who wants to vote safely can do so under existing law. If you’re over 65 or you’re disabled, you can vote by mail. Or if you are not going to be present in your county on Election Day, Gov. Abbott has extended the early voting period.
Vouchers: What is your position on using public funds for private school vouchers and why?
School choice empowers parents to choose the setting that best fits their child’s unique interests, learning style and educational needs. While education is rightfully managed at the local and state level, our entire country has a stake in ensuring we are raising highly educated, analytical, well-rounded citizens.
Mary "MJ" Hegar (Democrat)
Website: http://www.mjfortexas.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MJforTexas/
Twitter: @mjhegar
Background: What training, experience, and background qualify you for this position?
I have served our country, am a working mom, and live the challenges of regular Texans. I served 3 tours in Afghanistan as a medevac pilot, earning a Purple Heart & DFC w/ Valor and took on DC to make our military stronger. I’m the fighter we need.
Immigration: What are your priorities regarding the immigration system?
We need comprehensive immigration reform that reflects our core American values - the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We must streamline the process for applying for and receiving citizenship, create a pathway to citizenship for those here, protect DREAMers, permanently end child separation and secure the border with effective procedures & technology.
Healthcare: How would you address access to and the cost of healthcare?
During my 5 years working in health care, it was clear that our skyrocketing costs and high uninsured rate were unsustainable. As we face a pandemic and beyond, I’ll fight for access to quality affordable health care for every Texan, and for their right to determine whether that is a public option or their current plan.
Gun Violence: What are your recommendations to protect students from gun violence?
As a mother of two young boys, gun violence survivor and a responsible gun owner, I say enough is enough. We must pass common-sense gun safety legislation to require background checks on every single gun sale, including closing the gun show loophole. We must also stop selling weapons of war to the public.
COVID-19: What actions, if any, do you believe are needed to address the health and economic impact caused by COVID-19?
We need to listen to experts, not politicians, when it comes to solving the public health and economic crisis. We must provide adequate testing that is fully covered, protect our frontline workers, and improve contact tracing capacity. The economic recovery must center around supporting small businesses and workers, while enforcing transparency and accountability measures.
Voting Rights: What actions, if any, would you take to ensure that all eligible voters have equal access to safe and fair elections?
Having served 12 years in the military I’m committed to defending our constitutional rights. I’ll work to expand access to registration and voting, fight against voter suppression tactics, and support the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, restoring protections which have been weakened by the Supreme Court.
Vouchers: What is your position on using public funds for private school vouchers and why?
I’m a proud product of public school and a mama bear for my two young boys, and I will always fight for public schools and ALL of our kids. I oppose any policy that cuts or siphons funding from public schools.
Kerry Douglas McKennon (Libertarian)
Website: http://www.mckennon2020.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/McKennon2020
Twitter: @McKennon2020
Background: What training, experience, and background qualify you for this position?
I have served on the executive committee for the Libertarian Party of Texas. I have over 20 years of management in the retail and food industry.
Immigration: What are your priorities regarding the immigration system?
Our first priority is that no child is left in a cage or separated from their family, reforming immigration policy means making it as simple as have the same policy for all immigrants from all countries. More judges and caseworkers are needed to determine if those seeking asylum can be allowed in, because an individual in a detention facility for three year is unacceptable
Healthcare: How would you address access to and the cost of healthcare?
Health insurance allowed to be purchased across state lines. The cost of healthcare is due primarily to the amount of money being spent in administration. We see within the VA and Medicare system; where actual treatments are being delayed or not approved due to lack of doctors, but there is never a shortage of admins boosting drug costs.
Gun Violence: What are your recommendations to protect students from gun violence?
Mental health and hate lie at the core of gun violence and those who act in it's wake. Hate is learned and can be unlearned, but is a very tough row to hoe. Mental health is an issue that we can diagnosis and treat. Those are not the answers that some individuals want to hear, but they are closer to protecting our students than any gun ban.
COVID-19: What actions, if any, do you believe are needed to address the health and economic impact caused by COVID-19?
I think politicians are damned if they do and damned if they don't in a pandemic situation. What we can do is get the government out of the way of treatment and care. It is difficult to say who is and who is not essential. For the individual working that is now not essential by the government for them that paycheck is essential to feed their family, to have shelter, etc.
Voting Rights: What actions, if any, would you take to ensure that all eligible voters have equal access to safe and fair elections?
The Voters Rights Act has been a huge success. So much so that preclearance at the federal level is rarely needed to ensure the right to vote. One way to ensure eligible voters can access equal, safe, and fair elections is to stop the gerrymandering that currently occurs from both old parties.
Vouchers: What is your position on using public funds for private school vouchers and why?
I oppose using public funds for private school vouchers. The main reason is that those fund have been set aside for the use of public education. If a parent or guardian chooses to send their child to a private school, the taxpayers should not be paying for that choice.
David B. Collins (Green)
Website: http://dbcgreentx.net
Facebook: http://facebook.com/dbc4senator2020
Twitter: @dbcgreentx
Background: What training, experience, and background qualify you for this position?
I am a US citizen, 30 years of age or more. In college I studied political science, originally as my major field but eventually as a second field toward a Texas teacher certification. Since then, as an activist, I have followed global politics.
Immigration: What are your priorities regarding the immigration system?
Make immigration policy humane, at last. The US has helped make much of Central and South America unsafe for poor and indigenous families for decades; this must stop. Let our neighbors in and give them a path toward citizenship. If the flow of capital is globalized, with national boundaries practically irrelevant, the movement of workers should be just as unrestricted.
Healthcare: How would you address access to and the cost of healthcare?
This nation should do what other wealthy nations have done successfully: guarantee universal, single-payer health care. COVID-19 has made this more urgent than ever. Improved Medicare for All will cover all ages, with dental, mental, and optical coverage and no premiums. Once fully operational, it will save the nation as a whole 50% on health care costs.
Gun Violence: What are your recommendations to protect students from gun violence?
When young people have hope for the future and access to the mental health care they need, they will be far less likely to look to firearms to "solve" their problems. Schools need to be places of nurturing and care for the whole student, especially when their homes often are not. Our government can set a better example by not bombing people to boost corporate profits.
COVID-19: What actions, if any, do you believe are needed to address the health and economic impact caused by COVID-19?
Our 4% of the world's population has about quarter of its COVID-19 deaths. If we had shut down public spaces, suspended rent and mortgage collections, and given US residents a livable income for a few months, like New Zealand and other countries, we would have saved thousands of lives and billions of dollars. We could easily pay for this by redirecting defense funding.
Voting Rights: What actions, if any, would you take to ensure that all eligible voters have equal access to safe and fair elections?
Propose a Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing voting rights for all US citizens 18 and up, including convicted felons, and prohibiting states and counties from purging voter rolls. 2. Enact automatic voter registration and a federal database (which I know scares some people). 3. Approval voting makes elections much fairer by avoiding the third-party "spoiler" problem.
Vouchers: What is your position on using public funds for private school vouchers and why?
Vouchers are a lazy solution to an avoidable problem. We can have excellent public schools for everyone, and much more, if we cut our national "defense" budget by half. Side note: Texas school districts should prioritize the mission of actually educating children rather than building palatial football stadia.
The above information was gathered and compiled by the League of Women Voters, a non-profit and non-partisan organization dedicated to voter education.
3News has partnered with the League in order to help make sure our community has access to all the information they need before they hit the polls. You can find more of this information at Vote411.org.
