Former Shasta running for Texas House, hopes to unseat incumbent

While most graduate students would be focused on their classes and midterms, some are already preparing for their future. One such student is public administration graduate student and former UH mascot Brett Robinson, who is running for Texas House District 130.

The Democratic candidate is running to unseat incumbent Tom Oliverson, who has held this seat since 2017. With a progressive vision for his political future, Robinson first thought of running for office because of the on-going abortion controversy in the state.

“It started when the whole, abortion debate was happening in Texas. I wanted to know what my representative was doing about it because not all Republicans were for it,” Robinson said.

Oliverson, an anesthesiologist, is the co-author of the Heartbeat Act. The law bans any kind of abortion after six weeks — a period during which many women may not even be aware they are pregnant. The law took effect in 2021 and made no exceptions for rape or incest.

After seeing that Oliverson was running unopposed, Robinson made the decision to run against him.

“I looked up to see if he had a challenger in 2022 and he did not. And I was like ‘ok, I’m gonna make sure he’s got somebody against him next time.'” Robinson said. “So, when 2024 came along I had my papers ready to file.”

While there are core principal values between Republican and Democrats, Robinson said that current Republicans in power are not representing the voters in District 130.

“It is a reality in Texas that, a 14-year-old girl, if she is raped and becomes pregnant, she will face a harsher penalty for getting an abortion than her rapists will,” Robinson said. “That’s just a reality under their leadership. It’s just one example that shows you how unserious they are.”

While abortion is one of Robinson’s major focuses, public school education funding is another important thing he has been campaigning for.

School vouchers have become a hot topic in the state. Gov. Greg Abbott has been insistent on passing a voucher bill that has previously been defeated in the state legislature. However, many school voucher supporter candidates emerged victorious in this year’s primaries.

“I am for public education and that I would vote against vouchers,” Robinson said.

In his role as the Vice President of the UH Democrats, Robinson said that he learned how to engage young Democrats at a grassroots level. In addition, campaign work such as block walking and voter registration drives come naturally to Robinson now — thanks to his previous experience working for numerous campaigns such as Adrian Garcia’s, Robinson said.

“A lot of people are scared to block walk. They don’t want to knock on doors, especially with people that might disagree with them. There are safety concerns but I enjoy it. I like it very much. I like talking to people,” he said.

Moreover, Robinson thinks he does a good job at communicating with and being able to reach common ground solutions with Republicans and talk to them.

“I mean, I say this all the time, if you’re worried, I’m going to take your rights away or whatever, I’m 24 years old. I wouldn’t be knocking on your door if I was going to take your rights away,” Robinson said.

Bipartisan work is the key to providing solutions for issues Texan’s care about the most. Making reproductive freedom a big focus of the election, Robinson said that if elected he would be a wake-up call for republicans in the state legislature.

“If I do win, it’s going to be a wakeup call for all the Republicans in the legislature. If they’re not listening to their constituents on this issue, they’re going to reap the consequences,” Robinson said.  “And if I’m elected, I will be a constant reminder of that.”

The general election will be held Nov. 5 and the last day to register to vote is Oct. 7.

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