Rep. August Pfluger (R., Texas) went toe-to-toe with his Democratic opponent in the race for Texas’s 11th District and, Texas political observers told the Washington Reporter, came away as the decisive victor.
While Pfluger’s race is off the board for Democrats, Republicans believe that he charted a path that other Republicans can copy on issues ranging from health care to affordability to American energy dominance.
Pfluger, who has the luxury of running in a district that President Donald Trump would have carried by almost 40 percent in 2024 and of running against a Democrat who has virtually no money, his preparation for the debate nevertheless showed through when the lights when on for the Basin PBS showdown.
When asked about health care, Pfluger discussed his work challenging Big Pharma via legislation like his Biosimilar Red Tape Elimination Act. Pfluger, who chairs the Republican Study Committee (RSC), the largest caucus in Congress, also spoke about how he worked to secure the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Fund, with nearly $1 million headed to his local Winters Hospital alone.
Pfluger underscored that point by bringing Winters Hospital’s leadership into the studio with him for the debate; he also noted that congressional Democrats have blocked his push to lower premiums.
In a midterm election where Democrats are campaigning on affordability, Pfluger turned the question on its head, campaigning on his work passing the Working Families Tax Cuts (WFTC). The GOP’s signature legislation stopped a 26 percent tax hike on families in his district, helped America’s oil and gas industries, and included the largest tax cut for working families in American history; it was opposed by all congressional Democrats.
Unsurprisingly, Pfluger also delved into energy prices, as befits the representative of a district with a wealth of energy. Pfluger noted that President Joe Biden had targeted energy-rich areas like the Permian Basin, and while Pfluger’s opponent backs policies like the Green New Deal, he was one of the foremost opponents of it in Congress.
The Texas lawmaker also leaned on his work to secure America’s southern border; families in his district were devastated by the Biden-era open border, which say Odessa teenagers killed by fentanyl-laced vapes, a grandmother and her granddaughter killed by a human smuggler fleeing law enforcement, and other crimes.
Pfluger is expected to have a quick election night; his opponent’s past support for policies like the Green New Deal and defunding ICE are politically toxic in Pfluger’s district, which is the largest oil and gas producing district in America.
