Don Huffines is one of eight Republicans vying to be at the top of the party’s general election ticket come November. Until then, he must beat out the other conservative-minded candidates who too want to be governor of Texas.
Huffines is a businessman and former state senator. His top priorities include border security and election integrity, among several others.
Why are you the best candidate for the job?
I’m the only candidate running for governor that's got legislative experience in Austin. I was in the Texas Senate from 20]4 to 2018, representing the north half of Dallas County. I understand the process and understand the swamp.
I'm also the only elected office holder in Austin that never took any money from the state of Texas: no pay, no pension, no health care, no travel vouchers, no reimbursements, per diem — nothing in the history of Texas. And that was by design, of course, because I don't work for the government, I only work for the people that hired me and I'm going to do the same thing as governor. I don't need a job, I’m doing this because the job's not getting done. Our border is wide open, our property taxes are always going up and never go away, and we don't have confidence in our elections. I've got comprehensive plans to fix all those issues and many more for Texas.
What do you believe is the biggest issue impacting Texans today?
The border is number one. I'm never asking permission from the federal government to secure the Texas border. It's not necessary. We have the legal authority to do what we need to do to stop this invasion. Article I Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution clearly gives states the authority to repel an invasion and that's what we're experiencing. The federal government will never secure the border. They never have, and they never will. The only chance we have to have a secure border is to have a courageous governor of Texas. I’m going to finish the wall — Trump's wall — and we will spend whatever money is necessary to complete it. I'm also going to engage the entire Texas military — all 20,000 of our National Guard — and solicit support from other states to secure the border. We will immediately deport anyone we catch crossing the border to the other side. We will not be enforcing immigration laws, we will be stopping this invasion.
Many businesses — and especially small businesses — were impacted by the pandemic. How would you assure Texas business owners of brighter days ahead?
I'm the one that after Abbott shut down the state of Texas in March of [20]20, I put an op-ed in all the newspapers in April, begging him to open back the state and open the businesses back up. He didn't have the authority to do that, and also it wasn't necessary. I would never have shut the state down, and I never would’ve put 3 million Texans out of work in one day and destroy tens of thousands of businesses because the [Texas] constitution doesn't give me that authority.
I've got the track record to give businesses the assurance that I'm here for them, and I will do everything I can to keep them open and make sure that no one is forced to close a business for any reason, no one's forced to take a vaccine they don't want to take for any reason, and no one is forced to wear a mask they don't want to wear for any reason. Our governor has made the medical condition into a political condition.
Reports have found that the state's electric grid is not prepared for another major freeze. How would you ensure a near-collapse of the grid would not happen again?
It's through legislation that we need to make sure that the wind generators and renewables can put electricity back into the system when they can't produce electricity. We need to get pride back into the fact that we have an independent grid, and it's been ignored now for 10 years.
Our grid used to be the envy of the nation and really the envy of the world because Texas is the energy capital of the nation, and we've got plenty of fossil fuel energy here. Our current governor is infatuated by green energy. He's ignored our grid, and he's directly responsible for the disaster that unfolded last February.
If you could take a different approach to one statewide issue than Abbott, what would it be and why?
It's the border. Right now, Border Patrol is saying that 1.5 million to 2 million non-apprehended illegals will flood into Texas in a 12 month period. The border is more open than it's ever been. They're all smuggled in by the cartels— most dangerous criminal organizations really in the world. This is leading to incredible crime across the state of Texas and across the nation.
I will secure the border immediately in 30 days. We'll be passing the strongest e-verify laws in the nation, so if you hire someone illegally, you'll have to get them verified. We're going to stop state tuition for illegals, we're going to do an accounting of how many illegals in our school system [and] we're going to deport all the illegals that we find.
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