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Ashley Bean Thornton for Texas House District 56

Let's Build the Texas We Want!

What are the top 3 things you want me to work on when you elect me to the Texas House?  (Got more than 3?  That’s great too!)  Click the button below to let me know! 

Click here to tell me your top 3!

Here’s What I have been hearing from you so far: 

Firm Foundation

Environment – We strike a good balance between protecting and living in our natural environment. We keep our economy rolling and our lives comfortable, while also keeping our world livable, clean, enjoyable and beautiful for the future.

 

Economy – We nurture and grow a thriving, diverse economy that supports the prosperity of all our people now and for the future.

 

Infrastructure – Our water, energy, transportation, and technology infrastructure are reliable and set us up for livability and economic growth now and for the future.

 

Good Governance

Freedom – We tend the fences between our freedoms wisely. We grant as much freedom as we can to each of us, while doing what we must to protect the freedom, health, and safety of all of us.

 

Justice – We treat people humanely, fairly, and justly regardless of sex, religion, race, wealth, citizenship, minority status or any of the many ways we have come to differentiate ourselves from each other.

 

Fair Representation – Everyone has a fair opportunity to participate in our democracy and have their voice heard. Voting is secure, accessible and convenient. Districts are drawn to best represent the will of the people. The influence of money in politics is limited and transparent.

 

Wise investment – Our tax system is fair and allows us to invest wisely in the common good without causing undue financial hardship on any segment of our residents.

 

Strong Education 

Public Education – Every student can attend a strong public school that prepares them to participate productively in our economy, to govern wisely and fairly in our democracy, and to be a good neighbor and community member.

 

Special Ed – Special ed services are timely, appropriate, and effective.

 

Higher Education and Career Preparation – College, trade school, and other post-high school education and job training options are affordable, accessible and in tune with the needs of the state and our communities.

 

Thriving Communities

Prosperity – Full-time workers can afford a comfortable, middle-class lifestyle: housing, healthcare, education, childcare, transportation, a reasonable amount of free time, and a dignified retirement.

 

Security – All people can meet their most basic needs for food, shelter and healthcare.  We help those who can, to move from financial dependence to independence.

 

Diversity – We appreciate and value diversity and, as a result, we reap its benefits.

 

Disability Support – People with disabilities have the accessibility and support they need to participate fully in community life, and to live as independently as possible.

 

Compassion – We take care of those who cannot take care of themselves, and support those who are caring for others.

 

Natural beauty – We preserve space to enjoy nature and the outdoors and to have fun.

 

Creativity – We treasure and nurture creativity and the arts.

 

Safety – Our communities are safe. We work to prevent crime at its root. We fight and prosecute crime effectively and justly.  When incarceration is necessary, we do so humanely. We help people who have completed their sentences return and take their place as productive members of the community.

Click here for this printable Version.

Click on a tab to see what people have been saying! 

  • A place that supports making the arts available to all
  • Let’s build a Texas where we take care of those who cannot take care of themselves, where no one has to sleep on the street or go hungry.  
  •  Support food security
  • End for-profit prisons and reform incarceration
  • That we are so high in food insecurity, particularly with children is an embarrassment — and the fact that our business economy is so great makes it even more so.
  • Grocery store should not be able to throw away food. All should be donated to whoever needs or local farms for animal feed and or fertilizer.
  • You probably know that the Dallas Morning News just reported that, according to Feeding America, Texas is the hungriest state in the US for the second year in a row. I would start by making sure the people who live here have enough access food.
  • We would set priority in policies that help those in need to lift them up rather than take away what little they have.
  • Access for all to food, public education, and healthcare
  • SNAP would be expanded.

  • Funding for needy

  • Better food and opportunity for children – free lunches for example . People should have an equal foundation to start from

  • Day care

  • After school

  • Special Ed

  • Child care

  • Childcare

  • Where the bravado arrives to adaptive challenges of life – it would ask citizens to help solve the problem
  • Get less money involved in Texas politics.  Get past all the grift and corruption in Texas.
  • Cost of living for young people – salaries staying the same.  Hard for young people starting out. People not getting paid enough.  Maybe adjust minimum wage for people over 18 or something like that.
  • Rent/housing
  • Economy – everything is so expensive
  • Increase employment and salaries for those in the trades, healthcare, and home health care

  • Economic aid 

  • Raise Wages – Cost of Living 

  • Revenue alternatives

  • Let’s build a Texas where we appreciate and value diversity and, as a result, we reap its benefits.
    • Appreciation of diversity in Texas
    • Encourage volunteerism and public projects
  • We would support the huge diversity this state already has and promote more diverse representation.
  • Safe for any and every type of person and family who wants to be a peaceable neighbor (yes, even Californians!  )
  • We would welcome others into our state rather than build walls and set policies to exclude and keep them out.

  • Begin to recognize that just because a person has different skin color, religion, etc. they are not our enemy

  • Let’s build a Texas where we have a thriving, diverse economy that supports the prosperity of all our people now and for the future.  where economic opportunity is for everyone, not just the wealthy or well-connected, and where every Texan has a real chance to succeed.
  • Economics are doing great, people are moving in, companies are moving in.
  • There should be a limit of property holdings for banks and other big llc companies.
  • reduce racial inequality in wealth
  • focus some more on agriculture expansion
  • Elderly care

 

  • Care for the Environment
  • Clean, safe environment
  • Clean Air
  • Park Spaces
  • Expand Clean Energy
  • Make Waco Water better/Keep Brazos clean upstream
  • Ensure that residents – not data centers – have enough (renewable) electricity & Water
  • Concerned about Data Centers and water, the environment
  • Let’s build a Texas where we strike a good balance between protecting and living in our natural environment.  Where we keep our world clean, beautiful, livable and enjoyable for the future.
  • Protect natural resources and wildlife
  • Treat water supply as a statewide emergency
  • Prevent agricultural waste from contaminating water
  • Invest in water conservation technologies and planning
  • deep plan environmental regulations Work more closely WITH industry in a synergetic manner
  • Protection and good stewardship of our natural resources, including wildlife,
  • Limit building permits and concrete.
  • Remove the river barriers that keep wildlife from migrating, among other things.
  • Take back Texas. Over 95% of Texas land is privately owned.
  • EPA – Solar, Wind
  • Address environmental issues: pollution, green energy, water conservation – but with modified controls so investors want to go forward.

  • Energy Alternatives

  • Improved environmental rules, protections and infrastructure to support it.

  • A place where all citizens have the opportunity to thrive
  • We should be an accepting, inclusive space for diverse groups and individuals. Our narrative should be accepting and inclusive
  • A place where everyone can thrive
  • Equal rights – feels like we are backsliding
  • Y’all means all
  • Protect human rights – particularly for immigrants right now
  • Concerned about Immigrants’ Rights – Lack of due process
  • Education should not influenced by religion or politics
  • Free from Racism – Anti-Black Racism
  • Reduction of discrimination – racism
  • Restore DEI
  • Leave the LGBTQIA+ community alone
  • Gay rights
  • Doesn’t feel safe, gay rights
  • Trans rights
  • Worried they are trying to overturn Obergefell  and Texas would take gay marriage away
  • Protect Gay Marriage – Things like visiting your spouse in the hospital, property rights, etc.
  • Stop trying to enforce laws that take from the rights that people have
  • Support all people not just white, cisgender, hetero, etc.
  • Women’s rights
  • Reproductive rights
  • Body Autonomy
  • Abortion rights – opportunity, even if it is limited in certain ways
  • Less government interference in every day – medical procedures, birth control, no regulation for example on whether or not you want to remove your uterus.
  • Not so strict abortion ban
  • Let’s build a Texas where all Texans, including women and minorities, are treated equally under the law and in everyday life, where no one is denied opportunity or public benefit based on gender or minority status.
  • Legal protections for LGBTQ+ and minorities
  • Support for reproductive healthcare choices
  • Woman should have the rights to their bodies.
  • Body autonomy for women the right to make decisions about their own healthcare choices and what is best for them.
  • Ensure fair treatment in policing and eliminate racial profiling
  • Insure that minorities have equal protection under the law, including the LGBTQ community.
  • Men should have the right to walk away.
  • Reproductive rights.
  • We would allow women to make their own choices with their medical provider regarding reproductive health and choice
  • Women wouldn’t have to leave the state for healthcare.
  • Let’s build a Texas where we tend the fences between our freedoms wisely. Let’s give each other as much freedom as we can while keeping each other safe and maintaining a respectful community.  to give each other as much freedom
  • . Part of Texas’ appeal and growth is freedom from heavy-handed government intrusion into every area of our lives.
  • Keep government out of sports, bathrooms, library stacks and doctors’ offices.
  • Take religion out of public schools.
  • Separation of church and state.
  • I would like a Texas where people can be who they are, love who they love, and have autonomy over their own bodies.
  • Marijuana
  • We would decriminalize marijuana, and allow people to grow their own, with a limit of no more than 6 plants
  • Decriminalize marijuana and allow home grow

  • Freedom from social issue regulation

  • Respect and Care for All people

  • Separate church from state.  Go back to that.  Get religion out of politics, otherwise tax them.

  • More DEI

  • I would love for Texas to be more involved in caring for all people and acceptance of all persons no matter how “different” 

  • Increase equality and support for all citizens

  • Separation of Church & State must be protected

  • Gun Safety – Where’s the baseline? 
  • Ensure health care access to everyone
  • Accessible, affordable healthcare and a favorable environment to attract healthcare professionals
  • Better Medicaid reimbursement rates & allow some responsibility shared (i.e. no show fees)
  • Women’s Health – Access to Reproductive Health Care
  • Give women the right to make choices about their body with medical support, not laws
  • Stop punishing people for their choice to go out of state to seek care (Women’s Health)
  • More funding for Mental Health
  • Socialized health care
  • Women’s rights/Reproductive Rights
  • Let’s build a Texas where everyone has access to quality physical and mental health care, one where our communities are safe and support healthy living.
  • Healthcare access from cradle to grave
  • Insure medical coverage for all Texans from the cradle to the grave.
  • Expand Medicaid!
  • Medicaid would be expanded
  • Expansion of Medicaid would take care of thousands who fell through the ACA cracks. They don’t make quite enough to qualify for a $0 premium ACA policy but a few dollars too much for the Medicaid limits.
  • Create internships and support medical training
  •  Support for public mental health programs
  • We would make birth control available more readily available to young people beginning in junior high.
  • Scout out co-op insurance companies to spread the costs out for those who need to supplement Medicaid.
  • Medicaid-Compliant Annuities, Asset Protection via House Transfers, The “Medicaid Spend Down” and Exempt Assets, Look-Back Planning (5-Year Rule), Qualified Income Trusts (“Miller Trusts”) are just a few and may not pertain to everyone but set up of public trusts or corporations or public pro-bono estate and medicaid lawyers and specialist the city should have a list of these people or at least employ a deptartment especially considering the volume of “poverty” in Waco proper.
  • Healthy women create healthy societies. We need to prioritize women’s and children’s health.
  • Get rid of all unnecessary food dies and preservatives.
  • Tax cigarette and alcohol by 100%
  • Get young people more involved in their communities, doing public projects for more parks and public spaces and healthy outdoor activities for children.
  • Places to walk, safely. Parks to walk to.
  • On the community side Waco can not be high crime,
  • There would be more sensible gun control laws.
  • get young people more involved in their communities, doing public projects for more parks and public spaces and healthy outdoor activities for children.
  • End Texas for profit prisons and upgrade all to include better conditions which would increase safety and health of all employees who work there (for those who don’t care about prison conditions for the prisoners. Include skills and mental health programs in prison time to decrease recidivism and improve chances at a successful post incarceration life.

  • Healthcare – supporting better insurance and funding for low income and homeless population.  Assistance for hospitals in rural and inner city to keep open – lack of resources in underserved areas 

  • Health care for all

  • Health Care

  • Healthcare – Medicaid with Federal money

  • Health Care Access

  • Access to health care – especially women’s health.

  • Access to healthcare for all, regardless of income.  More access to public assistance for healthcare.

  • More kindness for underserved – Especially health care.

  • Health insurance

  • Health insurance

  • Health care

  • Universal healthcare for all system

  • I would love for Texas to be more involved in caring for all people especially concerning healthcare and acceptance of all persons no matter how “different” Expanding Medicaid would be a great first step. 

  • Improve medical care, especially maternal/fetal & pediatric health

  • Healthcare

  • Healthcare

  • Healthcare

  • Attracting Doctors and Health staff to TX

  • Healthcare help – What can be done to improve the current situation?

  • Healthcare reform and accessibility;  Medicaid expansion, scope of practice preservation

  • Increase funding for healthcare

  • Increase support for women’s healthcare & abortion

  • Full funding for Planned Parenthood

  • Women’s Health – Abortion right review, ensure women aren’t dying from pregnancy

  • Easier to apply for medicaid

  • Mental Health

  • Protect Higher Ed from political agendas & Retribution

  • Public higher ed

  • Let’s build a Texas where college, trade school, and other post-secondary options are affordable and accessible.

  • Provide 2 tuition-free community college years for each high school graduate.

  • Access for all citizens to be able to attend college regardless of ability to pay. 
  • Let’s build a Texas where people can find a place to live that doesn’t eat up their whole budget, and home ownership is an attainable goal for most working families.
  • Overhaul the property appraisal system
  • Reform property taxes for aging homeowners
  • Rental assistance funding
  • Use public land to support housing
  • Overhaul the property appraisal system put it under state government oversight instead of local oversight.

  • Housing for the elderly

  • Housing affordability

  • Housing

  • Let’s build a Texas where people with disabilities have the accessibility and support they need to participate fully in community life, and to live as independently as possible.
  • and funded group homes for the physically and mentally disabled.
  • equal access for those with disabilities to our capitol including being able to park close to the north entrance. Incidentally the north door is the only entrance to our capitol with a ramp!
  • Immigration – Adult children & special needs kids of paperless parents, brought here as KIDS or born here.
  • No Wall
  • No ICE 
  • Not so much “Texas pride” (Almost like nationalism for a state)
  • Let’s build a Texas where utilities and infrastructure are reliable and set us up for livability and economic growth now and for the future.
  • Improve public transportation (trains, etc.)
  • Create safe, walkable communities
  • Improve and modernize the electrical grid
  • The electric grid is vitally important. The state government is working with private companies to improve the production and distribution of electricity.
  • Invest in small standardized nuclear generating facilities
  • Provide government-private coordination for grid reliability
  • Water supply is critical.
  • EPA – Solar, Wind
  • Treat water supply as a statewide emergency
  • Prevent agricultural waste from contaminating water
  • Invest in water conservation technologies and planning
  • Utilities such as water are critical.
  • Infrastructure to  support manufacturing and enhanced utility transportation/transmission.
  • We should be tech ready and capable

  • Better infrastructure (roads, bridges, dams)

  • Let’s build a Texas where we have good paying jobs and a workforce with the skills and resources to fill them.
  • Reinstate life skills and vocational classes in K-12
  • More support for high school job readiness
  • Support job training in high schools
  • Where will qualified workers come from, where is the next training facility? How will the high schools change their curricula to enhance preparation to hit the ground running? Where is the safety and quality training that each of these companies need for support?
  • We cannot be low skilled.  We need to have motivated, prepared workers ready and willing to step into these jobs,
  • Need livable wages for blue collar workers or essential workers – The ones who “saved the world during covid” – Can they afford to live?
  • AI becoming more prominent – hard to tell facts from Bots
  • No scary replacements for PBS (Prager U) – no whitewashing history.  Need neutral news.

  • Need to recenter – don’t want to shift what we believe because the goal posts are moving – my ideas are not radical.

  • More listening

  • Our thinking should be more spectrum based, not so black and white.  Humanity is more varied than that – we can’t be put into boxes.  Be nice.  People first.  The rest is details.  Stop looking at the details.

  • Tone down the rhetoric

  • Become more amicable and aligned 

  • Civility is so important in life and politics & the Texas legislators should be good examples of civility

  • Take care of our citizens – unity

  • I want Texas to be friendly again. 

  • Everyone has a story and everyone’s perspective matters.  Can we balance it all out?

  • A place respecting different voices – move to non-partisanship dialogue

  • Get rid of extreme right politicians

  • Become more amicable and aligned 

  • Civility is so important in life and politics & the Texas legislators should be good examples of civility

  • Better government overall
  • Be willing to do what your heart tells you is right for the majority of the people, not just your donors
  • Keeping programs that work – don’t destroy the good stuff
  • Continue to make Texas strong
  • More transparency
  • Being honest
  • No Abbot
  • Get rid of Abbot and replace him with someone who is people oriented.
  • Prioritize Funding
  • Department of ed funding
  • Respect separation of church and state
  • provide places at school for Muslim children to pray as their religion requires.
  • Keep religion out of our Public Schools
  • All kinds of students should feel welcomed and encouraged at school.
  • Welcoming for all kids (DEI)
  • Concerned about reversal of DEI and dismantling special education
  • Support kids to support learning – e.g. school lunches
  • Resist privatization of schools
  • Stop this school voucher nonsense
  • No public funding of private schools.
  • Education – funding vs. vouchers sending money to private schools
  • Stop subsidizing private schools
  • Support for arts in public education
  • Pour money into public schools for teachers and the arts
  • We would value education for all, rather than just for the wealthy.
  • Value education and science
  • Ban book bans
  • Cease book bans, especially for persons 15 years of age and older.
  • We would focus more on education than book banning.
  • Work more closely WITH industry in a synergetic manner
  • Local Chamber of Commerce should have an active role in evaluating schools. Are the public schools turning out capable candidates for job openings? Can high school graduates step into introductory positions and not require costly training? Most introductory positions require candidates to be able to communicate effectively, both spoken and written, and have the ability to think clearly and rationally.
  • Increase the pay of teachers and give them larger budgets to work with so they don’t have to pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets.
  • Bring back classes like woodworking, shop, and home economics, as well as life skills classes.
  • No “whitewashing” and rewriting history.
  • Teachers should be allowed to teach about history as it really was
  • Use national standardized tests to check progress
  • Universal Pre-K funded/Pre-K, child care + education
  • Good schools
  • Educational funding and support
  • Roll Back Vouchers law
  • Let the public school fund loose!!! And pay our teachers what they deserve!
  • A place where public education is of quality more uniformly distributed across the state.
  • Get the 10 commandments out of schools

  • Education 

  • Better schools for the public

  • School vouchers for private schools take away needed funds for state schools.

  • Schools should not be putting specific religions over others.

  • Fully funding special education and public schools

  • A system of accountability for schools who do not follow children’s individual education plans (IEPs)

  • Education for all kids

  • Public education – appropriate funding and supporting best practices; early childhood development 

  • Public education – stop defunding it!

  • Education

  • Education

  • Education – no charter school funding

  • Increased funding for public schools

  • Increase funding for public school

  • Improve public transportation

  • Sidewalks

  • Trains!
  • Fund a high speed rail parallel to I35
  • More transportation projects

  • Transportation

  • Rail connections between major cities

  • Make public assistance easier – e.g. filing for unemployment

  • Let’s build a Texas where our Tax system is fair and allows us to invest wisely in the common good without causing an undue financial hardship on our residents.
  • I would make a tax for out of state people that move here to pay.
  • A statewide VAT tax could fund schools more reliably and improve upon the current property tax system, which is overburdening older homeowners. 
  • Property taxes would decrease as you age

  • Quit giving so many tax breaks for the wealthy donors and accept that you represent ALL of your constituents

  • Fair property taxes.  Lately seeing increases each year in excess of 30%.  I have rental property and have had to increase my rental rates to offset taxes & insurance.  I am retired and this is my income.

  • Stabilize property taxes especially over 65

  • Property tax

  • Property taxes

  • Property taxes

  • Property taxes

  • Lower property taxes, especially school tax on homeowners.  It is so much higher than other states, yet our kids scores area some of the lowest in the nation.

  • Veterans housing/medical
  • Limit corporate campaign contributions – no more “Bought” Legislators–
  • Stop voter suppression
  • Listen to the people instead of assuming they know what is best
  • Strengthening things in the state, rather than trying to do what makes us look good to the people in Washington
  • No Domination by one party
  • Stop Gerrymandering
  • Representation should match how the voters vote in Texas (It should not happen that one party can get more votes, but the other party end up with more representatives.)
  • Term Limits
  • Let’s build a Texas where voting is secure, fair, and convenient, and where everyone has a fair opportunity to participate in our democracy and in building our communities.
  • – Fair and safe voting processes
  • We would make it easier to vote instead of continuing to make it harder and harder.
  • We would eliminate gerrymandering, and drawing district lines to favor party affiliation.
  • Redistricting to undo the gerrymandering that has removed good people from office and limited influence of the minority votes. The latest district lines are absurd!
  • Stop the gerrymandering and redlining. Improve the people’s ability to vote- (Hispanic/Latino, Black, Asian).
  • get young people more involved in their communities, doing public projects for more parks and public spaces and healthy outdoor activities for children.

  • Stop gerrymandering our elective districts and do it every 10 years after the national census, not every couple of years.

  • Let all voices be heard and represented.  Gerry-mandering is bad – disenfranchising, redistricting.

  • Equal representation for all Texans 

  • Voting Accessibility