Why I'm Running
Ashley Bean Thornton for Texas House of Representatives – Why Am I Running?
“I am running to be your state representative because I enjoy getting to know my neighbors and working with you and for you. I believe we can build the Texas we want if we are willing to work together. I hope you agree and I hope you will vote for me!” – Ashley Bean Thornton
Public Education is the main reason I am running…
First in my mind and closest to my heart is public education. That’s what pushed me off the couch and onto the campaign trail.
What gets better when public education gets worse? Nothing!
What gets better when public schools get better? All kinds of things!: future earnings for students, lower crime, better health outcomes, higher civic engagement, and higher tax bases.
The writers of the Texas Constitution understood that. Our constitution requires the legislature to establish and maintain an “efficient system of public free schools.”
Texas schools are already doing a terrific job of providing excellent public education for a whole lot of kids – especially kids who come from financially stable homes. Where we stand to gain the most ground for our kids and for our communities is in providing that same level of excellent public education for students from economically at- risk homes. 60% of the kids in Texas, and 90% of the kids in Waco ISD, are considered economically at-risk.
I believe our current state leadership is on the wrong track when it comes to attaining the numerous benefits we could enjoy by assuring excellent public schools for ALL our kids:
- We should be funding our public schools sufficiently to keep up with inflation, instead our legislature gave public schools that serve ALL students far less than they need and then spent a billion dollars on vouchers for private schools that will only serve SOME students.
- We should be letting local school administrators decide how to best spend what money they do have, instead our legislature dictated the terms so narrowly that schools cannot spend even the insufficient additional money they received where they really need it.
- We should be improving our state accountability test process (STAAR test) so that it helps us help our kids in a meaningful way, instead our legislature just added more testing days without making any real improvements to the test itself, and without making any changes to the way the information from the test is being used to help improve our schools.
We need new leadership when it comes to establishing and maintaining an efficient system of public free schools. I want to help with that. That is the main reason I am running.
But it’s not the only reason I am running…
I can’t possibly tell you all the reasons I am running, and all the issues I care about, in these few pages…and you wouldn’t want to read it all if I did… but I can share four general principles that will guide my decision making about numerous issues. Two of the principles are about what our legislature should be doing, and two are about how they should be doing it.
To me the government, via our elected representatives, is a tool we use to accomplish two basic purposes:
- To help us manage our freedom.
- To help us invest and manage our money and resources.
To do either of those things wisely and well we need to elect representatives who: - Put their people before their party.
- Help us pull us together instead of pushing us apart.
I am running to be your state representative because I believe we can and should do better on each of these four points.
1. One purpose of government is to help us manage our freedom.
When you pledge to the flag or sing the national anthem, what are you pledging and singing to? I think it’s freedom – freedom to be yourself, to follow your own path, to believe what you believe, to create the life you want to live.
With that freedom comes the responsibility to respect the freedom of others. If we expect freedom for ourselves, we must accept the responsibility of respecting the freedom and rights of others – even when we disagree with them or don’t like what they are doing.
My belief is that we should 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.
Under our current leadership, it feels like we are doing the opposite. We are legislating in ways that needlessly limit personal freedom. Meanwhile we are not passing laws that are needed to keep us healthy and safe.
We passed a law, for example, to prohibit high school kids from having LGBT clubs at school. Participating in an LGBT club is an example of exercising personal freedom. Some people do not like seeing LGBT clubs at a public school, just like some people don’t like seeing religious organizations like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes at public schools.
It’s hard for me to see, however, how either organization would be infringing on anyone’s freedom, health, or safety. So, to my mind there is no reason to restrict an LGBT club or a Fellowship of Christian Athletes, or any other voluntary club that does no harm to others.
On the other hand, we have not been willing to pass the law proposed by parents after the Uvalde school shooting to raise the age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21. This law, to me, is an example of a reasonable boundary between freedoms. Yes, it does restrict personal freedom a bit, but it still allows for personal freedom to a very large extent. It also takes into account that some restriction of these particularly dangerous weapons is reasonable to protect the health and safety of the general public.
If feels like under our current leadership has its logic mixed up when it comes to managing the boundaries between our freedoms. They are using their lawmaking power to limit personal freedom even when that freedom is not harming anyone, and they are not taking the responsibility to limit some freedom in order to keep all of us safe. I think we can do better, and I would like to help us try.
2. One purpose of government is to help us invest and manage our money and resources.
The government is a tool we use to manage our commonly held resources such as revenue from our taxes and our natural resources. I believe those resources should be managed for the common good. To me that means investing our money and managing our resources in ways that help more of us attain the American Dream.
The American Dream means different things to different people. To me it means that people who are willing and able to work should be able to attain a secure “middle class” lifestyle – a decent place to live, education for the kids, health insurance, dependable transportation, a dignified retirement, and a little time and money to do what you want.
I believe the more people who can attain that American Dream – the better off our communities are and the better off we all are. If people see the American Dream as completely out of reach, on the other hand, I believe it leads to all kinds of societal problems related to anger and despair. Poverty and hopelessness for some of us is bad news for all of us.
Most of us are workers. Everyone benefits when workers can work. Workers are better workers when basic life necessities are under control. Accessible health care, dependable childcare, reasonably priced housing, public transportation, help in caring for dependents who can’t care for themselves – policies and investments that keep these necessities within reach for more families help workers stay on the path to the American Dream.
One of the most important investments we can make is public schools. Strong public schools make our communities stronger. Public Schools are the launchpad for the American Dream. The current Republican strategy of vouchers for a few and underfunded public schools for the many is off track. Investment in public schools – especially in schools that serve low-income families – is investment in resilient communities and a more prosperous future for all of us.
3. Our elected representatives should put their people before their party
I am worried that the current version of the Republican Party in Texas is prioritizing winning at all costs, and party purity over doing what’s best for us, their constituents and neighbors.
The worst example of this to me – not the only example, but the worst example – has been the Republican campaign to institute school vouchers. Our governor purposefully worked to defeat several very reliably conservative Republican legislators in the 2024 primaries because they did not go along with him on school vouchers.
These were legislators who agreed with the governor on just about every issue, but on this one issue
of school vouchers they voted for what their constituents – their neighbors – thought was important.
Because these otherwise conservative legislators put their neighbors ahead of their party on this one issue, the governor went after them with all the ammunition millions of dollars of out-of-state donations could buy – and he got his way. He also got a posse of elected legislators who will do his bidding whether it is what their constituents want or not.
I am not a school voucher fan – but that is not the point I am trying to make here. I am not a Republican – but that is not the point I am trying to make here.
My point is that when any party – Republican or Democrat – puts party purity and a rigid party agenda above serving constituents, that party has lost its way.
I am running as a Democrat because I believe my values line up better with the Democrats than the Republicans right now, but my first loyalty is to my neighbors, not to the party.
4. Our elected representatives should help us pull together instead of pushing us apart.
I don’t need to tell you our current hyper-polarized political discourse is over-heated and dangerous. We are in danger of letting politics become a world run by bullies and barracudas instead of statesmen and stateswomen. That’s not good for any of us.
We live in a world where our media algorithms, our neighborhoods and even our churches to some extent, are separating us into boxes where we rarely socialize with or hear from people who disagree with us – our muscles for communicating and compromising with people who see things differently from the way we see things have grown weak.
Instead of letting those muscles atrophy we need to build them up. To do that we have to listen to people who disagree with us. It can be frustrating and challenging, but we get better ideas when we look at issues from several different perspectives.
The Bible says blessed are the peacemakers – peacemaking doesn’t mean passive acceptance of injustice or just going along to get along. It doesn’t mean coming to perfect agreement every time. It does mean making the effort to understand what the “other side” is trying to say and why it is important to them. It means setting aside the snarky memes and making the effort to have a productive conversation when possible. It means being willing to give a little on ideological purity to come up with practical agreements that we can all live with.
I believe we need to lean toward peacemaking, and away from polarizing, in our politics. I believe our elected representatives should help us pull together instead of joining in the culture of rage and discord that is pushing us apart. I can stand up for what I think is right without demonizing, belittling or shaming people who disagree with me. I would like to put that ability to good use in the Texas Statehouse.
So, these are my four reasons for running:
- To promote peacemaking instead of polarizing,
- To serve neighbors before political parties,
- To invest in the American Dream and especially in public schools,
- And to do a better job managing the boundaries between our freedoms.
My life is good. I am living the American Dream I described earlier. I want that for more of us. I think that’s what makes our communities stronger, more stable, and just more pleasant in every way.
A sound, fair, well-functioning representative government is one of the tools we have to help pave the way for more of us to have that kind of life – but to make our government work, we have to learn to pull together instead of pulling apart, and we have to elect people who care more about serving their neighbors than about maintaining power for a particular party, we have to manage our investments wisely, and we have to embrace the idea that the price of freedom is caring about each other’s freedom and health and safety.
If you agree, I hope you will vote for me – Ashley Bean Thornton – to represent you in the Texas House. I will listen to you. I will learn from you. I will work hard with you. Together we can build the McLennan County and the Texas we want to live in. Let’s get to work! Thank you!
“The issue closest to my heart is public schools. Public schools are the launch pad of the American Dream. Strong public schools lead to improved earnings, lower crime, better health outcomes, higher civic engagement, and higher tax bases. Investment in public schools is investment in resilient communities and a more prosperous future for all of us.”
