George Sears is a 28-year-old White-Asian, cis-male, democratic socialist who was born and raised in Houston Texas. He served in the military for 5 years, where he received an injury to his left eye while in line of duty. George Sears was raised in a Christian household but is agnostic but still carries the value of loving thy neighbor. The two political issues he is most focused on is ensuring everyone has their first amendment rights in schools and affordability.
Sears has a decade of experience with politics and has been involved with his community since he was a teenager. He has held food drives, advocated for members of his community, supported fellow party members, and served as Houston Mayor for two terms in a row before perusing a degree in Criminal Justice at the University of Houston-Downtown.
Sears is running for Senator because he believes Texas has strayed from the interest of the people and into the hands of those who give enough money. He wants to restore trust and true freedom to Texas citizens and begin the movement of pushing out politicians who only listen to the highest bidder. George Sears also wants to do the best he can to improve life for every Texas resident.
The most important issue in politics to George Sears is the constant violation of the First Amendment, especially in educational environments. In the state of Texas, there has been fighting and controversy over the Republican plans of requiring public schools to display the 10 commandments. This is a violation of the First Amendment, as it no longer honors the separation of church and state. Another issue in schools with the First Amendment is how universities are attacking professors for indoctrinating students by teaching what these universities consider liberal topics. Professors and other staff have been fired and forced to sign waivers saying they won’t indoctrinate students, and some universities have even removed classes like Gender Studies (Priest) (Adkison)
By fighting against the push for limited freedom of speech in schools, it will provide a better, stronger, more inclusive education for everyone involved with education, as well as create a more welcoming environment. It would also be supported by those who lean more left. In the state of Texas, according to the Texas Politics Project only 25% of Texans strongly support the push for the 10 Commandments in schools, while 29% strongly oppose, with the remaining only somewhat agreeing or disagree, or having no opinion. 64% of Liberals polled voted for strongly opposed, showing that this is an issue people on the left care about.
Sears grew up in a trailer park with his father, two brothers who he shared a room with, and his mother when she wasn’t working overseas. Despite both parents working, George Sears’ family often struggled to make ends meet, making affordability an incredibly important issue to Sears’. According to United For ALICE, 42% of Texans still struggle to make ends meet, making the issue important to George Sears.
In order to address this issue, Sears plans to implement some changes to the system. These changes include creating a fair tax system, increasing worker wages, lower cost of groceries, healthcare, making housing affordable, and making childcare affordable. By implementing these changes, Texans will be able to thrive and lead happier, healthier lives, and create a boost in the economy.
Another issue George Sears cares for is the attack on people in the LGBTQ+ Community, especially those who are transgender. Having been raised by and with relatives' part of the LGBTQ+ community, and working alongside many members, Sears understands the struggles the people around him face with laws aimed against transgender people. With over 2 million people in the state of Texas identifying as LGBTQ+, ensuring that all members of the LGBTQ+ Community have the same rights as everyone else is an important stance for Sears (Serpas and Cervantes).
With over 6% of Texans identifying as LGBTQ+, and likely far more than 6%, it is important to Sears the LGBTQ+ Texans and their friends and families can feel safe wherever they go, which is hard to do with current Texas laws in place preventing transgender youth and adults from living their lives as their selves. These laws include, forcing trans people to use restrooms that do not align with their gender which can be unsafe for trans individuals, not allowing the trans youth to socially transition, and preventing clubs like Gay-Straight Alliance from existing in schools. These laws greatly affect transgender people; by ensuring their rights to simply exist, it can ease tensions, and establishes that everyone in the state of Texas is equal.
George Sears plans to adress two problems when it comes the public education, funding and book bans (Tricia). In the state of Texas, 73% of Public Schools are underfunded, a concern for people regardless of ideologies. Having attended an underfunded public school system, George Sears knows how vital it is for schools to have proper funding. To ensure all students have the proper learning environment, Sears planse to increase funding for school lunch programs and expand access to all public schools, increase school funds to hire more teachers and give teachers a raise, rid of school vouchers, make early childhood education and childcare affordable and universal, and ensure disadvantaged students and students with exceptionalities are given the support and resources they need to succeed.
Along with making sure schools are funded, Sears plans to support a national prohibition on banning books. In the state of Texas alone, over 1,500 books have been banned; some of the books include children's books, biographies, and books about civil rights (Tolin). The bans of these books are from a place of personal bias rather than concern for what children are consuming in media, which is why Sears plans to reverse these bans.
In Texas, around 17% of Texans are immigrants, making them a large part in every community in Texas, and just as important to Sears as any other Texas resident. Major cities like Houston have the police working with ICE, even though around 70% of Houstonians do not approve. Immigrants play an important role in Texas, contributing billions to the economy, making up over 22% of the workforce, and have become staple parts in many communities. With ICE allowing masked assailants to kidnap citizens, legal or not, off the streets, Sears plans to put an end to ICE ("Take a look: How immigrants drive the economy in Texas").
George Sears plans to make ICE agents take accountability for terrorizing Texans by having them face legal repercussions and removing them from the state. He also plans to remove ICE’s inhuman facilities and find a new purpose for these warehouses. Although immigrants are a vital part of the economy, Sears still wants to ensure immigrants get the citizen they deserve and will work with the state of Texas to revise the immigration policy to make immigrating faster and safer for everyone.
Among other affordability struggles is healthcare, with 63% of Texans choosing to avoid medical care due to the cost, which is an important issue George Sears plans to address (Maddox). Every Texan deserves to have safe, reliable, and affordable healthcare without having to fork over money to greedy insurance companies. In order for every Texan to have access to affordable healthcare, Sears will fight against insurance companies.
Sears plans to eliminate premiums, deductibles and copays, so that Texans won’t have to worry about paying their medical insurance companies and can receive medical care without having to pay. On top of this, Sears will cap the price of medications, so that no one will ever have to pay unreasonable prices for any required medications. To make sure every Texan can receive their healthcare, Sears will make sure rural hospitals will receive the funding needed to be low-cost and open.
Another important part of healthcare Sears plans to address is abortion. Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, removing access to safe abortions from millions of Texans with no exceptions. With the overturning, the ban on abortions leaves many in compromising positions, such as women who risk the chance of dying due to unsafe pregnancies, children forced to carry and give birth, and adding more children to an already struggling foster care system.
Sears plans to start with restoring access to reproductive health care, allowing anyone to receive safe reproductive medical procedures. He also will oppose restrictions on contraceptives, to help reduce the need for abortions and so that people who use contraceptives for medical conditions will still have access to their medications. Lastly, Sears will oppose the Hyde Amendment, so that people who need abortions but can’t afford to have one will be able to.
The current Texas justice system is not effective, with 46.5% of prison inmates being rearrested after release, and 60.1% of state inmates being rearrested, which is why George Sears will reform the system, to ensure the safety of all Texans. The current justice system is flawed, not just for its treatment of prisoners, but for also never adressing the root causes of why people commit crimes. To lower the crime rate in Texas, Sears wants to pass a bill that would do just that. (Click Here To View Bill)
The most important parts of criminal justice reform that Sears wants to focus on starts with addressing the root causes of crime to prevent people from being arrested. For those in prison Sears wants to invest in reentry programs, so that the formally incarcerated will be able to reintegrate into society successfully instead of being reincarcerated. Another aspect is to fight against addiction and drug use by decriminalizing drugs and creating effective rehabilitation centers
Texas is home to millions of small businesses, yet these small businesses are often overshadowed and closed by only a handful of large oppressive companies, which is why Sears will stand behind small businesses and ensure that large businesses are taxed fairly. By helping small businesses, the Texas economy will boost billions. Assisting small businesses will also lead to more jobs for Texans.
Sears will reform the tax code to stop giving large corporations tax breaks and instead have the tax code provide relief for small businesses and increase tax deductions for small businesses that are just starting from $5,000 to a far more realistic $70,000. As Senator, Sears will also work with local governments to make obtaining occupational licenses easier by simplifying the process. Sears will also fight back against the Trump administrations unreasonable tariffs, to help keep small businesses afloat and to make businesses affordable in cost to customers.
With Texas being number one in the United States in rural population, Sears will make sure rural citizens, and agriculture will be taken care of (Brannen). Rural communities and agricultural are the backbone of Texas, yet are often forgotten. As Senator, Sears will keep rural communities running, and agriculture profitable.
To support the people in rural areas, Sears will ensure that rural hospitals are funded and operational, expand access to water by making upgrading water systems free, expanding access to high-speed internet, and making transportation to urban areas cheaper and accessible. For farmers, ranchers, and grocery stores, Sears will oppose buyouts and remove tarrifs on farm equipment. Sears will also focus on the safety of the environment by banning the use of harmful pesticides.