Trey Hunt talks platform
Public Transportation
My platform focuses on increasing public transportation in our portion of the Dallas- Fort Worth Metroplex, as well as throughout the nation. We have some of the best minds and workers at place like Lockheed Martin, Bell, and other military contractors. When I am elected to US congress, we are going to redirect the military industrial complex into being the builders of affordable public transportation vehicles and other green energies. A 2015 Harvard study found that the number one factor determining if someone will escape poverty is their access to transportation. Public transportation will decongest roads, create quicker commute times, and give our neighbors who economically struggling the ability to improve their position.
When I travel throughout the TX12 and tell people I am running for Congress against Kay Granger I always get the same two questions… “How do you plan to fight Lockheed donating to Granger?” and “you look so young, are you old enough to run for Congress?”
To reassure everyone, I am 26 with a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice and I work for MHMR of Tarrant County, a local government agency assisting our communities address mental health disorders and treatment. And I do not plan to fight money with money, I plan to pressure Granger to acknowledge that as America’s involvement in armed conflicts declines, multi million dollar and billion dollar planes do not benefit our communities like new bus routes and decreasing the cost of electricity with renewable energy technologies.
To those working at Lockheed and in similar fields, I promise you will still be employed and I will fight alongside you to protect our unions. Public transportation will open up new job opportunities, new housing opportunities, and new commerce opportunities as roads clear and fast reliable transportations has our friends in Decatur coming to the Stockyards and out to the Weatherford peach festival.
Criminal Justice
While studying for my Master’s in Criminal Justice and at TCU, where the NCAA consistently snubs us when ranking teams, I have found that all areas of criminal justice system need dramatic reform. The criminal justice system has turned into a profit based system has private interests make money by building private prisons for the wrongful convicted and over-punished.
State and local municipalities also profit from the criminal justice system instead of seeking to rehabilitate the members in our community in the most precarious of positions. The federal government spends billions upon billions on the criminal justice system. But when the intent is profit, all levels of government fail as the United States has the highest recidivism rate in the World at 68% (according to World Population Review).
When I am elected to Congress, I will fight so that we do local and state governments are well funded and do not turn to abusing their citizens so they can keep the lights on at city hall. I will work so that those who go through the criminal justice are not permeantly branded, but instead our rehabilitated and return as productive members.
Healthcare
The final leg of my platform is expanding the Medicaid and Medicare so that every citizen in the wealthiest nation on Earth can have access to healthcare. There is nothing radical about saying Big Pharma and insurance companies have no business lobbying in DC. There is nothing radical about expanding healthcare coverage when 69% of Americans support it (according to a 2020 Hill-HarrisX poll. In 2018, the Political Economy Research Institute found that Universal healthcare over a 9 year period would SAVE the US federal government 5 trillion dollars. A study at Yale found that every year 68- thousand lives could be saved because health care would be more accessible.
The facts are on our side. The only thing radical in this conversation is us allowing corporate politicians like Kay Granger to keep deciding that WE are not entitled to have an improved quality of life, or even be alive, if it means their special interests backers may lose so many.
Strategy
So, what is the strategy to unseat at 24 year incumbent in a district that most would consider so red it looks like Ronald Regan blushing?
We are focusing on the people and the policies. When 69% of Americans support expanding healthcare, when Forbes is releasing data that shows 95% of Americans support criminal justice reform, it does not matter the party affiliation when we are addressing the issues the majority of Americans support and are concerned about.
So we're going to knock on every door. We're going to talk to friends, we're going to get yelled at, but we're going to spread our message and for those on the fence or moderates we're going to convince them our vision for America includes them and will benefit them.
I know some have concerns about what TX12 will look with redistricting. But, I am not concerned. I feel confidently that my home in Southwest Fort Worth will remain in the TX12.
Additionally, I will proudly represent those in the boarder even if it changes. I am running to unseat Kay Granger and bring progressive change. Even if we lose in 2022, I plan to run in 2024. Even if the boarders are unfavorable, we will keep pushing the conversation because only with time, patience, and dedication can we bring the change we want to see.