Key Issues

Fix & Finish Our Roads

Every day, we sit longer in traffic. Road projects drag on for years, and whether crews are working or not, cones confine us to a single lane. When planners and officials fail to hold contractors to their deadlines, every year of delay costs taxpayers more. New neighborhoods are built before the roads and infrastructure to serve them, so our commutes grow longer and steal time from our families, our rest, and our local economy, while we spend more at the pump.

When it rains, our roads become dangerous. Poor drainage leaves standing water on the pavement, creeks overtake our commutes, and floodwaters reach our neighborhoods and homes. Every year, drivers are stranded, and some are killed. Last year, flooding claimed at least 15 lives in San Antonio, the city’s deadliest flood year in decades. Thirteen of those deaths came in a single morning on a highway frontage road with no high-water warning for drivers.

• Require and enforce firm, specified timeframes for road construction, from start to finish.
• Expand around-the-clock construction on critical road segments until they are complete, wherever it is safe.
• Ensure timely funding for timely results, and hold contractors accountable for delays.
• Reinforce manpower through paid work and job training for Texans re-entering society.
• Remove cones and reopen lanes when workers are not present and conditions are safe.
• Ensure roads and drainage are built to meet demand before new neighborhoods expand.
• Work with the Federal Government and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to modernize the roads and drainage of Military City USA.

Fix Our Property Taxes

Property taxes are pricing Texans out of their own state. They stand between young families and their first home, threaten seniors’ ability to keep theirs, and raise the cost of every rent payment and business lease, a cost passed on in the price of food, goods, and services.

Recent homestead exemptions have brought meaningful relief, but rising appraisals and new local debt continue to erode it, and renters and small businesses have seen little benefit. Nearly every election brings another bond request, approved in good faith by voters who deserve full accountability for how their money is spent.

Public education depends most on property taxes, and any reform must protect it. That means the state must carry a greater share of school funding, and every district must demonstrate responsible stewardship before asking taxpayers for more.

Texans have never accepted taxation without accountability. It is time to restore that principle.

• Limit appraisal growth. Lower the annual cap on homestead appraisal increases so tax bills cannot outpace family budgets.
• Require accountability before new bonds. Require independent audits and public reporting on past bond spending before any new bond reaches the ballot.
• Protect seniors. Extend the senior tax freeze to all local taxes and lower eligibility from 65 to 62.
• Strengthen state education funding. Ensure lottery proceeds and state budget surpluses add to school funding rather than replace it, and use them to keep lowering school tax rates.
• Make tax bills transparent. Require plain-language statements showing what each taxing entity charges and how taxable value differs from market value.
• Reduce reliance on property taxes. Commit to steadily replacing school property taxes with stable state funding, so every cut is matched by a dependable source.

Fix Our Cost of Living

The price of food, fuel, electricity, water, insurance, and housing has climbed faster than Texas paychecks. Those costs show up in what families pay for childcare, senior care, clothing, school supplies, and car repairs. No single law will reverse that, but Texas can act: keep more money in the hands of the people who earn it, increase the supply of what we depend on, and remove the barriers that keep prices high.

• Eliminate property taxes through a responsible, phased plan that protects funding for schools, law enforcement, and first responders, and cut the red tape that holds back small businesses.
• Strengthen our schools and expand the skilled trades, so every student has a path to a good career or a business of their own.
• Secure lasting protections for small businesses and family farms, and open more markets to Texas-grown and Texas-made products.
• Expand Texas energy production by clearing the way for new refineries and power plants, keeping our grid reliable and our energy affordable.
• Protect our water supply by recycling and desalinating water used in manufacturing and energy production.
• Develop Texas-based banking and insurance options that give families real competition and real choices.
• Break up the bottlenecks and monopolies that choke supply chains and drive up prices.

Bring in Good-Paying Jobs

San Antonio is Military City USA, a leader in healthcare and bioscience, a national center for cybersecurity, and one of America’s great cultural destinations. Our strengths are real, but strengths alone do not build an economy. Too many families still wait for the jobs, wages, and opportunity this city has earned. When infrastructure lags, workforce training falls short, and public dollars go unaccounted for, employers look elsewhere. San Antonio deserves leadership that makes our case in Austin and Washington, spends every dollar with discipline, and delivers results. Ben Mostyn will bring that leadership.

• Compete for jobs and investment. Partner with state and local leaders to bring employers, conventions, and visitors to San Antonio, with a focus on careers that pay a living wage.
• Confront homelessness and the mental health crisis. Connect outreach, treatment, housing, and job training into one coordinated system that helps people move from crisis to stability.
• Invest in a cleaner, stronger city. Secure state funding for infrastructure and community improvements, tied to clear milestones the public can see.
• Demand accountability for every state dollar. Require transparent reporting on state funds invested in San Antonio, so taxpayers know what their money achieves.
• Bring manufacturing and skilled trades back home. Recruit employers who value our workforce, and expand training with Alamo Colleges and local trade programs so San Antonians are first in line.
• Grow technology without pricing families out. Build on our cybersecurity and tech leadership while protecting the homes and neighborhoods that make San Antonio who we are.
• Protect our military mission and our future. Stand with Joint Base San Antonio to keep and grow its missions, and turn military-trained talent into civilian careers in cyber, healthcare, and aviation.