I’m proud to be a husband, father, engineer, educator, and 20-year combat veteran who served two tours in Iraq. But I’d like to focus my comments to the Rivard Report audience as a Texas technology co-founder and job creator. I’ve been fortunate in business, and I know the hard work, vision, and partnerships it takes to succeed in today’s tough global marketplace.
As a state, we’ve built an incredible economic legacy here in Texas, leading the nation in job growth, innovation, business starts, and capital creation. Congressional District 21 – San Antonio, Austin, and the Texas Hill Country – with quarter-after-quarter population and jobs growth fueling a rapidly evolving technology, clean energy, military, and entrepreneur-rich economic footprint, is uniquely prepared to assume a leadership role.
Our region is leading the world in the culture of innovation. Austin is a global leader in the culture of innovation and startups which annually collects thousands of new residents and tech brands from around the world. San Antonio is carving its own place, leveraging its own momentum, its own assets, and its unique position within the tech, business, and military communities. Together, we’re creating a one-of-a-kind innovation corridor along Interstate 35.
District 21 has a rich potential for clean energy job growth. The entire region leads the nation in clean energy, with enormous potential for jobs in solar and wind. Expanding our expectations of this potential will allow us to pave a new trail in the energy economy. Just as Texas was a world leader in energy for the last 100 years in oil and gas, we can add renewables to the portfolio and be a leader for the next 100 years in the new energy economy.
We’ve started a new conversation with our nation’s veterans and security forces. Our nation’s armed forces have found a home here, establishing a critical cybersecurity hub, expanding Joint Base San Antonio, and, with the recent arrival of the Army Futures Command, a new national focus on securing our borders and our global leadership. District 21 is also home to more than 60,000 veterans and their families providing still largely untapped potential to our region.
But to ensure our region’s potential is delivered – and that the Texas Miracle continues – we need a new partner in Washington, D.C., with the strong vision, independent leadership, and experience to deliver the next generation of success. We need new leaders committed to overcoming the partisanship, incivility, and the inability to compromise that has brought government to a standstill and, worse, abandoned the leadership skills we value in the Texas business community.
Kicking the can down the road is not a Texas value. And kicking the can down the road on issues that only the United States Congress can address on a national scale – transportation, veterans, education, health care, immigration, gun reform, and border security – is a symptom of what’s wrong with Washington. The cure is more Texas values and less partisanship and special interest.
Texans are concerned about our country but confident that hard work and vision will deliver solutions. They’re committed to establishing a government that works for them and reflects their interest in working together. They’re not afraid of hard decisions but want to base those decisions on facts, transparency, and with an eye toward the future and fairness.
If elected as District 21’s next member of Congress, I look forward to delivering solutions, fighting for Texas, and getting this country back on track.
For more information on my values positions on these issues, and many more, please visit www.kopserforcongress.com.
