Josh Cortez is a former Republican congressional staffer and Harvard Kennery School fellow from Guadalupe County. He has a background in marketing, taught at the University of North Texas and completed a fellowship at the conservative Cicero Institute in Austin. He’s running in a crowded GOP primary for the redrawn 35th Congressional District.
Hear from the candidate
1. Please tell voters about yourself.
I am a 41‑year‑old, eighth‑generation Texan and lifelong resident of the greater San Antonio Region–Guadalupe County area, now running to represent Texas’ 35th Congressional District an area I call home. I have built my career at the intersection of public service, business, and higher education, serving as a Senior Adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff in Congress and also previously working as a veterans liaison for U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, where I helped service members and military families navigate federal agencies.
In the private sector, I have also worked as an entrepreneur and professor, giving me firsthand experience with the challenges facing small businesses, working families, and students in our changing economy. My background in both the private and public sectors, along with my deep roots in South Texas, shape my commitment to address critical issues like jobs, infrastructure, and our looming regional water crisis.
2. Briefly describe your top policy priorities.
Nationally, my top priorities are:
- Encouraging students to see tech and trade schools as strong higher‑education options, expanding pathways into skilled, good‑paying careers without forcing every young person into a four‑year degree.
- Supporting our President’s America First agenda so Washington once again puts American workers, families, and small businesses ahead of global bureaucrats and woke special interests.
- Working to balance the budget by cutting wasteful spending, restoring fiscal discipline, and protecting Social Security and Medicare for current and near‑retirees.
- Strengthening our border and American military by finishing the wall where needed, giving Border Patrol and ICE the tools to do their job, and rebuilding a peace‑through‑strength defense posture.
Locally, my priorities are:
- Beginning to address our region’s looming water crisis by supporting smart future infrastructure, recharge, and conservation so our communities, aquifers and farmers are not left dry in the next drought.
- Protecting Texas agricultural and energy independence, defending oil and gas, and empowering our farmers and ranchers against Washington regulatory overreach.
3. What should Congress be doing to rein in inflation and/or stabilize/boost the economy?
Congress should rein in inflation by cutting wasteful federal spending, ending unpaid‑for giveaways, and moving step‑by‑step toward a balanced budget so Washington stops pouring gasoline on rising prices. Congress should also unleash American energy production, oil, gas, nuclear, and renewables, by rolling back anti‑production regulations and fixing broken permitting that drive up utility and transportation costs for families.
To strengthen growth, Congress should make the Trump tax cuts permanent for working and middle‑class families, allow immediate expensing so small businesses can invest and hire, and slash red tape that smothers new jobs. Finally, securing the border and re‑shoring critical manufacturing would stabilize supply chains, protect American workers, and reduce our dependence on hostile foreign governments that can weaponize energy and key goods against the United States.
4. What should Congress be doing to reform immigration laws?
Congress should secure the border first with mandatory E-Verify nationwide, finish physical and technological barriers where needed, and end catch-and-release policies so laws are enforced and cartels lose control. Congress must then modernize legal immigration by streamlining some work visas for high-skilled workers, clearing the asylum backlog with expedited hearings, and enforcing a strict public-charge rule to ensure newcomers support themselves without burdening taxpayers.
No amnesty under any circumstances, reform for those here illegally requires a proven sealed border, fines, thorough background checks, learning English, and going to the back of the line behind legal immigrants who respected our laws. These steps restore order, prioritize American workers, and make immigration a strength again for our nation.
5. At a time when the White House is asserting more control over national security and spending without Congress’ input, how would you handle disagreements over the division of power?
Congress must defend its constitutional authority as the sole power of the purse and lawmaker by enforcing regular order, passing individual appropriations bills on time, rejecting omnibus packages, and using its oversight tools like hearings, subpoenas, and impoundment resolutions to check executive overreach. Disagreements would be handled through direct negotiation with leadership while rallying a bipartisan coalition committed to the Founders’ design, where no one branch dominates.
When needed, Congress holds leverage by refusing to raise the debt ceiling without reforms, conditioning emergency funding on transparency, or passing targeted rescissions to claw back unauthorized spending. As a principled conservative, the goal remains aligning on President Trump’s America First agenda, strong borders, fiscal sanity, military strength, without surrendering Article I powers that protect Texas families from D.C. elites who treat Congress as a rubber stamp.
6. The past year has brought tremendous uncertainty to many Americans surrounding rising health insurance premiums and lack of access to medical care near their homes. What do you believe Congress should be doing to make health care affordable and accessible to residents in your state?
Congress should make healthcare affordable by expanding Health Savings Accounts, offering portable tax credits for individuals to buy plans across state lines, and repealing Obamacare mandates that inflate premiums for Texas families. Require full price transparency from hospitals and insurers so patients can shop competitively and eliminate surprise billing. Lower drug costs via most-favored-nation pricing, honor Trump-era pharma deals, and route subsidies to patients not insurers. Boost rural access by expanding telehealth nationwide and funding more residencies for doctors serving South Texas. These free-market strategies drive competition, slash bureaucracy, and deliver quality care without Washington overreach.
