SAN ANGELO, TX – Candidate for State Senate District 28, Riley Rodriquez, D-Abilene, made a quick stop in San Angelo on Dec. 18, for a meet-and-greet with potential voters.
Senate District 28 encompasses 40 counties, and part of one other county, in North Central Texas, with Abilene, Lubbock, and San Angelo as its largest cities.
Rodriquez, in a brief interview, spoke about the top issues brought up by rural voters on the campaign trail so far.
“Data centers, rural healthcare, and public schools,” says Rodriquez. He pins his opponent, Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, as an architect of some of these policy changes.
Perry was first elected to the State Legislature in 2011, where he represented House District 83. He was elected to the Senate in 2014, and assumed the role of President Pro Tempore in June of this year when Sen. Brandon Creighton stepped down to serve as Texas Tech University Chancellor.
Earlier this year, Perry sponsored a water conservation amendment (Proposition 4), which was ratified by voters in November. This amendment directs $1B from State sales tax revenue into the Texas Water Development Board, which was established with the goal of planning for flood risk and water conservation. You can read more about their plans here.
Rodriquez says he plans to make water conservation a chief concern of the campaign; one that he questioned Sen. Perry on during a town hall in Abilene in October.
As reported by KACU Abilene, Perry responded to Rodriquez’ concern saying “These companies are investing billions of dollars in infrastructure in these regions. That’s a $30 billion project. They’re not going to invest that kind of money without some certainty that they’ve done their due diligence to determine that both they have the power going forward, and the water.”
Rodriquez is unopposed in the Democratic primary.
