When Rep. Victoria Neave Criado announced she would run against Sen. Nathan Johnson for D16, it came as a surprise to some, given the uphill battle many challengers face when squaring off against an incumbent who was easily re-elected in the last round of voting.
“Women are often told we need to wait our turn,” Neave Criado said in a recent interview with The Texas Tribune. “But you know, I'm not waiting my turn when I see that this district is not being represented like it should be.”
In a recent CBS 11 profile of the race, it was clear that Johnson and Neave Criado share similar views on hot button topics such as reproductive rights (they are both for more of them) and school vouchers (both are against). In the segment, Johnson also noted that one of his key focuses should he win will be to continue to push to make healthcare as accessible as possible for as many people as possible. Neave Criado said she would focus on issues that disproportionately impact women, such as seeing that sexual assault kits are tested more efficiently.
We submitted identical questionnaires to each candidate and received the written responses below.
Why are you running for the District 16 Senate seat?
Sen. Nathan Johnson: A friend of mine once explained to me why he decided to devote so much of his time and money and emotional energy to a particular cause. He met someone, he said, who showed him what people were doing and the positive effect it was having. As my friend eloquently put it, “I became burdened with the knowledge that change was possible.”
That sense – more perhaps than any other – drives all of us. It’s why Democrats in North Texas turned out to vote at unprecedented levels in 2018: they sensed that change was possible, and they/we realized that the burden then fell to them/us to make it happen. And so it happened. We flipped many seats that year.
Seeing good people doing good work, on the year-long civic tour of Leadership Dallas, showed me many ways that people were changing things for the better. These were serious people taking on difficult challenges, and making progress. It was inspiring.
Since 2019, I have had the privilege of representing the richly diverse constituents of our district. I have witnessed firsthand the challenges faced by our community, and I seek to return to office so that I may continue to address them. I’ve learned a great deal over the past five years and built key relationships with advocates, subject matter experts, agencies and, of course, with legislators. As a result, I am more effective now than I was when first elected. I aim to use that experience to continue effectively fighting right-wing destructiveness, winning policy advances and changes
for SD 16 residents, and building strength and trust in the Democratic Party.
Rep. Victoria Neave Criado: In a post-Dobbs [decision] world, we need bold leaders who are not afraid or hesitant to stand up, no matter the consequences. We have an attorney general terrorizing a woman with a difficult pregnancy and threatening doctors. We have a governor pushing racial profiling and terrorizing families of mixed status. This is not a time to be quiet. I’m a fighter. I’ve been one all my life, as the daughter of an immigrant, as a lawyer representing families in need, and as a state Representative defending the right of women to control our own bodies from Greg Abbott and the rest of the Trump wannabes in Texas.
I’ve also passed landmark legislation, the Lavinia Masters Act, to tackle the rape kit backlog, domestic violence, and sexual harassment. I’ve taken on big issues that have been long-ignored and passed laws that have brought justice to thousands. It’s why Texas Monthly named me one of the Best Legislators in Texas. I also helped build the coalition that defeated Greg Abbott’s taxpayer-funded private school voucher scam and fought for pay raises for public school teachers. I’ve stood by LGBTQ families against Greg Abbott’s attacks and led the fight to protect mixed-status families from Abbott’s discriminatory and racial profiling laws. The time is now for bold leaders. I’m ready to take our fight from the House to the Senate.
If you had to choose one single issue, which one is the most important issue facing Texans as far as this Senate seat is concerned, and why?
Johnson: Dallas County has the highest uninsured rate among large counties in the state – approximately one in four residents lacks health insurance. Although having health insurance doesn’t guarantee access to healthcare, it’s generally a prerequisite to care and good health in general. The stunningly high rate of uninsured residents results in lower quality of life for individuals and families, diminished worker productivity, higher health insurance premiums for employers and individuals, greater costs and service demands on healthcare systems, and upward pressure on property taxes.By far the single most beneficial legislative action we could take to address the problem is to expand Medicaid. The economic and social benefits of Medicaid expansion are enormous, and would insure disproportionately to the benefit of Senate District 16. That’s why I’ve led statewide efforts to expand, by not merely filing legislation to advance expansion via multiple alternative pathways, but also convening healthcare leaders, economists, chambers of commerce, and social advocacy groups to raise public awareness and build bipartisan political pressure.
We have succeeded in advancing the issue to the fore of public debate and garnered wide public acceptance, but we have yet to overcome the obstinacy of the highest state offices. Not becoming despondent, I passed a law in the 2021 session that makes private health insurance more affordable, which has been estimated to enable 350,000 of uninsured Texans to purchase policies on the ACA marketplace (SB 1296).
Neave Criado: Education. I grew up in Pleasant Grove in Dallas and am the first in my family to graduate from college. I know that education can transform a family’s trajectory. It’s why I organize a free How to Pay for College event every year for families in our community. It’s why I fight hard for our public schools and have helped bring hundreds of millions of dollars to our local neighborhood schools. We must ensure that every child in Senate District 16 has access to the best quality education, learns our true history in our schools, and is given every possible resource to succeed. We also need to take care of our teachers who deserve pay raises. We must continue to fight back against Gov. Abbott’s voucher scam. I’m proud to have been named a Public Education Champion by Raise Your Hand Texas.
How can Democratic Senators impact the next regular Legislative session, given how dominant Republicans are in the Senate and House?
Johnson: Know your stuff. Develop expertise in difficult policy areas.Driven by the failure of the state’s electric grid in 2021, I spent hundreds of hours learning about the state’s energy needs and how the various state entities – the Public Utility Commission of Texas, ERCOT, the Texas Railroad Commission, and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality – operate and regulate the multiple industries involved in energy generation, transmission, and distribution. I filed a bill, "Texas Power Promise," to ensure that at a minimum, no more lives are lost because of a failed power grid. The bill includes $1.8 billion for backup power to keep powered critical community facilities and an increased ability to rotate power outages.
Because I put in the work, understood the policy area, and was in the room for important conversations about the grid, I was able to pass this bill, along with other significant grid legislation. Notable others include the framework for aggregated distributed energy resources, and maintaining oversight of electricity usage by cryptominers. Having developed a depth of knowledge and understanding, as well as a network of experts upon whom I could call, I was also able to block or shape bills filed by other legislators.
Knowing your stuff is also a good general rule with respect to the vast range of topics and policy matters with which senators must work – helps you pass bills, shape bills, kill bills, and general earns the respect and confidence of fellow legislators of both parties.
Neave Criado: As a leader in the Texas House of Representatives, I have been able to deliver big wins for Texas families, women, and children by working across the aisle when necessary to move the ball forward on key issues impacting our fellow Texans. I’ve been named as one of the Best Legislators by several organizations because of my leadership and work for Texas families.
At the same time, when it comes to core Democratic values, we cannot sacrifice our principles and we must fight back with everything we have. Women, people of color, immigrants, LGBTQ families can’t afford to be tired. These aren’t normal times. We must use every tool in the toolbox, speak out against injustice, and fight to change course. I’ve done that as State Representative and as Chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus, and have killed and helped defeat numerous extreme pieces of legislation that would have been devastating for Texans. We cannot give up. I’m ready to take our fight from the House to the Senate.
Choosing only one, which piece of legislation are you most proud of being involved with and why?
Johnson: The Live Well Texas Program – a bill that I have thus far been unable to pass, which would have expanded Medicaid in Texas through a federal 1115 waiver and allowed for customization of expansion to the population, politics and practicalities of Texas. I’ve committed enormous time and resources (including tremendous and great efforts by my staff) to achieving Medicaid expansion in Texas. Although enormously frustrating, it has not been time wasted. The conversation around Medicaid expansion has changed dramatically, and I believe that my work in this space (I’ve actually filed 12 MedEx bills in three sessions) has to an appreciable extent driven the conversation. The work we did there, meanwhile, established my office as serious, thorough, passionate, and ultimately effective.Neave Criado: I am most proud of passing landmark legislation I named the Lavinia Masters Act which tackles the backlog of thousands of untested rape kits. Lavinia Masters was raped at knifepoint when someone crawled through her window. She then went to a hospital so that a forensic exam could be conducted. Her rape kit sat on a shelf for more than 20 years before it was finally tested. By that time, the statute of limitations had already run and her perpetrator had gone on to be a repeat offender. This law was the culmination of several years of work.
I created a local Sexual Violence Task Force composed of subject matter experts that helped me do a deep dive to identify many of the issues which have now been solved by the Lavinia Masters Act and several other key pieces of legislation that I passed. I want Texas women to know that they are believed, and seen and that I am doing everything possible to shine a light and fight for rape survivors. Because of the Lavinia Masters Act, thousands of rape kits have been tested, bringing justice to thousands of women. We have now even eliminated one of the rape kit backlogs and cold cases are being solved.
What is the best example of you working in a bipartisan manner?
Johnson: Every bill that a Democrat passes must have bipartisan support; this is not the case for bills passed by Republicans. Yet in 2023, Senate Democrats were able to drastically improve a bill related to economic development (HB 5). Recognizing the importance of preserving jobs within our communities, I led the negotiations to give the first-ever tax incentive preference to the underserved parts of the state, which include areas of my senate district. This approach aligns with a broader vision of fostering inclusivity and equitable economic progress.At the same time, I was able to revise the qualifications for the tax incentive so as to make it much more difficult for corporations to game the system. This was bipartisan and bicameral, as the bill itself could have taken a wide variety of forms. While I personally did not approve of components of the bill, I knew it would pass in some form, and likely a worse one if I did not avail of the strength of my relationships in both parties and both chambers to reshape the bill in ways that provided greater benefits and fewer opportunities for abuse.
Neave Criado: I passed House Bill 5202 to try to prevent intimate partner violence in Texas by creating a free public database of repeat offenders of stalking, assault, sexual assault, and other family violence. There are more than 200,000 reports of domestic violence each year. These are just the ones that are reported. One in four women experience domestic violence throughout the course of their life.
In Texas, nearly 1,400 women were murdered by their intimate partners in the last 10 years according to the Texas Council on Family Violence. I worked with the family of Alessandra Barlas, a young woman whose bright light was cut short by her boyfriend, whom she didn’t know had a dark history of past violence. I also worked with the Dallas Police Department, domestic violence shelters, and legislators from both sides of the aisle to pass this law which now empowers women and the community with free information. I’m honored to have received the Legislative Impact Award by the Family Place for my work to pass House Bill 5202.
Why should a voter choose you over your opponent in this primary?
Johnson: Because I’ve demonstrated that I can and will fight effectively against the right-wing lurch of this state, while at the same time delivering major legislative victories in areas most important to my constituents. The approximately 100 bills I’ve passed bring progress in areas ranging from healthcare (a recent estimate finds that my bill to fix the Affordable Care Act in Texas got health insurance for 350,000 low-income un uninsured Texans) to the grid (passing bills – see above, and preserving the strength of Texas’s renewable energy sector) to economic opportunity (bringing new industry to areas that have long been neglected) to criminal justice (ended unjust penalties for misdemeanor drug convictions). I passed bills advancing environmental interests, putting mental health workers in schools, addressing mental health emergencies for youth, simplifying construction law and preventing fraud in banking and coordination of cybersecurity across state and local government, and much more. At the same time I have exposed the hypocrisy and recklessness of a regressive policy, through argument and op-ed and interviews and the very bills I filed, on topics like gun safety, LGBTQ+ equality, abortion rights, and voting. In all these areas and more, I’m in the middle of the longer project, and if returned to my office as Senator, will be able to avail of experience and knowledge and momentum, to deliver for the district and for the state.
Neave Criado: These are urgent times. Abbott, [Lt. Gov. Dan] Patrick, and [Attorney Gen. Ken] Paxton have doubled down. As Democrats, we now need to decide if we’re OK with business as usual, or if we’re going to step up our game. That’s what this campaign is about. It’s not about accepting the loss of rights, it’s about fighting to change course. It’s about representation and urgency.
Texas Senate District 16 encompasses parts of Dallas, Mesquite, Grand Prairie, Irving, Richardson, Balch Springs, Cockrell Hill, and Seagoville. Over 70% of the residents are people of color, with more single-parent families and lower median incomes than the state average. This is a beautifully diverse district, with over half speaking a language other than English at home. They deserve representation that understands them, speaks up for them, no matter what.
I’m a fighter. I’ve been one all my life, as the daughter of an immigrant, as a lawyer representing families in need, and as a State Representative defending the right of women to control our own bodies from Greg Abbott and the rest of the Trump wannabes in Texas. I’ve also passed landmark legislation, the Lavinia Masters Act, to tackle the rape kit backlog, domestic violence, and sexual harassment. I’ve taken on big issues that have been long-ignored and passed laws that have brought justice to thousands.
It’s why Texas Monthly named me one of the Best Legislators in Texas. I also helped build the coalition that defeated Greg Abbott’s taxpayer-funded private school voucher scam and fought for pay raises for public school teachers. I’ve stood by LGBTQ families against Greg Abbott’s attacks and led the fight to protect mixed-status families from Abbott’s discriminatory and racial profiling laws. The time is now for bold leaders. I’m ready to take our fight from the House to the Senate. When you’re under attack by Trump, by Abbott, by Paxton, every vote matters.
[Sen. Nathan] Johnson voted for Greg Abbott’s SB4 from the third special session, roundly criticized by civil rights groups for promoting racial profiling and potentially leading to mass incarceration of people of color. When our LGBTQ community was under attack in SB 15, Johnson was one of only two senators to vote “present not voting” instead of standing up to vote against this attack.
Post the Uvalde mass shooting, Johnson voted with Republicans in a procedural vote to block an amendment to raise the age to 21 to purchase an assault weapon, preventing this amendment from even getting a vote. I’ve said it before. These aren’t normal times. Abbott, Patrick, and Paxton have doubled down. As Democrats, we now need to decide if we’re ok with business as usual, or if we’re going to up our game.
