Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey.
Cherif Gacis
Cherif Gacis (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 21st Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on March 1, 2022.
Gacis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Cherif Gacis was born in San Diego, California. Gacis earned a bachelor's degree and a graduate degree from Texas State University in 2001 and 2010, respectively. His career experience includes working in finance. Gacis has been affiliated with the SMTX Parks & Recreation Board, the SMPD Training Advisory Committee, the SMPD Ad Hoc Use of Force Committee, and the SMTX Veteran Affairs Advisory Committee.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Texas' 21st Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Texas District 21
Incumbent Chip Roy defeated Claudia Zapata in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 21 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Chip Roy (R) | 62.8 | 207,426 |
 | Claudia Zapata (D)  | 37.2 | 122,655 | |
| Total votes: 330,081 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary runoff election
Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 21
Claudia Zapata defeated Ricardo Villarreal in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 21 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Claudia Zapata | 63.5 | 13,886 |
 | Ricardo Villarreal | 36.5 | 7,996 | |
| Total votes: 21,882 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 21
The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 21 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Claudia Zapata | 47.2 | 16,604 |
| ✔ | | Ricardo Villarreal | 27.3 | 9,590 |
 | Coy Branscum | 9.0 | 3,157 | |
 | David Anderson | 8.6 | 3,038 | |
 | Scott Sturm | 5.3 | 1,865 | |
 | Cherif Gacis | 2.6 | 902 | |
| Total votes: 35,156 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 21
Incumbent Chip Roy defeated Robert Lowry, Dana Zavorka, and Michael French in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 21 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Chip Roy | 83.2 | 78,087 |
 | Robert Lowry | 8.1 | 7,642 | |
 | Dana Zavorka | 4.5 | 4,206 | |
 | Michael French | 4.1 | 3,886 | |
| Total votes: 93,821 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Cherif Gacis completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gacis' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
I volunteer in my community as much as possible, and have served on Hurricane Relief mission trips after both Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Harvey. I have served with my church's Kid's Ministry for One Chapel Kyle since our church expanded from Austin in January 2016.
I'm an avid outdoor sports man, having ran Track and Field for over a decade at Texas State during college and USA Track and Field as an Olympic Hopeful after that. My main hobbies are hiking to stay in shape, taking road trips to National & State Parks and Historical sites and enjoying relaxing at the movies to hone my own skills as a part time actor in tv and film projects.- Infrastructure - District 21 is falling behind in building roads, bridges, schools, & civic places to accommodate the explosive growth all of Central Texas & the Hill Country are experiencing.
- Middle Class Revitalization - From prohibitive health care costs, to sky high childcare & education expenses, our middle class is being squeezed & shrinking from all sides financially.
- Comprehensive Immigration Reform - As the most advanced country in the world, we can find the proper solutions to compassionately welcome immigrants looking to pursue their American Dream and help make our country better.
Often times in the political extremes of helping the working class or catering to the top 1%, the middle class often gets neglected despite always being the backbone of our country & largely our district for generations.
Rising healthcare & prescription prices, childcare expenses where two working parents at times see an entire paycheck go toward caring for their little ones, or having to spend long nights at the kitchen table figuring out how they will pay for higher education classes to give their kids a better life are all issues that I believe the U.S. Government can help alleviate through proper legislation and assistance programs.
I also connect highly with Abraham Lincoln's remarkable stoicism and strength through leading our nation during the Civil War. He likely spent more sleepless nights during again only one term than any other person to ever hold that office, and him being grounded in his faith in God likely carried him through some of those dark nights of our nation.
"Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander In Chief"
The destruction across the entire city was of apocalyptic proportions, the likes of which I wouldn't see again until New Orleans after Katrina.
"Body Language" - Jesse McCartney
Basically, I would be ok with any committee assignment. I'm the rare Renaissance Man that enjoys getting into the weeds of how all walks of life work.
I would be in favor of term limits once a civil servant achieves the requisite 20 years for retirement in government office, providing he is no longer effective at his post.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Gacis' campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
INFRASTRUCTURE Texas has seen unprecedented growth in the past decade, and Texas’ Congressional District 21 has bore the brunt of it not only in the Austin/San Antonio corridor, but rural areas like Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Blanco and Leakey/Johnson City. The need for better roads, schools, police stations, fire stations, drainage and water supply, as well as broadband infrastructure is of outmost importance. Most communities do not currently have the tax base to support the needed spending to support that expansion. This is where, as your Congressman, I will work to bring Federal relief and Federal dollars to help our communities move into the future. Education The District has a high school graduation rate of 93.5% (2019 U.S. Census figures), but only a 47.4% with a college or university degree. I was blessed to have received substantial support for my Bachelors degree at Texas State University with Pell Grant assistance. We have to support higher education involvement for our children in the district and provide the means for them to pursue higher education or vocational training of their choice. Our Middle Class The vast majority of Congressional District 21 is part of the backbone of our country: America’s Middle Class. Everything from skyrocketing educational costs to out of control healthcare cost, as well as increased childcare budgets, have all been working to squeeze our middle class into a smaller and smaller portion of our country’s demographic. That’s why I am a big supporter of the Build Back Better plan making it’s way through Congress: it provides needed relief in all the aforementioned areas to put more money into families’ pockets for them to use and grow our economy from the middle up. Comprehensive Immigration Reform I’ve had the privilege to work closely with immigrants from all across the globe through my financial experience in Downtown Austin. People from Australia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Canada, Guatemala, India, Japan, Mexico. Some are DREAMERS, most are asylum seekers or H1 Visa holders. I’ve come across one recurring theme: our immigration and naturalization process is not only broken, but seriously deficient in efficiency. For the past 40 years, there has been a gridlock in Washington that refuses to fix the issue because it fills the coffers of candidates that would rather pay lip service than get down on the mud and the muck to get their elbows dirty and fix the issue once and for all. My comprehensive plan includes all relevant stakeholders in the issue, from our CBP agents on the ground, to the governments and places of origin for most asylum seekers. From Washington’s halls of government to local non-profits who selflessly welcome immigrants looking to achieve their own American Dream. The truth of the matter is we NEED immigrants to fill in the jobs that American’s are leaving behind to climb up the economic ladder themselves. There is a shortage of workers in almost every industry in TX21, we need to process, welcome and document immigrants at record pace so we can expand our tax base, keep our economy growing, as well as lowering housing and property taxes by allowing for more housing and construction companies to keep pace with the exponential need for housing options all across the district. Other areas of concern that we also focus on are Women’s Rights/Autonomy & Equal pay, Healthcare Affordability and reform, and Social Security Reform. Women’s issues are humanities’ issues, and we should never take for granted or turn a blind eye when certain segments of our society actively and aggressively try and curtail their rights around healthcare choices, equal pay, and equality under the law. Medicare & Medicaid are great programs, and we need to find ways to expand their use so our healthcare systems can cover more people who are in medical need, particularly those who are marginalized (pre-existing conditions) or disadvantaged (lower socio-economic opportunities) when it comes to healthcare availability. Social Security is in danger of becoming insolvent by 2034 if the status quo is maintained, we need to find ways to make the safety net more robust so that people who have diligently been paying into the system will not be left out in the cold when it comes to their own retirement futures. Let us know what’s important to you.[2] |
” |
| —Cherif Gacis' campaign website (2022)[3] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on November 11, 2021
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Cherif Gacis For Congress, “Issues,” accessed January 21, 2022
