Derrik Gay
Derrik Gay (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 24th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary runoff on May 24, 2022.
Gay completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Derrik Gay was born in Ohio and lives in Carrollton, Texas. Gay served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 2007 to 2020. He earned a B.S. in political science and criminology from Florida State University in 2007 and an M.B.A. and J.D. from Northwestern University in 2016. Gay's career experience includes working as an attorney.[1][2][3]
Elections
2022
See also: Texas' 24th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Texas District 24
Incumbent Beth Van Duyne defeated Jan McDowell in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 24 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Beth Van Duyne (R) | 59.7 | 177,947 |
 | Jan McDowell (D)  | 40.3 | 119,878 | |
| Total votes: 297,825 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary runoff election
Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 24
Jan McDowell defeated Derrik Gay in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 24 on May 24, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jan McDowell | 51.2 | 7,118 |
 | Derrik Gay | 48.8 | 6,788 | |
| Total votes: 13,906 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 24
Jan McDowell and Derrik Gay advanced to a runoff. They defeated Kathy Fragnoli in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 24 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jan McDowell | 39.3 | 11,467 |
| ✔ | | Derrik Gay | 32.8 | 9,571 |
 | Kathy Fragnoli | 27.9 | 8,139 | |
| Total votes: 29,177 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Michelle Beckley (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 24
Incumbent Beth Van Duyne defeated Nate Weymouth in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 24 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Beth Van Duyne | 85.0 | 61,768 |
| Nate Weymouth | 15.0 | 10,868 | ||
| Total votes: 72,636 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Derrik Gay completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Gay's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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During his 13 years as an intelligence officer in the Marine Corps, Derrik deployed to Iraq and commanded an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) detachment, led and developed entry-level trainees at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, and conducted bilateral military exercises throughout Asia. As a reservist, he volunteered to return to active service to provide disaster assistance after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Upon leaving the Marine Corps, Derrik continued his service in the Medical Reserve Corps, where he helped the efforts to vaccinate Texans against Covid-19. Outside of his military and civil service, Derrik earned law and business degrees from Northwestern University, and currently practices law in Dallas.
- Defending Democracy: After the events of January 6th, Derrik couldn’t sit by and watch our democracy under siege. He took an oath to defend our constitution, and he's stepping up to serve once again because he never forgot that oath.
- Addressing income inequality: America is at its best when we have a strong middle class. Trickle-down economics has not worked. We need to invest from the bottom up and build out the middle class.
- Improving our Infrastructure: America's aging infrastructure is in desperate need of an investment to remain competitive in the global economy and ensure public safety.
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
Gay's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Defending Democracy Simply put, I am in this race because of the attack on the Capitol on January 6th. As a Marine, I swore an oath to uphold and protect the Constitution, and I am committed to upholding that oath every day in Congress. By contrast, one of my opponent’s first votes as a new Congresswoman was to overturn a free and fair election. This country deserves better. I will work every day to protect this country, and ensure that my children grow up in a free and fair democracy. Voting Rights For too long, elected leaders in Austin and in Washington have made it harder for Americans to vote. In Congress, I will work to make it easier for every Texan to have their voice heard. Our fundamental rights should not depend on our skin color or our neighborhood, but since the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision to gut the Voting Rights Act, too many Americans of color have seen their rights restricted. We need to restore the VRA by passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. The economy & fighting for working families As the son of a union worker and a dental assistant, and as the first in my family to graduate from college, I know firsthand what the American dream can look like for families when it works. The problem is that for too long, the American dream has been too out of reach for too many families. In Congress, I will work every day to ensure that our North Texas economy continues to grow – but that it grows in a fair and equitable way, and that it includes protections for workers and for families. I believe in expanding access to paid leave, which should go hand in hand with good paying jobs here in Texas. And because you can’t grow the economy of tomorrow on crumbling infrastructure, I believe we need to keep investing in our infrastructure, whether that’s roads & bridges or increasing access to high speed, reliable internet. Healthcare I believe that Americans, regardless of which job they have or their income, should be entitled to affordable, quality health care – and that includes strong protections for women’s health care. The first step to fixing our healthcare system should be to lower costs for all Texans, including lowering prescription drug costs for seniors. We also need to ensure that every Texan has access to quality, affordable care where they live, which means we need to support our community health facilities and rural hospitals. Protecting Seniors Every senior deserves to retire with dignity. Social Security is a promise we have made to our workers for decades, and we need to make sure it’s still there for future generations. In Congress, I will never support cuts to Social Security, and I will work to ensure the fund is solvent without hurting workers’ ability to retire in dignity. I will also oppose any cut to Medicare, and will work to lower the eligibility age. Protecting Choice Women deserve full access to their reproductive rights and health care, full stop. In DC, I will work every day to ensure we pass the Women’s Health Protection Act into law and ensure that women’s rights are protected. Education Our children’s education should not depend on their zip code or on their parents’ income. Every North Texas child deserves a quality education, regardless of where they live. Early education is so critical, and I fully support expanding universal access to pre-K for 3- and 4-year olds. We also need to stand up for our teachers and make sure they can teach safely and without fear of bullying or violence. The kind of vitriol we have been seeing has no place in our society, and we need to ensure teachers and our children are safe in schools. I believe our kids are best served when parents and teachers work together for the best outcomes for our students, and I will promote that in Congress. In order to ensure our kids graduate into good paying jobs, I support making technical and trade education more accessible to all who want it. Environment I fully believe the science behind climate change and think it is a pressing problem for all of humanity. My military background has also allowed me to see how critical energy is to our national security. When I was in the Marine Corps, one of my missions in Iraq was to help locate roadside bombs, which were the number on killer of our troops in Iraq. The roadside bombs were largely targeting our slow-moving convoy and these convoys were necessary to transport oil to our fuel-dependent forces. Having a fuel-dependent military made us vulnerable on the battlefield. Because of that, not only do I think that climate change is a pressing problem, I also believe that the technology to solve it can help our military forces be self-reliant and expose themselves to less risk on future battlefields. Climate change and the environment are national security issues, and I believe that looking at it through that lens will help me make progress on advancing climate legislation in a gridlocked Congress. Immigration I believe that we need a secure border, but we need a compassionate immigration system. For centuries, immigrants have made America a better place, and here in North Texas, we know that immigrants are pillars of our economy. Beyond that, I also believe that we need to address the root causes of mass migration. The United States has a role to play on the world stage, and as someone who served my country for much of my life, I am deeply proud of that role. We must not step back from that role. Veterans After our country was attacked on 9/11, I signed up for the Marine Corps on an ROTC Scholarship and spent 13 years in the military until I was medically discharged. One of my top priorities in Congress will be supporting servicemembers and their families and the veteran community. We owe our veterans quality health care when they come home – which also means ensuring easy access to VA facilities regardless of where our veterans live, and making sure our veterans’ hospitals are well-staffed. The median age of our country’s hospitals in the private sector is 11 years; however, the median age of a VA hospital is 58 years. This is unacceptable. We need to invest in our veterans and ensure we are there for them, as they were there for us.[4] |
” |
| —Derrik Gay's campaign website (2022)[5] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 24, 2021
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Derrik Gay," accessed February 5, 2022
- ↑ Derrik Gay for Congress, "Home," accessed February 5, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Derrik Gay for Congress, “Issues,” accessed January 20, 2022
