Forrest Lumpkin
Forrest Lumpkin (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 5th Congressional District. He is on the ballot in the Democratic primary on March 3, 2026.[source]
Lumpkin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Forrest Lumpkin graduated from Highland Park High School. Lumpkin earned a bachelor's degree from Rice University, a master's degree from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University. Lumpkin's career experience includes working for NASA.[1]
Elections
2026
See also: Texas' 5th Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on March 3, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
General election for U.S. House Texas District 5
Dea Foy (Independent) is running in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 5 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
Dea Foy (Independent)  | ||
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 5
Chelsey Hockett (D), Forrest Lumpkin (D), and Ruth Torres (D) are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 5 on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Chelsey Hockett | |
 | Forrest Lumpkin | |
 | Ruth Torres | |
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| = 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
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 5
Incumbent Lance Gooden (R) is running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 5 on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Lance Gooden | |
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| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Travis Edwards (R)
Endorsements
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Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Forrest Lumpkin completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Lumpkin's responses.
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- America’s health care system needs reform. We do not focus enough on policies which promote preventative medicine such as measures to promote smoking cessation. Such policies could drastically reduce costs and improve health. The way costs of health care are determined by the industry needs to be examined and reformed. It is ridiculous that the difference between what is billed for health care services and what is paid by insurance companies (i.e. the “negotiated savings” item shown on statements of benefits) is so large. That is obvious evidence that the system is broken.
- My rocket scientist career included over 35 years as a civil servant at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration - mostly at Houston’s Johnson Space Center. So I know a little bit about science - and specifically government’s roll in supporting the kind of basic and applied research that provides a return over periods of time measured in years or even decades. This kind of research is so needed if we are to continue to advance as a nation but is hard for corporate America to justify when shareholders are interested how that research will provide a good rate of return over the next quarter or two. The continued health of NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility near Palestine, a key research facility, is very important to me.
- The US Constitution designates the imposition of tariffs as a power bestowed to the Legislative Branch and not the Executive Branch. I would work to restore this role which has been usurped by the Executive Branch in the false claim that they are necessary because of a “national emergency”. Tariffs are essentially a hidden sales tax and are therefore regressive and inflationary in. general. They should only be used in special circumstances in situations when other methods to insure free and fair trade in certain markets have failed. A potential example is Europe’s Airbus which is subsidized by European governments providing an advantage .over US firms such as Boeing.
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
Lumpkin's campaign website stated the following:
Once I decided to retire, I was inspired to run for U.S. House of Representatives by the "push" by the President to re-district Texas in order to increase the number of Republican delegates to the Texas delegation by five. So, my mission is to mitigate this blatant mid cycle gerrymandering by "flipping" Texas House District 5 (CD-05) from red to blue. I am a resident of Kaufman County, which is near the center of CD-05, having "retired" to the family ranch which my great grandfather William E. Lumpkin purchased over 110 years ago. My grandfather Forrest Sr. and my father Forrest Jr. are both graduates of Terrell High School. I can't think of anywhere else I would want to spend the remainder of my days than in Kaufman County where my Lumpkin and Park ancestors served their community.
I am passionate about health care, especially rural health care, and basic research and development. I see government's roll in these two important national endeavors being destroyed by the current occupants at the head of the Executive Branch and the acquiescence of the current party controlling the Legislative Branch.
If elected, I will make it my priority to improve access to health care especially in rural areas such as in Anderson, Henderson, Kaufman, and Van Zandt counties where constituents must travel long distances for hospital care. With the recent cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies, many constituents are seeing dramatic increases to health insurance premiums, and many are therefore forgoing insurance altogether. This is setting up a spiral of increasing insurance premiums as fewer and fewer individuals are in the pool of insured.
I will also work to insure that the government continues to fund basic research in the sciences including health and climate science. An important NASA facility in Texas House District 5 is the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility near Palestine which was targeted for closure by the President's budget proposal of May 2025. The balloons launched and recovered by this facility are critical not just for the atmospheric research critical to understanding our climate but also to astronomical research which help us understand Earth's relationship to the cosmos. Naturally, as a retired NASA employee, protecting the Columbia facility will be a priority for me. And the current administration's cuts to institutes such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are good examples of the anti-science stance of the Trump administration. These cuts are setting us back years in terms of pushing the needed technological advances and understanding that will keep us, our economy, and our planet healthy.
Finally, I will work to insure that each fiscal year, the House passes all thirteen appropriations bills on time (by September 30). I abhor government shutdowns, and there were several during my career as a civil servant. There is nothing that makes government more inefficient than the activities performed (and not performed) due to government shutdowns. Continuing resolutions also contribute to this inefficiency. Congress has but one job that it is tasked to perform each and every fiscal year. That is to pass by the beginning of the fiscal year the appropriations legislation necessary to fund the government. This has not been done at any time during my 35+ years as a government employee. Due to increasingly partisan bickering, Congress is not doing its job, and the constituents of CD-05 and the nation as a whole deserve better.
— Forrest Lumpkin's campaign website (February 19, 2026)
Campaign finance summary
Campaign finance information for this candidate is not yet available from the Federal Election Commission. That information will be published here once it is available.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
