Matt Rostami
Matt Rostami (Republican Party) ran for election to the Texas State Board of Education to represent District 12. He lost in the Republican primary on March 5, 2024.
Rostami completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Matt Rostami was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He earned an M.D. from the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine. His career experience includes working as an ophthalmologist.[1][2]
Elections
2024
See also: Texas State Board of Education election, 2024
General election
General election for Texas State Board of Education District 12
Incumbent Pam Little defeated George King in the general election for Texas State Board of Education District 12 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Pam Little (R)  | 63.3 | 565,011 |
 | George King (D) | 36.7 | 327,645 | |
| Total votes: 892,656 | |||
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Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for Texas State Board of Education District 12
Incumbent Pam Little defeated Jamie Kohlmann in the Republican primary runoff for Texas State Board of Education District 12 on May 28, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Pam Little | 50.8 | 31,968 |
 | Jamie Kohlmann | 49.2 | 30,948 | |
| Total votes: 62,916 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas State Board of Education District 12
George King advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas State Board of Education District 12 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | George King | 100.0 | 50,744 |
| Total votes: 50,744 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas State Board of Education District 12
Incumbent Pam Little and Jamie Kohlmann advanced to a runoff. They defeated Chad Green and Matt Rostami in the Republican primary for Texas State Board of Education District 12 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Pam Little | 36.4 | 63,633 |
| ✔ | | Jamie Kohlmann | 27.0 | 47,288 |
 | Chad Green | 20.3 | 35,446 | |
 | Matt Rostami | 16.3 | 28,542 | |
| Total votes: 174,909 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Rostami in this election.
2022
See also: Texas State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Texas State Senate District 8
Incumbent Angela Paxton defeated Jon Cocks and Ed Kless in the general election for Texas State Senate District 8 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Angela Paxton (R) | 57.7 | 187,754 |
 | Jon Cocks (D) | 39.5 | 128,399 | |
 | Ed Kless (L) | 2.9 | 9,293 | |
| Total votes: 325,446 | |||
| = 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 Texas State Senate District 8
Jon Cocks advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas State Senate District 8 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jon Cocks | 100.0 | 24,775 |
| Total votes: 24,775 | |||
| = 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 Texas State Senate District 8
Incumbent Angela Paxton defeated Matt Rostami in the Republican primary for Texas State Senate District 8 on March 1, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Angela Paxton | 65.2 | 46,355 |
| Matt Rostami | 34.8 | 24,794 | |
| Total votes: 71,149 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Libertarian convention
Libertarian convention for Texas State Senate District 8
Ed Kless advanced from the Libertarian convention for Texas State Senate District 8 on March 19, 2022.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Ed Kless (L) |
| ||||
| = 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
- Carl Jameson (L)
Campaign finance
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Matt Rostami completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rostami's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Pro America Curriculum
- Financial Literacy
- Promoting Traditional Family Values
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
Rostami’s campaign website stated the following:
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Property Tax We need to talk about Robinhood. No, I'm not talking about the character. Right now in the state, we have this thing called 'recapture.' It is when richer school districts overpay in property tax to help fund poorer districts. Look, we get the idea, but things are starting to get unreasonable. Some school districts are paying out 30% of their property tax revenue to the state to fund other school districts. The problem is the money that has been recaptured is more than the poorer districts even need, and the state is just keeping it! This money needs to be given back to the property owners, and going forward, we need to adjust the formula so people are not losing their homes for not being able to pay property tax. We also need to have fair appraisals by the state. One of the tricks the counties like to play is lowering the 'rate' but appraising your property for a higher value so you end up paying more anyway! Again, as Texans, we are willing to help each other out, but we can't take advantage of each other. Religious Freedom Christianity is the biggest target for those who oppose religious freedom. I can only imagine the reason being is that Christians are the largest religious group in the country, and once they have done shaming and silencing them, the other religions will fall in line. Regardless of what your religion is, if you are practicing it without hurting others and want to continue to do so, it is important now more than ever to stand side by side with Christians and defend the right to practice religion freely. Guns I don't believe in gun laws because they simply don't work. I lived in DC for a year during an internship with heavy gun crime and lots of laws. Yet, as soon as you crossed the bridge into Virginia, a state with much fewer gun laws, the violence level dropped. Why? Poverty. It's poverty that drives gun violence. In New England states with lax gun laws, you don't see much gun violence. States with constitutional carry that have dense cities like Arizona do not have a higher rate of homicide per capita than other states. I don't even know what took so long for us to get constitutional carry in Texas. Medical Freedom Research has shown that cloth masks do not work at all. Surgical masks will stop the wearer from spreading droplets but not aerosols, which are the main form of transmission; they also do not protect the wearer. A FITTED N95 may protect the wearer, but almost no one is doing that. I am against any mask mandate because I follow the science. I also oppose ALL vaccine mandates. Some of these big corporations want to play the 'this is my private business so I can make the rules' card. Oh, okay. Why don't we give you back all the bailout money, subsidies, and corporate welfare you got from the government to crush small businesses, and we will find out how 'private' you really are? If you want to get the vaccine, get the vaccine. If you don't want to get the vaccine, don't get the vaccine. See how simple that is? Drug Policy If you truly believe in limited government and medical freedom, then people should be allowed to do what they want with their own bodies as long as they are not harming someone else. The federal government does not have the right to dictate states' drug laws. As Texans, we should not treat our residents as criminals for being addicted to the poisons brought here by the cartels. We need to treat our people who are addicted as patients and help them get back on their feet; prison is not the answer. Prison should only be reserved for cartel members, pharmaceutical executives, and doctors who pushed the opioid crisis on us. Let's punish those who profited off this misery, not the victims. The Woke The Walking Woke After insurance companies, there is nothing I hate more than the woke. Due to social media, they have been able to amplify their voices, giving the illusion that they are the majority in this country. They are not, far from it. Big corporations are playing along with the woke to sell more products; they actually don't even care about the issues the woke care about. We need to remind big corporations that we are the majority in this country, not these snowflakes. Some Democrats don't even like the woke! As the owner of my own business, I constantly use my platform to speak out against the cancel culture mob and will continue to do so. We must be proud of our conservative values and speak out loudly to preserve our free society. Do not back down. Election Integrity The theme of this campaign is to expand the Republican Party to new demographics. There is no point in me going out and meeting all these communities to get them to vote Republican if the votes are not going to be counted correctly. We need paper ballots, a hard copy that we can go back to and easily audit. Mail-in ballots should only be for those who are disabled. If COVID is not stopping people from shopping for groceries every week, then they can go vote one day out of the year. No one wants to wait days after Election Day to find out who won an election; no one has time for this type of clown show. Protecting the Unborn When I die and go before God on the day of judgment, I will be held accountable for all my sins; supporting child murder will not be one of them. None of the laws we have, including the Heartbeat Bill, go far enough to end abortion. In fact, no amount of legislation will be enough. If we, as conservatives, really want to end abortion, then we have to expose it for what it is: child murder. The Democrats have done an amazing job at sanitizing the idea of 'abortion.' We need to change culture and educate our youth to understand that abortion equals the murder of an infant, not some sterile procedure with no consequences. Healthcare This section is from my run for State Senate but I would still like you to know what I believe are solutions to improve health care. HEALTHCARE I am running on the platform of growing the republican party by reaching out to ethnic minorities, religious minorities and the youth, this is how we grow the party, not with identity politics. What motivates me is ending the FRAUD and ABUSE in the healthcare system that has harmed my patients. I am a free market capitalist however these insurance companies are getting tax payer money either through Medicaid, Obamacare or Medicare Advantage and if you are private company directly taking tax payer money to run your business then you need to follow certain rules. If you don't want to follow the rules then give back all the tax payer subsidies, corporate welfare and bail out money. Issue: Our patients are not getting credit when they are paying into their deductibles because insurance companies intentionally take too long to process their claims. Insurance companies don't want you to reach your deductible because once you do they have to start paying for your care. Solution: Legislation that in the state of Texas claims must be processed within 10 business days. Blue Cross Blue Shield does it in 5 days, there is no reason why other companies can not do this. No more letting a company like Wellmed, Amerigroup, Molina take over 3 MONTHS to process a simple claim. Issue: Patients on HMO plans are unable to see a specialists the same day for an emergency. HMO plans require a patient to get a referral from their primary care doctor before seeing a specialist. Some emergencies can not be handled in the ER like retina detachments and severe eye infections. This causes delay in treatments which can lead to permanent damage. Solution: Legislation that allow the backdating of an HMO referral up to 30 days, that way the specialist can take care of the emergency and sort out the authorization with the insurance company and primary care doctor later. Issue: I am the only retina specialist in Collin County that takes Medicaid because trying to get paid by Medicaid is like licking your elbow, it's almost impossible, yes some people can lick their elbows. People are paying taxes and getting nothing, this is a ponzi scheme in its current form. The same goes for Obamacare, no one takes these plans. Patients are walking around with these useless insurance cards and can’t see a doctor. Solution: We need an audit to see where the money is going EXACTLY. The money is clearly not going to the doctors because only 25% of the doctors in the state take Medicaid and the 25% that do take it, don't even get paid, which creates this cycle of doctors dropping Medicaid. We must end the fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system. Issue: Claims are denied due to “mistakes” or “processed incorrectly”. Countless staff hours are wasted trying to fix these “mistakes” . These are not mistakes, mistakes are supposed to be random, not 99% of the time the mistake favors the insurance company. Small practices are already having staffing issues and are starting to reduce hours and limit patient care because of hurdles and red tape insurance companies are placing. Solution: Legislation that mandates a penalty of $1000 every time a claim is denied for no reason. There needs to be consequences to fix this behavior. Issue: Traditional Medicare is running out of money like all big government programs do eventually, so what the federal government has done is giving your tax payer money to these private companies to admister their own "Medicare" plans called Medicare Advantage. These plans claim to offer “free everything”. You see their commercials, they're lies, nothing is free, they are preying on seniors. Let me tell you what happens when you switch to one of these plans, first you will realize not all doctors are on there and you may lose your original doctor. The closes doctor that takes the plan is 2 hours away and when you call they don't have an appointment till 6 months later. Then when you finally get in to the doctor they can't use the treatment they really need because it is too expensive and the insurance company wants you to use a cheaper option that is not as good to save money. Even after you get the authorization for the treatment you need in some cases they insurance will deny it anyway claiming you never got the authorization even though its right in front of you. It sounds ridiculous but this is what is happening. Solution: Legislation that requires insurance companies to follow the same guidelines as TRADITIONAL Medicare for their Medicare advantage plans. It is not acceptable for private insurers to limit the procedures and drugs that you want to use just so they can maximize profits, these are our tax dollars. Border Policy We need a WALL; the problem is the current president doesn't even believe in a border. In fact, he wants to give each illegal $450k to come here. In the meantime, the best way to stop illegals from coming here is to stop providing them with incentives to come here. We all want to complain about illegals coming here, but at a certain point, we need to be honest and realize we are partly to blame for this situation. In Texas, we have made it so convenient for illegals to live here that it makes sense for them to keep coming. We provide them with food stamps, medical care, and in-state tuition rates. I am not saying we end all of these benefits cold turkey because that would be inhumane, but we need to start discussing the idea of phasing them out to discourage people from coming here illegally. I want more people to immigrate to America, but it has to be LEGAL! We need to know who is coming in and out of the country. The people who are coming here illegally, the vast majority of them are good people escaping horrible situations, but that does NOT give them the right to break our laws. In fact, it creates a moral hazard because it is unfair to the millions overseas who have to wait their turn to come here; it's just not fair.[3] |
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| —Matt Rostami’s campaign website (2024)[4] | ||
2022
Matt Rostami completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rostami's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Growing the Republican party by reaching out to intendents, minorities and the youth. We do this by leading on issues that are popular with everyone like healthcare, not identity politics.
- The next generation of Republicans must be free of baggage and scandal, we can not grow out party if our candidates are abusing their office for personal gain.
- Yes there are philosophical differences between Republicans and Democrats about the role of government. Just don't forget, we live in the greatest country on earth and we can have a civil debate on it all.
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 finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
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Candidate Texas State Board of Education District 12 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on December 24, 2021
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 6, 2024
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Dr. Matt Rostami MD for State Board of Education, “Home,” accessed February 15, 2024
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