Nicholas Plumb
Nicholas Plumb (Republican Party) (also known as Lee) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 2nd Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the Republican primary scheduled on March 3, 2026.[source]
Plumb completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Nicholas Plumb was born in Pensacola, Florida. He served in the U.S. Army from 2003 to 2006. He earned a high school diploma from Ingram Tom Moore High School. His career experience includes working as an executive.[1]
2026 battleground election
Ballotpedia identified the March 3, 2026, Republican primary as a battleground election. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.
Incumbent Daniel Crenshaw (R), Steve Toth (R), and four others are running in the Republican primary for Texas' 2nd Congressional District on March 3, 2026. The filing deadline is December 8, 2025. As of November 2025, Crenshaw and Toth led in fundraising and local media attention.[2]
The Texas Tribune's Gabby Birenbaum described Toth as "aligned with the rightmost faction of the Texas Legislature...by far the best-known primary opponent Crenshaw has faced in his career."[2] Jameson Ellis (R) challenged Crenshaw in the 2022 and 2024 primaries, losing to Crenshaw 75%–17% in 2022 and 60%–40% in 2024.
FOX News' Peter Pinedo says Crenshaw has "emerged as a prominent Republican lawmaker and outspoken conservative voice but has also taken criticism from some on the right, such as Toth, who have accused him of being too establishment."[3] Referencing Crenshaw's past statements supporting aid to Ukraine and criticizing some Republicans, Toth said he was running because the district "deserve[s] an unwavering conservative who will fight for our convictions and never bend the knee to the radical left."[2] A Crenshaw spokesman said Crenshaw "has been fighting — and winning — to secure the border, fight against radical transgender ideology and deliver crucial flood mitigation to Texas' 2nd Congressional District since he's been in office."[3]
Crenshaw was elected to the House in 2018. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Crenshaw says he stands for "common sense policies that ensure our nation’s prosperity and security, represent our Foundational values, and give Texans a reason to once again be proud of their leaders."[4] Crenshaw says he is "running for re-election because Texas isn't done fighting and neither am I."[5]
Toth was elected to the Texas House of Representatives in 2012. He ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in 2014 and U.S. House in 2016 before being re-elected to the state House in 2018. Toth says he is running because Crenshaw "ran as a conservative but has done nothing except act like the newest version of Liz Cheney in Congress."[3]
Also running in the primary are Martin Etwop (R), T.C. Manning (R), Nicholas Plumb (R), and Ava Zolari (R).
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will advance to a runoff on May 26.
Elections
2026
See also: Texas' 2nd 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.
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 2
Shaun Finnie and Tyrone Price are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 2 on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Shaun Finnie | ||
| Tyrone Price | ||
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 2
The following candidates are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 2 on March 3, 2026.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Jon Bonck (R)
- Nick Tran (R)
- Jameson Ellis (R)
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from RealClearPolitics, when available. We will regularly check for polling aggregation for this race and add polls here once available. To notify us of polls available for this race, please email us.
Election campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daniel Crenshaw | Republican Party | $1,244,956 | $1,045,617 | $668,647 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Martin Etwop | Republican Party | $7,756 | $5,203 | $162 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| T.C. Manning | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Nicholas Plumb | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Steve Toth | Republican Party | $303,459 | $47,978 | $255,481 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Ava Zolari | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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Satellite spending
- See also: Satellite spending
Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[6][7][8]
If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.
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Endorsements
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Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Nicholas Plumb completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Plumb's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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At eighteen, I enlisted in the Army. Later, I served in the Navy JAG Corps, deploying to Iraq and working defense at Guantanamo Bay. I’ve stood in rooms most politicians can’t pronounce, let alone endure. After the military, I rebuilt from scratch, rising through Walmart and Amazon, where I ran billion-dollar operations, launched sites, exposed fraud, and stood alone when it counted. I’ve led from the front in boardrooms and breakrooms, not just campaign rallies.
I wasn’t groomed for this seat. I built the tools to take it. And I’m not running because I need a title. I’m running because I’ve lived the consequences of bad leadership. Our government operates like a broken ops floor: bloated, misaligned, and serving insiders instead of outcomes. I know how to fix broken systems. That’s exactly what I intend to do.- I’ve run billion-dollar operations, launched fulfillment centers, and cleaned up the messes weak leaders left behind. I didn’t inherit power. I earned trust by fixing broken systems. I’ve led teams in war zones and warehouses, in courtrooms and crisis. Now I’m watching Congress operate like a bloated ops floor: detached, inefficient, and serving itself. I’m not running to be liked. I’m running to deliver. I bring real-world execution to a place that runs on excuses. If we want results, we need leaders who know how to get their hands dirty, call the bluff, and make the floor work again.
- I’m not a polished politician. I’m a product of grit, service, and hard truth. I was raised by Depression-era parents, served in Iraq and Guantanamo, and worked my way from retail trainee to corporate fixer. I’ve seen how policy failure hits real families, and I’ve stood alone when integrity demanded it. When I say I’m running for working Americans, I mean the ones who don’t have lobbyists or golden parachutes - the ones who get up early, stay late, and still get priced out of the future. I’ve lived their story. I’ve fought their fights. I’ll take that truth to Washington.
- I’ve seen firsthand how quiet displacement is reshaping our economy, how foreign labor programs, corporate loopholes, and captured leadership hollow out opportunity. I’ve fought that machine from the inside. We need a workforce policy built for American families - not spreadsheets. I’ll defend labor, protect veterans, and cut through the false choice between business and people. You shouldn’t need a master’s degree or visa to earn a life with dignity. If we want a future worth inheriting, we need leaders who still believe in the American worker and aren’t afraid to fight for them.
He raised me to work with my hands, speak with clarity, and stand my ground even when it’s unpopular. That has cost me: in jobs, in relationships, in comfort. But it’s also why I’ve led billion-dollar operations, why I’ve exposed fraud inside massive systems, and why I’m still standing after it all.
First, my own memoir - because unlike most politicians, I didn’t get here through back channels or branding. I was raised by parents born in the Great Depression, joined the Army at 18, served in the Navy JAG Corps, and worked my way up through Walmart and Amazon by fixing what others couldn’t. My political philosophy comes from a lifetime of earned perspective. I’ve seen what works, what breaks, and who gets hurt when bad policy meets no accountability. My story is the blueprint for my platform.
Second, I’d recommend “The Forgotten Man” by Amity Shlaes. It captures how real leadership isn’t about promises—it’s about hard tradeoffs, real-world understanding, and the unseen costs that hit working people first. It doesn’t idolize government, but it doesn’t dismiss it either. That balance matters to me. We need leaders who understand economics from the ground up, not just from textbooks or elite circles.
Discipline is just as critical. I don’t mean ideology, I mean consistency of character. Show up. Learn the system. Do the job. Listen more than you speak. Deliver outcomes, not soundbites. I’ve managed launch days, flood responses, labor negotiations, and investigations where failure had real consequences. I don’t respect leaders who pass blame. I respect the ones who stay late, take ownership, and fix the floor.
I bring operational discipline, moral clarity, and an ability to earn trust across every level of an organization. I’ve led people from every background: union workers, federal attorneys, hourly teams, special forces, and C-suite executives. I know how to get performance without politics, and results without excuses.
The second responsibility is oversight. Congress is supposed to hold the executive branch accountable. That’s not partisan, it’s constitutional. But accountability is useless without knowledge. I’ve read 70,000 pages of classified discovery in a terrorism case. I’ve audited logistics pipelines to recover hundreds of millions in waste. You can’t fix what you don’t understand. Our country’s in trouble partly because too many in office don’t even know how systems work anymore.
I’d like my daughters to grow up in a country where working people are respected, where veterans aren’t tokenized, and where leadership means doing what’s right when it costs you - not just when it polls well. If I can help shift even a few parts of the system toward that, it’ll be worth it.
I kept both jobs through my senior year, helping cover my car note, clothes, and basic expenses. We weren’t broke, but we were stretched. My dad was a Depression-era minister. We didn’t believe in handouts. My mom patched jeans from the inside so they’d last through winter. If you wanted something, you earned it.
They’re wrong. And I’ve spent my whole life turning those assumptions into fuel. But it does wear on you. When you’re constantly having to prove you belong, it can harden you. You start building walls. You stop expecting fairness.
That constant pressure is what makes it powerful when used right and dangerous when misused. It has the power of the purse, the voice of districts, and the responsibility to make government deliver results that touch real lives. When it forgets that role, when it acts like a club, not a job site -we all lose.
What matters more is whether a person has had to deliver results - under pressure, in imperfect conditions, with real lives at stake. That’s leadership. I’ve led operations, managed crises, trained teams, and exposed waste. I’ve had to make payroll, meet metrics, and stay until the floor worked again. That’s the kind of experience Congress is sorely lacking.
From labor markets distorted by foreign work programs, to tech monopolies outpacing regulators, to massive government systems that can’t even process claims or secure data; we’re falling behind not from lack of power, but from a refusal to update how we govern. It’s death by misalignment.
The second great challenge is trust. People don’t believe in the system anymore, and they’re not wrong. Congress serves its own incentives. The courts are weaponized. Agencies are bloated. We must rebuild the legitimacy of governance through real transparency, clean execution, and a workforce-first national strategy.
Too many politicians today view their seat as a brand or career path. They build war chests, make backroom deals, and insulate themselves from consequences. That disconnect leads to stagnation, corruption, and policymaking that serves donors, not constituents.
We’ve confused unity with uniformity. The real goal isn’t to agree for agreement’s sake - it’s to solve problems. If compromise gets us there without selling out the people we serve, I’m for it. But I’ll never trade principle for photo ops. If it’s a bad bill, I vote no, no matter who’s smiling behind it.
Oversight and Accountability – to investigate waste, fraud, and systemic failure across agencies, especially related to workforce displacement, procurement, and misaligned incentives.
Education and the Workforce – to modernize labor policy, restore integrity to vocational and veteran pipelines, and address quiet displacement through H-1B and other foreign labor loopholes.
Veterans’ Affairs – to ensure those who served get what they earned without navigating broken systems or empty ceremonies.
Homeland Security – with a focus on real infrastructure, not just theater - especially as it intersects with cyber, supply chain, and domestic resilience.
Government needs real-time reporting, external audits, and hardline penalties for misuse of funds - at all levels. Every taxpayer should be able to trace where their money went and what it produced. If a government program can’t show measurable results, it shouldn’t get another blank check.
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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
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 10, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Texas Tribune, "State Rep. Steve Toth to challenge Congressman Dan Crenshaw in Republican primary," July 15, 2025
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 FOX News, "Elections EXCLUSIVE: Dan Crenshaw's GOP challenger says ‘days in Congress are numbered’ as race heats up," October 10, 2025
- ↑ Daniel Crenshaw campaign website, "Issues," accessed November 11, 2025
- ↑ YouTube, "Texas Isn't Done Fighting. And Neither Am I." November 3, 2025
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
= candidate completed the 