Paul Bilyeu
Paul Bilyeu (Libertarian Party) ran for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 135. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Bilyeu completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Bilyeu was born in Granite City, Illinois. His career experience includes working as an account manager at a Fortune 500 industrial automation company. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1986 to 1995. In 1988, Bilyeu earned a military citation for his work in the Naval Nuclear Power Program.[1]
Bilyeu has been affiliated with the following organizations:[1]
- Harris County Libertarian Party
- Texas Libertarian Party
- National Libertarian Party
Elections
2020
See also: Texas House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 135
Incumbent Jon Rosenthal defeated Justin Ray and Paul Bilyeu in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 135 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jon Rosenthal (D)  | 49.1 | 36,760 |
 | Justin Ray (R) | 48.7 | 36,460 | |
 | Paul Bilyeu (L) | 2.3 | 1,703 | |
| Total votes: 74,923 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 135
Incumbent Jon Rosenthal advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 135 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jon Rosenthal | 100.0 | 9,553 |
| Total votes: 9,553 | |||
| = 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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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 135
Justin Ray defeated Merrilee Rosene Beazley in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 135 on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Justin Ray | 83.9 | 7,412 |
 | Merrilee Rosene Beazley | 16.1 | 1,427 | |
| Total votes: 8,839 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Libertarian convention
Libertarian convention for Texas House of Representatives District 135
Paul Bilyeu advanced from the Libertarian convention for Texas House of Representatives District 135 on March 21, 2020.
Candidate | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Bilyeu (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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Campaign finance
2018
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 135
Jon Rosenthal defeated incumbent Gary Elkins and Paul Bilyeu in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 135 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jon Rosenthal (D) | 50.8 | 28,473 |
 | Gary Elkins (R) | 47.6 | 26,701 | |
| Paul Bilyeu (L) | 1.5 | 867 | |
| Total votes: 56,041 | |||
| = 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 Texas House of Representatives District 135
Jon Rosenthal advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 135 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jon Rosenthal | 100.0 | 5,273 |
| Total votes: 5,273 | |||
| = 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 House of Representatives District 135
Incumbent Gary Elkins advanced from the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 135 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Gary Elkins | 100.0 | 5,984 |
| Total votes: 5,984 | |||
| = 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
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Paul Bilyeu completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bilyeu's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
Instead, I joined the United States Navy and spent almost 9 years in the service including over 3 years aboard a Trident Submarine out of Bangor Washington completing 6 strategic deterrent patrols. During my time in the Navy I lived and worked in Orlando, Idaho Falls and Bangor.
After my military career, I've spent the last 25 years in various positions with Milwaukee based company Allen Bradley, now Rockwell Automation. As part of my career with Rockwell, I took a position in Houston in 2005. Prior to that I had held positions in Nashville and Monroe Louisiana.
Having always been either independent or Republican in my political beliefs, I was first introduced to Libertarianism in 2013. After a great deal of thought, conversation and study, everything about being a Libertarian just made sense. And the two old parties did not. From that point, I have been an all in Libertarian and became a Life Member of the National Libertarian Party in 2017.
I have resided in Cypress Texas and district 135 with my wife Whitney for over 11 years. Together we have 5 children ranging in age from 20-31.
I am thankful for this opportunity and hopeful for your support in this effort.- I will never vote to increase or create new taxes or new regulations.
- I will never vote to increase the size, scope and role of government.
- I will never vote to increase or create new government spending.
Let's face it, Republicans and Democrats have been the "leaders" of our Republic for over 100 years. And animosity, strain and anger has never been worse. It is time for other options to appear at local, state and federal levels. Other ideas and ideologies. Change will never occur if people keep electing the same two parties. You're kidding yourself if you think it will. If you want change, here I am. Here is the Libertarian Party.
Items of focus for my legislative term:
Ending the drug war in Texas
Ending qualified immunity
Ending civil asset forfeiture in Texas
Re-imagining law enforcement in Texas
Re-imagining education in Texas
Ending property tax in Texas
We, the members of the Libertarian Party, challenge the cult of the omnipotent state and defend the rights of the individual.
We hold that all individuals have the right to exercise sole dominion over their own lives, and have the right to live in whatever manner they choose, so long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to live in whatever manner they choose.
Governments throughout history have regularly operated on the opposite principle, that the State has the right to dispose of the lives of individuals and the fruits of their labor. Even within the United States, all political parties other than our own grant to government the right to regulate the lives of individuals and seize the fruits of their labor without their consent.
We, on the contrary, deny the right of any government to do these things, and hold that where governments exist, they must not violate the rights of any individual: namely, (1) the right to life - accordingly we support the prohibition of the initiation of physical force against others; (2) the right to liberty of speech and action - accordingly we oppose all attempts by government to abridge the freedom of speech and press, as well as government censorship in any form; and (3) the right to property - accordingly we oppose all government interference with private property, such as confiscation, nationalization, and eminent domain, and support the prohibition of robbery, trespass, fraud, and misrepresentation.
If elected, I would work extremely hard to free people from the shackles of government. However, it is hard to free people from the shackles they revere.
I was, what is commonly referred to in the Navy as a "Navy Nuke". In other words, I spent my first 18 months in the Navy training in the Navy Nuclear Power program.
If elected, I will NEVER be owned or beholden to any person, legislator, government bureaucrat, corporation, lobbyist, group, political action committee or political party.
I would also want to be on Public Education and Ways and Means.
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.
2018
Ballotpedia survey responses
- See also: Ballotpedia's candidate surveys
Paul Bilyeu participated in Ballotpedia's candidate survey on May 31, 2018. The survey questions appear in bold, and Paul Bilyeu's responses follow below.[2]
What would be your top three priorities, if elected?
| “ | 1. Nullification of unconstitutional laws and preventing passage of further unconstitutional legislation 2. Elimination of ad valorem/property taxes in Texas and replace with a voluntary contribution system 3. Abolish article 7 of the Texas Constitution which calls for the state government to provide free public education. Eliminate the Texas Education Agency and return the education system to local communities and remove state control.[3][4] |
” |
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about? Why?
| “ | Drastic reductions and elimination of government regulation, oversight, licensing, agencies and corporate welfare. Every single state run entity is a complete and total drain on freedom. Eliminating these roadblocks to a free market will allow individuals to regain freedom and thrive instead of the current bureaucracy which oppresses free individuals relentlessly.Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; invalid names, e.g. too many[4]
|
” |
Ballotpedia also asked the candidate a series of optional questions. Paul Bilyeu answered the following:
Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow and why?
| “ | David Nolan - founding member of the Libertarian Party - For creating a movement that has inspired me to be change I want to see. Whitney Bilyeu - wife, candidate, activist and supporter - For starting me on this journey to enlightenment.[4] | ” |
| “ | I wish I could cite one document, one book, one website, one anything that was an epiphany for me. It was a combination of people, events, books, articles, history, web pages, all coming together that influenced who I am today. To cite a few: mises.org cato.org FEE.org Reason.com http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/06/30-day-reading-list-that-will-lead-you.html[4] | ” |
| “ | Candidates should not be planning for re-election the moment they get elected. Instead, they should be focused on the principles on which they campaigned, and were subsequently elected, and bring those to bear in all dealings during their tenure.[4] | ” |
| “ | I am an honest, ethical and high integrity. I admit my mistakes and work hard to learn from them. I will not waver from Libertarian principles while serving. I cannot be bought by lobbyists or special interests, who all pretty much want to push more legislation and government. They would quickly learn not to bother with me as my vote would never be for sale. And if anyone ever found something to the contrary, where I took a position to increase government, I would resign immediately.[4] | ” |
| “ | To serve the people who elected me. That being said, I will serve with Libertarian principles as my guide. If my constituency has a problem with that at any point, I would challenge them to first ask me why I am doing what I do. If I cannot convince someone the Libertarian way is the appropriate way, they reserve the right to vote me out of office.[4] | ” |
| “ | Less government. Less statism. More freedom. More individualism.[4] | ” |
| “ | Moon landings. I cannot recall specifically which ones. But my earliest memories are of the Apollo moon landings on an old black and white TV.[4] | ” |
| “ | I entered the United States Navy after high school. I served for almost 9 years in the Naval Nuclear Power Program as an Electronics Technician. I served onboard a ballistic missile submarine and then at the Nuclear Power Training Command.[4] | ” |
| “ | This is awkward. I don't recall any awkward dates.[4] | ” |
| “ | My favorite holidays or vacations are those where I am spending time with the ones I love. Doesn't matter if it is Labor day, New Years, or any other. If family is involved, it is a good day.[4] | ” |
| “ | Fiction - Dan Brown novels with primary protagonist Robert Langdon. I enjoy these primarily for the history that he is able to tie into these. I prefer the illustrated editions where the publisher includes drawings, pictures and maps of the historical site which are referenced in the novels. Non-fiction -Short Answers to the Tough Questions by Dr. Mary Ruwart - PhD in BioPhysics and Libertarian author[4] | ” |
| “ | No. Simply put. It is not that hard to reduce government and free the people. Someone just simply needs to do it.[4] | ” |
| “ | Ongoing pointless war on drugs. Prisons filled with people incarcerated for victimless, non violent crimes. Constantly increasing tax rates (all tax rates) The increasing infringement of government into our every day lives.[4] | ” |
| “ | I don't think it matters. My hope would be there are checks and balances that all revolve around reducing size and scope of government.[4] | ” |
| “ | Yes. I believe that is important, however, I will not compromise my principles in hopes of a payback. My goal is to reduce government, period. There will be no, "If you vote for this, I will vote for that" during my time in office. Unless "this" is to reduce government in some way. I will not compromise.[4] | ” |
| “ | Numerous. To name a few, Appropriations, Calendars, Public Education (for the purpose of elimination)[4] | ” |
| “ | I would be the only Libertarian, if elected, so I assume I would be the party leader in the House.[4] | ” |
| “ | Any number of the founding fathers, who were actually more Libertarian than any currently elected public servant today. In fact, I believe the likes of Washington, Madison, Adams, and Jefferson would be embarrassed by the out of control leviathan that all levels of government has become. Among those currently serving, the closest thing to a Libertarian at the federal level is Justin Amash from Michigan. At the state level, Laura Ebke, currently serving Libertarian in Nebraska.[4] | ” |
| “ | It is doubtful but would not rule it out. I am definitely not interested in any top of the ticket type races.[4] | ” |
| “ | Personal stories related to the proposed High Speed Rail system being proposed and pushed through the Federal Railroad Administration at this time. Eminent domain will be used to seize private property and in turn provide that property to a private company in Texas Central Rail. That is just sickening.[4] | ” |
See also
2020 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 16, 2020.
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia's candidate survey, "Paul Bilyeu's responses," May 31, 2018
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
