Texas House of Representatives District 136 candidate surveys, 2022

Elections in Texas, 2022

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This article shows responses from candidates in the 2022 election for Texas House of Representatives District 136 who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

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• Click here to see Candidate Connection survey responses.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for Texas House of Representatives District 136

Incumbent John Bucy III defeated Michelle Evans and Burton Culley in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 136 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John Bucy III (D)	61.3	36,137
		Michelle Evans (R)	36.0	21,240
		Burton Culley (L)	2.6	1,552

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 58,929
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

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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.

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Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

John Bucy III (D)

Strong Public Schools - It's important that we continue to increase funding for our public schools. I believe every session should be a public education session -- that is, we need to assess the formulas every session to better meet the need. Similarly, we need to reduce inequality within our education system by implementing Pre-K For All, focusing on early childhood literacy, increasing resources for Special Education, improving mental health support, and breaking the school to prison pipeline.

Access to Healthcare - Healthcare costs are increasingly the largest burden for our families. We must expand Medicaid to give 1.5 million Texans access to care, bring $110 billion of our tax dollars home to shore up our healthcare infrastructure, lower all of our insurance premiums, reduce uncompensated care costs, and save lives. Additionally, we must address disparities in access to mental health services, focus on harm reduction policies, and address addiction. Similarly, we must prioritize therapy for children who are neuro-atypical and increase the availability for home and community-based care for adults with disabilities. Last, I want to continue to work on cultural competency in healthcare and reduce maternal mortality.

Voting Rights - The freedom to vote is the foundation of our democracy. We must pass online voter registration as we work towards automatic and same day registration. I support innovations like 24-hour voting and drive thru voting and believe we must work with local jurisdictions to expand access to the ballot box. Similarly, we must purchase more voting machines, expand the number of polling places, and raise poll worker pay to reduce wait times during in person voting. Additionally, we must implement universal vote by mail with a robust process to correct minor technical details so that ballots are not thrown out. Last, student IDs, government IDs, and tribal IDs should all be able to be used to vote.

Burton Culley (L)

The difficult job is the one least liked, but possibly the most important.

The needs of the many may outweigh the needs of the one, but the rights of the one cannot be ignored.

Government was intended to be restricted, and the power is intended to rest with the people.

Michelle Evans (R)

Improve public education

Create safer communities

Lower property taxes

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

John Bucy III (D)

Some specific legislative priorities include but are not limited to: increasing Texas’ share of public school funding to at least 50 percent, reforming the BIP process to ensure students are getting the SPED services they need, passing Medicaid expansion, improving funding and access to mental health services, an across the board pay raise for current state employees, passing a cost of living adjustment for retired state employees and retired teachers, online voter registration, legalizing cannabis, and eliminating the death penalty. In addition, I file bills every session that are brought to me by local community members, elected officials or political jurisdictions within my state house district. Examples of this include passing into law HOT revenue bills for the cities of Cedar Park and Leander, making the Gold Cup eligible for the Major Events Reimbursement Program, creating an MMD for Leander, helping correct the Surviving Spouse HEX, putting suicide crisis phone and text lines on student IDs starting in 6th grade, expanding the duration of emergency refills for insulin to 30 days, and making it easier for certain teens to obtain a driver license.

Burton Culley (L)

Fiscal reasonableness, ending failed/costly policies such as the "Drug War", revamping the immigration process, strengthening the energy sector, reducing government regulations

Michelle Evans (R)

I am most passionate about the protection of personal liberties from government overreach and the defense of parental rights. I am also concerned about sex trafficking throughout our state.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Burton Culley (L)

My father, because he accepted the world and people, and recognized that while everyone is different, and has various wants and needs, the primary thing e all want is to be free to live our lives.

President Reagan, because he had the same understanding as my father, and was able to take that message to the world and accomplish more than many other presidents.

My uncle and my grandfather, because they fought in WWII, and returned to pass on the lessons they learned.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

Burton Culley (L)

I believe in duty and commitment.

Being elected to public office requires commitment to the duty of representing the People.

As I experienced during military service, and in my career as an IT consultant, recognizing and formulating resolutions to problems may be needed, yet the "customer wishes" should be followed.

My job will be to inform and represent. Informing the People of the merits or dangers of legislation, and following the dictates of the People. That has been and will continue to be my focus. Determine the best solution possible, inform the ones who should make the decision and follow through with their decision.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Burton Culley (L)

Preserve individual personal liberty and responsibility. The first is relative simple. Many overlook the second. With liberty comes responsibility. Government should not be in the business of restricting liberty and individual rights, yet the individual should be held responsible for their actions if they violate another person's rights.

What legacy would you like to leave?

Burton Culley (L)

A better world, without the rancor and dissention we are currently seeing in our society.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

Michelle Evans (R)

I remember many historical events that occurred in my childhood, from the Challenger explosion to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. But what plays prominently in my memory are the events of September 11, 2001. I was 23 years old and had just begun a job with Lutheran Social Services of New York one week prior, and my office was located two blocks from the World Trade Center. My commuter train ticket would have put me under the Twin Towers at the time of the second plane’s impact, but I was fortunate to have been scheduled a late start time that morning. The months following the attacks were surreal; while the anger and sorrow were palpable, with “missing” posters lining the walls of subway stations, there was also a shared sense of unity and great pride in that city and our nation.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Burton Culley (L)

There are too many to list. Robert Jordan "Wheel of Time" series, "Harry Potter", "The Stainless Steel Rat", the "Iron Druid" series, many of Heinlein's works, Alexander Kent's "historical novels".

Michelle Evans (R)

Don’t Hurt People and Don’t Take Their Stuff by Matt Kibbe

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

Burton Culley (L)

The theme from "Man of La Mancha"

Michelle Evans (R)

Take Me to Texas by George Strait

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Burton Culley (L)

Learning to truly listen to what is being said, without placing my personal "spin" on what is intended.

What do you believe is the ideal relationship between the governor and state legislature?

Burton Culley (L)

The Governor represents the State and the goals of the State. Representatives represent the People. The Governor should therefore represent the State according to the will of the People. This is difficult, yet should be the goal.

Michelle Evans (R)

The state legislature should act as a restraint on the powers of the executive.

What do you perceive to be your state's greatest challenges over the next decade?

Burton Culley (L)

Texas has several serious challenges to manage over the next decade.

One of the will be managing and sustaining population growth. While experiencing the explosive growth in the manufacturing and tech sectors, This has serious repercussions on other sectors. These should be evaluated to ensure a balance is maintained.

The immigration policies are troublesome, yet this country and state are built on and intended to be a place for immigration. The current processes have placed an enormous burden on city, county, state and federal resources. We must find a balance between protecting our State and Nation from those who intend us harm, while preserving the ability for people to legally become residents.

Another challenge for Texas will be energy. The restrictions on producing and providing energy have lead to serious negative impacts on the economy and individuals. Texas is poised to become a net energy exporter. We should not easily accept restrictions which curtail our ability to do so.

Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?

Burton Culley (L)

From a procedural perspective, it can be beneficial for candidates to have previous legislative experience. From a representative perspective, it is possible that previous legislative experience really has no bearing. Representative government is intended to represent the People, thus eliminating the "need" for legislative experience.

Do you believe it’s beneficial to build relationships with other legislators? Please explain your answer.

Burton Culley (L)

It is important to build relationships with other legislators. This provides insight and information as to the attitudes and opinions of the People.

Michelle Evans (R)

It is absolutely essential to build relationships with other legislators. Elected officials don’t exist in a vacuum and will, at one time or another, need the support or guidance of others.

If you are not a current legislator, are there certain committees that you would want to be a part of?

Michelle Evans (R)

I would appreciate the opportunity to be on the Public Health and Public Education committees.

Are you interested in running for a different political office (for example, the U.S. Congress or governor) in the future?

Burton Culley (L)

Undecided at this time...

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Burton Culley (L)

There are times when compromise is needed. There are times when a person must stand their ground. In this role, this office, my job will be to represent the constituents, the citizens, and when they refuse to compromise, I must stand by their decisions.

See also

More about these elections:

• Texas House of Representatives elections, 2022

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