Thomas Wakely

Thomas Wakely (Green Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 21st Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.

Wakely completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Tom Wakely was born in San Antonio, Texas. He graduated from Alamo Heights High School in 1970. Wakely served in the Air Force. His career experience includes organizing with farm workers and hospital workers, working as a business agent for an independent union, serving as congregation minister and social minister, and running palliative care services to hospice patients. Wakely was elected to serve on the Lake Geneva, Wisconsin School Board in the early 1990s.^[1]

Elections

2020

Texas' 21st Congressional District election, 2020 (March 3 Democratic primary)

Texas' 21st Congressional District election, 2020 (March 3 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Texas District 21

Incumbent Chip Roy defeated Wendy Davis, Arthur DiBianca, and Thomas Wakely in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 21 on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Chip Roy (R)	52.0	235,740
	Wendy Davis (D)	45.4	205,780
	Arthur DiBianca (L)	1.9	8,666
	Thomas Wakely (G)	0.8	3,564

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 453,750
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Michael Felts (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 21

Wendy Davis defeated Jennie Lou Leeder in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 21 on March 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Wendy Davis	86.3	84,593
	Jennie Lou Leeder	13.7	13,485

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 98,078
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Bruce Boville (D)
Alan Ellis (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 21

Incumbent Chip Roy advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 21 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Chip Roy	100.0	75,389

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 75,389
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Green convention

Green convention for U.S. House Texas District 21

Thomas Wakely advanced from the Green convention for U.S. House Texas District 21 on April 18, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Thomas Wakely (G)

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 21

Arthur DiBianca advanced from the Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 21 on March 21, 2020.

		Candidate
✔		Arthur DiBianca (L)

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

See also: Texas gubernatorial election, 2018

General election

General election for Governor of Texas

Incumbent Greg Abbott defeated Lupe Valdez and Mark Tippetts in the general election for Governor of Texas on November 6, 2018.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Greg Abbott (R)	55.8	4,656,196
	Lupe Valdez (D)	42.5	3,546,615
	Mark Tippetts (L)	1.7	140,632

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,343,443
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Janis Richards (G)

Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Governor of Texas

Lupe Valdez defeated Andrew White in the Democratic primary runoff for Governor of Texas on May 22, 2018.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Lupe Valdez	53.0	224,091
	Andrew White	47.0	198,407

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 422,498
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Texas

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Governor of Texas on March 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Lupe Valdez	42.9	435,484
✔		Andrew White	27.4	278,333
		Cedric Davis	8.3	83,817
		Grady Yarbrough	5.4	54,372
	Submit photo	Jeffrey Payne	4.8	48,269
		Adrian Ocegueda	4.4	44,681
		Thomas Wakely	3.4	34,737
	Submit photo	James Clark	2.2	21,871
	Submit photo	Joe Mumbach	1.4	13,878

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,015,442
= 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 Governor of Texas

Incumbent Greg Abbott defeated Barbara Krueger and Larry SECEDE Kilgore in the Republican primary for Governor of Texas on March 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Greg Abbott	90.4	1,389,562
	Submit photo	Barbara Krueger	8.3	127,134
		Larry SECEDE Kilgore	1.3	20,384

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,537,080
= 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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2016

See also: Texas' 21st Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Lamar Smith (R) defeated Thomas Wakely (D), Mark Loewe (L), and Antonio Diaz (G) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Smith defeated Matt McCall, John Murphy and Todd Phelps in the Republican primary on March 1, 2016, while Wakely defeated Tejas Vakil for the Democratic nomination.^[2]^[3]

**U.S. House, Texas District 21 General Election, 2016**
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Lamar Smith Incumbent	57%	202,967
	Democratic	Thomas Wakely	36.4%	129,765
	Libertarian	Mark Loewe	4.1%	14,735
	Green	Antonio Diaz	2.4%	8,564
Total Votes				356,031
Source: Texas Secretary of State

**U.S. House, Texas District 21 Republican Primary, 2016**
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Lamar Smith Incumbent	60.1%	69,866
Matt McCall	28.9%	33,624
Todd Phelps	5.7%	6,597
John Murphy	5.3%	6,200
Total Votes		116,287
Source: Texas Secretary of State

**U.S. House, Texas District 21 Democratic Primary, 2016**
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Thomas Wakely	59%	29,632
Tejas Vakil	41%	20,595
Total Votes		50,227
Source: Texas Secretary of State

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

Thomas Wakely completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Wakely's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I'm a Vietnam-era veteran. Upon my discharge from the military, I went to work for César Chávez. Later I was organizing hospital workers for the SEIU. I was subsequently recruited by the OPEIU to work as an International Organizer. My decade of working in the labor union movement brought me into contact with many people of faith. My interaction with them led me to seminary - the Chicago Theological Seminary. Like most graduate students I worked. In my case, I worked as a community organizer for the Institute on the Church in Urban Industrial Society which ultimately drew me into the Chicago Council Wars on behalf of then-City Council member Luis Gutiérrez and Mayor Harold Washington, the city's first black mayor. A few years later I found myself in southern Wisconsin. There I served as Executive Director of the Southeastern Wisconsin Citizens Organized for Public Service. I left that position to serve as the founding pastor of the UU Church of the Lakes. During my time in Wisconsin, I also served on the Lake Geneva School Board, an elected position. I returned to Texas in 1993; living first in Austin where I was once again active as a community organizer. The Austin NAACP presented me with a Community Service award for my work in east Austin on affordable housing issues. I now live in San Antonio with my wife who is from Mexico. For a decade now we have taken over 70 hospice patients into our home, providing both palliative and spiritual care until they passed.

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?

Racial Justice Is Not Just Words On A Political Pushcard - Racial Justice Comes From The Heart and Soul
Healthcare Is A Human Right - Medicare For All Is The Morally Correct Response - We Must Take Care Of Each Other
We Can Stop Climate Change and Create Millions of Green Jobs In The Process But We Must Act Now !

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

1. Racial Justice

2. Medicare For All

3. Climate Change

4. Restorative Justice

5. Economic Justice

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

Probably the person I would most like to follow would be a fellow who lived some 3,000 yrs ago - the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament prophet, Amos. Why, because foremost he taught that faith/religion consisted not in ritual but in righteousness. Amos believed in economic justice. His teachings have resonated with others that I also admire and respect. MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech has roots in Amos 5:24 "But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"

In Amos 3:15, he implores us to listen to what God is saying, "l shall destroy the beautiful homes of the wealthy- their winter mansions and their summer houses, too- all their palaces filled with ivory. "
In Amos 5:11, he talks about how governments " trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. "
In Amos 5:10, he talks about those "who detest the one who tells the truth." That is, one who speaks truth to power and is always hated for it.

What Amos was saying then is what our campaign is all about today - Racial Justice, Economic Justice, Environmental Justice, Healthcare Justice

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Yes. I would highly recommend Howard Zinn's book - "A Peoples History of the United States." First published in 1980 when I first read it, it tells the story of our nation from the viewpoint of those who lost - the Native Americans, African Slaves, Trade Unionists. It tells the story of the Robber Barrons who took control of our country and who still control it today. All I can say, read it if you want a better understanding of why 'Black Lives Matter.'

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Having a moral compass.

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

The ability to speak truth to power.

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

To do not just what is right for the district they represent but for what is right for the nation at large.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I would like it to be known that I fought for racial, social and environmental justice all my adult life.

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

When President Kennedy was assassinated. One day before JFK was murdered he came to San Antonio where I lived. My Dad took me down to see him. I sat on my Father's shoulders and watched the Presidential motorcade travel down Broadway Street. I was 10 yrs. old and I was in awe. The following day, his and Jackie's visit still fresh in my mind, an announcement came over my elementary school 's PA system. The President had been shot and had died. I cried and cried and my mother had to come and get me. She consoled me that best she could. It was my first experience knowing someone, even though it was only knowing them from afar, to die.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was actually 2 jobs at the same time. When I was twelve years old I woke up every morning at 4:30 am to ride my bike to deliver newspapers. I was home by 6:00 am to go back to sleep before school started. After school, I pushed my Dad's lawnmower all around our neighborhood and over to adjacent neighborhoods to mow lawns - earning $5.00 per lawn. I kept these 2 jobs until I entered high school when I started 2 new jobs. Both were in the evening after school. I bagged groceries at a family-owned grocery store near my home and then bussed tables at a Mexican Food restaurant on Austin Highway. I've worked all my life.

What is your favorite book? Why?

Jack London's "The Iron Heel" It is a dystopian novel about the rise of the oligarchy in the United States. Something that has happened.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle

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

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Red Right Hand

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

Being abused by a Catholic Priest in 1st and 2nd grade.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

I favor a uniform state-by-state redistricting committee made of 9 members. Three members from each of the major parties (Democrats and Republicans); 1 member from each of the two minor parties (Libertarian and Green); and 1 member representing our Native American tribes.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

Whatever qualities the House of Representatives may have once had, qualities that made it unique in the world no longer exist. It is an institution populated by more millionaire corporate lawyers than red-caps at a Trump rally. Antiquated rules like committee chairmanships going to members with the most seniority rather than to members most qualified. It is no longer an institution where you serve a few terms then return to your day job. It is an institution that protects itself from meaningful reform. That all said, things are not hopeless. But it will require a heavy lift which means we need to start electing more independents and third-party candidates to Congress.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

No, not all. What is needed is people with experience in everyday living. Working women and men who know what it is like to struggle to pay the rent, who just spend their last dollar on a new tire to get to work. These are the qualities we need and deserve to have in the men and women who will represent us in Congress.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Racial and Economic Justice is at the top of the list but unless we do something about climate change now there won't matter because the world as we know it will no longer be here. As I write this the temperature in my hometown of San Antonio is 105. June 2020 was the hottest month on record for the world. Climate change is melting the polar caps, exposing animal corpses tens of thousands of years old - who knows what virus lurks in these decomposing bodies. A major step we can take as a nation to address climate change is to ban fracking. Fracking releases greenhouse gasses, fracking pollutes our drinking water, fracking causes earthquakes, fracking causes air pollution.

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

Standing Committees - Appropriations, Ethics, and Financial Service

Select Committees - Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and Indian Affairs

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

No. I think the term should be three years with two terms maximum.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

Given the amount of gerrymandering that has taken place in the US we definitely are in need of term limits. Three 2 year terms or two - 3 year terms. Either way, a maximum of six years.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

I favor modeling myself after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Both sitting representatives and candidates for office hear many personal stories from the residents of their district. Is there a story that you’ve heard that you found particularly touching, memorable, or impactful?

One of our hospice patients was Lucy. A highly decorated WWII veteran, she was 109 yrs old when she died. In 2014, an election year in Texas, every candidate and their brother and sister stopped by the house to wish her a happy birthday. VP Joe Biden even called her to wish her a happy birthday. About the only candidate who didn't stop by was my political opponent in this year's election for Congrees, Wendy Davis, who was running for Texas Governor at the time.

Anyway, Lucy loved telling us stories and to talk about the issues of the day. And one of the issues she was so adamant about was healthcare. She just couldn't understand why we didn't have universal healthcare in the United States. She said she voted for FDR four times for many reasons, the foremost being he supported universal healthcare.

With over 69% of American voters now supporting Medicare For All I can't understand why neither my Democratic opponent or my Republican opponent support it. Perhaps it is because they both take hundreds of thousands of dollars from health insurance companies.

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.

2016

The following issues were listed on Wakely's campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here.

“

Campaign Finance Reform: Freedom of speech does not mean the freedom to buy our government. Oil & gas companies, telecommunication giants, real estate developers, and other powerful special interests have poured money into District 21 for years to keep Lamar Smith in office. In 2010, a bad situation turned worse. In a 5-4 decision in the Citizens United case, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates for corporations and the wealthy to spend unlimited and undisclosed money to buy our elected officials. The Supreme Court essentially declared that corporations have the same rights as natural-born human beings.

Health Care Policy: Tom supports the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights - that everyone has the right to health care. Health care is a public good, not a commodity.

College Education: In a highly competitive global economy, we need the best-educated workforce in the world. It is insane and counter-productive to the best interests of our country and our future, that hundreds of thousands of bright young people cannot afford to go to college, and that millions of others leave school with a mountain of debt that burdens them for decades. That shortsighted path to the future must end.

Breaking Up the Big Banks: The six largest financial institutions in this country today, all federally-chartered, hold assets equal to about 60% of the nation’s gross domestic product. These six banks issue more than two-thirds of all credit cards and over 35 percent of all mortgages. They control 95 percent of all derivatives and hold more than 40 percent of all bank deposits in the United States.

Net Neutrality: Network neutrality—the idea that Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all data that travels over their networks fairly, without improper discrimination in favor of particular apps, sites or services—is a principle that must be upheld to protect to future of our open Internet. It's a principle that's faced many threats over the years, such as ISPs forging packets to tamper with certain kinds of traffic or slowing down or even outright blocking protocols or applications.

^[4]

”

—Thomas Wakely's campaign website, http://www.wakely2016.com/other_important_issues

External links

Footnotes

↑ Tom Wakely for Governor, "Meet Tom Wakely," accessed February 5, 2018
↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2016 March Primary Election Candidate Filings by County," accessed December 15, 2015
↑ The New York Times, "Texas Primary Results," March 1, 2016
↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

[show]

Texas' current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

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Representatives

District 1

Nathaniel Moran (R)

District 2

Daniel Crenshaw (R)

District 3

Keith Self (R)

District 4

Pat Fallon (R)

District 5

Lance Gooden (R)

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Jake Ellzey (R)

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Lizzie Fletcher (D)

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Morgan Luttrell (R)

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Al Green (D)

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Michael McCaul (R)

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August Pfluger (R)

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Craig Goldman (R)

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Ronny Jackson (R)

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Randy Weber (R)

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Monica De La Cruz (R)

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Veronica Escobar (D)

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Pete Sessions (R)

District 18

Vacant

District 19

Jodey Arrington (R)

District 20

Joaquin Castro (D)

District 21

Chip Roy (R)

District 22

Troy Nehls (R)

District 23

Tony Gonzales (R)

District 24

Beth Van Duyne (R)

District 25

Roger Williams (R)

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Brandon Gill (R)

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Michael Cloud (R)

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Henry Cuellar (D)

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Sylvia Garcia (D)

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Jasmine Crockett (D)

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John Carter (R)

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Julie Johnson (D)

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Marc Veasey (D)

District 34

Vicente Gonzalez (D)

District 35

Greg Casar (D)

District 36

Brian Babin (R)

District 37

Lloyd Doggett (D)

District 38

Wesley Hunt (R)

Republican Party (27)

Democratic Party (12)

Vacancies (1)

[bio-1] Tom Wakely for Governor, "Meet Tom Wakely," accessed February 5, 2018

[2] Texas Secretary of State, "2016 March Primary Election Candidate Filings by County," accessed December 15, 2015

[primaryresults16-3] The New York Times, "Texas Primary Results," March 1, 2016

[quotedisclaimer-4] Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

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[4]

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Thomas Wakely

Biography

Elections

2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Texas District 21

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 21

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 21

Green convention

Green convention for U.S. House Texas District 21

Libertarian convention

Libertarian convention for U.S. House Texas District 21

2018

General election

General election for Governor of Texas

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Governor of Texas

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Texas

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Texas

2016

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

2016

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

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