Could state House District 71 turn blue? Candidate Linda Goolsbee thinks so

Born in Abilene, Linda Goolsbee is running on the Democratic ticket Nov. 5 against the incumbent, Republican Rep. Stan Lambert, for the Texas House District 71 seat.

After controversy shadowed the Republican primary , Goolsbee said she was inspired to run to ensure that newcomer Liz Case did not push school vouchers through the House if elected.

Abilenians, however, stood behind Lambert as he narrowly pushed Case out of the race .

But when Goolsbee takes on Lambert for a second time this November, will she turn District 71 blue ?

According to Goolsbee's website , "Texas is now #1 on the CNN list of the 'Worst States to Live and Work.'" And if elected, she hopes to change what she calls a permit-less open carry bill, an anti-abortion bill without rape and incest exceptions, and a refusal to expand Medicaid or pass any gun safety measures.

'Full funding support for our schools'

Goolsbee, like Lambert , is staunchly anti-school voucher.

She said she finds "this whole voucher thing astounding," and she believes "big, rich Republicans" want to do away with the state's public schools.

"Every child that goes to a private school takes money out of the public schools," Goolsbee said in an interview Wednesday.

With a degree in political science and a minor in education from Baylor University, Goolsbee said she hopes to provide "full funding support for our schools" if elected.

'The criminalizing of abortion'

Goolsbee also said Wednesday that a woman's right to choose is a close second as one of the major tenants of her campaign.

She noted that post Roe v. Wade, "our infant mortality rate has gone up" in her opinion.

"Half the women who have abortions in Texas are below the poverty level, and 70% of them already have children that they are having a hard time taken care of," she said.

She emphasized that women should have more of a say in the Legislature when it comes to the right to choose.

"The people who are involved in the decision should be the people who have to bear the brunt of the decision and live the life with it," Goolsbee said.

Goolsbee said that "the criminalizing of the abortion" has scared doctors across the state.

She believes that new doctors are avoiding Texas because they would have "to navigate the possibility of going to prison." As a result, she said, "We're going to have a doctor shortage" in red states.

New gun laws

Goolsbee became impassioned when discussing the possibility of new gun legislature. She believes the minimum age to own a gun should be 21.

"When you look at all of these mass shootings and gun deaths, and you're talking about young men who are alone . . . can get hold of a gun and they do not have good sense because the part of the brain that makes judgment doesn't happen until you're older than 21," she said. "So you have basically teenage boys with absolute crazy thoughts and very little judgment."

Instead, Goolsbee champions red flag laws and safe storage requirements, in addition to raising the minimum age for gun ownership to 21.

A look to the future

Gooslbee notes that the Taylor County Democratic Party will host a Sunday afternoon picnic in August with more details to follow.

Additionally, she will be manning a democratic booth at the West Texas Fair and Rodeo this fall to register voters and hand out yard signs.

Goolsbee ended on the sentiment, however, that "we have a legislature that is dead set against removing a variety of freedoms that we are used to and it's time that that be stopped."

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This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Could state House District 71 turn blue? Candidate Linda Goolsbee thinks so