As Election Day draws closer, races for seats in Congress are becoming more heated. Texas Rep. Chip Roy is currently maintaining a slight lead against his opponent, Wendy Davis, who has run a mostly negative campaign against the incumbent, using deceptive tactics to earn votes. 

For starters, Davis, along with Roy’s other opponents, falsely claimed that he does not care for Gold Star mothers because he voted against a measure that would have provided relief for the parents of soldiers killed while serving in the military. The bill would have remedied a tax issue that placed an undue burden on Gold Star families. 

Roy was one of three representatives that voted against the passage of the bill. But his true reason for rejecting it was related to additional legislation that was shoehorned into the proposal. One of the problems is that it would have created a $15 billion tax increase on IRA accounts, which would have negatively affected middle-class families. 

Davis’ campaign also pointed to Roy’s decision to filibuster the disaster aid bill in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which hit Texas hard in 2017. Of course, Democrats used this to portray Roy as a lawmaker who does not care about the plight of disaster victims. However, this was not the case. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic lawmakers were asking for an extra $19 billion in relief aid for nine states and two territories. However, at the time, FEMA already had $20 billion in its account that it could have used to provide to these states. 

Moreover, Pelosi attempted to sneakily ram the bill through after waiting until most members of Congress had already gone home. Roy was not happy that she was trying to subvert the normal process for passing these types of measures as it does not make sense to approve this much funding without a full vote. 

Last, but most certainly not least, the Davis campaign deceitfully claimed that Rep. Roy wished to expose two-thirds of the U.S. population to COVID-19 to create herd immunity. This is the same type of accusation that Democrats have been using against Republicans who wish to reopen the economy. 

During a debate between the two candidates, Roy explained his position: 

“And the question here is when you have 200,000 people that are being alleged to” have died of the virus — right, that’s the point that’s been put out there. Well, they’ve died with the virus. Now the question is how many? We need to look at that. Do you all know? Does my opponent know? It’s a genuine question, right, to look at the data and say, `OK, what do we actually know?’” 

Roy added. “We know that earlier this year there were studies that said that roughly 2 million people would die in the United States. Well, that has proven not to be true.”

The reality is that Roy and others wish to open the economy while implementing precautions to ensure that the most vulnerable are protected. The lawmaker also discussed the health issues that have arisen due to excessive shutdown orders. “We have people suffering with mental health issues, people suffering from addictions, suicide rates that are up. We have people not getting cancer screenings,” he insisted. “As a cancer survivor, I am damn happy that I got cancer in 2011 instead of 2020, because today, my stage 3 cancer might very well have become stage 4 cancer, because we’re prohibiting people from being able to access health care.”

The Democrats are making a massive push to gain more ground in Texas, and some on the right are concerned that they might be succeeding. Currently, President Trump leads former Vice President Joe Biden by fewer than two points. Even so, Texas remains a red state for now, and Roy still stands a good chance of winning. 

As one of the few principled members of Congress, it is important that people like Rep. Roy retain their seats regardless of the outcome in the presidential election. Otherwise, the Democrats will continue to gain ground and conservative voices in government will be marginalized. 

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