Quartz | Texans are bearing the cost of keeping the working class out of the statehouse

Posted in In the News News

KI Executive Director, Joseph McCartin, and Program Manager, Juan Belman Guerrero, are quoted in this piece in Quartz.

“In a lot of working-class jobs in Texas, where people are working from very early in the morning to very late in the evening, they sometimes have to have two jobs in order to cover their expenses. There’s plenty of people who I think would be great at this job and who would run for that position if it was accessible to them.” –Juan Belman Guerrero

“You saw a lot of leaders in our community mobilized real quick [during the Winter freeze of 2021] to find housing supply and food, find warm places for individuals. And you have all these great leaders who I think would do an amazing job.” But running for office “is just out of reach for many of them.” -Juan Belman Guerrero

“When the legislature was created, Texas was a place where only white people could vote…and where landowners and developers had inordinate power, and the legislature was set up to be responsive to where that power was.” -Joseph McCartin

“It’s one of the most important yet least talked about things, that working people don’t really see themselves reflected in the leadership of their government. And when people don’t see government leaders who…have experienced some of the same things that they are experiencing, people lose faith in democratically elected officials, and that weakens democracy.” -Joseph McCartin

Read the full piece below

https://qz.com/2094109/there-are-no-working-class-legislators-in-the-texas-statehouse/