ASBL 50 John Lira, House Candidate, Texas District 35

ASBL 50 John Lira, House Candidate, Texas District 35

John Lira is running for Congress as a Democrat in Texas’ 35th District. After High School, John joined the Marines Corps and served in Iraq. When he came home, he worked as an intelligence analyst, a policy expert, and later as a senior presidential advisor for AmeriCorps.

At the Small Business Administration, he worked to help veterans start their own businesses.

John’s running to defend democracy, lower costs for working families, revive small businesses, and build the infrastructure of the future.

His website is www.LiraForCongress.com.

Born and raised on the southeast side of San Antonio, a big working-class community, John enlisted at 17, which inspired him to live a life of service. After the military, he used the G.I Bill to get degrees in political science and public policy (his master’s from Carnegie Mellon University) and became a policy analyst, to help elected and appointed leaders at the highest levels make important decisions for their constituents.

His experience (in the military, in AmeriCorps and with the SBA) has taken him “to the forefront of a lot of federal policies and a lot of federal issues. “He was the Democratic nominee for Congress in 2022.

What are you running to do?

“It’s tabletop issues for working-class communities, those on the front lines of feeling the effects of tariff increases, corporate price gouging, SNAP benefits being halted, healthcare subsidies going away. A lot of it has to do with bringing down these costs.”

“For a lot of young families, rent is too expensive. The thought of buying a house seems very distant because inflation and the cost of housing have gone up. There’s not enough affordable housing. The price of automobiles, even childcare. The average cost in San Antonio [for childcare] is $700 a week. Monthly, that’s more than some are paying for rent or mortgages.”

“We really want to get these costs under control. There’s a lot we can do to make our dollar as powerful as it once used to be.”

And we discussed our small business issues:

The American Small Business League (www.asbl.com) wants to stop big businesses from getting small business contracts. (Small businesses would create millions of jobs with those contracts and the economy would boom.)

Our www.DontCheatWomen.com project wants to end discrimination against women in federal contracting. We want Congress to:

•        Raise from 5% to 15% the amount of federal contract dollars that must go to women-owned small businesses.

Women are half the population. They own 40% of all businesses. They sell what the government buys.

But companies owned by men get over 95% of federal contracts. And men dominate in politics because they earn and save more than women.

Men give more to politicians and therefore have more influence with them. And it’s easier for men to run for and win office.

Men hold roughly 75% of seats in the House, Senate, all State Legislatures, and every president’s cabinet. They hold almost that many governorships and 90% of committee chair and party leadership positions

 Women have different political values and priorities. They deserve fair economic treatment so they can participate in politics as equals.

Raising the number of federal contracts that must go to women-owned small businesses is a great first step.

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