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Candidates › TX-10 race › 2025–2026
Caitlin Rourk
D Democratic nominee for U.S. House, TX-10
Has not served in Congress
- On the ballot
- On the general election ballotNov 3, 2026 · Texas US House 10
- Where to vote
- Find your polling place (opens in a new tab) · More ways to vote
- Top priorities
- Common-Sense Solutions for Texas Families
- Reform Government and Restore Accountability
- Fight for Working Families
- Lower Health Care Costs and Expand Access
- Strengthen Public Schools and Child Care
- Money
- $576.5K raised, $497.1K spent, $79.3K cash on hand (through Oct 14, 2026). Where it comes from
- Who gives
- 32% of individual money from donors at $200 or less · 68% from Texas · largest committee giver INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL WORKERS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE, $5K
8 priorities from caitlinrourk.com, in the order they are listed there. Every heading and the text under it is copied exactly, as one passage for each page it is from, and links to that place on the page; hover a source to see which passage it opens.
Washington spends too much time chasing headlines and not enough time solving problems. I'm focused on lowering costs, strengthening our economy, protecting our security, and making government work better for the people it serves.
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I grew up a few miles from Washington, D.C. As a kid, I believed Congress was filled with the best of our nation - men and women came from every corner of the U.S. to serve their communities in the nation's capital.
Today, I wonder what my kids will think about the people who represent them. Will they trust public institutions and elected officials or - like so many Americans - will they feel their voice and vote don’t matter?
I believe deeply in public service, the kind of steady servant leadership that isn’t performative or loud. Restoring trust in government starts with accessible and accountable representation that empowers people to shape the decisions that affect their lives.
It also means confronting corruption and building a government that works for the public - not for insiders, special interests, or personal gain. Here's how we'll do it:
- Ban members of Congress and their spouses from owning or trading individual stocks and require remaining assets to be held in blind trusts.
- Increase transparency around dark money and lobbying so voters can see who’s influencing federal policy and funding campaigns.
- Strengthen campaign finance laws to limit the role of big money and Super PACs in politics and return power to everyday Americans.
- Hold public officials accountable with tougher penalties for corruption, self-dealing, ethics violations, and misuse of taxpayer funds.
- Protect independent oversight so government watchdogs can investigate wrongdoing free from interference or retaliation.
- Defend constitutional checks and balances through stronger limits on government power.
- Require federal agencies to publish budgets, contracts, grants, and decisions in standardized, searchable public databases.
- Mandate all members of Congress hold regular, open town halls in every congressional district.
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My parents were public school teachers. We didn't have a lot growing up, but we had stability. Mom and dad could count on their jobs, afford to see a doctor when we needed it, and retire with dignity. That kind of stability is getting harder to find.
Families across our district are doing everything right and still falling behind. Wages haven't kept pace with the cost of living. People are being priced out of the communities they grew up in. Everyday necessities, from housing and child care to groceries, keep getting more expensive.
I believe that if you work hard and play by the rules in this country, you should be able to build a stable life, not just scrape by. That starts with an economy that's fair, predictable, and built to support the people who keep it running. Too often, Washington treats the economy like a political tug-of-war instead of something that requires steady, responsible leadership.
We can invest in working families and strengthen our economy if we stop asking teachers, nurses, and small business owners to carry a tax burden that wealthy individuals and large corporations too often avoid.
In Congress, I'll support economic and tax policies that reward work, expand opportunity, and help families build lasting financial security:
- Expand tax relief for working families by strengthening and expanding the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit.
- Support small businesses and entrepreneurs by expanding access to capital and reducing unnecessary barriers.
- Make the tax code work for working families by closing loopholes and ensuring the wealthiest Americans and large corporations pay their fair share.
- Protect and strengthen Social Security so it remains a guaranteed source of retirement security for future generations.
- Promote stable, predictable economic policies that help reduce inflation, strengthen supply chains, and give families and businesses the confidence to plan for the future.
- Raise and index the federal minimum wage, so it better reflects the cost of living and economic realities facing working families.
- Pursue responsible, long-term deficit reduction that strengthens fiscal stability without cutting earned benefits or shifting costs onto working families.
- Protect the right of workers to organize and support collective bargaining so employees can negotiate fair wages, benefits, and safe workplaces.
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Health care is a human right. And that isn't a political slogan. I've seen how our health care system can work well and how it can fail people when they need it most.
When my dad received cutting-edge cancer treatment, our family could focus on his recovery instead of worrying about the bills because of Medicare. When friends faced unimaginable challenges - a child with pediatric cancer, chronic illness, a life-changing accident - their health coverage gave them one less thing to worry about during the hardest moments of their lives.
But I've seen the other side, too: families facing overwhelming medical debt, people delaying care because they can't afford it, and patients in end-of-life care worrying about creating GoFundMe accounts to pay for their hospice care.
I refuse to accept that as normal. Yet in Texas, which has the highest uninsured rate in the nation, it's a reality for far too many families. No one should lose sleep over whether they can afford a doctor's visit, fill a prescription, or get the treatment they need.
In Congress, I'll put patients before profits, expand access to affordable care, and protect every person's freedom to make their own health care decisions:
- Allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, cap out-of-pocket costs, and hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for excessive price increases.
- Strengthen Medicare and Medicaid for the millions of Americans who rely on them.
- Protect coverage for pre-existing conditions and expand access to mental health and substance use treatment.
- Permanently extend enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies and pursue a public option to give families more affordable coverage choices.
- End surprise medical billing and increase transparency around health care costs.
- Expand access to care in rural and underserved communities by supporting hospitals, clinics, telehealth, and community health providers.
- Restore nationwide protections for reproductive freedom by codifying Roe v. Wade and protecting access to contraception, IVF, and emergency reproductive care.
- Invest in medical research through the National Institutes of Health and other programs that drive lifesaving treatments and innovation.
- Modernize licensing and workforce policies to address provider shortages, strengthen the health care workforce, and improve access to care in underserved communities.
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I grew up in public schools - literally. My mom taught middle school English for more than 40 years, and my dad taught high school art for more than 30. Every summer, I helped them set up their classrooms. But first, we’d stop at the school supply store, where they spent their own money just to make sure students had what they needed.
I grew up watching teachers give more than they were paid for, more than they had, just to make up for what the system wasn’t providing. And now I see my own kids’ teachers doing the same thing in underfunded Texas public schools.
In Texas, we’ve moved in the wrong direction on public education. Public schools are being stretched thin while voucher programs divert taxpayer dollars away from neighborhood public schools and into private systems. In many parts of our district, residents don’t even have access to schools that accept vouchers. When state leaders fail our kids, Congress has a responsibility to ensure every child has access to a strong public education.
In Congress, I’ll fight to strengthen public education:
- Fully fund Title I to support low-income, rural, and high-need communities.
- Protect public dollars for public schools and oppose federal efforts to expand or subsidize private school voucher programs, including proposals supported by Texas leaders.
- Raise teacher pay and invest in classrooms so educators can stay in the profession and students have the resources they need to succeed.
- Protect and fully fund IDEA so students with disabilities receive the services they are guaranteed under federal law.
- Protect the federal role in public education by ensuring the Department of Education can enforce equal access, protect students’ civil rights, and uphold federal education guarantees.
- Expand career and technical education, apprenticeships, and workforce training so students have multiple pathways to good-paying jobs, not just a four-year degree.
As a mom to two young kids, child care is part of how I experience the education system every day. For working parents, it’s all connected: school, child care, work, and whether the system actually allows you to do all three.
My life looks like the lives of many families across our district: scrambling for child care, juggling work schedules, and getting the dreaded call: your child needs to be picked up right away. And I hear it constantly from parents: “It shouldn’t be this hard just to go to work and raise a family.”
Behind every daycare drop-off are child care providers who are underpaid, overworked, and too often treated as invisible. I’ve seen it firsthand in the people caring for my kids while struggling to afford rent, groceries, and health care. The system is failing parents, children, and workers alike.
In Congress, I’ll work to build a child care system that actually works for families:
- Expand affordable child care by strengthening and fully funding federal programs like the Child Care and Development Block Grant.
- Expand and modernize the Child Tax Credit so it reflects the real cost of raising children today.
- Support policies that raise wages and improve benefits for child care workers, including federal incentives tied to fair pay and stable working conditions.
- Expand access to high-quality early childhood education, including pre-K and Head Start programs.
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AI is reshaping our economy, national security, and global competitiveness at a rapid pace. But innovation doesn't mean unchecked expansion or letting the corporations that stand to benefit write the rules. It doesn't mean sidelining Texas communities or ignoring the real-world impacts on water, energy, and infrastructure. Responsible leadership in AI and technology is too often crowded out by politics shaped by powerful special interests.
Across our district, I hear growing concern about large-scale data centers and technology projects being built without meaningful transparency or community input. These projects can bring opportunity, but they also raise serious questions about energy demand, water use, grid reliability, and long-term impacts that are often left unanswered.
In Congress, I’ll fight for responsible technology and AI policy that protects communities, strengthens national security, and ensures everyone has a seat at the table. Here's how we'll do it:
- Pause large-scale data center development while we put stronger guardrails in place to protect communities, our energy grid, water resources, and critical infrastructure.
- Establish a federal framework for transparency and community input on large-scale data center development so local communities have a meaningful voice in how AI infrastructure is built and expanded.
- Require clear reporting on the full impact of data centers, including energy and water use, grid demand, and other infrastructure strains, so policymakers and the public can make informed decisions.
- Ensure local communities share in the economic benefits of development, including good-paying jobs, local hiring commitments, and fair contributions to public revenues.
- Require major energy users, including large-scale data centers, to contribute to grid modernization and pay their fair share for infrastructure demands.
- Promote responsible AI development that strengthens national security, protects privacy, and sets clear limits on data collection, surveillance, and misuse of personal information.
- Support workforce transition policies that include job training, reskilling, and protections for workers affected by AI-driven changes in the economy.
- Strengthen cybersecurity standards to protect critical infrastructure and safeguard Americans’ personal data from foreign adversaries and cyber threats.
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My husband came to this country as a teenager with nothing. No money, no safety net, and often being told he didn’t belong. I’ve watched him build his own American dream, and I’ve seen how fragile that dream can feel when you are constantly having to prove you belong in the country you call home.
Being married to an immigrant has shown me both the challenge and the promise of becoming a U.S. citizen. It’s one of the reasons I believe so strongly that immigrants are not a threat to this country; they're a critical part of what makes us stronger.
Immigration and border security have too often been reduced to fear and scapegoating. Our immigration system is broken because it hasn’t been meaningfully updated in decades. And border security has become a political symbol instead of a serious, practical policy challenge - one that costs taxpayers billions without fixing the underlying system.
In our district, employers and small business owners tell me they're struggling with workforce uncertainty and broken processes that disrupt operations and create instability. Americans are being forced into a false choice between border security and compassion, or between the rule of law and humanity. That's not the reality we have to accept.
No one should live with the fear that their family could be torn apart or that a single policy change could erase everything they've built. And employers, whether tech companies in Austin, construction firms in Bryan, or agricultural producers in Walker County, need a stable, workable immigration system that reflects the needs of our economy and our communities.
In Congress, I’ll work to pass comprehensive immigration reform and a border security strategy that is practical, humane, and focused on results, accountability, and the rule of law:
- Create an earned pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and law-abiding immigrants who work, pay taxes, and contribute to our communities.
- Strengthen accountability of ICE and other immigration enforcement agencies through transparency, independent review, and strict standards for detention conditions and officer conduct.
- Modernize border security by investing in advanced technology, hiring more asylum officers and immigration judges, and improving coordination with regional partners to manage migration more effectively.
- Fix the legal immigration system by reducing visa backlogs, expanding work visas, supporting family reunification, and modernizing outdated processes.
- Ensure immigration policy supports economic growth, national security, and America’s ability to attract and retain global talent.
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Serving in the Army has been the greatest privilege of my life. It’s given me deep respect for those who wear the uniform, an appreciation for the weight of the decisions they are asked to carry out, and a clear view of what it means when leaders in Washington send service members into harm’s way.
That experience shapes how I view America’s role in the world and our approach to military power and foreign policy. Too often, the United States finds itself drawn into conflicts without clear objectives or defined end states, while straining the alliances and partnerships that are essential to our national security.
I believe America is strongest when it leads with purpose, discipline, and clarity. That means staying engaged in the world as a force for stability, strengthening alliances, and using all tools of American power - diplomatic, economic, and military - in a coordinated and strategic way. Military force has a role, but it should never be the default option or a substitute for clear strategy.
At the center of this approach is a standard that will guide my decisions on national security: questions of war, peace, and global engagement must be grounded in expertise, accountability, and principled leadership. Our service members deserve clear missions, and the American people deserve a foreign policy that reflects both our strength and our responsibility.
- Ensure any use of military force is tied to clear objectives, achievable outcomes, and a defined strategy for success.
- Strengthen Congressional oversight of military action and reaffirm Congress's constitutional role in decisions of war and peace.
- Invest in defense innovation and dual-use technologies that support the warfighter, strengthen America's technological edge, and create high-quality jobs across our district.
- Strengthen alliances and partnerships to deter adversaries, support global stability, and reduce the risk of wider conflict.
- Restore U.S. foreign assistance funding. For less than $1 per average taxpayer, these programs kept screwworm out of Texas and addressed the root causes of illegal migration.
- Rebuild American diplomatic expertise to repair global damage from President Trump's reckless war with Iran.
- Support a responsible trade approach that protects American workers, strengthens supply chains, and avoids unnecessary trade conflicts that raise costs for Texas families and businesses.
- Use America’s diplomatic and economic leverage to improve security conditions in Gaza, ensure sustained humanitarian access and reconstruction, and advance a durable path toward a negotiated two-state solution that provides security, dignity, and self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians.
- Halt U.S. funding and sales of offensive weapons to Israel while maintaining defensive support, with much stronger transparency and oversight.
- Support Ukraine’s sovereignty and ensure the United States and its allies are positioned to help Ukraine negotiate from a position of strength while holding Russia accountable for its invasion.
- Compete effectively with China by investing in American innovation, strengthening domestic manufacturing, securing critical supply chains, and working with allies to protect U.S. interests and uphold a free and open international order.
- Reinvest in diplomacy and international development by restoring capacity at the State Department and strengthening programs that help prevent famine, disease, and instability before they become larger global crises.
We can't separate foreign policy from how we treat our service members and veterans. I believe we have a responsibility to ensure those who swear an oath to defend the country are given the training, equipment, leadership, and support they need to do their jobs safely and effectively. I'll fight to keep the military insulated from politics, guided by professional leadership, and focused on mission readiness and national defense.
Veterans deserve the same commitment from our nation that they gave in service to it. I'll work to protect and strengthen the Department of Veterans Affairs and expand access to mental health care, addiction treatment, housing support, job training, and earned benefits so that we fully support those who serve, both in uniform and after their service ends.
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