Meet the first Black candidate in an 84% white Texas district
JASPER — With no political experience, Rashad Lewis won a seat on the Jasper City Council as a write-in candidate in 2017. Three years later, he’s attempting to flip one of the nation’s most conservative districts blue as the first Black candidate to run for it.
A 34-year-old independent logger who lives and works in Jasper, Lewis is targeting young and marginalized voters while contending with a disinterested Democratic Party and his hometown’s racist past. He’s hoping that the political optimism that has led the party to redouble its efforts in other Texas districts will in some way also touch Congressional District 36, which encompasses eight deep-red East Texas counties and part of southeastern Harris County. The seat is held by U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, a Republican from Woodville who is a dentist by trade.
At 31, Lewis was the youngest candidate in Jasper City Council’s history in 2017, gaining the seat after convincing enough people to write his name down on the ballot — an almost unheard-of move. He served for two years on the council
“People loved that I was courageous,” Lewis said of his shoestring campaign, going door-to-door garnering votes. “I was willing to go against a system that has oppressed my community for a long time. You don't see many people my age willing to do that.”
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Black-candidate-white-Texas-district-Rashad-Lewis-15647621.php
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A lot. If you’ve never wielded a chainsaw in east Texas, you just don’t know how much nerve that alone takes. Sight and spirit in Jasper. Gets to me.
I sent him a small boost. 
