Jacey Jetton is seeking re-election in the heavily contested race for Texas House of Representatives District 26.
District 26 comprises a large portion of Fort Bend County, a Houston suburban area that has a population of roughly 200,000. Jetton (R-Richmond) was first elected to represent the district in 2020, officially taking office in 2021.
The Dallas Express spoke with Jetton about his re-election campaign, which puts his professed commitment to leading with truth front and center as he advocates for a return of legislators who serve the people they are elected to represent rather than big donors.
When asked why he is seeking re-election, the seventh-generation Texan explained, “It is the same reason why, at age 39, I went back into the Texas Army National Guard. I’m very committed to this state and country. It is discouraging to see where things might be headed, and I want to be part of the solution.”
Regarding the political mud-slinging that often surfaces during election cycles, Jetton conveyed concern that “this campaign and a lot of campaigns around the state really expose that people are willing to lie and deceive people to gain power, and this should really worry us as to what happens when they do gain power.”
Jetton explained that he tries to lead in truth alongside his family: “We are a Christ-centered family. We very much live in community and try to live in the way Jesus intended, following him and having brothers and sisters in Christ around us.”
When asked about his commitment to lead in truth despite being bombarded with attacks, Jetton replied, “We will continue to put out the facts when it comes to accusations,” referring to his primary election opponent, Matt Morgan. Jetton maintained that his “conservative record dispels the lies.”
“People are realizing just because it is written on a mailer, doesn’t mean it is true,” said Jetton, noting that he is “aggressively pushing back.”
“Once you are able to poke a hole in the lie, it makes it easier for the rest of it to fall apart,” he said.
“The biggest lie that is being pushed is [about] child gender modification,” said Jetton. “Yet, you can point back to Texas Senate Bill 14, that is a law in Texas today — I was co-sponsor on it, go look. This breaks down the first lie, and we can do this for the rest of the lies.”
Jetton has received significant pushback on his decision to vote for the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxon, with many stating that the process was rushed.
“I am on the Appropriations Committee. We saw the $3.3 million request come through for settlement without any evidence to go along with it,” explained Jetton. “The attorney general wouldn’t testify on it, so we didn’t have any choice but to send it to the General Investigation Committee and ask, ‘Can you provide some background on this so we can use the people’s taxpayer dollars to pay for this settlement?’”
“That resulted in an investigation,” said Jetton. “We ended up with a 174-page transcript and 20 articles of impeachment from a month-long process. Despite the perception that it was last-minute thrown together, that was not the case. We would not have had to look into this, but we needed to investigate why the attorney general wanted to spend taxpayer dollars. The majority of [House] Republicans voted to impeach. The majority of Republicans in the Senate agreed that the House had legitimate concerns and a trial should proceed.”
“Four of those articles of impeachment on January 18 are confirmed to be true. It was not a hoax. [The attorney general] has admitted to four of them now. I have no regrets about it. There was a legitimate process put together. It’s amazing the chaos that has ensued because of that vote,” added Jetton.
When discussing the causes and consequences of that chaos, Jetton explained that there are political donors in Texas who have a lot of control over elected officials.
“I think [the donors] are frustrated that they do not have more control of the House Republicans, so they are in an all-out assault right now to get more members that they have control over. When they fund 90% of your campaign, as is the case with my opponent, that is who they are answering to,” he said, adding that donor-bought representatives “are not answering for the people, they are talking to the donors. That is not how this is supposed to work, and I’m not interested in it.”
“The future of our state and country relies on the fact that people are going to have to wake up and realize that there is a battle going on, and they need to be involved in it in terms of making sure that good prevails over evil and lies don’t stand,” he said. “Hopefully, this is a time of positive awakening.”
In looking at the hot topic of border control, Jetton said that “the governor made the right call in putting together Operation Lone Star in March of 2021.” Additionally, “the two bills, to increase the penalty for smuggling immigrants and stash houses and making it a crime to enter the state illegally — these two bills, when they go into effect March 5, are going to be game-changers for the state and country,” he said. “This will severely disrupt the cartel’s ability to move people illegally into the state of Texas.”
“I am proud of what Texas has continued to do to step up in the absence of the federal government,” added Jetton. “Our commitment is going to continue to ratchet our efforts until we’ve secured our border.”
Jetton said he is also focused on “kitchen-table issues” that are important to the people he serves. These include the economy, jobs, education, health care, and lowering property taxes, to name a few. He said “returning to positive, conservative Republicanism” is a solution.
With regard to education, Jetton maintained that “a lot of the people move to Fort Bend County because of the education system.” Jetton emphasized the importance of empowering parents to make informed decisions about their children’s education, stating that while public schools can adequately serve most students, parents should have the option to explore alternative educational opportunities if they feel it’s in their child’s best interest.
Jetton explained that people try to pit private schools against public schools. “I think we can have both,” he asserted. “I think we can have a very strong and good public education system and still allow for very good and strong private schools, charter schools, and homeschools. We don’t have to pick one, and this ultimately benefits the children.”
On the subject of the Republican primary, he said he is encouraging voters to look at the candidates in all races and ask, “Is this person someone who is answering to me, the constituent, or are they answering to the donors?”
“I still have faith in the voters, and that’s really what it comes down to,” said Jetton.