Jace Yarbrough is headed to the primary election looking to be the next Republican Texas senator for District 30, looking to replace Sen. Drew Springer, who is not running for re-election.
Senate District 30 has a population nearing 100,000 people and includes Grayson, Cooke, Jack, Young, Archer, Clay, and Montague counties, as well as portions of Collin, Denton, Wichita, and Parker counties.
The Dallas Express had the opportunity to speak with Yarbrough to learn more about his political platform, which involves securing the border. This is part one of a two-part profile series.
Yarbrough said he is, first and foremost, a Christ follower deeply committed to his faith and values. He said he leads his life with a strong moral compass and strives to instill these values in his family and community. Yarbrough said he is not afraid to stand up for truth, advocating for “freedom, family, and the bedrock values that define the Texas way of life.”
Yarbrough said his leadership style is centered around community-first principles, a change from the purported self-aggrandized and polarizing agendas that have become all too common in today’s society.
“I try to act in service to things that are bigger and greater than I am,” said Yarbrough, arguing that a lot of the divisiveness today is due to people focusing inward rather than on how they can serve the people around them.
One way Yarbrough has served those around him is by standing up to meet life’s responsibilities, including having served the United States in the Air Force and continuing to serve as a reservist. As a patriot, Yarbrough said he knows the value of being a good leader and a strong follower.
Yarbrough has tried to steward his calling, feeling led to enter politics. He said that God did not specifically move him toward entering this race but conveyed to him that “this is the kind of work I have called you to do, and if you decide to do this, I will be with you.” As such, Yarbrough and his wife gave the opportunity prayerful consideration before filing to run, and it has “taken off ever since.”
In discussing border security, Yarbrough offered clear responses.
“First and foremost, it is not only an abdication on the part of the federal government as to where we are [with the border], but the federal government is incentivizing people to come into our country illegally and to stay here,” said Yarbrough. Adding that when Texas “successfully pushed back, even in a small way, the federal government’s Department of Justice sued the State on behalf of the invaders.”
“This is an unprecedented, dangerous, and terrifying development,” he said.
“One of the things that has contributed to the chaos at the border is the idea of judicial supremacy,” claimed Yarbrough, adding that we live in a time where if the Supreme Court says something, everyone from the top to the bottom must do exactly what the high court dictated for all cases moving forward. He argued that this was not the traditional American approach to the judiciary’s power.
In his analysis of how the state should be approaching the strong arm of the courts that attempt to counter Texas’ efforts to secure the border, Yarbrough referred to the landmark Dredd Scott case, in which a slave named Dredd Scott sued for his freedom. The case ultimately went to the Supreme Court, which ruled against Scott, stating that he had no right to sue because he was not a citizen of the United States. This decision was highly controversial and fueled public debate, with many people criticizing the Supreme Court’s decision as unjust and inhumane.
In response to the ruling, Abraham Lincoln, who later became the 16th president of the United States, made a famous statement. He acknowledged that, as president, he was bound by the Constitution to honor the Supreme Court’s decision. However, he also noted that the Court’s power was limited to the parties involved in the case. Therefore, while he would respect the decision as it applied to Dredd Scott and his wife, he would not necessarily apply it to future cases involving slave couples. Instead, he argued that each such case would have to be decided on its own merits and that the Court’s ruling should not be treated as a blanket endorsement of slavery.
Yarbrough argued that Texans should adopt this same approach to support the governor’s attempts to secure the border amidst backlash from the federal government, claiming that the Constitution was behind the governor and that it is the Biden administration that is in violation of a long-standing history of American jurisprudence. He said that by standing with the governor and upholding the Constitution, Texans can help maintain the integrity of the nation’s laws and protect the safety of our communities.
He suggested that the state legislature should raise its own “border protection unit … commanded by the governor. The legislature should make clear to the governor that the unit’s rules of engagement are maximally aggressive to detain and deport anyone who is here illegally.”
Yarbrough noted that until people around the world see those who have left their country to attempt to get into the United States illegally returned to their native lands, “this flow is going to continue, especially with all the money that the federal government is spending to incentivize that flow.”
He went on to state that those who manage to arrive here unlawfully should be discouraged from staying in Texas.
“I think we should mandate things like E-Verify for Texas employers and end free social services like in-state tuition for those who can’t prove residency,” he said.
Yarbrough further stated that “for those who come from countries that have declared hostility to us, those countries and their agents should not be allowed to own our lands.”
He added that building a wall would be worth it as long as other measures were in place to buttress it.
“Changing the leadership at the top of the federal government is absolutely essential to fixing this problem, but we shouldn’t be under any illusions that if another Democratic president is elected, this problem will resurface,” Yarbrough said. “President Trump is key to fixing the problem quickly, but we need to be laying the groundwork so that, if and when the Left wins its next presidential election, we have the ability to protect our own sovereignty, at least with the portion of the border we share with Mexico.”
Yarbrough said he recognizes the need for statesmanship of the highest order, serious and competent representation, to “step up and step into the political arena.”
“As a public leader and politician, I have no problem saying these are my convictions. I hold these convictions because I think they are right, and I think you should too because of these reasons, and I’m not going to apologize for that,” said Yarbrough.
Yarbrough said he encourages voters in all of this year’s races to look at how candidates have “behaved themselves in the cultural fights that have come their way” because the fights are still coming.