Arthur Dixon

Arthur Dixon, a 25-year-old from Dallas, today announced his campaign for the Texas 30th Congressional District seat in the United States House of Representatives. The seat is open in the 2022 election following Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson’s announcement last month that she is retiring from public office after 50 years as an elected official, the last 30 of which she spent in Congress.

Dixon described himself as a “lifelong Texan” and “one of the first GenZ and youngest major political candidates in Texas history,” according to a press release announcing his candidacy. He said he hopes his age will be “a boost in a traditionally younger voting district.”

According to Dixon’s campaign bio, he was “born into a poor working-class family,” then adopted at the age of two and raised by a single mother “who often worked multiple jobs cleaning, cooking and teaching just to make ends meet.”

He attended American University in Washington, D.C., and Harvard Extension school, but ended up having to drop out of college and go to work because of “the effects of the crippling cost of higher education.” In his professional career, Dixon has worked as a community organizer for various progressive causes around the country and has “fought for environmental, social and economic justice for the majority of his life.”

Dixon said, “Eddie Bernice Johnson is a political icon, both in Texas and throughout the United States, and I wouldn’t be here without barrier-breakers like her. At the same time, Texas, and specifically the 30th District, which is stockpiled with younger voters, need new voices and new policies that inspire and empower transformative thinking and bold progressive change through bold progressive action.”

Dixon has outlined his progressive platform, which he hopes will empower transformative thinking,” based on “six key pillars:”

  • A universal basic income, where every American gets a monthly stimulus from the government.
  • A $15 minimum wage
  • Free healthcare “so those in lower-income families don’t have to keep dying just because they’re poor.”
  • Free community college “because education is a right.”
  • A Green New Deal “to save our dying planet.”
  • Legalization of marijuana, “because we’re tired of watching black and brown children face prosecution for the same actions rich white business owners make billions of dollars from in the cannabis industry.

Dixon said, “I’m running for Congress because Texas is ranked 47th in the country in access to healthcare, 33rd in access to higher education and 32nd in the country in infrastructure. The only thing Texas leads the nation in is incarcerated citizens.

“This is a race about money vs. the people, the establishment vs. the new wave. With a strong grassroots campaign taking bold progressive action I truly believe we can create bold progressive change that actually impacts people’s lives.”

— Tammye Nash