By Dayna Steele

 

On the campaign trail, I am frequently asked why I am running for Congress. My entire life has prepared me to run for office. Raised by Bill and Fran Nicholson on Houston’s southwest side, I was taught the values that would guide me for a lifetime – honesty, integrity, equality, and compassion. These are the same values I looked for and found in my husband of 27 years, Dr. Charlie Justiz, a former NASA pilot. And, these are the same values we have instilled in our three adult sons Cris, Dack, and Nick.

A 28-year resident of Seabrook in Texas Congressional District 36, I spent years on rock radio in the Houston area (101-KLOL, 97 Rock, 104 KRBE), and followed that as a successful business and community leader, author, and motivational speaker. Now I want to take my experience to Washington to make sure we have a real voice in Congress for real Southeast Texas values, a voice who is not afraid to stand up to leaders of both parties to do what is right for all of us. I am anything but the same old politician.

In the 1990s, after my radio career, I taught myself how to code and opened up the first online store featuring NASA and space-themed items. The Space Store sold everything from space shuttle models and astronaut costumes to astronaut ice cream and official mission patches. Throughout my career, it was listening that helped me trade devoted listeners for devoted customers.

 

Several years ago, our family began giving laptops to high school students trapped in poverty. Much of what I saw and learned kept going back to healthcare. Sick parents who couldn’t work, sick grandparents who couldn’t be left alone, one medical emergency sending a family into bankruptcy, teen pregnancy, opioid addiction, and so much more. As a mom, I know that healthy is a whole lot cheaper than sick. Healthy people work and pay taxes, give back to the economy, and spend money in the community. When your kids are healthy, they can go to school and learn and you can go to work and continue to provide for your family. When healthcare breaks down for a family, it breaks a family. This is why it is so, very important to take back our health care system from what it has become: A collection of pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, and even hospitals, that put making a quick buck for themselves ahead of our health.

With no hospital in Orange County, this is not news to you. With the healthcare industry continually saying, “Orange County isn’t a profitable place for a hospital,” everyone in Orange County is at risk. This must change. It is past time to invest in our national health by prioritizing rural and semi-rural hospitals, and by expanding the Medicare system to everyone. This includes finally allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices on behalf of the program’s enrollees, something that would greatly reduce drug costs.

Another top priority of mine is Harvey recovery, making federal aid after these storms less complicated and more accessible. We need congressional oversight of the money sent to states for disaster recovery. I hear all too often, “Where is the money going?”

The SBA and FEMA application processes border on the absurd. It is so bad that it almost seems like these programs, which are designed to help us recover from catastrophic storms, are actually trying to wear people down and weed them out of the process. I would not hesitate to work with members of both parties to streamline the aid application and disbursement process to get Southeast Texas back on track.

My name is Dayna Steele and I would like to be your voice in Washington DC as the first Congresswoman for the Texas 36th congressional district.