James Bob Barbee has not taken a single donation in his race for Congress – District 19 – in the 2026 Republican Primary.
“I’m the only candidate in this race that you can’t go anywhere to donate money to me,” Barbee said.
“If you want to find an honest politician, find somebody who’s more interested in keeping the money in your pocket than his own,” he added.
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Barbee got into the race to replace outgoing Congressman Jodey Arrington of Lubbock because his uncle taught him the ability to help your country comes with the obligation to help.
“I’m finally at a point in my life where I have the ability. … It’s my civic duty to try to help our government get out of the $40 trillion worth of debt we have.” Barbee said.
Barbee grew up in a small town north of Abilene called Hawley. His dad was the city marshal and later the city judge. His grandfather and three cousins were in law enforcement.
He attended Tarleton State and Abilene Christian University before starting his own small business 22 years ago – installing fire alarm systems for businesses, school districts, nursing homes, hospitals and restaurants.
His dad also had a business selling and installing alarm systems.
“We actually built our own fire alarm systems for a long time – carried them to Chicago – got them UL [Underwriters Laboratories] listed. Then it got cheaper on us to start selling other people’s equipment than it was to keep our equipment UL listed,” Barbee said.
“I’m nearing retirement,” he said.
What’s first if elected?
“The first thing we have to do is tackle our debt situation. … It’s not just me saying that we’re fixing to go bankrupt if we don’t do something,” Barbee said.
Barbee was supportive of Elon Musk’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) effort.
“If we don’t get control of our spending, we don’t do something about the fraud, waste, and abuse, and we don’t figure out a way to start making more revenue without increasing people’s taxes, then we’re headed for a wall that we can’t get over,” Barbee said.
“With our country being $40 trillion in debt, the last thing I want to do is go out and start promising people that we’re going to start funneling money,” Barbee said.
Barbee also touted a tax plan.
“Get rid of income tax and go to a flat federal sales tax,” he said.
Barbee estimated the tax would need to be 8-10 percent.
In 2024, roughly half of federal revenue was from individual income taxes, according to a congressional report.
“I’m not naive. I know that when I get there, that I’m going to be fighting the other 434 people in Congress. But I do think I’ll have bipartisan support,” Barbee said.
His other big issue is healthcare costs.
“My healthcare plan starts bringing in new revenue to the government and it’s going to free up tax dollars,” Barbee said.
“Basically, we’re going to take Medicare and offer it to every American citizen as a health care insurance plan,” Barbee said.
He thinks that will bring in $2 trillion but admitted it does not include the cost of paying doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and such.
“That’s not net. That’s gross. So you’re going to have to spend that money back out on medical costs for people,” Barbee said.
According to CMS.gov, “The Affordable Care Act requires insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent or 85 percent of premium dollars on medical care…”
There would also be costs for administration.
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Learn what’s coming as Lubbock Lights kicks off Texas Primary ‘26 coverage
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“Some of my competitors are saying we just need to get out of the healthcare business,” Barbee said.
But he thinks just walking away will leave consumers with high healthcare costs that will never go down. He’d rather have a government program in the hopes of putting pressure on private insurance companies to bring their prices down.
Barbee was highly in support of the Trump Administration’s border and immigration policies.
“As far as border security, I think he’s done a fantastic job there. … The problem is Congress needs to act. We need to codify everything he’s done in order to set all this in stone,” Barbee said.
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