Reyna<\/a>, who faces Republican Rick Martinez in the general election, is as deeply connected to the district he\u2019s running in as any candidate in any race.<\/p>\nHe was born and raised in Texas House District 125; both his grandfathers are military veterans; and both his grandmothers were public school teachers, as was his mother, who taught in SAISD for more than 30 years.<\/p>\n
Likewise, Reyna has been a teacher in SAISD for 15 years. But he is also well-versed in the legislative process, having worked as an aide to then-state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte while he attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned degrees in government and political communications in 2010.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, public education is high on Reyna\u2019s priorities. He calls for raising the state\u2019s basic allotment per student, which the Texas Legislature essentially ignored last session when it increased the amount, stagnant since 2019, by only $55. He also calls for basing that funding on enrollment\u00a0 rather than attendance and for reforming what he calls an \u201coverreaching\u201d accountability system.<\/p>\n
He supports expanding Medicaid and the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program, as well as lowering prescription drug prices and improving access to mental health care.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a teacher,\u201d he told us, \u201cI have seen firsthand, especially a teacher who taught through COVID and post-COVID, our young people are crying out for support when it comes to mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also advocates for older adults, saying they should\u00a0able to age with dignity and be protected from scams and elder abuse; for removing barriers to homeownership; for fair wages; and for taking care of veterans.<\/p>\n
Reyna\u2019s command across a wide range of issues\u00a0\u2014 exceptional among all the candidates we\u2019ve met\u00a0\u2014 reflects a sense of seriousness, commitment and preparation that surely goes back to his school days and college years.<\/p>\n
District 125 voters will benefit from sending him to Austin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Voters in Texas House District 125 have one of the most promising young candidates in the state on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[75424,157610,82,84,83,50284],"class_list":["post-461083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-adrian-reyna","tag-rick-martinez","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news","tag-texas-house-district-125"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}