Fort Worth's U.S. House seat is up for grabs again this fall, with first-term Republican Rep. Craig Goldman facing Democratic challenger Angela “Heli” Rodriguez Prilliman in a district that hasn't elected a Democrat in nearly three decades. Early voting begins October 19 and runs through October 30, with Election Day set for November 3, and whoever wins will represent much of Fort Worth in Washington.
Goldman, 58, is seeking a second term after winning his first in 2024 with 63.5% of the vote against Democrat Trey Hunt, according to the Fort Worth Report. He succeeded longtime Rep. Kay Granger, who chaired the House Appropriations Committee and represented Texas's 12th District for 28 years before her death in August at age 83 — a nearly three-decade Republican tenure detailed by The Texas Tribune.
The district itself remains a tough climb for any Democrat. Parker County alone gave Goldman 85% of its vote that year, per the Fort Worth Report's reporting — a margin Rodriguez Prilliman is campaigning in anyway.
A Challenger Leaning on Family Legacy and Startup Roots
Rodriguez Prilliman, 39, says the reaction she gets on the trail in red-leaning areas is often one of surprise. “People are shocked when she shows up,” the Fort Worth Report reported, describing her outreach in heavily Republican precincts where she says voters are frustrated by healthcare access, affordable childcare, and rapidly developing data centers.
Her résumé traces an unusual path to Texas politics. A 2009 Texas A&M graduate, she spent more than a decade in Silicon Valley startups, including on the founding team at Fivestars, which was acquired by SumUp in late 2021, and later founded the venture-backed beauty tech company Lacquerbar, according to Ballotpedia. She is also the granddaughter of Pauline Gasca Valenciano, a Fort Worth civil rights leader whose interview appears in the TCU Civil Rights in Black and Brown Oral History Project.
Rodriguez Prilliman has raised little money against Goldman's campaign operation, per the Fort Worth Report, and has instead campaigned alongside Democratic groups backing Taylor Rehmet, Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico. She supports federal universal healthcare and universal childcare, proposing to finance both through a tax on mostly wealthy Americans that she describes as starting at two to five percent. She has characterized Republican arguments that healthcare and childcare spending be excluded from deficit discussions as little more than talking points, and she predicts Democrats will make significant gains in Congress this cycle — while Goldman counters that polling, pointing to 2016 surveys that showed Hillary Clinton defeating Donald Trump, can be unreliable.
Goldman's Financial Edge and Legislative Record
Goldman enters the race with a significant financial advantage. FEC filings list him as having raised $1,756,535, spent $783,571, and retained $1,508,861 in cash on hand. AIPAC PAC and its super PAC have given a combined $112,656.
He now sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, one of three freshman representatives to join this term, and points to passage of an energy efficiency measure as his major first-term achievement. The bill, House Joint Resolution 75, used the Congressional Review Act to repeal Biden-era Department of Energy conservation standards for commercial refrigerators and freezers, and Trump signed it into law in May 2025, according to Goldman's congressional office.
Goldman told the Fort Worth Report that relationships and friendships precede providing common-sense conservative legislation, and he said he tries to attend events where he's invited, spending one or two nights a week at home while traveling to Washington for the rest. He has not scheduled town hall events as a congressman, the outlet reported.
Diverging Views on Spending, Immigration and Trade
The two candidates split sharply on fiscal policy tied to Trump's so-called one big beautiful bill, which made permanent a raft of tax cuts and installed deductions on certain tip and overtime income through 2028, while also cutting spending on programs including Medicaid. Goldman said Republicans prevented a substantial tax increase through the law and argued the party eliminated waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid while delivering a major tax cut to middle-class citizens. Nonpartisan estimates cited by the Fort Worth Report said the bill would increase the federal budget deficit, which already runs about $2 trillion annually, by trillions more.
Looking ahead, Republicans want to increase defense spending while cutting discretionary spending in the next Congress, per the report. Federal budget data cited in the race shows health insurance programs consumed 24% of the 2024 federal budget, Social Security 21%, defense 13%, and federal debt interest payments another 13%. The Social Security Board of Trustees projects that payroll taxes will cover only 75% of scheduled benefits by 2035, and Goldman said the program should be addressed across party lines because the current trajectory keeps increasing national debt.
On data centers, Rodriguez Prilliman wants federal oversight and says environmental agencies gutted under Trump need rebuilding, framing data center growth as a potential congressional issue Democrats are advancing. Goldman views data centers as a state and local issue and said he does not think a federal bill is needed to limit what cities and counties can do on the subject.
Immigration remains another fault line. Rodriguez Prilliman supports abolishing ICE and a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants, proposing that undocumented immigrants receive Social Security numbers and be allowed to work while their federal cases proceed. Goldman praised Trump for stopping undocumented crossings at the southern border, which he said Joe Biden had allowed, though the Fort Worth Report noted Republicans previously sought a broader immigration agreement — recalling that George W. Bush once said he would sign a worker-visa plan proposed by Ted Kennedy and John McCain, an effort that ultimately failed when Democrats and Republicans couldn't reach agreement.
On trade, Goldman said he supports free trade and fair trade but argued some U.S. allies have taken advantage of the United States economically, noting that American consumption has historically accounted for about 70% of U.S. gross domestic product. On foreign policy, he said everyone wants the Iran conflict to end but that Iran is playing games, and he pointed to what he described as record oil and gas production in Texas last month.
With Lockheed Martin's F-35 Lightning II assembly plant in west Fort Worth, defense manufacturing remains a central regional concern no matter who wins in November. The district includes parts of Tarrant and Parker counties.
