David Smalling has filed to run for U.S. representative, District 35. He is running against SK Alexander, also a Republican, in the March 6 primary election. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett is unopposed in the Democratic primary election. Community Impact Newspaper sent Smalling a list of questions about his candidacy. Below are his answers edited for style. Why are you running? I am tired of professional politicians taking care of themselves and not their constituents. I want to go to Washington to work for people living in CD 35. I am conservative and am tired of progressivism. I have taken care of me and mine for 40 years. I think people are fully capable of taking care of themselves, but they deserve to have a representative that represents them. Working people deserve a working representative. What relevant experience do you have? I am not a lawyer—I think that is a plus. I have gotten up every day, gotten dressed and gone to work to take care of my family. They are now grown and good honest people. I work in the oil and gas industry now as an inspector. It falls on me to see that it is done safely and properly. I make decisions all the time that have to be correct. I was a small business owner for 20 years and made executive decisions all of the time. If I do not have the answers I will talk to the experts in the field. I will dig and search for the correct answer and will base my decision on what is right. I will not stick my finger up in the air to see which way the wind is blowing. What are the top issues the district is facing? The whole country is facing some of the same issues. Infrastructure is falling apart. We pay taxes to fix infrastructure. Where [does] the money go? We have too many people who would like to be here but have been given no means to come here. Congress said in 2004 they were going to fix immigration. What have they done? We need some type of mass transit in the Austin-San Antonio corridor to get some of the traffic off of the road. What are your thoughts on the growth and development within District 35? CD 35, like the rest of Texas, has a booming economy. CD 35 will take care of its growth. I have full confidence in the citizens and the leaders in CD 35. Congress can help Americans get their wages higher and keep people from being taken advantage of, and they should. Why should residents vote for you? First of all, I want to represent the people of CD 35. I truly don’t believe they have been properly represented. I want and will work for Congress to take Social Security out of the general fund, where they are happy to spend those funds. Those Social Security funds need to go back to the way it was originally set up, [so] Congress can’t spend those funds. I don’t believe Social Security would be going broke all the time. Congress made it so that if you are 65 you can draw Social Security even if you have never put any money in Social Security. This is just wrong. If it is such a good idea why didn’t they let people draw off of Congress’ retirement? What are your thoughts on the gerrymandering case, which involves District 35, currently awaiting a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court? That is for the courts to decide.