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Casey Shepard
- Dec 20, 2025
- 7 min read
Updated: 24 hours ago
Table of Contents
Background
Mission
Relevant Experience
Notable Positions & Focus Areas
Considerations for Voters
Disclaimer: The information below summarizes candidate-provided responses and publicly available information. “Considerations for voters” are intended to highlight relevant strengths, gaps, or strategic factors, not to advocate for or against any candidate.
Casey Shepard
Congressional District 17
Candidate Overview
Background
Litigation Attorney serving the Waco, Texas area
Has lived in Congressional District 17 for approximately 25 years.
Began studying government and public policy at a young age through competitive policy debate; attended college on a debate scholarship.
Mission:
"To be able to tell my niece and nephew that I stood against tyranny and fought to preserve the American idea"
Relevant Experience
Attorney with a legal practice focused almost entirely on indigent criminal defense, ensuring due process for people who cannot afford representation.
Brings extensive experience navigating constitutional law, separation of powers, and accountability mechanisms within government.
Notable Positions & Focus Areas
Protecting democratic institutions through expanded voting access, campaign finance reform, and independent redistricting.
Opposing authoritarian overreach by strengthening congressional oversight, checks and balances, and the rule of law.
Expanding access to affordable healthcare, including Medicare, Medicaid, and ACA subsidies.
Restoring and strengthening food assistance programs such as SNAP and school meals.
Criminal justice reform, including reducing mass incarceration and ending for-profit prisons.
Considerations for Voters
He has not voted in Texas since the 2018 Republican Primary.
According to information found online, his law firm lost its legal right to operate in the state due to failing state compliance (forfeited existence / failing to file or pay franchise taxes) 14 months ago.
He has a habit of doing things at the last minute when it comes to this Congressional race:
He didn’t file to run for office until the last day of the filing period
He didn’t file a Statement of Candidacy with the FEC until January 17, 2026.
He didn’t file a Statement of Organization with the FEC until January 17, 2026.
He didn’t create and publish a website until January 18, 2026.
Despite living in CD 17 for decades, and in Waco since 2010, he is not well-known in local activist spaces.
He openly acknowledges this in his questionnaire responses, stating that he was not as politically engaged as he should have been for many years, describing his legal work as “contribution enough” at the time.
Based on his known presence in activist spaces, he seems to have decided to publicly fight back as recently as December 2025.
While this may show candor and growth, it may also cause voters to question whether someone who only recently decided electoral politics was necessary will show up consistently once the pressure eases or the headlines fade.
Shepard cites Rawls’s “veil of ignorance” as a guiding ethical principle.
However, crafting policy as if identity and power disparities don’t exist can unintentionally minimize the lived realities of marginalized communities.
Voters who prioritize racial equity, disability justice, LGBTQIA+ inclusion, or economic redress may want clearer signals that he understands systemic oppression, not just abstract fairness.
Positions
Democratic Values
Stance:
Casey Shepard frames his candidacy as an active defense of democracy against authoritarian drift, unchecked executive power, and the corrupting influence of money in politics.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Expanding voting access and increasing Democratic participation at every level
Ending soft money, Super PACs, and special-interest dominance
Supporting independent redistricting commissions
Publicly funded campaigns and overturning Citizens United
Strengthening congressional checks on executive power
Approach to Increasing Participation:
Actively encouraging Democrats to run in every contestable race
Partnering with organizations like Contest Every Race
Endorsing and coordinating with Democratic candidates across TX-17
Using modern platforms (TikTok, YouTube) for transparent, two-way engagement
Democratic Norms & Threats Identified:
Erosion of the rule of law
Executive overreach and abuse of temporary appointments
Politicization of the Justice Department
Gerrymandering and voter disillusionment
Notable Emphasis:
Treats Democrats as a resistance movement in the current political moment
Explicit willingness to use impeachment, litigation, and defunding when warranted
Healthcare
Stance:
Healthcare is a fundamental right, and federal programs must be strengthened, not dismantled, to ensure access and affordability.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Restoring and expanding Medicare, Medicaid, and ACA subsidies
Protecting and expanding food assistance programs linked to health outcomes
Addressing consolidated medical markets that raise costs
Reproductive Healthcare:
Protecting bodily autonomy and access to abortion care
Committing to evidence-based policy guided by qualified medical experts
Populations Centered:
Working-class families
Low-income and uninsured Texans
Communities harmed by healthcare monopolies
Relevant Expertise & Preparation:
Legal advocacy for indigent clients navigating healthcare access barriers
Policy background grounded in constitutional and administrative law
Notable Emphasis:
Willingness to rely on expert advisors rather than ideological posturing
Equity & Representation
Stance:
Economic inequality and systemic exploitation of the working poor are central failures that demand federal action.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Raising the federal minimum wage
Restoring benefits for the working poor
Ending for-profit prisons
Reducing mass incarceration
Approach:
Prioritizing lived experience over donor influence
Regular engagement with grassroots and county-level Democratic organizations
Explicit rejection of pay-to-play access
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
15 years representing indigent criminal defendants
Guardian ad litem experience protecting vulnerable individuals
Long-term residence and service in CD-17
Notable Emphasis:
Clear identification of the working poor as a population being actively failed
Economy & Cost of Living
Stance:
The economy should work for people who labor, not punish them for earning too little to survive and too much to qualify for aid.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Raising the federal minimum wage to a livable standard
Expanding SNAP, school meals, and food assistance
Challenging corporate consolidation that drives up costs
Cost-of-Living Focus Areas:
Housing instability
Food deserts
Healthcare affordability
Populations Centered:
Working-class families
Low-wage earners trapped in benefit cliffs
Rural and small-city Texans
Approach to Economic Policy:
Coalition-based legislative action
Willingness to defend unpopular but necessary policies (e.g., subsidies)
Notable Emphasis:
Rejects moralizing poverty; focuses on structural fixes
Texas Issues
Stance:
Texas’s long-term stability depends on fair representation, resilient infrastructure, and honest governance.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Ending gerrymandering through independent commissions
Supporting criminal justice reform and decarceration
Advocating for working communities across urban and rural TX-17
Approach to Climate Resilience:
Not explicitly detailed, but frames infrastructure and stability as federal responsibilities
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
Policy debate background
Constitutional expertise on congressional authority and limits
Notable Emphasis:
Sees fair maps as foundational to every other Texas issue
Education
Stance
Education and civic literacy are essential to a functioning democracy.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Supporting school meals and food access for students
Defending public investment in education
Approach:
Linking education directly to democratic participation
Emphasizing informed voters, not just turnout
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
Debate scholarship and long-term study of government and policy
Notable Emphasis:
Education as democracy infrastructure, not a culture-war issue
Accountability, Ethics, & Leadership
Stance:
Leadership requires moral courage, even when it carries personal or political cost.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Radical transparency in campaign finance
Public accountability for donors and policy decisions
Willingness to impeach and block abusive appointments
Approach:
Guided by Rawls’s veil of ignorance
Grounded in moral frameworks that transcend partisanship
Accepts criticism as inherent to real leadership
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
Legal practice holding government actors accountable
Guardian ad litem case demonstrating personal sacrifice for justice
Notable Emphasis:
Explicit rejection of popularity as a leadership goal
Immigration
Stance:
Immigration policy must be humane, lawful, and grounded in lived reality, not fear.
Humane immigration reform with due process
Reducing ICE’s role in civil enforcement
Supporting pathways to citizenship
Approach:
Human-centered policymaking informed by personal relationships
Rejecting punitive systems that cause generational harm
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
Long-term legal work with marginalized populations
Personal exposure to refugee and immigrant family experiences
Notable Emphasis:
Openly acknowledges growth and learning on the issue
Candidate Qualifications
Stance:
This campaign is operational, strategic, and prepared for confrontation.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Using congressional tools aggressively to defend democracy
Working in coalition with NGOs and grassroots organizations
Relentless oversight of executive abuse
Approach:
Clear-eyed assessment of political reality
Willingness to endure long hours and institutional resistance
Direct, unfiltered communication with constituents
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
Legal expertise in constitutional structure and separation of powers
Policy debate and public speaking background
25 years living and working in TX-17
Notable Emphasis:
“Understands the assignment” energy, not a passive legislator
Scorecard Summary
Our Score: 17/34
Limited alignment with TMK–Indivisible Waco’s core endorsement criteria.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Demonstrates strong alignment with members on core democratic values, including voting access, campaign finance reform, opposition to gerrymandering, reproductive freedom, criminal justice reform, and accountability for abuses of power.
Clearly commits to expanding healthcare access through Medicare, Medicaid, ACA subsidies, and food assistance programs.
Strong values-based opposition to mass incarceration and for-profit prisons.
Positions emphasize structural reform and civil liberties; however, several Texas-specific priority areas (including infrastructure reliability, extreme weather preparedness, veterans’ services, housing policy, and worker protections) are not explicitly addressed in the questionnaire responses provided.
Approach:
Takes an assertive, confrontational approach to defending democratic institutions, emphasizing checks and balances, impeachment, litigation, and congressional oversight.
Willing to take politically unpopular positions when necessary, including standing up to powerful interests and absorbing personal or professional consequences.
Emphasizes coalition-building with grassroots organizations, NGOs, and down-ballot Democratic candidates to increase participation and turnout.
While the approach is principled and clear, some policy areas would benefit from additional specificity around implementation, especially where federal authority intersects with Texas-specific needs.
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
Brings substantial legal experience in indigent criminal defense, with direct, long-term exposure to systemic inequities and due-process failures.
Demonstrates strong understanding of constitutional law, separation of powers, and the oversight role of Congress.
Has extensive experience working with marginalized populations through legal advocacy and nonprofit engagement.
Experience is strongest in legal accountability and democratic governance; less direct professional experience is demonstrated in areas such as education policy, infrastructure, housing, or economic development.
Notable Emphasis:
Strong emphasis on protecting democracy from authoritarian overreach and restoring the rule of law.
Frames public service as a moral obligation rather than a political career, with repeated references to ethical responsibility and civic duty.
Communication style prioritizes clarity, urgency, and moral conviction, which may resonate strongly with engaged voters while offering fewer entry points for voters seeking issue-by-issue policy detail.
