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Marcos Velez
- Dec 24, 2025
- 9 min read
Updated: Jan 30
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.
Marcos Velez
Texas Lieutenant Governor
Endorsed by Those Meddling Kids - Indivisible Waco
“It's time we elect leaders who know what a hard day's work is. I've spent my adult life fighting for working Texans because I am one, and as your Lieutenant Governor, that's exactly what I'll keep doing.”
Candidate Overview
Background
Blue collar Texas worker and labor leader
Raised in Houston by a single mom
Worked in Texas refineries after high school
Mission:
To build a Texas that honors the people who keep it moving every single day and to ensure that every family has a fair shot at a decent life, because Texans deserve a government that values work, strengthens families, protects seniors, supports public schools and teachers, and defends rural communities.
Relevant Experience
Joined the United Steelworkers, where he has spent more than a decade bargaining with major corporations for safer conditions, fair pay, and stronger benefits.
His advocacy for working people has taken place in both the private and public sectors and across nearly every major industry including oil, paper, rubber, glass, and manufacturing.
Advocated for labor at the national level, including by participating in the White House Summit focused on strengthening the American workforce and serving on various labor councils.
He has spent years volunteering in nonprofit initiatives and community efforts that support families in need, including organizing disaster relief, assisting workers in crisis, spreading holiday cheer to the less fortunate, or building training programs for youth and underrepresented workers
Notable Positions & Focus Areas
Raise wages and rebuild the middle class.
Fully fund public schools and pay teachers like the professionals they are. Strong schools build strong communities.
Rural Texas should not be sacrificed for profit.
Lowering costs for Texas families
Good functional government that works for the People, not for corporate donors
Protecting the American Dream
Protecting Texas seniors
Considerations for Voters
His website includes a section that explains what the Lt. Gov does, and we love that he's educating voters about that. It also shows that he has a thorough understand of what he's signing up for.
Positions
Democratic Values
Stance:
Views democracy as more than elections. It requires trust, transparency, and meaningful access for every eligible voter. He emphasizes respect for election outcomes, the rule of law, and opposition to using state power to intimidate voters or political opponents.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Expanding early voting and polling locations
Clear, accurate, multilingual voter education
Opposing restrictive voting laws framed as “security” measures
Supporting ranked-choice voting
Strengthening checks and balances
Holding elected officials accountable for abuses of power
Supporting term limits at the state level
Approach to Increasing Participation:
Use the agenda-setting power of the office to prioritize pro-voter legislation
Elevate hearings on election access
Work directly with civic organizations to identify and address barriers faced by Texas voters.
Democratic Norms & Threats Identified:
Identifies the erosion of democratic norms in Texas as a central concern, pointing specifically to restrictive voting laws, lack of transparency in election administration, and the concentration of power within state leadership
Names the peaceful transfer of power, respect for election outcomes, and legislative transparency as the norms most at risk
Frames the current state administration as a direct threat to democratic accountability and commits to using the Lieutenant Governor’s agenda-setting authority to elevate pro-voter legislation, reject false election claims, and reinforce procedural fairness, even when doing so is politically inconvenient.
Notable Emphasis:
Velez identifies the current state leadership as the most significant threat to democracy in Texas and commits to publicly defending democratic norms even when doing so is politically inconvenient.
Healthcare
Stance:
Supports expanding healthcare access and treating addiction and public health challenges as policy issues, not moral failures.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Expanding access to affordable healthcare
Viewing addiction as a public health issue
Supporting cannabis legalization and ending criminal penalties for possession
Investing in treatment, housing stability, and preventative care
Reproductive Healthcare:
Supports protecting bodily autonomy and access to reproductive healthcare as a fundamental right
While he does not frame healthcare primarily through reproductive justice language, he explicitly opposes government interference in personal medical decisions and supports policies that expand access, affordability, and evidence-based care
His broader healthcare stance centers on treating healthcare as a public good rather than a profit-driven system.
Populations Centered:
Centers working families, low-income Texans, rural communities, students, and people historically excluded from policymaking
Frames healthcare access as inseparable from economic security and workforce stability, emphasizing that policy failures disproportionately harm those without financial or political power.
Relevant Expertise & Preparation:
While he plans to rely on advisors for healthcare financing, his exposure to labor benefits negotiations and firsthand accounts from affected individuals inform his policy perspective.
Notable Emphasis:
Emphasizes listening to lived experience and relying on subject matter experts for complex healthcare financing decisions, particularly Medicaid policy.
Explicitly acknowledges evolving his views through listening — highlighting adaptability and willingness to learn.
Equity & Representation
Stance:
Velez emphasizes that leadership must prioritize communities that are routinely overlooked or excluded from policymaking. He centers his work on ensuring that working families, rural communities, and marginalized Texans have meaningful input in decisions that affect their lives.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Advocate for equitable funding, infrastructure investment, and policies that address real community needs rather than symbolic politics.
Build partnerships with trusted local organizations, nonprofits, small businesses, and constituency groups to ensure diverse voices shape policy.
Elevate workers, educators, parents, and communities historically excluded from decision-making.
Address systemic barriers and ensure marginalized populations are not left behind in state policy or resource allocation.
Approach:
Listen first to those most affected by decisions before setting policy priorities.
Conduct intentional outreach to ensure inclusion, meeting people where they are and valuing lived experience alongside technical expertise.
Foster collaboration with grassroots organizations as partners, not just as a tool for voter mobilization.
Commit to transparent, plain-language communication accessible to all constituents, including non-English speakers.
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
Union leadership and labor advocacy, negotiating on behalf of workers across industries.
Community volunteer work and nonprofit initiatives supporting families, youth, and underrepresented workers.
Hands-on experience in disaster response, ensuring support reaches those most affected.
Extensive collaboration with civic and community organizations to understand and amplify diverse perspectives.
Notable Emphasis:
Equity in leadership is a deliberate, actionable commitment, not a talking point.
Decisions should be informed by lived experience, not filtered through donors or political insiders.
Inclusion strengthens policy outcomes and community trust, ensuring that government works for everyone, not just the privileged few.
Economy & Cost of Living
Stance:
Velez centers his economic platform on improving the financial security of working Texans and reducing the cost of basic necessities in a state with one of the largest economies in the world. He prioritizes economic security for working Texans, ensuring state policy works for families, not billionaires or corporate interests.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Lowering costs for housing, food, transportation, healthcare, and childcare
Ensuring a living wage for full-time workers
Reducing student debt and expanding affordable post-secondary pathways
Closing corporate loopholes and prioritizing the 99% over billionaires
Supporting unions and collective bargaining
Investing in rural economies through local procurement
Cost-of-Living Focus Areas:
Housing affordability
Food and transportation costs
Healthcare affordability
Childcare access
Reducing student debt burdens
Populations Centered:
Centers working-class Texans, union workers, educators, students, rural communities, and families living paycheck to paycheck
He explicitly rejects policies that prioritize billionaires, corporate giveaways, or donor-driven economics.
Approach to Economic Policy:
Frames economic policy as outcomes-based, arguing that good policy should be judged by whether families can afford necessities, maintain healthcare, and plan for the future — not by corporate profits or ideological wins.
Notable Emphasis:
Strongly rejects “corporate giveaways” and positions workforce policy — especially apprenticeships — as a tool for economic mobility and community stability.
Texas Issues
Stance:
Positions himself as a corrective to what he describes as a deeply disconnected Texas government. He emphasizes accountability, transparency, and restoring government responsiveness to everyday Texans.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Fully funding public education and tying teacher pay to administrative compensation
Expanding state-approved apprenticeships
Supporting Texas-based agriculture and rural economies
Reducing corporate influence in state policymaking
Advocating term limits for state offices
Approach to Climate Resilience:
Resilience focuses on rural sustainability, disaster preparedness, and food system stability
He connects climate impacts directly to state governance failures and infrastructure neglect.
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
His background in union leadership, labor negotiations, and disaster response provides hands-on experience with how state policy affects workers, schools, and local economies.
Notable Emphasis:
Consistently emphasizes buying local, investing public dollars locally, and governing for outcomes rather than ideology.
Education
Stance
Views public education and workforce development as inseparable from economic justice and community strength.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Fully funding public schools
Raising educator pay and tying it to administrator compensation
Expanding state-approved apprenticeship programs
Aligning workforce policy with family-sustaining jobs
Protecting public education from ideological interference
Approach:
Emphasizes structural accountability (particularly pay equity)
Argues that the Lieutenant Governor’s role in approving apprenticeships can be leveraged to expand career pathways beyond traditional college tracks.
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
His union leadership background includes workforce development, contract negotiations, and advocating for job training tied to real labor market needs.
Notable Emphasis:
Consistently frames education funding as both an economic and moral obligation, not a discretionary budget item.
Accountability, Ethics, & Leadership
Stance:
Velez frames leadership as a combination of personal responsibility, ethical integrity, and practical problem-solving. He emphasizes listening first, learning from mistakes, and ensuring that the voices of marginalized and underrepresented communities shape policy decisions.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Owns mistakes and learns from them to improve governance and decision-making.
Commits to transparency in policy priorities and campaign funding.
Prioritizes accountability at every level of government, including his own office.
Ensures that marginalized communities have meaningful input in agenda-setting and policy decisions.
Makes decisions guided by principle, even when politically inconvenient.
Approach:
Consults directly with affected communities before finalizing policy decisions.
Balances stakeholder input with evidence-based data and expert guidance.
Remains open to constructive criticism and adapts when appropriate.
Maintains a practical, outcomes-focused mindset in leadership, rather than ideological posturing.
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
Over a decade of labor leadership, negotiating contracts and advocating for workers’ rights in high-pressure contexts.
Hands-on disaster response and crisis management, making rapid decisions that directly impact public safety.
Extensive community volunteer work, including nonprofit initiatives, youth training programs, and assistance for families in need.
Experience participating in national-level policy discussions, including White House Summit on workforce development.
Notable Emphasis:
Leadership is about service, not ego—Velez emphasizes results that directly benefit communities over political optics.
Ethical and accountable governance is inseparable from practical leadership; policy must reflect transparency, fairness, and responsiveness.
Demonstrates courage and maturity in decision-making, particularly when choices are unpopular but necessary for the greater good.
Immigration
Stance:
Supports humane immigration reform that prioritizes due process and limits the role of ICE in civil immigration enforcement.
Humane immigration policies
Reducing the role of ICE in civil enforcement
Defending civil liberties and due process
Protecting separation of church and state
Approach:
Policy grounded in dignity, constitutional protections, and real-world impacts on families and communities.
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
His advocacy work and emphasis on inclusion shape his approach to civil rights and institutional accountability.
Notable Emphasis:
Consistently rejects ideology-driven governance in favor of practical, rights-based solutions.
Candidate Qualifications
Stance:
Velez is a working Texan with decades of labor and community advocacy experience, giving him first-hand understanding of how policy affects everyday families.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Centering labor, workforce policy, and economic security
Managing legislative power responsibly
Elevating marginalized voices in agenda-setting
Approach:
His leadership philosophy emphasizes listening first, negotiation, transparency, and knowing when to hold firm under pressure.
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
Union collective bargaining
Labor and workforce policy
Apprenticeship development
Disaster response and crisis leadership
Notable Emphasis:
He differentiates himself from career politicians by emphasizing lived experience over theoretical policy expertise.
Scorecard Summary
Our Score: 33/34
Strong alignment with TMK–Indivisible Waco’s values around democracy, labor, equity, and accountability, with particular strength in economic justice and democratic norms.
Key Positions & Commitments:
Pro-voter, pro-democracy agenda
Strong labor and workforce focus
Opposition to corporate dominance in politics
Support for bodily autonomy, cannabis legalization, and humane immigration policy
Approach:
He favors practical, evidence-based governance rooted in lived experience and community partnership rather than ideological signaling.
Relevant Experience & Expertise:
His background in union leadership and crisis response provides credibility in governance, negotiation, and accountability.
Notable Emphasis:
Velez consistently frames policy through the lens of working people, transparency, and long-term structural change, positioning himself as a serious, movement-aligned candidate rather than a symbolic one.
