Meet The Candidates: Julie Evans For Texas House District 64
Public schools, rent pressure, and a gerrymandered seat.
This series is called Meet The Candidates. Over the next eleven months, I’ll spotlight a handful of Democratic races each month, mainly in the Legislature and in Congress. These aren’t endorsements. They’re introductions, a way to understand who’s running, the districts they hope to represent, and what’s at stake for people across Texas.
Who is Julie Evans?
Julie Evans was born in Corsicana to a third-generation Cajun railroad family. She grew up in Mildred ISD, earned her associate degree at Navarro College, and completed her studies at UNT. She followed her husband’s Navy career across the country, raised three kids, and eventually put down roots in Denton County.
For more than two decades, Evans volunteered in public schools, supported student activities, and invested in the people who keep communities functioning. When her youngest started high school, she stepped into the classroom herself as a Special Education substitute teacher, work that is hard, underpaid, and essential. She saw firsthand how policy choices made in Austin land on real kids and real families.
Now retired, Evans is running because she believes the government should work for people who actually live in Denton, the families, educators, and communities.
The district.
HD64 is a fast-growing, majority-Anglo, outer-metro/exurban district split between Wise County and a slice of Denton County. It’s a mish-mash right now because you have deep-red small-town Wise, and then more diverse Denton County pockets that behave differently and are the obvious place where a Democrat can expand.
In the Denton County portion, the big driver is Denton (city), plus Krum, and parts of Sanger. In Wise County, the key places will be Bridgeport, Decatur, Boyd, Rhome, and others. This matters because Democrats’ persuasion + turnout plan will not be the same in Bridgeport/Decatur as it is in the Denton/Krum slice. The district is one seat, but it behaves like two political universes.
The demographics here are 64% Anglo, 21% Hispanic, 9% Black, and 3 % Asian. It’s also a heavy commuter district. If you’re talking cost-of-living, you’re also talking gas, tolls, and commute time. Poverty in this district is 13.8% (right at the Texas average), and the per capita income is $37,953.
The Average gross rent is $1,397. Rent burden is a flashing red light, 45.7% of renters are paying 35%+ of income on rent (that’s extremely high). The affordability pressure in this district is very real, especially for renters.
Education and healthcare are the biggest employment sectors in this district, so public school issues, special ed staffing, healthcare access, and insurance costs hit home.
The incumbent.
The best way I can sum up who Representative Andy Hopper (R) would be through a previous article I wrote, “Texas Republican Andy Hopper Has No Idea How Taxes Work.”
I wrote that not long after Hopper claimed that “In his Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx included property tax as one of the taxes that would erase wealth forever.” Which was a lie. Then he made a libertarian-ideologically-heavy video about taxes, showing he had no clue how taxes worked in Texas. Honestly, Hopper is an embarrassment to the Texas government.
Side note. If you want to understand economic policy across the ENTIRE spectrum and how to talk about economic policy that isn't your own, the recommended reading list:
Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels: The Communist Manifesto
Friedrich A. Hayek: The Road to Serfdom
Ayn Rand: Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal
John Maynard Keynes: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
Regardless, Hopper said words about tax policy that he thought would sound good to his voters, although none of them made any sense. And when Hopper isn’t busy embarrassing himself on social media, he’s in Austin, letting Democrats embarrass him:
Hopper is the product of Republican gerrymandering, but he isn’t invincible.
In Julie Evan’s own words.
Below are some questions I asked Evans, based on previous reader polls, along with her answers.
Q: Do you support a statewide minimum wage increase to at least $15/hour?
Yes! This is more important than ever, and that’s saying something. This is not just about earning a living wage anymore, it’s about staying out of poverty. It’s about being able to feed you and your family. And it’s common sense. The more money we bring in, the more we are able to put back into our communities.
Q: Do you oppose school vouchers and efforts to privatize public education?
Yes! As a retired educator, this is incredibly close to my heart. Andy Hopper’s desire to dismantle the TEA is nothing short of catastrophic. Every Texan should know their child is going to a thriving, well-funded school.
They should be reassured that their child is getting a good breakfast to learn on a full stomach.
Taking money away from rural and urban areas to fund already over-funded private education will widen the gap between us and states that are moving forward in education.
Q: Should Texas guarantee free school meals to all K–12 students, regardless of income?
Yes. That’s it. That’s the entire answer.
I taught K-5 in a Title One school, and I can tell you, kids are trying to learn on an empty stomach. These are students for whom breakfast is the first meal they’ve had since they left school the day before. I have seen students take food from the trashcan so they can have food later. That’s a travesty, and forcing through food control legislation prohibiting any free meal at school is one of the most disgusting displays of policy over people I’ve ever seen.
Q: Should Texas end tax breaks and regulatory loopholes for oil and gas companies, including exemptions from emissions reporting and waste disposal standards?
Yes. 1960 called and they want their rulebook back! Oil and gas have been the backbone of the Texas economy forever. It’s part of what makes our state so unique.
But they don’t need extra loopholes to make billions of dollars. They don’t need exemptions so that Texans can have clean water and clean waterways.
One of the reasons we are paying through the roof on our utility bills is because they are dismissing the solar and wind power companies, so that electricity and gas are the only means of powering our houses. That means our electric companies have to push on that extra cost to us, Texas consumers.
Q: Do you support automatic voter registration and same-day registration in Texas?
Yes. Any time you can get a person instantly registered, it’s a good thing for democracy. If you are a Texas citizen, you should be able to vote whenever and wherever you can.
Bonus Question: What does being a Democrat mean to you in 2026?
Right now, nothing less than our way of life is on the line. Being a Democrat right now is tantamount to holding up the flag in April 1775…we are in a fight for our very democracy. Right now, everything is being WEAPONIZED against us: legislation, environmental laws, food prices, immoral immigration practices, starving our families, and creating an environment where we can’t even get affordable healthcare.
HD64 was drawn to protect Republicans, and Andy Hopper is the kind of incumbent who benefits from that design.
But gerrymandered does not mean untouchable, and it certainly doesn’t mean uncontested.
What Evans brings to this race isn’t flash or ideological cosplay. It’s lived experience in public schools, in special education classrooms, in military families, and in communities that feel policy decisions long before politicians ever do. In a district where rent is climbing, commutes are long, classrooms are stretched thin, and healthcare costs are squeezing working families, those experiences matter.
You can learn more about Julie Evans on her website, Instagram, Threads, and Facebook.
February 2, 2026: Last Day to Register to Vote
February 17, 2026: First Day to Early Vote
March 3, 2026: Primary Election
Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.
LoneStarLeft is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Follow me on Facebook, TikTok, Threads, YouTube, and Instagram.
Thank you, Michelle! Great info in a tough situation, but she sounds great! I'm running late tonite-- but just shared on Bsky.
I don’t know this area at all. Well, Decatur, and Bridgeport, etc. Only Denton. So it looks terrifying to me. I wish her a lot of luck.
As a retired teacher I keep thinking “Without good public education what kind of employees are we going to have? What kind of Medical Staff, will we have? I’m thinking nursing homes where they hire a lot of CNAs, LVNs and LPNs?”
It is even a bad idea to have a custodian that can’t read. They all need to be able to read the chemicals to clean. Maybe it will all be done by AI! 🤦🏽♀️
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 these people are carrying like a true Blue Democrats. They tend to care a little more about people.