Meet The Candidates: Milah Flores For Texas Congressional District 17

New voices vs. old power in TX17.

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 Milah Flores?

Milah Flores is a military family member, veterans advocate, and Central Texas resident running to represent Texas’ 17th Congressional District. After supporting her husband through a 22-year Army career that required constant relocation and long deployments, Flores and her family chose to retire in District 17 because it felt like home.

Her professional background includes service in Army administration, overseas work with the Air Force, and time as an executive assistant to a US Space Force commander. Today, Flores works as a Financial Assistance Coordinator supporting veterans and their families.

Flores says her decision to run comes from that direct connection to the community. She supports term limits, greater transparency in government, and rebuilding public trust through honest leadership. For Flores, this race isn’t about politics as usual; it’s about closing the gap between what people need and what their government actually delivers.

The district.

TX-17 (US House) is a Central Texas congressional district anchored by McLennan County (Waco) and extending into surrounding rural and small-town counties, including all of Bosque, Falls, Freestone, Hill, Limestone, and McLennan Counties, plus a slice of Bell and Johnson Counties.

Demographically, TX17 is 55.1% Anglo / 44.9% non-Anglo. The district’s breakdown is 6.5% Asian, 12.3% Black, 24.4% Hispanic. Turnout was pretty low in this region in 2024, and it will be key this year, especially in McLennan County.

The incumbent.

Pete Sessions is like a fly at a picnic. He lost one election and just ran for another seat. He doesn’t even live in that district, but Republican voters don’t care. They’ll vote for whoever is screaming the loudest and promising the most destruction.

And old Petey Pete’s time in Congress is full of plenty of destruction. As we just discussed the other day, he’s one of the January 6 dipshits. He was identified in reporting as the unnamed “Congressman 1” referenced in the indictment of two Rudy Giuliani associates (Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman).

And let’s not forget how much of a Christian Nationalist Session is. After the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Sessions refused recognize the victims were LGBTQ+.

He’s 70 years old, a multi-millionaire, and has deep ties to Trump, Russia, and the religious-right. He’s probably running for re-election just for the sport of it.

Milah Flores does have two other primary candidates, J. Gordon-Mitchell and Casey Shephard.

In Milah Flores’ own words.

Below are some questions I asked Flores, based on previous reader polls, along with her answers.

Q: Do you support ending qualified immunity and instituting federal police accountability standards?

Yes.

As someone with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a master's degree in criminal justice with a concentration in Homeland Security, plus a decade working in government service, I'll say what many won't. Qualified immunity has become a shield for bad actors, and it undermines the good officers trying to do their jobs with integrity. Look at what happened right here in Texas with Gabriel Eduardo Olivas.

In 2017, Arlington police responded to a mental health crisis. Gabriel Olivas had doused himself in gasoline and was threatening suicide. One officer explicitly warned the others that if they tased him, he would catch fire. The officers had been trained that tasers should never be used around flammable substances. They tased him anyway. Gabriel burst into flames in front of his wife and son, burned over 85% of his body, and died four days later. The Fifth Circuit granted those officers qualified immunity. Even dissenting Judge Don Willett asked, "In what legal universe is it not even plausibly unreasonable to knowingly immolate someone?"

That's the problem. Qualified immunity lets officers avoid accountability even when they knowingly violate someone's rights. Federal accountability standards are long overdue. We need mandatory de escalation training, duty to intervene requirements, bans on chokeholds and no knock warrants, and real consequences for officers who violate civil rights. These aren't anti police measures. They protect both communities and the officers who serve honorably. Good cops want bad cops gone. Public safety requires accountability, not immunity from it.

Q: Do you support ending U.S. military aid to countries with ongoing human rights abuses, including Israel and Egypt?

Yes.

I watched the genocide in Gaza unfold on television like millions of Americans. We all saw it. Children pulled from rubble. Hospitals bombed. Entire families erased. And our government kept sending weapons and our tax dollars to make it possible. That's not complicated. That's complicity.

I've spent over a decade working alongside the military, including a deployment to the Middle East with the Air Force in 2023. I understand security concerns and regional complexity. But there's nothing complex about using U.S. weapons to kill tens of thousands of civilians. There's nothing complex about funding a government that's systematically destroying an entire population. We watched a genocide happen in real time while our politicians looked away, made excuses, or actively cheered it on.

No country should receive U.S. military aid while committing human rights abuses, whether that's Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or anyone else. Our values mean nothing if we only apply them when convenient. We can't lecture the world about human rights while bankrolling governments that violate them.

Israel's government does not represent Jewish values of justice and dignity. Criticizing a government's actions isn't antisemitism. It's moral clarity. Palestinians are human beings deserving of the same rights, safety, and dignity as anyone else. When our tax dollars fund atrocities, we're responsible.

I refuse to be silent while American weapons kill children. Congress must condition all military aid on human rights compliance and immediately end support for governments committing war crimes. Our money. Our responsibility.

Q: Should the U.S. demilitarize the southern border and repeal harmful immigration policies?

Yes.

I've worked years for the government and I'll tell you what they don't teach in those textbooks: militarizing the border doesn't make us safer. It makes us crueler while accomplishing nothing.

The border isn't a war zone, and treating it like one has turned it into a humanitarian disaster while wasting billions of taxpayer dollars. Families are being separated, children are dying in custody, and asylum seekers fleeing violence are met with more violence. This isn't security. This is theater designed to dehumanize people.

Real border security means processing asylum claims efficiently, investing in ports of entry, addressing root causes of migration, and treating people with dignity. It doesn't mean deploying troops, building walls that don't work, or letting people die in the desert. Every dollar spent on militarization is a dollar not spent on actual solutions.

Immigration policies like Title 42, family separation, and asylum restrictions are morally bankrupt and strategically stupid. They don't stop migration. They make it more dangerous and push people into the hands of cartels. I've studied homeland security threats extensively. Desperate migrants aren't the threat. Failed policy that creates chaos is the threat.

We need comprehensive immigration reform with pathways to citizenship, humane asylum processes, and an end to detention centers that operate like prisons. Texas border communities deserve better than being treated like battlegrounds. Immigrants deserve to be treated like human beings.

Q: Should Congress ban corporate PAC money and implement public campaign financing?

Yes.

I believe in complete transparency. If you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't be afraid of public campaign financing. Corporations shouldn't be buying our politicians. That's exactly how we got into this mess where massive corporations write their own tax laws and pay zero while working families get hammered.

Look at our current system. Pharmaceutical companies donate millions to politicians, then those same politicians vote against letting Medicare negotiate drug prices. Oil companies bankroll campaigns, then get billions in subsidies while climate change destroys communities. Defense contractors fund both parties, then we're perpetually at war. This isn't democracy. It's legalized bribery.

Corporate PAC money corrupts everything it touches. Politicians spend more time dialing for dollars than listening to constituents. They answer to donors, not voters. When corporations can buy access and influence, regular people lose every single time. Our laws reflect corporate interests because corporations paid for the lawmakers.

Public campaign financing levels the playing field. Every candidate gets the same resources to make their case directly to voters. No more groveling to billionaires. No more policy positions shaped by who writes the biggest checks. Just candidates, ideas, and voters deciding based on merit.

I don't want corporate money. I want to represent people, not profit margins. Congress must ban corporate PACs and implement public financing so we can finally have a government that works for citizens instead of shareholders. Democracy isn't for sale, but we need to stop pretending it's not being auctioned off.

Q: Should Congress investigate and take action against far-right extremism, including the role of sitting lawmakers in January 6 and other anti-democracy efforts?

Yes
.
Any American who saw what went down on January 6th knows exactly what it was: an attempted coup. I was in Germany during January 6th, and we watched live on CNN deep into the night with awe and fear about what this meant. We watched in horror as a mob attacked our Capitol, beat police officers, and tried to overturn an election. And now the current regime honors these people by pardoning them, many who have recidivated again including crimes against children and violent crimes. The government is trying to gaslight us into thinking January 6th wasn't as bad as it was. We all saw it. We know what happened.

Here are the facts they want you to ignore: Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed over 520 murders in 227 attacks. Right-wing extremist violence accounts for 75 to 80% of all domestic terrorism deaths since 2001. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security have repeatedly identified white supremacists as the top domestic terrorism threat. Yet the Trump administration removed a 2024 Justice Department study showing white supremacist violence "continues to outpace all other types of terrorism." They're lying to us while we watch far-right terrorists kill people with our own eyes.

Congress must investigate and take action against far-right extremism, including sitting lawmakers who aided the insurrection. Members gave reconnaissance tours, voted to overturn legitimate results even after violence, and continue spreading the same lies. This isn't political disagreement. This is sedition. Democracy cannot survive when one party refuses to accept election results and uses violence to seize power. Accountability isn't optional.

Bonus Question: What does being a Democrat mean to you in 2026?

Being a Democrat in 2026 means standing ten toes down when everyone expects you to fall.

We took a hit when Kamala Harris lost. That’s real. But that loss didn’t break us. It woke us up. Democrats have filled every big seat in the upcoming midterms because we remembered who we are. We’re the party that doesn’t quit when things get hard. We fight harder.

Being a Democrat means I will never stop fighting for working families, for healthcare as a right, for women’s bodily autonomy, for climate action, for racial justice, for LGBTQIA+ rights. It means standing with every marginalized community. Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, immigrant, trans, queer, disabled. Every single person who’s been told they don’t matter. You matter. Your voice matters. And I will fight like hell to make sure you’re heard.
Republicans gerrymandered TX-17 specifically to silence voices like ours. They drew these district lines to make sure people who want real change can’t get representation. That’s not democracy. That’s suppression. Being a Democrat in 2026 means I’m running in a rigged district anyway because our voices will not be silenced by maps drawn in back rooms to protect power.

Republicans want us demoralized. They want us to give up, compromise our values, play defense. That’s over. Being a Democrat means offense. It means showing up everywhere, including districts they think they own through gerrymandering.

I’ve processed financial assistance for veterans who deserve better. I’ve been denied my own healthcare decisions. I’ve watched genocide funded with my tax dollars. I’ve seen January 6th insurrectionists pardoned. Being a Democrat means I refuse to accept any of that as normal. A loss doesn’t define us. How we respond does. We’re standing ten toes down, and we’re winning in 2026.

TX17 is not short on contrasts.

On one side is an entrenched incumbent who has treated public office like a traveling roadshow, popping up wherever a seat opens, insulated by money, gerrymandering, and a party that no longer pretends to value democracy. On the other is a first-time congressional candidate whose politics are shaped lived experience.

Milah Flores is clear about what she believes, who she is accountable to, and why she’s in this race. Whether TX17 is “winnable” on paper misses the point. Districts don’t change because they’re easy. They change because people decide they’re worth fighting for. This series exists to introduce you to the people willing to do that work, to name what’s broken, and to ask whether Texas deserves better representation than what it’s been settling for.

Meet the candidates. Learn the districts. Pay attention. The stakes aren’t theoretical anymore.

You can find out more about Milah Flores on her website, Instagram, and Twitter.

• February 2, 2026: Last Day to Register to Vote

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