Meet The Candidates: Tanya Lloyd For Texas Congressional District 27

A community candidate versus a Washington ideologue.

This series is called Meet The Candidates. Over the next six 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 Tanya Lloyd?

Tanya Lloyd is a public school teacher, a rural Texan, and someone whose politics are rooted in lived experience. She grew up on a farm outside Lockhart, raised by educators and a grandmother rooted in civil rights work, in a family that built what they had by hand.

That background shows up in how she talks about policy. She’s spent nearly two decades teaching in public schools, most of that time in Title I classrooms, where she’s watched families stretch paychecks, kids come to school hungry, and systems fail the people they’re supposed to serve. That’s something that shapes how you see everything.

Before becoming a teacher, she worked in car dealerships, accounting, and real estate, then went back to school at 33 as a nontraditional student to earn her degree. It puts her in a different category than the career politicians and attorneys who dominate most ballots. She’s lived in the in-between spaces, where stability isn’t guaranteed and where one life event can shift everything.

And for Lloyd, that shift came during a high-risk pregnancy. She’s open about having support, and that not everyone does. That experience sharpened her views on reproductive rights and healthcare access in a way that feels grounded in reality.

At her core, Tanya Lloyd is a community-rooted candidate. She’s spent decades embedded in Lockhart, raising a family, volunteering across schools, churches, and local organizations, and building relationships that go beyond campaign cycles. She’s not dropping into the district to run. She’s already been there, doing the work, long before her name was on a ballot.

The district.

TX27 is a cluster of counties stretching from the Gulf Coast to Central Texas. It’s flippable, but we need to be honest about what kind of district this is

Under this map, TX27 is a majority non-Anglo district, but not automatically a Democratic one. The district is 44% Anglo and 56% non-Anglo overall, with Hispanic residents making up 44.6% of the total population. But the voting-age population gets whiter. 48.2% Anglo, 51.8% non-Anglo, and 40.5% Hispanic.

That matters because the path to flipping TX27 is not “wait for demographics to save us.” Democrats have been doing that in Texas for twenty years, and it has not worked. The path is turnout, persuasion, and trust-building in communities that are often talked about during election season and then ignored until the next one.

TX27 also has a turnout problem (just like every other district). In 2024, the district had 514,361 registered voters, but only 325,157 people turned out. In 2022, turnout dropped to 234,248. That means there are tens of thousands of voters sitting out these elections, and in a district this competitive, those missing voters are the ballgame.

So what would it take to flip TX-27?

It starts with rebuilding the Democratic brand in rural and small-town Texas. With a candidate who can talk about hospitals closing, schools being underfunded, grocery prices, water, wages, land, agriculture, and reproductive freedom in a way that sounds rooted in people’s actual lives. That is where Tanya Lloyd’s “American Rural Revival” message could matter. Her pitch is not just “vote blue.” It is about rural communities being drained by corporate power, state neglect, and a political system that has treated them as disposable.

But she would also need a serious field operation. TX27 cannot be flipped from social media alone. It would require voter registration, Spanish-language outreach, church/community networks, labor and educator organizing, and repeated face-to-face contact in the places Democrats usually underfund. The voters are there. The question is whether anyone is willing to do the slow work of turning them into reliable voters.

The district is not easy. But it is not hopeless.

The incumbent.

I know you’re expecting me to say something nice about the Republican incumbent and Louisiana-native, Michael Cloud, but I honestly can’t think of anything. Cloud signed onto the Texas v. Pennsylvania lawsuit trying to overturn the 2020 election, so he basically hates America. He also objected to certifying the Electoral College results, voted against a Jan. 6 commission, and continued to push unproven fraud claims after the election.

Cloud is a Freedom Caucus–aligned, hardline conservative with a voting record and public positions that are way to the right of where TX27 actually is demographically and economically. He has explicitly supported a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion.

His ideology pushes for shrinking government and opposing expansion of federal programs, which has directly led to his district’s rural hospital closures, high uninsured rates, and long travel distances for care.

Ironically, for a district that is 44% Hispanic, Cloud leans heavily into culture war framing around immigration enforcement positions.

In Tanya Lloyd’s own words.

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

Q: Do you support a Green New Deal or similar large-scale federal climate action plan?

I support large-scale federal climate action because I believe the scientific consensus on climate change is real, and we need solutions that fit the scale of the problem. Texas should lead the way in the global energy transition to secure our economic future. I support an “All of the Above” energy strategy that creates high-paying jobs in solar, wind, hydrogen, and geothermal energy while ensuring our traditional energy sectors remain the cleanest and most efficient in the world.

Q: Should Congress pass a federal $17/hour minimum wage, indexed to inflation?

I support raising the minimum wage (and indexing it to inflation) to ensure that any Texan working a full-time job can actually afford to live in the community where they work. It’s time we stop subsidizing the poverty wages of billion-dollar corporations with our tax dollars. We must implement this change in a way that protects our small businesses, the backbone of our economy, by pairing it with both targeted tax relief and a phase-in time to help adjust to higher labor costs.

Q: Do you support universal, publicly funded healthcare?

I believe every American deserves the security of knowing a medical emergency won’t lead to bankruptcy, which is why I support moving toward a universal system like Medicare for All. Our current private insurance racket too often allows corporate interests to prioritize profits over patients, leaving Texas families burdened by soaring premiums and arbitrary coverage denials. We must stop allowing insurance middlemen to gatekeep our health; whether through a robust public option or a single-payer model, healthcare must be a guaranteed right that puts patients above executive bonuses.

Q: Would you support major tax reform, including raising taxes on billionaires and large corporations?

I support a fair tax code that rewards hard work, and that includes progressive taxation. The current tax code is a rigged game where the ultra-wealthy use high-priced lobbyists to shift their tax burden onto the backs of working Texans. By closing loopholes used by the ultra-wealthy and ensuring multinational corporations pay their fair share, we can reduce the tax burden on middle-class families and small business owners.

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

We need a border that is both secure and humane, moving away from reactive chaos toward an orderly, rule-based system. I support investing in modern technology and increased personnel to stop illegal trafficking while streamlining legal pathways for the workers our Texas economy desperately needs. If elected, I will fight to ensure immigration enforcement does not trample on basic constitutional rights. We must hold DHS and ICE leadership accountable for abuses of power with congressional hearings and prosecutions. No more secret police.

Bonus Question: Who are your political role models, living or dead?

I look to leaders like Barbara Jordan, who defended the Constitution with unmatched integrity, and Lyndon B. Johnson, who understood that the government’s greatest purpose is to expand opportunity. They showed that Texas leaders can be bold, pragmatic, and fiercely committed to the common good.

The point is, TX-27 is exactly the kind of district that tells you whether Democrats are serious about competing in Texas.

Because nothing about this district says it has to stay red forever. The demographics don’t. The turnout numbers definitely don’t. And the gap between what people in this district are dealing with and what they’re getting out of Washington is wide enough to drive a campaign through.

But none of that matters if no one does the work.

That means showing up in places Democrats have written off. It means talking to voters who haven’t been contacted in years. It means making a case that connects to people’s lives. The basics that actually decide elections, not whatever is trending online that week.

Tanya Lloyd is making a pitch rooted in that reality. Whether it’s enough will depend on what happens next, not just from her campaign, but from everyone who claims they want Texas to change.

Because flipping TX-27 isn’t about one candidate.

It’s about whether we’re finally willing to treat districts like this as winnable, and then act like it.

You can learn more about Tanya Lloyd on her website, Bluesky, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok.

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