Meet The Candidates: TJ Ware For Texas Congressional District 24
A Marine, a reform agenda, and a district ready for something different.
This series is called Meet The Candidates. Over the next twelve 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 TJ Ware?
TJ Ware grew up in a blue-collar Fort Worth family, was on job sites at 14, graduated high school at 16, and was working in the US Attorney’s Office before he even turned 17. He was there on 9/11, but inside the Justice Department as the country changed around him. Within months, he enlisted in the Marine Corps.
Ware spent his 18th birthday at basic training and deployed to Iraq shortly after getting married. His unit held the line in western Iraq during some of the heaviest rocket and mortar attacks of the insurgency. Coming home was its own battle, and he’s open about that. He credits the Dallas VA with saving his life and has built much of his political worldview around the idea that if the country asks people to go to war, it owes them genuine care when they come home.
After the Marines, Ware used the GI Bill to become a licensed pilot, worked with nonprofit and missionary groups, and helped build small businesses across multiple states. His most defining chapter, though, came in the roofing and insurance world, where he witnessed corporate abuse of homeowners after natural disasters. Ware became a national advocate for policyholders, advising industry associations, meeting with attorneys general, and pushing for consumer-first reforms. He also co-founded a North Texas data company serving the roofing and insurance sectors.
At home, Ware and his wife are raising ten children, ages three to twenty-one, and he wears that as part of his political identity. He’s running because he sees the country’s cracks from the ground level. And he believes the fight for democracy, honesty in government, and economic fairness is personal, because his kids, and everyone else’s, will inherit whatever we fail to fix.
The district.
(Yes, this is the new map.) TX24 is the classic “between Dallas and Fort Worth” suburban seat. It hugs the Dallas–Tarrant county line and takes in places like Irving, Coppell, Farmers Branch, Carrollton, Grapevine, Bedford, Hurst, Euless, Colleyville, Southlake, Keller, Roanoke, the Park Cities, and chunks of north Fort Worth. It’s almost entirely urban/suburban.
Demographically, this is a high-income, college-educated district. Median household income is around $115k–$120k, and the median age is just under 40. This district is roughly 60% Anglo and 40% non-Anglo overall, with about 18% Hispanic, 9% Asian, and 9% Black (Black plus Hispanic at about 26%).
Politically, Republicans built themselves a cushion here. Under the current lines, the Cook PVI is about R+7. On the ground, that translates into a district where Democrats are competitive numerically but Republicans start every race with a structural advantage baked into the lines.
The incumbent.
I went into depth recently on how horrible Beth Van Duyne (R) is in another recent “Meet the Candidate” article for TX24. However, I will tell you this. There was a young and brilliant 14-year-old child in the Irving School District in 2015; his name was Ahmed. Ahmed built a clock, and a racist, hick police officer arrested Ahmed for building a clock, suspecting it was a bomb, because Ahmed was Muslim.
What unfolded in Irving after that, while Van Duyne was mayor, was the 2015 wave of Muslim panic that first swept through Texas, then through the nation. And it all started in Irving. And Van Duyne? She sided with the racists.
As a result of this, Ahmed’s family was chased out of Texas, several mosques in Texas were burnt down, and we saw a sharp rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes across the state. Since Van Duyne has been in office, she has maintained positions of both ignorance and hate, often spreading misinformation, lies, and fear about targeted minority groups. This was just last month:
Anyway, in a nutshell, that’s who Van Duyne is.
In TJ Ware’s own words.
Below are some questions I asked Ware, based on previous reader polls, along with his answers.
Q: Do you support a Green New Deal or similar large-scale federal climate action plan?
Yes. Especially now with these Big Tech Companies setting up AI mega centers in populated areas. Elon Musk is building the world’s largest AI supercomputer in Memphis, which leads to surging energy costs and contributes to global warming. While AI has great potential, I am hesitant to go all in on it so quickly, especially if it comes at the cost of the environment.
Q: Would you support major tax reform, including raising taxes on billionaires and large corporations?
Big time. This goes hand in hand with campaign finance reform. So long as we allow big moneyed interests in our political system, we will be doomed to have another repeat of 2016 and 2024. This should be at the top of every elected official’s list. Period.
Q: Do you support ending US military aid to countries with ongoing human rights abuses, including Israel and Egypt?
Yes. It’s unjust that we provide healthcare and weapons to other countries while we have people starving within our own borders, especially when said countries are committing atrocities on the global stage. While I am hardly an “America First” believer, I do think that we should help our citizens before funding apartheid and war in other nations.
And for the record, I will NOT be taking AIPAC money.
Q: Do you support a federal jobs guarantee and large-scale public investment in housing, transit, and care infrastructure?
I think one of the best things done by FDR’s New Deal that most people don’t talk about/know about is the Public Works Administration. By creating these public works projects for the nation, he was simultaneously enriching the country while also providing work. It was a phenomenal idea, and I think it would work again today if we did it. And a large-scale public transit system would be a great public works project, creating many jobs.
Q: Do you support expanding the Supreme Court or instituting term limits for justices?
I would support both of these things, but I would need specifics. I think 13 justices, to match the number of circuit courts, would work, for example. But overall, I am on board with both issues.
Bonus Question: Who are your political role models, living or dead?
I look up to Teddy Roosevelt for his willingness to stand up to the wealthy and powerful Robber Barons for the betterment of America’s future. I appreciate his forward thinking and willingness to preserve our country’s natural beauty for generations to come. His anti-monopoly practices might be even more needed now than back then. Similarly, I love the powerful messages of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his willingness to stand up for what was right.
Every cycle, people ask whether TX24 is winnable.
But it’s all about momentum, message, and voters’ willingness to imagine something different from the status quo they’ve been handed. Ware is running on the belief that this district deserves better than fear-mongering and fossilized politics. He’s running on reform, honesty in government, and an economic agenda that actually centers on working families.
You can learn more about TJ Ware on his website, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter.
Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.
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Luckily I don’t have a vote in CD 24. I have a lot of opinions that TJ is well aware of. So I will just leave that here.
Thank you, Michelle! TJ has quite an interesting history! Already shared on Bsky!