Bobby Tillman for Texas Senate District 3
A 6th generation Texan running to be East Texas's voice in Austin.
Bobby Tillman for Texas Senate District 3
A 6th generation Texan running to be East Texas's voice in Austin.
Serving The Community
Bobby Tillman is a 6th generation Texan who spent more than 40 years in the commercial flooring business and the last 15 raising beef cattle in East Texas. He's not a career politician. He's a working Texan who got tired of watching Austin ignore the people who live between the big cities, and decided to do something about it.
Economic Prosperity
Working families are getting squeezed from every direction, and Austin isn't listening. Here's where I'd start:
Affordable childcare, backed by a state savings account program families can count on by 2031. Real, sustained funding for our Volunteer Fire Departments, with mandates so the money doesn't dry up after one budget cycle. A minimum wage people can actually live on. Limits on corporations buying up houses, so homes stay in the hands of families instead of investment portfolios. And more apprenticeship programs, because a young person in East Texas shouldn't have to leave home to learn a trade and build a career.
Education
Decisions about our schools should be made by the parents, teachers, and communities who know our kids, not by politicians in Austin. I'll fight to stop school vouchers, which drain money from the public schools most of our families depend on, and to raise the student allotment so every district gets its fair share.
Our kids deserve safe schools, and I support using National Guard assistance under Title 32 to help make that happen. And our teachers deserve pay that matches the national level, funded by the state, not squeezed out of local budgets.
Veterans
We lose 22 veterans a day to suicide. That is unacceptable, full stop.
More than 9 million veterans aren't using the benefits they earned, often because nobody helped them navigate the system. I'll work to change that: real mental health access for every veteran, job skills and training programs that lead somewhere, and access to medical cannabis for the veterans who need it. These folks kept their promise to us. Texas should keep its promise to them.
Healthcare
Nobody in Texas should go broke because they got sick, and nobody in East Texas should have to drive two hours to reach a hospital.
I support expanding Medicaid and Medicare, keeping our rural hospitals open, and growing telehealth so distance isn't a death sentence. Elderly and disabled Texans should have access to medical cannabis. And healthcare should be run as a service to people, not a profit center for shareholders.
Infrastructure
Our county roads were built for a Texas that doesn't exist anymore. They need to be brought up to modern traffic demands, and the crumbling roads and bridges across Senate District 3 need to be repaired or replaced before somebody gets hurt.
Broadband needs to reach every corner of East Texas. In 2026, internet access isn't a luxury. It's how our kids do homework, how our businesses compete, and how our seniors see a doctor.
Property and Water Rights
Nobody should lose their home over property taxes. I want to eliminate property taxes on residential homes and fully fund our schools with state money instead.
Water is life, and ours is under threat. Corporate investors are over-pumping our aquifers while rural counties can't afford to fight back. I'll work to create two Water Districts covering the areas where counties can't afford their own, East and West, so every community has the resources to protect its water, including in court. We need to treat water as a life-sustaining resource, not just another commodity, and modernize the Rule of Capture to reflect that.
And we have to get a handle on data centers before they get a handle on us. That means real regulations: five-mile buffer zones from any home or livestock operation, no tax abatements or incentives, no NDAs hiding the deals from the public, and zero tolerance for pollution, noise, or forever chemicals in our water supply.
Rights
I believe in the rights of all Texans: women's rights, human rights, LGBTQ rights, immigrants' rights, and yes, animal rights too.
Reproductive healthcare is a private matter between a woman and her doctor. The government has no business in that exam room.
And none of these rights mean much without the right that protects all the others: the right to vote. I'll defend it for every Texan.
Hello
Welcome
I'm Bobby Tillman, the Democratic nominee for Texas Senate District 3. I'm running to bring some common sense back to Austin and to be the voice East Texas actually deserves. Take a look around, and if something here speaks to you, reach out. I answer my own phone.
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Donate
Campaigns like this one don't run on corporate money. They run on neighbors chipping in what they can. If you believe East Texas deserves a senator who works for the people who live here, I'd be grateful for your support.
Contact Me Anytime
Text or Email
I want to hear from you. Your concerns, your ideas, what's keeping you up at night. That's the whole point of this campaign: neighbors helping neighbors and bringing Texas back together. I still believe in people, and I still believe in Texas.
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