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This wiki links to information about Rep. Roger Williams, who represents Texas's 25th U.S. Congressional District. The district contains parts of Austin and a rural area that lies mostly between Austin and Fort Worth, west of Interstate 35.
Congressional Website Contact page (addresses and phone numbers at the bottom)
Campaign Website The old campaign website on The Wayback Machine (In October 2018, less than a month to the election, Williams revamped his website and deleted all his stances on issues.)
C-Span videos of Roger Williams
Roger Williams's Donkey Whisperer Commercial
TX-25 was hit by floods in October 2018, during the campaign. Roger Williams went to Kingsland, TX, which is not in TX-25, because it was where news crews were covering a bridge collapse.
NEED Video of Roger Williams forgetting where his district is.
Roger Williams posted a photo on Twitter saying he met constituents at Terry Black's BBQ. Terry Black's BBQ is in TX-21, not TX-25.
Roger Williams got to meet President Trump as he entered for the State of the Union. Trump had been in Washington 2 years, and Rep. Williams introduces himself.
Roger Williams played 3 years of minor league baseball. He had 2 home runs and 14 hit-by-pitch.
Roger Williams asked a witness, "Yes or no, are you a Socialist or a Capitalist?" She answered "Yes or No? Yes."
Roger Williams doesn't enjoy Home Depot
PolitiFact Texas Right now (Nov. 2018), more false than true.
GovTrack (Legislative record)
Ballotpedia (History of elections)
OpenSecrets (Campaign finance records) The breakdown by industry shows that Williams gets more than 50% of his money from "Finance, Insurance & Real Estate" companies. He does this while serving on Congress's Financial Services Committee.
In 2020, Roger was the 17th richest member of Congress.
2020 January 22 interview with FOX7 Austin Discusses impeachment, China tariffs, and USMCA.
2018 August 31 interview KVUE Austin. Says "I never wanted to be a congressman.". Gets asked "We've received some concerns from some of our viewers who say they would like to see you be more accessible, they'd like to see more town halls with you, they'd like to see greater opportunities to speak with you. What do you say to that criticism?" Discusses immigration, school shootings, Dept. of Education, Supreme Court, and NAFTA.
In his 6 years in Congress, Roger Williams has authored 1 bill that passed. H.R. 3060 (113th) named the post office in Burleson, TX. He has another bill H.R. 3213 (114th) on bonuses that was included into another bill that passed.
Roger Williams was investigated for ethics violations. He introduced a bill amendment that made it legal for a car dealership to loan you a car that had been recalled because of a safety problem. The ethics problem was not that this law would be repugnant, but that Williams did not reveal that he owned a car dealership that would benefit from this law. The committee dismissed the matter, concluding "the Williams Amendment could have affected Representative Williams’ personal financial interests, however the totality of the circumstances surrounding Representative Williams’ actions did not create a reasonable inference of improper conduct."
Roger Williams cosponsored H.R. 861 (115th) whose entire text is "The Environmental Protection Agency shall terminate on December 31, 2018.". I have not found any comment on how, after terminating the EPA, he would prevent other states from dumping their pollution into the Colorado and Brazos rivers that run through TX-25.
Roger Williams founded the Baseball Caucus, which has allowed him to meet Hall of Fame baseball players. That must be quite a treat for a former college baseball player and coach. But Texas's 25th district has one professional baseball team, the AA Cleburne Railroaders. Williams is not a member of the Rural Caucus, Rural Broadband Caucus, nor Beef Caucus, despite representing a district with low internet connectivity and more than 18,000 cattle ranches.
Roger Williams is the coach for the Republican side in the annual congressional baseball game. Since 2012, the Republicans have won 1 game and lost 5.
Roger Williams was present in June 2018 when a gunman attacked a practice of the Republican baseball team. One of Williams's staff, Zack Barth, was shot. After the shooting, Roger Williams said it was wrong to call for gun control. Williams said, "I think this person has genuine issues, mental illness...". Roger Williams has co-sponsored 4 bills to repeal the ACA ("ObamaCare") which improved coverage for mental illness: HR45 (113th), HR2575 (113th), HR2682 (113th), and HR3121 (113th).
Roger Williams's 2018 campaign spent $13,121 at Mar-A-Lago, a club owned by President Trump. The club is more than 900 miles from his office in Washington, D.C. and more than 1200 miles from any part of his district.
Roger Williams claims to live in the district, but his disclosures show him owning property in Graford, Weatherford, and Fort Worth, which are not in TX-25. Moreover, his car dealership is in Weatherford, TX, which is not in TX-25.
On December 10th 2020, Roger Williams signed an amicus brief to a Supreme Court case challenging the 2020 election. A University of Texas School of Law professor described it as the "craziest lawsuit filed to purportedly challenge the election". The case was brought by Texas by Attorney General Ken Paxton. (Many assumed Ken Paxton filled the lawsuit in hopes of a federal pardon. He was not pardoned. )
On January 6th 2021, Roger Williams voted to object to the counting the Elector College votes from Pennsylvania and Arizona. He speaks against Pennsylvania's Electors' votes at 1:34:38 in this video. This was after the storming of the Capitol by rioters. The TCU faculty considered a vote to recommend he be removed as a Trustee of the university. On January 20th, in a tweet, he acknowledged that Joseph Biden was the President.
On January 11th 2021, Roger Williams was quoted as saying, "Everybody is blaming everybody right now. The main thing we’ve got to understand, whoever they were, they’re domestic terrorists. That’s the bottom line. Whether they’re Trump people, whether they’re ANTIFA or Black Lives Matter, whether they’re Boy Scouts for crying out loud, you can’t condone this. And we don’t condone it."
In 2020, Williams had a primary challenger, Keith Neuendorff. He said he ran because of bad interactions with Roger Williams's staff. American Statesman interview with Keith Neuendorff The American Statesman also interviewed the Democratic Primary contestants, Julie Oliver and Heidi Sloan. There is no interview of Roger Williams.
Town Hall without Roger Willams Roger Williams does not have open Town Halls to meet with constituents. Some in East Austin threw a Town Hall without him.
Voters denied entry Roger Williams had an event hosted by Americans for Prosperity. Constituents got tickets, but were denied entry into the event.
Voters ignored Constituents visited Roger Williams office and were not seen.
Congress.gov (Tracks bills Williams has (co)sponsored.)
League of Women Voters' 2018 Voter Guide The LWV is a non-partisan group that tries to inform voters by publishing a guide. They ask questions of all candidates and publish the answers. William's entry in the guide? "No Response."