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Crabb
Col. Vince Crabb, 64, is running for the 25th Congressional District of Texas on the Republican Party ticket against long-term incumbent Roger Williams and challenger Matthew Lucci for the March 5 primary.
Col. Crabb, who is a retired U.S. Army Colonel, is running on the platform of keeping tax dollars in America, taking care of First Responders, homeless programs, fighting for teachers’ salaries and safety, taking care of the less fortunate and veterans, border security, national security and keeping kids safe in schools.
Col. Crabb’s military career began in 1978 when he started as a gunner in Howitzer Battery in Albany, Missouri. During his career he served as operations officer, fire support officer and transportation operations officer, serving in a variety of locations from Fort Worth to Seoul, Korea and Heidelberg, Germany.
He served five tours of duty in Afghanistan and spent time in Iraq as a Direct Support Detachment Commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom. As the Deputy Director for the Information Operations Warfare Center in San Antonio, Col. Crabb oversaw more than 400 personnel, ensuring that deployed joint warfighters received the best information support. His role was pivotal in maintaining liaisons across critical agencies, including the National Security Agency and the Department of State and Homeland Security.
Following his military service, Col. Crabb transitioned to roles in civilian service including being in law enforcement and as a firefighter.
Crabb is also a rancher giving him the opportunity to continue his family’s legacy and to engage with the agricultural community.
In 2013, Col. Crabb retired to spend time with his wife of 46 years, their two children and two grandkids, residing in Midlothian with property for ranching in Covington.
“I give 110% of the credit for raising our two great kids to my wife,” he said.
Crabb said he is leaving retirement to run for Congress because he has lots of knowledge garnered throughout his careers that can ultimately help fix the country.
“I always told my soldiers, ‘If you don’t like what’s going on, stand up and try to fix it,’” he said. “I think I’m good at uniting people and I’ve been at those tables.”
Col. Crabb said he is not looking to become a career politician and if elected, will serve no more than two to three terms.
“I’ll make you proud. Put me in for two years and see what happens,” he said. Crabb said with his military career as well as fire and police, he has been fighting for people his whole life.
Crabb said his military experience and working with the Pentagon has given him insight on how Washington D.C. works, how to talk to the people ‘across the aisle,’ so to speak.
“It’s not about the party,” he said. “I would like to think there is a common thread among us and I’ll be able to see where their heart is.”
One of the priorities for Col. Crabb, if elected to the position, would be to bring money into District 25.
“There is a lot of money in the Federal Bank Account,” he said. “We just need to ask for it to aid the constituents in this area. It is a process though.”
He said there is grant money available and he would like to see those funds in District 25 for agricultural use, education and roadways.
As far as securing the border goes, Col. Crabb said that it was already done by the previous administration and we need to get back there.
“We are no longer America first,” he said.
One way Crabb would suggest helping with undocumented immigrants is to tell Mexico to secure their southern border (to South America) or they would no longer get humanitarian aid from the U.S. He also would designate cartel as international terrorists making it possible to utilize U.S. troops at the border.
Another suggestion regarding the border would be to speed up the process for undocumented immigrants to become legal citizens of the U.S.
“It’s been 10 to 15 years for some of the Dreamers. Why?”heasked.“Paperwork should be done within 90-120 days with a noncriminal background. In 30 days they should be issued a permanent Green card.”
One way Col. Crabb suggests to implement this is to have translators and lawyers at the border to help expedite the process.
As part of his platform, Crabb is also running on fighting for teachers salary and safety and taking care of the less fortunate and veterans.
“We are sending all of this money elsewhere and we haven’t cleaned up our own ‘kitchen’ so to speak,” he said. “Not one penny should be sent somewhere else until we have taken care of our own, including veterans and the homeless.”
Col. Crabb suggests utilizing vacant buildings as homeless shelters and including law enforcement at the locations.
“The money is there, we have to redirect it,” he said in regards to humanitarian aid for other countries.
Crabb also believes teacher salaries should start between $40,000 to $50,000 and that the security of schools should be a top priority.
“Our kids and teachers are the future of this country,” he said.
For more information about Col. Crabb and his platform, go to https:// vincecrabb.com.