Elisa Cardnell

Elisa Cardnell was born in West Germany. Cardnell served in the United States Navy from 2007 to 2018. She attended Rice University for undergraduate and graduate study.[1]

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Elisa Cardnell and I'm a Navy vet, single mom, and teacher running for Congress in TX-02 against Dan Crenshaw. Ever since I was born on an Army base, service has been a part of my identity. After 9/11 I joined the Navy ROTC at Rice and served 5 years active duty. After my deployment I developed a pre-existing condition, and stepped down from active duty to join the Reserves. I found my calling in the classroom and continued to serve my community as a teacher. But while I was teaching I watched as Republicans tried to take away healthcare coverage for pre-existing conditions and did nothing about soaring drug prices. I left the reserves in April of 2018 and didn't know where to put all my energy. I saw numerous great female vets run and win, and thought that was something I could possibly do. But it wasn't until election night in 2018 when I saw Dan Crenshaw, a far right Republican, run and win in my district with less than 53% of the vote. It was then that I knew I had to step up and serve again.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Strong and safe schoolsFix our healthcare systemGet corporate money out of politics

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am personally passionate about fighting for our schools, our healthcare, and our democracy. As a teacher, I watched as high-stakes standardized tests took the creativity and critical thinking out of my students. At the same time it created a system of tests that better measure socio-economic status resulting in us underfunding our low-income community schools.

I also have multiple pre-existing conditions and have watched the skyrocketing costs of prescription drugs over just the past few years. We need universal, affordable healthcare and to lower prescription drug costs. No one should go bankrupt because they got sick.

Finally, I swore an oath to protect our Constitution from enemies foreign and and domestic. Right now our democracy is under attack both by foreign actors who would influence our elections, and domestic actors who would rather be complicit than hold them accountable. At the same time, corporate money is polluting our elections and preventing anything from getting done in Washington. We must tackle Washington's corruption if we are going to protect our democracy.

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