When John Carter settled down in Central Texas with his wife, Erika, he knew it was the right place to raise his family because of the great schools, low taxes, and safe communities. John was a young lawyer who recently completed his bachelor’s degree from Texas Tech and his law degree from University of Texas. At first, he was only one of two lawyers in Round Rock, Texas, but a decade later John Carter was appointed District Judge for the 277th District Court in Williamson County. During that time, he aptly earned the nickname that stuck with him to this day; Judge.
The Lone Star state ranks first in the nation for total number of farms, with 248,000 farms covering more than 127 million acres, and one in seven Texans works in agriculture. Texas is the top producing state in the country for cattle, horses, sheep, goats, wheat, sorghum, hay, rice, pecans and peanuts. The leading source of farming income in the 31st District is sorghum, corn, oats and cotton.
As a lifelong Texan, I am deeply rooted and grounded in the importance of agriculture in our state and, more importantly, our district. I know how critical water is to our farms and livestock, so I heavily support water conservation and water recycling to preserve the long-term viability of this indispensable resource. I applaud the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw the Waters of the US (WOTUS) rule, and I will continue to support Texans having authority over their own waters and not the federal government.
I also strongly supported the United-States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). Texas is one of the biggest winners of the USMCA thanks to our annual export of $140 billion in goods to Mexico and Canada; nearly 60% of jobs in the 31st District are reliant on trade with our North American partners.