Former Cass County student headed for bright future

Hometown man has finished his degree at the University of Texas and will soon be working as a policy analyst for State Senator Kevin Sparks. Garrit Blizzard from Atlanta, Texas, while studying at UT was the Editor and Chief of The Texas Horn, UT’s Austin’s award-winning conservative student publication. A few weeks back the Journal-Sun connected with Blizzard for an interview.

Journal-Sun: Can you share with me your journey from Cass County... Along with some of the highlights along the way?

Blizzard: I was born and raised in Atlanta, Texas, and I attended school at Bloomburg ISD. I was there from Pre-K through 12th grade. After graduating from Bloomburg in 2020, I decided to pursue my undergraduate education at The University of Texas at Austin.

My life in Cass County was, truthfully, not very eventful. Most of my time was dedicated to school and raising chickens. One thing that stands out to me from my time in school was when I advanced to the state-level competition for UIL academics in my junior year. I competed in the social studies and current events categories, but I ultimately did not place high enough to get a medal at State. I was planning on returning to win the medal the following year but the pandemic shut those hopes down.

However, I did get involved in politics while in Cass County. In 2018, I was a volunteer for Governor Greg Abbott’s reelection campaign. I started that in February of that year, and a few months later, I was an intern for Senator Ted Cruz’s reelection campaign. I was knocking on doors for several months trying to make sure Beto O’Rourke did not become our next U.S. Senator. I was quite alarmed when I first heard Beto talk because he was quite charismatic and he could play the “moderate card” very well. Of course, now we know that Beto is certainly not moderate and Texans have rejected him twice—though you could make the argument three times if you include his failed presidential campaign. I was pretty preoccupied with that for much of 2018, and I would spend most weekends knocking on doors around Cass County trying to get prospective voters to turn out for Cruz.

Of course, my life got more eventful once I went down to Austin. Soon after I got to university, I got involved in Congressman Chip Roy’s 2020 reelection campaign. Congressman Roy is one of the most conservative members of Congress from Texas, and he was in a very tough fight against Wendy Davis—a former State Senator who ran for governor in 2014.

Much like my time with the Cruz campaign, I spent some time during the week and on weekends knocking on doors. I was an intern for that campaign for around a month. While on that campaign, I met many of my current friends. Soon after the Roy campaign, I got more involved with the Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT).

They are a conservative youth-based organization in the state, and they get involved with campaigns and the legislature. YCT helped me get my first internship in the state legislature. Now, I will say, I worked for a freshman representative, meaning it was his first term in the legislature. And, since I want to be truthful with readers, the representative’s name was Bryan Slaton. Slaton is now a former state representative.

He was expelled during his second term from the legislature for doing some grotesque things to one of his interns. What he did was shameful and horrific, and it is a good thing he was removed from the House. I, along with some of my friends who worked in his office, was very shocked and disturbed to read the report from the House Committee on General Investigating. Nonetheless, I did intern in his office. I don’t really talk about this because many of my friends poke fun at the fact that I worked for him, and I don’t want to be associated with him. However, it is the truth that I interned in his office at one point in time, and I won’t lie about that. While in his office, I got a glimpse at the inner workings of the legislature. I went into the office two times a week, for half a day on Wednesdays and a full day on Fridays. I mostly answered phone calls and emails. I did that for a few months.

That was during my first year of college. My second year of college was more devoted to schooling, and I didn’t do any internships or work. However, I was involved with The Texas Horn, UT Austin’s award-winning conservative student publiu See BLIZZARD page 10 cation. I wrote an op-ed during the summer between my freshman and sophomore years, and after that, I started doing interviews. I interviewed some political activists and some people running in the primary elections, such as former State Senator Don Huffines—who was running for governor—and Nathaniel Moran, who is now the congressman for Cass County.

I did land some internships during my junior year though. In the fall of my junior year, I interned for The Texan. It is an independent news publication in Austin and was founded by Konni Burton, a former State Senator, to counter the opinionated slant of coverage from places like The Texas Tribune. I was there for a few months and primarily did research for projects the team was working on. I also researched current events and sometimes found stories for their reporters to write on.

During the spring semester of my junior year, I worked as a legislative aide for State Senator Bryan Hughes. I was there from the very first day of the 88th regular session to Sine Die— which is the last day of session. My time in Senator Hughes’ office was phenomenal.

His office is staffed with fantastic people. One of the things I loved the most about working in Senator Hughes’ office was that they let interns get involved in the process. I was able to get some real policy experience, as I got to work closely with staff members on legislation. I loved my time working for Senator Hughes, and I think my time in that office is really what planted the seed for me to eventually get a full-time job in the Texas Capitol.

I was finally able to go to Washington D.C. during the summer after my junior year. I got a full scholarship to go to D.C. through The Fund for American Studies. It’s a great program, and I can’t recommend it enough. I was in D.C. working for Radio America, it is a right-leaning audio/broadcast-based news/opinion organization in Arlington, Virginia. I was there for about two months, and my main task was to create a media package.

We were given a list of topics to report on, and I selected to do my project on the national debt ceiling. So, I did my research and interviewed various experts on the topic. I wrote a script and shot the video in the recording studio. It was a great experience, and I learned a lot about broadcast media. In fact, that’s why I chose to intern there.

At the time, I was thinking about trying to find work in journalism and media, with a focus on broadcast journalism. I wanted to learn more and I did. I was interested in possibly finding a reporting job with a local news station.

However, I think I am too much of a partisan—the wrong type of partisan—to get a job at a local station or in mainstream media. Outside of work, though, I was able to meet so many people, make many friends, and see so much. D.C. was a fun place, and I am very grateful for the opportunity to work there.

During my final year of college, I interned for The Texas Public Policy Foundation, it is a non-profit public policy think tank in Austin.

I interned there for both the fall and spring semesters. During the fall semester, I interned on the “Government for the People” campaign—it is now called the “Taxpayer Protection Project”—which is the campaign focused on local government, budgets, taxes, and such. I did research on taxpayer-funded lobbying, and I looked into how there are local governments in the state that used taxpayer funds to oppose the legislative priorities of the Lt. Governor and Speaker of the House.

In the spring semester, I was the healthcare policy intern. I never really had much interest in healthcare policy before, but I was intrigued by the complexity of the issue and how Republicans and Conservatives have traditionally never really had any good responses or answers for questions relating to healthcare policy.

We have often focused on other policy issues, but the fact is that healthcare is one of the most important issues to voters according to polling. So, I did that and focused my research on how to deal with the physician shortage in Texas, which is especially hard for more rural areas like Cass County. In fact, Cass County is designated as a primary care health professional shortage area by the Rural Health Information Hub.

The physician shortage decreases physical access to care, places a stronger burden on current physicians—who are burning out because of the shortage—and actually makes healthcare more expensive.

These are the highlights of my professional life since leaving for college, but there is one thing that I think trumps all of these. In April 2023, I converted to Catholicism. I admit that for much of my life in middle school and high school, neither religion nor my relationship with God was incredibly important to me. It took me a bit to admit it, but this left me feeling empty. I wanted to start going back to church once I came down to Austin, but there were not many good churches around UT. Many churches were very progressive. However, I made friends who went to the University Catholic Center (UCC), and I started attending Mass. I found the UCC is one of the few pockets of sanity in Austin. I attended RCIA and was confirmed at the Easter Vigil. It is easily the best decision of my life.

Journal-Sun: Share with us the time at the Texas Horn. What did you do and how did you grow from the experience?

Blizzard: The Texas Horn is UT Austin’s award-winning conservative student publication. It was founded in March 2021. I was not involved at the very beginning, but I did get involved over the summer after my freshman year. I was inspired to write an op-ed on government spending after a comment from one of my professors.

I was reading Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt at the time too. I recommend that book to everyone, as it sheds light on many of the economic problems we have faced in the past and in the present. To be more specific, it is about how government intervention tends to create more problems and doesn’t create economic growth— it merely transfers resources and wealth from one sector to another. From writing that op-ed, I have gone on to write over 70 articles.

My main niche, though, is news writing, particularly interviews. I have interviewed many candidates for public office and elected officials from this state, including state senators, state representatives, members of Congress, and a U.S. Senator (as of writing this, that interview has not yet been published). I have also interviewed grassroots figures and candidates for local office, such as Cass County’s Travis Ransom.

The Texas Horn, more broadly, has covered many hot-button news stories. We’ve recently been live reporting on the Palestinian protests going on at UT, and we have grown in our views and followers since then.

We have also reported on how UT is responding to SB 17, also known as the DEI ban. Of course, much of our content is opinion pieces by other writers.

We have writers who have written about energy policy, state politics, and philosophy—just to name a few. Through all of this, I have served as news editor, managing editor, and, now, editor-in-chief. I have grown as a writer, and I have entered a field I never considered, journalism.

From my time at The Texas Horn, I have made numerous connections, given numerous TV, podcast, and You-Tube appearances, and landed several internships. Being a journalist has also helped me grow in my thoughts on current events and my ability to write. I wouldn’t be where I am today without The Texas Horn.

Journal-Sun: When did you begin to be interested in politics, current events, and policymaking?

Blizzard: My interest in politics began around the 2012 presidential election. We were talking about it in class, and I thought the process by which we select people to be in charge—and what people do while in positions of power— was interesting. I was in fifth grade at the time, and I knew from that point that I wanted to play a role in the political fight. I guess I’ve always been a Republican; my dad is pretty opinionated and a Republican, so that was my early political socialization. My views have changed over the years as I have matured.

I was more of a libertarian in high school, especially starting around the 2016 election. I was heavily influenced by Dr. Ron Paul—he is a former congressman from Texas. I liked his views on foreign policy and the size and scope of the federal government. However, I don’t think we’d agree on a whole lot today. I stopped being a libertarian when I came to college.

I grew up and matured, and I realized that libertarianism is not conducive to a strong, moral culture that cultivates virtue and strengthens families and communities. I became a conservative, especially as I grew in the faith and started working in politics, and I realized libertarianism doesn’t conserve anything and allows for our society and culture to decline into degeneracy.

I want to be in the political fight—and work in public policy—because I think there are many problems happening today in our country. It’s a cliche, but we have to be involved. Coming from a small town in a predominantly rural area, I think it is important for people with that background to be involved. Rural areas tend to be overshadowed by urban areas. We need people who come from these rural areas in government and in the policy-making process.

Journal-Sun: What are you graduating from UT with? Do you plan on pursuing future education?

Blizzard: I am graduating from The University of Texas at Austin with a bachelors of arts degree in Government— which is essentially UT Austin’s version of political science— and two minors in journalism and history. I’m not sure if I will continue my education. The obvious path for me, if I do decide to further my education, is to go to law school. However, I’m honestly tired of schooling and am ready to start my career.

I might go to law school, or I might not. I originally wanted to go to law school when I got to college, but I think I had a misunderstanding about what being a lawyer is like. But, I don’t want to be working in politics forever. I would like to have a private sector job of some kind—real estate is something that keeps coming up in my mind. Regardless, I won’t prognosticate too much on what I’ll do in the future. Anything can happen and my plans might change. We’ll have to wait and see.

Journal-Sun: Tell me about your new job.

Blizzard: I will be working as a policy analyst in the state senate. I will be working for State Senator Kevin Sparks. He represents Texas Senate District 31, which is in west Texas. My main job will be to staff and inform the senator on several policy and committee areas.

We will have to wait and see what policy areas I am assigned to cover.

Journal-Sun: What do you miss about Cass County? Blizzard: I miss the trees. It was one of the things I looked forward to seeing when I would come in for Christmas or the summer. Cass County is far more peaceful than Austin.

There’s a lot to do in Austin, but I admit that Cass County provides a bit of an escape from the bustle of city life. More importantly, though, I miss my family. I don’t see them at all when I’m in Austin. So, it is nice to be able to hang out with them when I’m back in town.

Journal-Sun: What are your long-term goals? Blizzard: I plan on living in the Austin area for the foreseeable future. I’d like to work in the legislature for several years and then do something in the private sector.

Of course, I’m not sure there is much point in planning. I actually gave an interview for this paper several years ago. One of my teachers from high school asked me some questions about my involvement in the Cruz campaign and my future plans. In that interview, I said I was hoping to go to Princeton University, law school, and then eventually run for President.

I look back at that and cringe—especially now that I have met people who, genuinely, believe they will be president one day. I will say this now, the presidency is no longer in my sights—I dropped that idea nearly immediately upon coming to college. I think you have to be insane to want that job.

I’ve told some people this already. However, some people have asked me if I still plan on running for office one day. I would say maybe.

There are so many problems, and I feel like at some point I need to at least try to do something about those problems—maybe at the state level or in local government.

Many people tend to overlook local governments, but the truth is that local governments are incredibly important and have a more direct impact on people’s daily lives compared to what goes on at the federal or even state levels— especially when it comes to things like property taxes, schools, and law and order. I think we saw that during the pandemic, and I have definitely seen that while living in Travis County.

Regardless of what I might do in the future, I am going to focus on my immediate job, settling into my new home, and building a community of my own.