Atholi announces bid for Congress

With the redistricting of Texas comes the opportunity for new candidates for what is the new Congressional District 1. One such contender, who is running under the campaign slogan, “The Rough Neck for Congress,” is Aditya “AD” Atholi.

A native of Shelby County, Texas, Atholi says that he is putting his hat in the ring for Congress because he believes DC is not working for the people anymore and he has a plan to solve many issues using conservative values and by returning most power to state and local governments. He says, “This is what Republicans and conservatives have said our entire society needs to run like for multiple issues.

The Republicans need to become the party of local government again. We call ourselves the party of small government, but it’s more accurate to call ourselves the party of local government because then what people get in their heads is what our solutions are.”

Atholi says he understands why blue-collar people think the way that they do. Having spent time in the Marines, he is also a graduate of Rice University. He has also worked in the oil fields, been a mechanic, and was a log house builder. Atholi says, “Politicians used to say that the free market exists to serve the American people.” He believes that a free market and fair trade would benefit not only the middle class but also farmers and ranchers as well.

While many small businesses struggled to survive in 2020 into 2021, Atholi says he fully supported the PPP loan program, which is a forgivable loan. While his plan, if elected, is to return to local government, he says it is okay for the federal government to intervene when there are extenuating circumstances. Even so, he believes that too much of the program went to big corporations and not enough to small businesses. To prevent this in the future, Atholi says the federal government should give the money to counties or states in the form of block grants.

Atholi also believes that “wages have been stagnating for a long time and they’re not even keeping up with inflation.” Indeed, while inflation is up just over six percent, the federal minimum wage has not changed since 2009 when it was raised to $7.25. While many states have passed higher minimum wages, many still, have not. Atholi does not believe in raising it. He says that instead federal power needs to decrease and state, and local power should increase. He states that in doing so, those in power at a more local level would be able to bring more jobs to their areas because they are more in touch with what people want and need.

2020 also shined a bright light on the gaps in infrastructure between rural and non-rural communities. Atholi says he believes that “the internet is just as important as water and electric because it gives access to information.” The lack of internet access in many rural communities, he says, could be fixed with block grants from the federal government to states or local government for usage on delivering rural internet access.

If elected, Atholi says what is most important is educating the people on the issues they would be voting on. “It’s all about educating the voter in a very simple way as to what we want to do for national problems.” Indeed, knowing the issues on the ballot is just as important as knowing the people for which one may vote. The primary election, to decide whom will be in the general election on Nov. 8, 2022, will be on March 1, 2022.