The Congressional midterm elections are fast approaching for voters and politicians alike with Election Day on Nov. 6.

Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, is running in Texas’s 8th Congressional District, which he has held since 1997. Brady will face Steven David, his Democratic opponent, and Chris Duncan, the Libertarian candidate.

Brady, who serves as the chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee, wants to continue to work on tax reform.

“The most important goal I have is to continue to work on tax reform so that Texas families keep more of their hard-earned paycheck,” Kevin Brady said. “It’s exciting to help change the culture in Washington – looking at the tax code every year and considering how we can help American companies stay competitive, so that they can continue to grow and hire more workers every year. Ensuring that there are jobs for students who are finishing their education is a top priority.”

In his role on the Ways & Means Committee, the chief tax-writing organization for the country, Brady has previously sought to reduce the size of the income tax form and make tax-rate cuts as with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that passed in December 2017.

“Several companies, such as Starbucks and McDonalds, reacted to the tax cuts they received by increasing tuition assistance for their employees,” Brady said. “We expanded 529 education savings accounts, making it easier for families to afford rising school costs, providing more flexibility and eliminating the need to save in separate accounts.”

Education is also something Brady cares about.

“Education legislation over the past few years has focused on giving authority to the local schools and parents, instead of letting bureaucrats in Washington design one-size-fits-all rules that just don’t work for every school, and I will continue to support this effort.”

Brady also believes in a military rebuild and to modernize military training to stop complications with training tactics and to stop injuries among soldiers in training.

“There are now more military members harmed in training exercises due to old and faulty equipment, than there are in the battlefield,” Brady said. “Over the past two years, we have worked to fund the military so that they can properly train our soldiers, sailors, and airmen. We’ve also provided the highest pay-raise in over nine years. We live in an increasingly dangerous world, and we must continue to equip our military with everything they need to protect themselves and our shores.”

David, who has a political science degree from Arizona State University, believes in making healthcare “affordable and accessible.”

“I believe that America is an amazing country yet we have people choosing between food and healthcare, and families going bankrupt over exorbitant medical costs,” he said.

David said student debt from college was a problem he would like to address if elected.

“(I want to ensure) that college doesn’t saddle us with so much debt we can’t enter into the middle class after college, and not spiking the federal debt so that future generations don’t have quality government services,” David said.

David said taxes should be handled with a public eye in mind.

“I think that any decrease or increase in taxes needs to be a transparent process,” David said. “That includes public input as to what is gained or lost.”

David also notes he’d like to “scrutinize and improve” welfare, medicaid and medicare, “but cutting these programs should be out of the question.”

Brady said welfare reforms in the 1990s “drastically reduced” the number of people enrolled by requiring beneficiaries to work, volunteer or receive job-training.

“I believe we need to build on those efforts,” he said. “… Medicare is headed towards bankruptcy, so the Ways and Means Committee which I lead is looking for ways to protect these benefits for current recipients and save this important program for future generations. This is going to take a serious, bipartisan effort.”

David would also like to provide an increase in funding to education programs, and stop separations of children from their parents at the border, as well as performing “background and domestic assault checks on every person that wants to own a gun.”

Voter registration ended Oct. 9. The general election day will take place Nov. 6.