U.S. Congressional District 19 covers a portion of the Texas panhandle from north of Lubbock down to Abilene. For ten years, the district has been represented by Congressman Jodey Arrington.
Arrington is not running for reelection, and there are seven other candidates hoping to earn the spot to represent the Republican Party in the November general election.
KTTZ in Lubbock and KACU in Abilene have partnered to provide in-depth interviews with the candidates. KACU attempted to reach out to candidate Ryan Zink, but did not get a reply before deadline.
Coming into the race with experience in Washington is Tom Sell, who served former District 19 Congressman Larry Combest when he chaired the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. Sell is a Lubbock businessman and agriculture lobbyist.
You can find interviews with other District 19 Republican candidates here.
Early voting runs Feb. 17-27, and Election Day is March 3.
The following transcript has been edited for clarity:
Brad Burt: Thank you, Mr. Sell, for joining us today.
Tom Sell: Good to be with you.
Brad Burt: First off the bat, one of the big priorities for the Trump administration this year has been immigration. It's a top issue for a lot of people in West Texas, but some of the activity has drawn protests, and polls are showing some low approval of the current enforcement efforts. Do you support what the current approach is, and what reform legislation would you offer for immigration in the United States?
Tom Sell: Absolutely support. I think controlling our borders, securing the borders, was a key priority that the voters wanted in the last election. And President Trump – what has been done to eliminate, essentially, illegal immigration across the border has been absolutely remarkable. I think everyone supports that. Also, the notion of enforcing our laws, deporting those who are illegally, particularly those who are the bad hombres, the dangerous illegals, the felons who were able to come across the border, is a noble goal that is going to bless all the people around this nation. So I'm a big supporter of that.
I'm also a supporter of good immigration reform. Congress needs to step up and enact better laws to make legal immigration more transparent, more accountable, more accessible to those who want to come to our nation and live the American dream, but supporting our laws and enforcing our laws and supporting the law enforcement who do. I've been really disappointed by the actions of some states and Democratic governors, of course, Tim Walz in Minnesota, who have really called out the people to kind of open rebellion against these law enforcement efforts. I appreciate Tom Homan going in and maybe adding some just light and kind of soothing the situation in Minnesota, which was out of hand.
BB: What is your view on the President's tariffs, and do you think that they have been helpful to the U.S. and the West Texas economy specifically?
TS: I've worked in Washington, in and around Washington, DC, for many years, and worked on agricultural policy specifically. And for many years, we kind of had – in the Republican Party – had an altruistic view of trade. We wanted to be the most open, the most transparent nation in the world. And we gave access to our markets, kind of leading by example in hopes that others would follow that good example, the United States economy. That worked in some ways in the early days, but then it just got to devolve to the point where other nations, other nation states, were openly manipulating and competing against our nation's producers for their own producers' good.
And so President Trump, when he came into office, both when he came into office in ‘16 and now again in ‘24 he said, ‘Look, we're going to do it differently. We are the wealthiest nation in the world. We spend more per capita than any other nation in the world. This is the ultimate marketplace for the goods of the world, and if you're going to have access to our markets, we're going to make you play by our rules, right? We're not just going to hope we lead by example and hope you follow that example. We're going to make you play by the rules.’ And so he has used the words, you know, we are going to have these trade wars with foreign nations, China especially. And you know, seven years ago, that had a positive impact by the latter part of the Trump Administration, the first time around, the first Trump Administration. We actually did hammer out, get China to come to the table and agree to a Phase One China trade agreement. And cotton markets expanded and grew. You know, the cotton that we sell from this 19th District of Texas, actually, it moved from the mid 60s where it is. It's back down there now, but it moved from there up into over $1 for cotton back in 2020 and 2021. Unfortunately, the Biden administration came in, they relaxed the rules. They said, ‘We don't want to be the bad guys like the Trump administration has been.’ They didn't hammer out any trade agreements over their four years. They just kind of let things soothe. Our foreign competitors started manipulating the markets again against us.
So it takes some time to work out of this, but I want to encourage the farmers toward patience. The Trump Administration, Jamieson Greer as our USTR, they're incredibly bright. They are working to get better access, and I think we're going to be on the rebound. We're going to start trending up in terms of our sales, our exports, of U.S. cotton. There's also some really interesting things going on in Congress right now on this. There's a Buy American Cotton Act, which is really brilliant. I think it tries to give a tax credit for the reimportation of U.S. grown cotton, to give our farmers a better advantage. It also gives an even greater tax incentive or advantage to U.S. mills that process U.S. cotton right here at home and resell it into the U.S. market.
So there's some good things on the floor. We've got to have patience, and that's where President Trump has also been great in saying, ‘Look, we are going to stand by our nation's farmers. We're going to provide cash flow as necessary to help them get through the slow time until we get to a better place on the trade front and open more markets for U.S. producers worldwide.’
BB: Are you concerned about the President's recent proposals for Argentine beef imports affecting the current cattle shortage?
TS: Well, the American consumer loves beef, and it's been great that even – we have this kind of record, it's a low number of mama cows that are producing the calves. And you know, cattle have a gestation cycle, just like humans, right? It takes time to build that back. Beef prices are high, but demand hasn't really been destroyed. There's always been a concern among ag economists that if beef prices got too high, people would switch to other sources of protein. And man, kudos to the good people of West Texas and apparently, a whole nation. People continue to want to buy good, old-fashioned, and great nutritious- Look, I love, I produce beef myself, and it's such a great product.
You know, when he talked about opening some additional access to the Argentinians for importing Argentina beef, it was a relatively small amount. We import already. And I think, you know, maybe too much was made of that particular announcement. But he also has made it plain that we want to stand by our nation's beef producers, and we want to rebuild this herd in the U.S. Now, that's not as easy as it sounds. You have to deal with weather and droughts and all those kinds of things that also impact the individual ranchers’ decision of whether they can keep more of their heifers. There are also these issues, like the screwworm threat from Mexico, that has also hindered some of our nation's imports right from Mexico. A lot of live cattle typically come here. So it's a big, complex issue, and one of the things I think I can bring to the table in running for Congress is just a particular knowledge and depth on these issues, where I can kind of speak with confidence and authority to make sure that we're getting this policy right.
BB: President Trump has also brought up the concern about monopolizing among some of the meatpacking companies, and he's asked for the Department of Justice to look into this. As a congressman, is that something that you would support?
TS: Yeah, I really appreciate the shot across the bow. That's a cutthroat industry. We have developed more kind of small and mid-sized packers to compete in that marketplace, but sometimes, you know, they can get squeezed out, and there can be some predatory practices. So I really love and appreciate President Trump and Secretary Rollins sending that shot across the bow, saying we're going to be looking and watching. We've got to make sure we have a fair marketplace for U.S. beef,
BB: You were endorsed by the Texas Farm Bureau AGFUND, and you talked about your experience in Washington lobbying for agriculture, but farmers are a little worried whether Congress can put a hold on some of the actions by [the] president that they don't feel like is moving. I mean, farmers sent, this month, sent a letter to lawmakers with recommendations. Do you think that Congress has that ability to question some of Trump's policies as it stands right now?
TS: That is a give-and-take of our great nation, right? And we need a strong Congress. We need a strong executive branch. Look, I've been very proud to serve as an advocate for our nation's farming industry – and 19th District farmers in particular – over the last, really, 30 years since I first went to Washington, DC with a former chairman of the Ag Committee, Larry Combest, who, oftentimes, we had disagreements with the administration at that time, the Bush administration, the Clinton administration, before that. And that is, that's the beauty of our governmental system, our constitutional framework, that wants independent voices coming to the table, and particularly as Congress, the representatives of the people. These issues get big and complex. These problems, particularly on the beef side, are complex. And so I love the fact that the Farm Bureau, along with Texas [and] Southwest Cattle Raisers and the Texas Cattle Feeders and a lot of the agricultural groups around this region have jumped in in support of my campaign. And I do intend to be that very kind of strong and confident voice on these issues to make sure that the folks in the White House, who don't necessarily come from – or very few people, actually – come from an agricultural background. It's a different kind of economy, and it's unique, and it's special, and it's worth fighting for, right? We need to have a secure food supply grown right here in the United States of America. It's good for our economy. It's good for our national security, right? We don't want to be dependent upon other nations for our food supply. And t's good for our culture.
BB: I mean, coming from West Texas, though, there's a little bit – maybe not a little bit – there's a level of cynicism around the concept of lobbying. Do you think that there's misconceptions about that? Are you willing to do things differently or place new rules if you were to be elected?
TS: Well, you know, like in all professions, there is good and there's bad. And there's certainly, when there are bad lobbyists, they get thrown under the bus, as they should be. But you know, they're also good. I mean, virtually everyone is represented by some sort of business guild, whether it's the bankers, you know, the butchers, the bakers, the candlestick makers, everyone – sorry, that's an old rhyme – but you know, all these business organizations have a voice in Washington, DC. That's how we exercise our First Amendment right, right? To petition our government and to use our freedom of speech. We gather together, we try and find what are the issues that are really going to matter to our industry. And we want to have people who can help navigate those choppy waters, the difficult waters, the complex waters of Washington, DC, or the swamp. That's the advocacy role that I've been proud to serve. When you have something that you need to get done in Washington, DC, you're going to want to hire an expert.
BB: You may have seen some communication from Ag Commissioner Sid Miller about calling for regulation on some of the data centers that have been going up around Texas. Specifically, how they could affect in West Texas, like Lubbock and Abilene, in terms of the land and water usage and utility usage, but we've also seen some housing impact when they're being constructed. Do you have a concern about the rapid spread of these data centers? And do you think there's something that Congress could put in place to control that?
TS: Yeah, we are, the 19th District is kind of the epicenter of AI investment and data center investment. And, yeah, I think we have to be concerned regionally about the impact on rate payers for electricity usage, and also on our long-term resources like water. We're in a water-scarce environment.
Now a lot of this is divided between the federal government, state, county, municipal, and it's where we have to work together as legislators and representatives, to make sure that we engage with those seeking to invest in this area, to make sure that they take a long-range, long-view approach to this, right. There's opportunity here. And I would argue, the problems associated with growth are always going to be better than the problems associated with stagnation or lack of growth. So I think we have to go into this with our kind of beautiful West Texas blue sky optimism. We can do this, but we've got to be smart as well and really think through these potential challenges. We have to hold our rate payers harmless on electricity usage, and we have to preserve our water resources for generations to come. And there is technology. There are good ways to do that, and we've just got to insist upon it.
BB: That's actually a great transition into a subject that everyone can deal with, and it's been a major issue for state lawmakers, specifically our State Senator Charles Perry. What would you do to help with the water issues here in West Texas?
TS: I give a lot of credit to Senator Perry for the work that he's done. Water is always a difficult, emotional issue. I think it was Mark Twain who coined the phrase, ‘Whiskey is for drinking, but water is for fighting.’ It's kind of a fun way to frame it. But it is, it's challenging. And this is our most precious resource, right? Without water, we don't have life; we certainly can't sustain the communities out here that we have. So I was proud to serve on the Lubbock Water Commission. So I've seen this from a municipal area.
Also working in ag policy. There's a lot of things that can be done, even in the Farm Bill, to help preserve the water resources and conserve the water resources for future generations. To be more efficient with our water usage on farms, still be productive, highly productive, but be more careful with the way that we use our water. Because we sit on top of the Ogallala Aquifer, which is a combined aquifer, right? It doesn't recharge the way that we like to – in most places, there are some exceptions to that. I'm proud even in the work we did in the ‘02 Farm Bill. It was the Ogallala Water Initiative, and we put a focus and resources through the NRCS and Natural Resources Conservation Service to help empower farmers to do a better job with what is their resource, because that affects all the communities in this area. But it is important to note, water law is primarily governed by our state and Texas is a very business-friendly state, and that's a good thing. We don't want the federal government coming in and trying to layer in its own level of bureaucracy on water. The Federal Government, though, can empower and work with our state legislators to do a better job of conserving those resources for the future.
BB: Transitioning a little bit to rural health. The hospitals have been struggling recently, experiencing some staff shortages. Do you think that there's anything that Congress could do to make sure that people in these rural areas have access to health care?
TS: Absolutely, and I give credit to our current congressman, Jodey Arrington, has done a lot of work on these issues. Most of the Congress is not rural, right? It's urban. 435 members of Congress, each representing 785,000 people. Most of those districts are in the cities. There are only about 70 districts nationwide that have big swaths of land, like we do here in the 19th District in West Texas. Healthcare is critical for people, no matter where you are, and we need to have that ability to access quality healthcare in times of real need. So I give – back to Jodey Arrington. You know, they got a $50 billion allocation in the One Big Beautiful Bill that passed last July of 2025 that is going to help rural hospitals. It'll stop some of the bleeding.
But I think everyone agrees, as Congress is getting deeper into this healthcare debate – and it's about time they do – there's real needs here. My priority is make sure that we stand by the rural infrastructure, and I even classify into that, Lubbock and Abilene, because, as I mentioned, the economies are different out here than they are in the major metropolitan areas. We've got to stand by that infrastructure, our hospitals to make sure that they have the technology and the capability. You know, telemedicine can be a big part of this, but that relies upon good, good broadband and good networks out to our rural communities. We got to have systems and policies that help attract doctors to the rural communities. And you know, primarily we got to do this for the consumers, for the patients, for the people dotted throughout these districts in the rural communities.
BB: Many of those rural hospitals have raised issues with the Advantage plans, specifically. Administrators have called on Congress to increase regulations or transparency in the process. Is this something that you're looking at?
TS: It is, yeah, and it's, it's a deep topic, and it's a complicated topic. And I've been very fortunate, even in the course of this campaign, to meet with a lot of hospital administrators in the big cities, and when I say big cities, I mean Lubbock and Abilene, and then in the smaller communities as well, they all have a unique set of challenges. You identified one that we've heard a lot about. But I love – one of the things in running a congressional office is making sure you can hire the staff and the people who are going to do an excellent job of bringing forward these views from the ground. And the great thing about a Congressional staff is it can kind of be a barometer. You know, when we enact policies in Washington, DC, how are they working on the ground in our communities across West Texas? And then feed that information back into the system, try and improve it for the future. Because it is different. I mentioned, it's a different economic model. Same with a lot of the issues, like even on electricity and back with the Rural Electrification Administration, we had to do that: a special kind of provision for rural America. Because there are just different economies, and those have to be taken into account when we're talking about our healthcare challenges.
BB: Tell us more about your time working with Congressman Larry Combest. And how do you think things have changed over the years?
TS: So I was so proud. You know, when I was a senior at Texas Tech, my alma mater, – I love it. Go Red Raiders! Wreck ‘Em! – I won this internship to go to Washington, DC. At that time, we would have – the university would have one student go up every semester. And I was very fortunate to get that opportunity in January of 1995. Today, we've built out that program where about a dozen to 15 kids go up every semester, which is really cool. That was a different time. That was the Contract with America days. That was the first time the Republicans had taken control of Congress in 42 years, you know, since the Eisenhower Administration. Obviously, Speaker Newt Gingrich, at the time, had a big plan. Combest kind of rose to power as chairman of the Ag Committee during that time. And over the course of eight years that I lived in Washington, DC, I got to be his right-hand man on the Agriculture Committee and really play a big role in formulating and crafting the ‘02 Farm Bill, as well as a big crop insurance in 2000. So very proud of that work.
And I mentioned earlier that so few members of Congress are from more rural areas. That was true then, it's even more true now. But we've always had to be well-skilled in practicing the art of building coalitions, winning people over to your point of view, right? There are a lot of folks in the cities who just kind of take what we produce out here in the 19th District for granted, right? And that goes for the agriculture, certainly, but also the energy we produce, the arguments we have to make is, look, if we're not getting the job done out here, you're going to suffer in the cities. That art of winning people over, convincing them, presenting logical, thoughtful, well-reasoned arguments that win them over to your point of view is something I've had just an incredible opportunity to get to do over the last, really, 30 years now and that's really – it’s that history that I hope to bring to the table.
BB: Much like there's been kind of a resting cynicism about lobbying. People are getting a little cynical about the systems as a whole, they’re a little worried that these things that we've built don't actually get the job done in the way that they're sold. How would you plan to reassure people in these kinds of situations?
TS: You know, I love to try and battle the cynicism. Look, we do have some very real problems in our nation. We have enemies from – There are foreign powers that are kind of lining up and see the U.S. as an adversary. We have a lot of cultural challenges from within that I love to speak into. We have very real problems, but too often the Congress just – you know, we have too many performance artists in Washington, DC, who are going after kind of a viral moment or something to bring glory to themselves. And oftentimes that's done just by playing Chicken Little, right? Talking about as if the sky is falling or throwing other people under the bus, making scapegoats out of things that maybe are a small part of the problem, but don't get to the heart of the problem. I want to be a legislator who actually goes in and gets in the weeds in the difficult way, on the critical statutes that are important to our nation, to our region. To pick the battles wisely, right? We've got a battle against this cynicism. We are all blessed to live in this nation, which is kind of a beacon of freedom to the world, and we need to be proud of that. Our government, it's built for friction in a lot of ways, and sometimes we just need to step back and say, you know, ‘God bless us. Thank God for this, this messiness of Washington, DC.’ That friction is designed to protect our individual freedoms.
BB: We've talked a lot about Trump's priorities and what Trump is doing. We've talked a lot about what is coming out of the president's office. Do you think that Congress has the power that it used to as it stands right now?
TS: It definitely has a constitutional power, still, and obligation. Has it used that power the way it should in recent history? I think not. I think it needs to do a better job. And I really – I will say, I think Speaker Johnson is doing a fine job – but I think one of the things that we need to do is empower the committees of Congress and challenge the committees to do a better job with their oversight authority. And I like a Congress that really uses those committees, the experts in the field. Like there's an agriculture committee that I got to be a staffer on for years, and I think we did an excellent job in our time of really stewarding the policies in our jurisdiction. Every committee needs to be challenged in that way, and we need to rely upon those experts to hammer it out, right? You know, between the parties, in each committee, to bring forward the best possible policy.
And look, compromise is oftentimes vilified in Washington, DC, and I just want to speak to that for a moment. I mean, a member of Congress can and should stand on their principles and bring forward the point of view from their district. But we got to realize there are 435 districts and different points of views, and that's okay. For the good of our nation, we've got to get back to actually working on the problems and diving deep into what are the causes, what are the outcomes that may go down the road if you, if you do certain legislation a certain way? We've got to think critically. We need a Congress that has a better work ethic, to actually get into the details on the policies. And I would hope to be a leavening agent within the Congress. Kind of bring this model that we've been known for for years, in this credibility that we have, and ability to win people over and work with people of all stripes to get to the best potential outcome.
BB: Are there any specific ideas that you think that you could work across the aisle with Democrats for?
TS: Oh yeah, for sure. And I think it's a necessity. I think even the Farm Bill, where I have a lot of expertise and practice, it's always – maybe because of this kind of rural versus urban divide – it's always relied upon bipartisan compromise. It's kind of broken down, and we've got to get that back. And the way you do that is through goodwill. So if we can start there in the ag committee, where I have a lot of practice, I think that can be a model for other committees in Congress. And look, there's more good work going on in Washington, DC, than you might see through the media. There's more good work going behind the scenes. Jodey Arrington has done good work in a bipartisan way, and I think that's been to the benefit of the 19th District of Texas. So Farm Bill would be one good example. But that goes on healthcare. It goes on roads and highway funding, that's so important to this area. It goes, certainly, on military establishments. You know, we are blessed in this district to have Dyess Air Force Base, which is a huge strategic asset for the United States of America.
BB: You brought up the Farm Bill. What do you think West Texas needs out of this bill?
TS: For our farmers here regionally, I think the real concern is getting through this real cash flow squeeze right now. Prices for the commodities are low, cotton, all the field crops. Beef is high, but when you look at any of the other major crops that we grow in this region, it's really low, and the cost of inputs have been high. Now those are coming down a bit, thanks, in large part, I think, to President Trump's all-of-the-above, kind of, energy policy. 'Drill, baby drill,' and all that. And that's having an impact, and that's going to have a good impact on inflation across the board for all American citizens. And we're seeing that, you know, the inflation numbers for the last two months have been well under the 2% mark that the President has been going for. So I think the President deserves a lot of credit on this front.
You know, these are commodity markets in agriculture, and they cycle through. And hopefully with trade agreements, with this kind of more aggressive form of trying to bring foreign nations to the table as buyers, I think we are going to see an uplift in commodity prices going forward. But then there are some structural issues. I think we have to look at investing more, and this fits nicely with the America First agenda. We have to look at empowering farmers to invest up the chain to try and get more of the retail dollar. Right now, they get a very small share. And a good example is in cotton, where we export over 90% of the cotton we produce. And look, export markets are good, and that's important, but we essentially gave away our nation's textile industry back in the 80s, really on the altar of fair trade under this kind of previous idea of leading by example that we spoke of earlier. I think, in the America First agenda, to the extent we can empower US businesses to reinvest in processing more of our agricultural commodities right here at home, that's going to provide greater resilience for our U.S. producers, to the extent we can empower our U.S. producers to invest up that, up that chain. That's also going to give them economic resilience on the farms. And that's what it's all about. Standing by these family farm enterprises, that they are the rule across the nation. There are some that are bigger, that are some that are smaller, but all are important. You know, 90% of our goods are produced by about 210,000 farms across this nation. That's 210,000 farms for a nation of 330 million people. So gosh, less than 1/10 of 1% of our population is producing 90% of the agricultural output. We have got to stand by those family farms and make sure that they can make it to pass on that farm to the next generation better than it was passed to them.
BB: Congressman Jodey Arrington, he served for 10 years. How would you do things differently?
TS: *laughs* I think Jodey has done an excellent job. I want to say that, and I give him high praise for the sacrifices he's made to go and serve honorably. He's in his fifth term now, so he'll complete 10 years at the end of this year, and he served as Budget Committee chairman. He's made a big issue out of reversing the curse, trying to bring our budget back into balance. And I really am proud of the work that Jodey has done in raising the profile of that issue, because it's another thing where we just want to kind of look the other way and say, ‘Oh, okay, I know we have a $39 trillion national debt, and we're running $1.6 trillion annual deficits, adding to that debt.’ And Jodey has had the courage to stand up and say, we have got to reverse – what he says – reverse a curse. This is a curse that we're placing on future generations, and we need to live within our means. And I totally support that.
I will say, we all have our gifts. I think I bring a different set, but things that match, in a lot of ways. Same kind of priorities and in a general sense, but maybe a little bit different way of doing things. So I wouldn't say I'd do anything particularly different. I would just try and bring our own talents. And one of the things my wife and I, Kyla, have been married 28 years. We've raised our four kids. We're empty nesters as of this year. And so one thing that I think I can do is kind of dive in with a particular focus and a high level of energy to really dig into the depths and really kind of continue his legacy of winning people over. And Jodey, you know, sometimes he lacks enthusiasm. No, I'm just kidding about that. But I love his food, fuel, fiber, capital of the world, right here in West Texas. That's a beautiful thing, and so I'm going to try and build upon that in a big way, this kind of West Texas shtick, because the things that we produce in this region bless this nation and indeed, our world every single day. Washington, DC needs more West Texas, so I'm going to try and just build upon and even advance, hopefully to a higher platform, the work that Jodey has done.
BB: Anything else that you would like to add for our listeners?
TS: There's really a question in this race for the Republican primary, of who is it that we're going to trust to go up there and be a consistent and steady and passionate voice for the values that we represent and embody out here in West Texas. This kind of grit and determination, and kind of blue-sky optimism, even in what can be some very challenging circumstances, there's an ethic of personal responsibility in this area, where we all see it as our kind of faithful duty to serve and trying to make our community around us better. That's where I just think we've – my wife and I – have had particular circumstances and have particular gifts that can really serve the people of the 19th District of Texas well and our nation. And that's why we're in this thing.
BB: Tom Sell, Republican candidate for District 19. Thank you very much for joining us.
TS: Thanks a lot, Brad. This was great.