Meet the Candidate: Carrie DeMoor for Senate District 30

Dr. Carrie DeMoor, an emergency room physician from Frisco, is running for the Texas Senate District 30 seat now occupied by Sen. Drew Springer, who is retiring in 2025. The Enterprise spoke with Dr. DeMoor about her positions on the issues that affect Olney.

Enterprise: Was there a particular issue that interested you and motivated you to run for this seat?

Dr. DeMoor: The reason I am running is I really feel called, and I mean really feel called by God to do this. It’s not to represent some big donor. It is truly to represent the people and I really understand the need to listen to all of the district. I have lived all over the state, I’ve operated businesses … and I have a passion for rural healthcare and … those communities, because I’ve had experience with it. I will not forget you. I will not just be for Frisco. I am running for SD30.

The additional thing is that my patients are being impacted by the border, and I mean on the daily. I am seeing Fentanyl overdoses. I’ve had to had to resuscitate kids … The “one pill can kill” is a real thing. We’ve been seeing this evolve and become this crisis and we should have done something stronger during this last [Legislative] session. And aside from the drugs, I’m seeing human trafficking, I’m seeing the criminal implications of these illegal folks coming across the border and what impact that’s having on Texans and my patients. I’m super laser focused on the border as being the number one thing. Once we fix that, once we get a grasp on that … I think a lot of other things are going to fall into place.

We’re seeing families having to pay $23,000 a year, on average, for their healthcare premiums. The main thing driving the economic strain on these people is their healthcare costs, and I feel like we need to have somebody who understands … why that is. We’ve been promised and sold things in Austin for years that they’re gonna make things less expensive on the patient when … it’s just gone up and up. And physicians and healthcare facilities are making less and less and less.

Enterprise: What’s your solution?

Dr. DeMoor: The insurance lobby is so powerful, and they are pushing for this consolidation … for everybody to be under one big organization. When that happens the cost of care actually goes up exponentially. We do have some power in Texas to fix some of this and that comes through giving the [Texas Department of Insurance] some authority over network adequacy and ensuring that the smaller independents that are actually keeping the free market in play.

Enterprise: What is your plan for stopping the flow of people over the border?

Dr. DeMoor: We need to strengthen our Texas National Guard … it really comes down to physical barrier and personnel to stop the influx. I do support, like when we identify places like Colony Ridge and people who are living here undocumented, they need to be deported. Until we have a change in administration in the White House, we’re not getting any help. This is a place we spend money because downstream, we’re going to see the return on it. We’re going to see the return on our education costs, we’re going to see the return on our healthcare costs, our cost of living, all of these things if we invest in the border.

Enterprise: What is your position on school vouchers?

Dr. DeMoor: My mom’s a retired schoolteacher in Texas and I have a lot of friends in her administration and in the public school system and so, while I believe in parental choice … we are trying to do a one size fits all approach to this, and instead of a approach that is focused on these urban communities like Dallas and Harris County, and then thinking about bracketing out for smaller communities. I think that’s honestly why the governor is to have a hard time passing these … because it doesn’t work for you guys. I’m sure there’s a way to do it that makes everybody happy, but we have to be sure we protect the public schools … because that’s gonna be who’s educating the majority of our kids, and we have to make sure that you’re able to continue to recruit good teachers.