WESLACO — Former broadcast journalist Frank McCaffrey announced his intention to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, a seat currently held by Vicente Gonzalez, at the San Martin de Porres Food Distribution Center in Weslaco on Monday.
McCaffrey, who said he’s currently freelance writing, will be running as a Republican candidate on a platform of focusing on local business, agriculture and veteran assistance in the Rio Grande Valley.
The Loyola University Maryland and Johns Hopkins University graduate chose to announce his run at San Martin de Porres because his father, William McCaffrey, who was a devoted Catholic and would teach a business course at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Brownsville, used to volunteer there before he died in 2017.
McCaffrey believes he has an understanding of government that would help with his run for his congressional run.
A resident of McAllen since 2016, McCaffrey said he also understands the importance of helping ranchers recalling the damage the 2018 and 2019 floods had caused as well as the Texas freeze that occurred earlier this year, which affected the Texas citrus industry.
“So, I would want to be the guy screaming and yelling and raising his voice in Washington for someone to be paying attention to the Texas citrus industry and not be ignored,” McCaffrey said. “And if they need something to get them through, if they need some financing to get them through, so be it and they’ll be back better than ever.”
McCaffrey would also like to see some changes in Veterans Affairs, especially in suicide prevention programs.
His interest in local business and job creation comes from his concern of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it’s changed the economic landscape.
“These things are a lot of challenges that you just have to have someone who’s willing to go up to Washington and fight for and not ignore the people of the Valley,” McCaffrey said. “The people of the Valley have called me so many times because they know who I am and just know I’m going to go fight for them because nobody else is listening to them. I said, well I guess I got to run, I guess this is my calling.”
