Shenghao “Daniel” Wang has called Austin home since he was 1 year old. After graduating from Harvard Law School, to lead change in his community, Wang returned to the community he grew up in, he said.
Now, Wang is running to represent House District 49 in the Texas Legislature, which houses UT and West Campus. The 31-year-old attorney said he decided to run after he learned the district’s current state representative, Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, would run for governor instead of seeking reelection.
Wang is part of an eight-way Democratic primary for District 49, which includes Kathie Tovo, a former Austin City Council member, and former U.S. diplomat Robin Lerner.
Wang serves on the Travis Central Appraisal District Board of Directors, which assesses the property taxes of Travis County, and works full-time as an electricity regulation lawyer, where he said he helps companies navigate through regulations and legal requirements to build reliable and affordable infrastructure. Wang said his day job gives him experience for one of Texas’ biggest issues: the power grid.
Wang said he regularly works with power companies on ERCOT compliance and permits and views the issue of grid reliability as a “nonpartisan” issue. Data centers, artificial intelligence, population growth and climate change are challenges facing the power grid, Wang said.
“Most people have no idea how difficult it is for the lights to come on instantaneously,” Wang said. “We are facing unprecedented challenges to maintaining the reliability of the grid.”
Wang also said Medicaid expansion is his priority. He said although he supports the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which requires federally funded hospitals to provide emergency care for patients who cannot pay upfront, it is “inequitable” to shift the costs to paying patients.
“If we just do it directly up front through our tax dollars, it’s transparent, it’s equitable, and it saves massive amounts of money, billions and billions of dollars every year,” Wang said.
Wang said another priority is protecting and funding public education. He called school vouchers a “scam” that diverts taxpayer dollars from public schools to “unaccountable private schools,” and said teachers should be paid a six-figure salary.
“Capitalism says that we should put the best, smartest people in charge of the most important things,” Wang said. “I don’t think anything is more important than educating our children.”
Wang also said he wants to address the housing and infrastructure needs of Austin’s growing population. Wang said the solution to housing affordability is simple: “build more stuff.”
Wang said the only way to achieve his campaign priorities — affordability, healthcare, freedom of expression and protecting the LGBTQ+ community — is by flipping Republican-held seats and helping Democrats win elections. Republicans hold 88 out of 150 seats in the Texas House of Representatives.
“For these big picture issues, we are just going to have an irreconcilable difference with Republicans,” Wang said. “At the end of the day, if we want a different outcome, we have to take it to the voters.”
