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Our verdict

LiberalMind endorses Craig Goldman

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2026, and voting is already underway in Texas. This is the whole race — the records, the claims against each candidate, and what the sources actually show. Read the research, and decide which flaw you can live with.

The setup

Texas's 12th District — Fort Worth west and the Parker County area — is held by incumbent Rep. Craig Goldman (R), first elected in 2024: a freshman in Congress, but no newcomer to Texas government. His challenger is Angela "Heli" Rodriguez Prilliman (D).

On the lean: no verified new-map baseline was located in the sources consulted for this district, and no old-map number is printed here as a substitute. Fort Worth was substantially redrawn in the 2025 map — the old Veasey TX-33 was moved out of Fort Worth entirely — so any pre-2025 figure for this ground is stale.

Craig Goldman (Republican)

The record: Goldman spent 12 years in the Texas House before Congress, where he chaired the House Republican Caucus. In Washington he serves on Energy and Commerce. He was first elected to Congress in 2024.

Pros: A long, checkable state legislative record — 12 years of votes in Austin, caucus leadership elected by his own colleagues, and a major committee assignment in his first congressional term.

Cons: He is a freshman at the federal level: one term in Washington is a short audit trail for a voter weighing a career that was mostly made in Austin. The file located no specific documented break or scandal to print beyond that ordinary accountability.

The flaw, plainly: Goldman's Washington record is brief because his service there is brief — his real record is the 12 years in the Texas House, and it is fully on display for voters to judge.

Angela "Heli" Rodriguez Prilliman (Democratic)

The record: Prilliman is a Fort Worth entrepreneur and educator with more than a decade in the technology sector; she was raised in Stephenville and is a Texas A&M graduate — campaign biography as compiled by The Ballot Brief, including Fort Worth Report material.

Pros: Private-sector and education experience rooted in this part of Texas, and a Fort Worth base in a Fort Worth district.

Cons: No prior elected office is in the file, and no documented break toward our values in service appears there — the Manchin test reads service, and there is no service record of that kind here. What she offers is her party's program.

The flaw, plainly: Prilliman asks voters to replace an incumbent whose 12-year Austin record can be checked vote by vote with a campaign biography. There is nothing else in the file to weigh.

OUR CALL

LiberalMind endorses Craig Goldman.

A freshman in Congress with a dozen years of checkable service in the Texas House and caucus leadership on his record, against a challenger with no elected record located and no documented break toward our values. No verified new-map baseline was located for this redrawn Fort Worth seat, so no lean number is printed — the records decide it.

This race is one of hundreds in LiberalMind's Election 2026 coverage. For the complete breakdown — every race, claim by claim — go to liberalmindhq.com.

Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Sources

Election result — November 4, 2026

Winner: Craig Goldman (Republican) — called by the Associated Press. This result was appended on November 4, 2026 (results wave 1); the original article above is unchanged, exactly as published before Election Day.

AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.

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