Businessman O'Shea Runs for Congress as America First Candidate

With Republican Congresswoman Kay Granger having announced that she would not seek another term in the U.S. House of Representatives, the scurry to replace her has led to a contentious Republican primary election  One of the candidates vying to replace Rep. Granger is businessman John O’Shea.

O’Shea, who is married with three children, got his education at TCU, where he received Bachelor's Degrees in Political Science and Finance, before going on to the University of Texas where he received a Master's Degree in Finance and Management.

During a phone interview with Texas Politics, O’Shea pressed upon his 20 years of community banking experience and successful business acumen, as qualifiers to make a difference in the House of Representatives.

According to O’Shea, he sold his stake in Wildcatter Holdings, a construction and real estate umbrella company that oversaw the operations of six other individual construction, sand and gravel, concrete, and real estate companies.

“I was partner of the holding company and was an owner of all the individual entities,” said O’Shea.

Because he considers himself a “100% an America First candidate” and an “outsider,” O’Shea says that his former partners pressed him to sell his shares because they believed his was too much of a “firebrand.”

“My partners made me sell my interests because they knew I’d be firebrand and they didn’t want undo attention towards the country, so I sold my interests to my partners roughly a year ago,” said O’Shea.

Most congressional candidates really don’t give much mind about what committee assignments they would like to hold if elected to the lower chamber, but O’Shea has.

“The House Banking and Finance Committee is a logical one. The Small Business Administration would be a logical one with the businesses I had an ownership in, and the transportation would be a logical one,” asserted O’Shea. I’m looking to go serve wherever the party determines I would be the best applied. I more than happy to serve in those committees.”

As far as issues are concerned, O’Shea appears to check off all the Republican voter boxes.

Like most Republican lawmakers and candidates for elected office, O’Shea believes that the “Border Crisis” is “intentional” and that the Biden administration is “prioritizing illegal aliens over its citizens,” adding that the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” immigration policy needs to be reinstated.

“Its not just catch and release, its catch and release with debit cards,” said O’Shea of President Joe Biden’s current immigration policy.

As expected, and considering the huge influx of illegal immigrants that have been crossing the border, O’Shea believes that a “clear message needs to be sent” to the Biden administration and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas regarding the lack of enforcement of existing immigration laws, the human trafficking problem, and the control Mexican drug cartels have along the border region.

“You’re fired!”

The Republican congressional primary race in District 12 to replace Rep. Granger will take place on March 5.