Katie's approach to economic development centers on:

• Closing the gap between how small businesses and large corporations are treated. She notes that 99.8% of Texas businesses are small businesses, employing about 5.1 million people — yet billion-dollar corporations often have "an army of lawyers and lobbyists" helping them secure large tax breaks and subsidies that small, local businesses don't have access to.

• Exploring new tools to support small business access to capital. She has pointed to North Dakota's state-backed small business bank as one model worth exploring for Texas, noting it has been profitable and has returned money to the state.

• Investing in workforce development, including apprenticeships and skilled trades partnerships with major regional employers (with Bell, GM, and Lockheed as examples), so local businesses can find the talent they need. And she supports continued investment in UTA as a regional driver of research, innovation, and talent.

• Protecting local control over local economic decisions. Katie agrees with the goal of increasing housing opportunities in Texas, but has raised concerns about how state laws like SB 840 preserve — or fail to preserve — our cities' ability to maintain local control over their own growth. She believes Texas needs better solutions so that communities and business owners at home — not politicians in Austin — have a real say in how our local economies can best thrive. (See her full position on affordable housing below.)

• Treating affordability as an economic strategy. Katie has said that when people have more money in their pockets, they spend more at small businesses, strengthening the local economy for everyone.

Katie has said the affordable housing shortage facing Texans has reached crisis levels: Texas home prices have jumped nearly 48% since 2020, pricing out first-time buyers and renters alike. She agrees with the goal of increasing housing opportunities, but has real concerns with how SB 840 was written when it comes to preserving cities' ability to maintain local control, and believes Texas needs better solutions. She has also called for responsible ownership of these developments, so residents and cities don't bear the brunt of large corporations taking advantage of the bill. One approach she's said is worth serious consideration: giving cities the ability to offer tax subsidies and expedite permitting for more affordable housing developments.

Katie opposes giving AI data centers free rein or public giveaways at the expense of local communities. She supports regulating AI data centers so they pay for their own electricity and water use. She advocates for holding them accountable to the communities around them, rather than allowing large tech investment to come at the expense of residents' own utility costs and infrastructure.

Katie describes herself as "a product of Texas's workforce development" and has a strong personal commitment to it. Her priorities include:

• Continued state investment in UTA and TCC, aligning higher education and credentialing with future workforce needs on an ongoing basis (not just alternate legislative session cycles).

• Bringing major regional employers to the table on workforce planning.

• Growing apprenticeships and skilled trades programs.

• Expanding access to child care, so parents can work, train, and retrain while their kids are safe and supported.

Katie holds an MBA from TCU, which she earned while working two jobs. Over 15 years, she has managed multi-million dollar P&Ls at a Fortune 100 company, worked at local Arlington businesses—including startups, and small, midsize, and large companies—and has built and led global teams from scratch. She currently serves as a vice president at an S&P 500 company and has experience reviewing legislation and providing policy recommendations. She describes her approach to state spending as pragmatic: bringing people together for sensible, disciplined solutions with a focus on return on investment.

With competing priorities and limited resources, Katie evaluates state spending through two questions:

1. Where is the state most underinvesting? and 

2. What has the largest short- and long-term impact for that investment? 

She views public education as foundational to economic growth, arguing that underfunding schools constrains the state's long-term economic potential — while noting that Texas currently has a large budget surplus (a "rainy day fund almost overflowing") that could be invested more wisely rather than directed toward tax breaks for large corporations