Lubbock Times

Stephen Sanders, a musician and candidate for Lubbock mayor, shared his thoughts on key issues in his campaign against incumbent mayor Dan Pope while on The Amarillo Pioneer podcast. 

Sanders, who describes himself as a”pro-life conservative,” said on the podcast that one of his top priorities is to address the budget. 

“One thing that I really want to look at is our budget," he said. "We have to work together to make decisions. I just feel like there’s been some things that we’ve done fiscally that aren’t as conservative and we need to look at that. We’ve had a runaway spending issue and I really want to tackle that."

This is Sanders’ second time running as he was a write-in candidate in 2018. He hopes to push unity and togetherness in the city. 

“I really feel like there are some racial barriers here in Lubbock,” he said on the podcast. "While people may not admit it, it is. I love all people. My wife is a Caucasian lady, my kids are half. We have taught our children it doesn’t matter what color you are, it matters how you treat people."

He said the key is to unite East Lubbock and West Lubbock and remove the years-long divide. 

“The last thing I really want to focus on is our roads, our streets, our infrastructure," Sanders said. "Right now many of our streets are in bad shape. We have tax dollars that are supposed to be used for that purpose. We have tax dollars that are supposed to be used for infrastructure, so I want to revisit those areas and make sure we’re applying the money in the right places at the right time."

He added that if there were a city savings account for instances like COVID-19, some businesses could have received more assistance as several businesses closed because of the pandemic.