The Guardian by Adam Gabbatt 7/29/2018
Andrew Morris, 32, says his first-hand experience of US immigration and universal healthcare can help him win listeners
Texas is traditionally portrayed as a fiercely patriotic state. The kind of state that revels in all-American, conservative politicians. On the face, it doesn’t seem the sort of place where a liberal British politician could win office.
But Andrew Morris, a 32-year-old originally from Yorkshire, is bidding to do just that.
Morris, who moved to Texas 10 years ago, is running for a seat in the state’s House of Representatives. He’s retained his northern English accent – if it has developed a slight transatlantic lilt – and he says that makes him a curiosity when he turns up on doorsteps making his progressive pitch for more school funding, more investment in healthcare, and higher public sector wages.
“I think it captures people’s attention a little more because they want to hear what this strange-sounding guy has to say,†Morris says.
“I make it part of my pitch – I just make a joke about it. I go off on a segue about how I’m possibly more patriotic than a lot of my audience because I chose to move here, and who else in the audience can say that kind of thing?â€
Morris was born in Rotherham before moving to Warrington and later Brighton, following his father’s career. When he was 17, the family moved to Australia, and it was there that he struck up a pen-pal correspondence with his now wife, a native Texan. In 2008, Morris moved to Texas on a student visa, and he became a passport-holding citizen two years ago.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/28/andrew-morris-texas-british-politician-immigration
