Democrat · Texas's 12th District · 2026
Angela Rodriguez Prilliman
Heli Rodriguez Prilliman grew up in Stephenville and studied marketing at Texas A&M. Her business career took her to Silicon Valley, where she founded a nail salon business and an online training program for nail professionals.
Biography
Angela “Heli” Rodriguez Prilliman describes her grandmother, Fort Worth civil rights activist Pauline Gasca Valenciano, as someone who volunteered, picketed and knocked on doors.1 Prilliman is a Fort Worth mother who grew up in Stephenville and graduated from Texas A&M in 2009 with a business degree.2
Before running for office, she went to nail school in San Francisco and founded Lacquerbar, a nail salon in Berkeley, California.3 In a 2019 interview, she described retraining employees whose earlier schooling had left them unprepared for salon work, and developing online courses through Lacquerbar U.3
Her work also includes the founding team at customer loyalty software company Fivestars and advising entrepreneurs through FourthWave, which supports women leading technology companies.4 She has mentored founders through Black Ambition, a program for Black and Latino entrepreneurs, and ran in Texas’s Democratic Senate primary in 2024.42 She also co created The C Curve, a podcast for nail technicians and people interested in their work.4
She faces Republican incumbent Craig Goldman in the 2026 House election.5 Her proposals include universal health coverage, a $10 daily cap on childcare costs and wealth taxes on billionaires to support those services.42 She also advocates protections for AI whistleblowers, mandatory testing and transparency, and restrictions on AI companions for children.2