Dione Sims

When Dione Sims told her grandmother, Opal Lee, that she wanted to run for Congress, Lee had a practical response: she wanted campaign materials to hand out, Sims recalled to FOX 4.¹ Sims attended Southwest High School in Fort Worth and earned a business degree at Texas Wesleyan University.¹

She founded Unity Unlimited in 2000 after organizing a youth event, developing a nonprofit focused on educational opportunity and bringing communities together.¹² Its projects have included arts programming and support for Opal's Farm, an urban farming initiative addressing food insecurity while offering training and employment opportunities.³

Her professional work also includes software quality management, and she served as founding executive director of the National Juneteenth Museum.² She helped organize Opal's Walk, has produced Fort Worth's annual Juneteenth celebration with Lee since 2015, and joined her grandmother at the White House signing that established the federal holiday.³

Her health care platform supports incentives for closing Texas' Medicaid coverage gap, assistance with marketplace premiums and stronger Medicare prescription drug negotiation.⁴ She also calls for investment in rural hospitals, community health centers and health care workforce programs, coupled with greater price transparency and identified financing for major legislation.⁴ The Democrat faces Republican incumbent Roger Williams.⁵