Republican · Texas's 5th District · 2026
Lance Gooden
Gooden grew up in Terrell with two public school educators for parents.
Biography
Lance Gooden was born in Nashville in 1982 and graduated from Terrell High School in 2001.1 He and his wife, Alexa, live in Terrell and have two children.2
He earned a bachelor of arts degree and a bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 2004, and his professional career included a decade in the insurance industry.12 His state House service covered three terms, from 2011 to 2015 and again from 2017 to 2019.1 First elected to Congress in 2018, he took office in January 2019.1
Gooden's current committee assignments are Armed Services and Judiciary.3 His Armed Services work includes cyber technology, seapower and military aircraft, while his Judiciary assignments cover courts, intellectual property, artificial intelligence, regulatory reform and antitrust.3 His record also includes a 2021 vote against the PRO Act, labor organizing legislation that passed the House.4
In February 2026, Gooden introduced the End Sanctuary Cities Act, targeting local restrictions on cooperation with immigration authorities.5 The text published by his office would create criminal penalties for certain state and local executives who knowingly restrict compliance with Homeland Security requests for advance release notice involving noncitizens charged with or convicted of crimes.6 Gooden faces Democrat Chelsey Hockett.7
Record and controversies
Pending House ethics review
On July 27, 2026, the House Ethics Committee extended a matter concerning Gooden that the Office of Congressional Conduct had referred on June 10; the public notice did not identify the underlying allegation.8 The committee explicitly cautioned that the referral and extension were not findings that a violation occurred, and said it would announce its next action by November 9.8 Gooden described the matter as spending allegations and called them bogus and baseless; the specific spending and any connection to an older stock disclosure complaint were not established in the reporting.9 A later public disposition was not verified by October 28, 2026.10
Remarks about Judy Chu and both responses
In 2023, Gooden questioned Representative Judy Chu's loyalty or competence over her defense of Dominic Ng's trade appointment and expressed concern about her access to intelligence briefings.11 Chu called the comments racist, said she was born in Los Angeles and rejected the allegations against her.11 Gooden's office told CNN that its criticism concerned what it described as ties to Chinese Communist Party front groups, rather than Chu's heritage.11