Goldman asks for input while protesters call for town hall 

Inside the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce’s breakfast talk with Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth, the freshman congressman spoke about the need for businesses, organizations and community members to reach out to his staff on issues important to the area. 

“You have to tell us how we can help you benefit the local economy, to help supply that workforce,” he said, in response to a question about training and education. He urged them to contact his office staff more often. “You’re keeping them employed because they need stuff to do every single day. So challenge us.” 

However, outside the downtown event, about two dozen protesters with the Fort Worth chapter of the national activist group Indivisible 12 called for Goldman to meet with Tarrant County residents about national issues impacting the community. Some held signs that read “Shame” and a handful wore red cloaks to resemble the characters in the dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.” 

Organizer Sabrina Ball said the protest came after she and others repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to reach Goldman’s office to organize a discussion or town hall about issues such as federal funding cuts, tariffs and immigration. It’s impossible to reach the congressman, she said. 

“No response from Craig,” Ball said. “When I heard that he was speaking at this breakfast, it’s like, ‘Hey, well, here’s the perfect opportunity (because) if he doesn’t see us, at least the people that are coming to the breakfast will see us.”

At the event, Goldman said it was not clear to him what the demonstration was aimed at. At press time, Goldman’s office had not commented on the protest. 

Inside the City Club of Fort Worth, Goldman discussed key events that have occurred in his first term, including being the first freshman congressman to have a bill signed into law during President Donald Trump’s current term. 

His bill repealed Biden administration energy conservation standards for commercial refrigerators and freezers. Goldman said such standards impose a burden on manufacturers and small businesses requiring costly equipment redesigns and manufacturing upgrades. 

“My first time in the Oval Office was with a bill signed by the president,” he said of the May 9 signing of his bill.

Goldman is a member of the energy and commerce committee, which oversees a wide range of issues including energy, environment, interstate and foreign commerce, food and drug safety, public health and telecommunications. 

“Eighty percent of the bills that make it to the House floor go through our committee,” he said. 

Goldman said immigration is an issue he hopes to work on next year, following the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” and the upcoming budget discussions. 

“We have to change that, because we need a legal immigration program here in this country, because we need a workforce,” he said. “We know that. We especially know that in Texas.” 

In August, Goldman visited Israel along with other members of Congress and asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other leaders about their use of the Fort Worth-built F-35, which the country has used extensively in its war with Hamas. 

Netanyahu said, “It’s a floating command center in the sky,” and it’s led in every single mission they’ve had since October 7,” Goldman said. 

The other members of the congressional delegation made fun of him, Goldman said, because whenever they met with a military leader, he asked about the F-35. 

“It’s the number one employer in my district, in Congressional District 12,” he said. “People, not only from Tarrant County but Parker County, go to Lockheed Martin every single day to help build the F-35.” 

Goldman, a former six-term Texas House member, was elected to Congress in November, replacing the longtime Republican Rep. Kay Granger, who represented the district from 1997 through 2025. 

Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org.

Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org. 

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