Anti-war combat veteran and outspoken pro-Palestine activist Greg Stoker is running for Congress in Texas’ 31st District, which includes parts of North Austin, Round Rock and Fort Hood.
Stoker made national headlines in October when he was arrested while traveling with the Global Sumud Flotilla, a group of ships captured by Israeli forces on their way to deliver food and other aid to Palestinians during the blockade on Gaza. Stoker and other activists were captured, detained and interrogated by the IDF before their release.
“A lot of y’all have been telling me to run for Congress for years now so here I am doing it,” Stoker said in an Instagram announcement video on his campaign.
In late 2025, Stoker’s name first appeared on Ballotpedia, though the Current’s outreach to the Green Party for confirmation went unanswered. A Green Party entrant with the same name had appeared in the Congressional race in which Israeli-born infomercial pitchman and far-right MAGA fireband Offer Vince Shlomi, the “Shamow Guy,” is also running.
We were pretty sure that the mystery filing was the very same Greg Stoker who has nearly half a million followers on Instagram as a political influencer, MintPress news writer and cohost of the podcast Colonial Outcasts. Stoker resides in Austin and has been highly critical of both Democrats and Republicans. Furthermore, the Green Party of Texas has been outspoken in denouncing the bloodshed in Gaza more brazenly than both major parties.
It all seemed to add up.
But, now, Stoker has made it official with the Instagram announcement. In the clip, Stoker stands at the site of a planned data center in Chandler Creek outside Round Rock. He describes Texas’ boom in data centers as a threat to natural resources, while cautioning that the AI bubble might burst without yielding jobs or other significant economic benefits.
“You will not see any meaningful pushback from either Democrats or Republicans, because both parties are two opposing brands owned by the same tech billionaire interests,” Stoker said.
In the clip, Stoker uses the widely circulated “This is Fine” dog meme, suggesting his campaign is both of and for the highly online leftist millennial.
“Texas is not a blue state, Texas is not a red state, Texas is a nonvoting state,” Stoker added, putting his own third-party twist on a Beto O’Rourke talking point. “Because, historically, what does our government have to offer you besides the tired old culture wars and identity politics as the house burns down around us?”
To that point, Stoker promised to run a “very unconventional” campaign, which won’t involve taking corporate PAC money or hiring a big shot D.C. consultant.
Dressed in his standard green Army surplus jacket with unruly shoulder-length hair, Stoker indicated — both visually and verbally — that he isn’t a politician. He’s just fed up.
“If you need a slogan, ‘Greg Stoker: just a guy who’s literally not insane,'” he said.
Republican U.S. Rep. John Carter, a member of Trump’s Texas leadership team, has represented the 31st District since its 2003 creation. Carter is running once again for the position, which he’s used to support arming Israel and vote against both articles of impeachment against President Trump.
During his tenure, Carter also co-sponsored an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to reverse same-sex marriage. Further, he co-authored the Securing America’s Future Bill, which sought to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to revise immigrant visa allocation provisions.
Both measures failed in the House.
In 2018, Carter defended his Congressional seat against Democrat and veteran MJ Hegar, defeating her by just three points. Carter is 84 years old and running during a midterm contest unfavorable to the GOP, suggesting that it might be anyone’s game.
Seemingly echoing that suspicion, a staggering number of candidates have filed in the primary, including Democrats Justin Early and Stuart Whitlow along with 10 Republicans, according to Ballotpedia.
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