Running for Congress without the backing of a major political party presents significant hurdles. That challenge is magnified in the political terrain of the Texas 18th District, a historically Black Democratic stronghold encompassing Houston and its suburbs, with a political identity solidified by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This fall, George Foreman IV ran in the special election as an independent, one of 16 candidates, vying to fill the vacated congressional seat. With no candidate reaching 50% in November, the race moves to a runoff between Democrats Christian Meneff and Amanda Edwards. Reflecting on his campaign, George says, "I chose to do something difficult, but I also saw how my presence shifted the debate and the conversation, and I hope to continue to have that impact."

 

George arrived at Fay as a seventh grader, following in the footsteps of his siblings Monk '98 and Leola '02. He kept a low profile, going by "Wil," and he credits Fay with shaping both his academic interests and his character. "I had such great academic mentors at Fay who challenged me in so many ways, but most of all, to be a good and decent citizen." George's dad, two-time heavyweight boxing champion and Olympic gold medalist George Foreman, also instilled in George and his siblings the importance of giving back. When George wasn't at school, he volunteered to teach boxing. He worked with other nonprofit organizations through the Foreman Charitable Foundation, which focuses heavily on Houston's Fifth Ward, where George Foreman Sr. was raised. "My dad's focus was serving the community he came from, so we were raised as public servants. He could have started a church or a gym in Los Angeles or New York City,  but he chose to do it where he came from because there's nothing like that there."

 

George graduated from the Governor's Academy and briefly dreamed of playing professional football. But after a series of concussions sidelined that goal, he redirected his drive toward education, earning his undergraduate and master's degrees from Texas Southern University, a historically black university in Houston.

 

Teaching had always been a passion for George. In high school, he interned with the Ready, Set, Teach and AVID programs, which are designed to inspire and provide experience for future educators. After university, he joined the Houston Independent School District (HISD) as a social studies teacher, where he quickly found his footing. "I was building lesson plans and classroom culture from scratch and running the AP programs," he recalls. "They let me dive in and learn, and that was a great experience." Today, George continues to make a difference in education through his work on the Aldine ISD support services team, where he coordinates intervention for twelve classrooms and helps students navigate emotional, disciplinary, and learning challenges.

 

Outside of education, George wears many hats. Like his dad, he is a preacher and also contributes to several Foreman family businesses, including small business consulting, public relations, and communications; serves on the board of the George Foreman Youth and Community Center in Houston; and even lends a hand at the family's cattle ranch in Marshall, Texas, when needed. On top of all this, he is dad to two busy teenagers, a 13-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter. "So I try to navigate being a dad, getting my sermons done, and then teaching gets the rest of my time."

 

With so much on his plate, most people would shy away from adding a political campaign to the mix. But for George, his background in education, boxing, faith, and entrepreneurship didn't just prepare him; it called him to step into another arena: politics. While his platform focused on youth programs, public safety, education, economic opportunity, and infrastructure, it was the redrawing of Texas's 18th District that motivated him. The redistricting hit close to home, literally. "I've seen the new map and the old map," George says. "Either way, I live in that map. I was born in that map. Our church and my parents' house have always been in the 18th. I take the way lines were drawn and their impact on nonprofits and policy personally." To preserve the District's history, George launched the TX-18 Education and Storytelling Initiative with the Library of Congress, creating intergenerational storytelling programs, school workshops, and digital content to share and preserve the community's stories.

 

Running as an independent presented real challenges, but it also gave George the freedom to speak his mind without party pressure. "The data shows that the independent voter is the majority," he says. It's liberating to be the person on the panel who speaks the language of the people, not the party." Still, independence also has its price. "I had to think outside the box," he admits. "I can't fundraise, like the Democrats in Houston. I used to be invited to their fundraisers as a potential donor, now I'm off the list." At one point, he was even invited to run as a Republican in a neighboring district. "That is how hard it is to be a truly free candidate, to run your ballot, your own campaign, and tell your own story."

 

While he didn't win the race, George saw firsthand how an independent voice could shift the tone of the conversation. During a panel on reproductive rights, for example, the major-party candidates speaking before him stuck closely to the party script. When George spoke, he changed the dynamic. He pointed out that it was simply unfair that women shouldn't have the same right to medical privacy that men take for granted. To his surprise, the candidates who spoke after him adjusted their remarks to reflect his more measured tone. "I wanted to use my platform to speak common sense and logic into an extremist environment," George says. "Because we all know where extremism leads, and I think that's what prevents progress and efficiency."