Texas is traditionally portrayed as a fiercely patriotic state. The kind of state that revels in all-American, conservative politicians. On the face, it doesn’t seem the sort of place where a liberal British politician could win office.

But Andrew Morris, a 32-year-old originally from Yorkshire, is bidding to do just that.

Morris, who moved to Texas 10 years ago, is running for a seat in the state’s House of Representatives. He’s retained his northern English accent – if it has developed a slight transatlantic lilt – and he says that makes him a curiosity when he turns up on doorsteps making his progressive pitch for more school funding, more investment in healthcare, and higher public sector wages.

“I think it captures people’s attention a little more because they want to hear what this strange-sounding guy has to say,” Morris says.

“I make it part of my pitch – I just make a joke about it. I go off on a segue about how I’m possibly more patriotic than a lot of my audience because I chose to move here, and who else in the audience can say that kind of thing?”

Morris was born in Rotherham before moving to Warrington and later Brighton, following his father’s career. When he was 17, the family moved to Australia, and it was there that he struck up a pen-pal correspondence with his now wife, a native Texan. In 2008, Morris moved to Texas on a student visa, and he became a passport-holding citizen two years ago.

As an immigrant himself, he is not afraid to talk about a more inclusive approach to immigration and undocumented immigrants – which is anathema to many in the south.

His background, however, sometimes means people are more receptive to his ideas.

‘What I saw in previous cycles was that the Democratic candidate didn’t really run a campaign or organize effectively,’ Morris says. Photograph: Handout

“Hearing from someone who has gone through the immigration process, they are really open and really curious about what I think of the whole situation,” Morris says.

“I have some insight into how expensive it is, how long it is and how opaque of a process it can be. I have a sense about the challenges that immigration reform entails.”

Morris co-founded a group backing Bernie Sanders during the Vermont senator’s run for president, and he is running as a progressive in Texas House district 64. One of the things he will be able to focus on as a state representative is education: specifically classroom size and teachers’ pay.

Another area Morris says he is particularly able to speak to is healthcare. He is a proponent of Medicare-for-all – which would provide free healthcare to everyone in the US – and says his first-hand experience of living in countries with universal healthcare helps him allay people’s suspicions.

“There’s no reason why the US, with all of their riches and all of the opportunities that it has, should trail everyone else among the most economically developed countries in the world. Nowhere else do you become bankrupt because of a medical condition,” Morris says.

“I use my experiences in the UK and Australia to show that the level of rhetoric, especially from the conservative side of the political spectrum, isn’t based in any sort of reality.”

Morris’s opponent, the Republican Lynn Stucky, won district 64 in 2016 with 64% of the vote, with the Democratic candidate winning just 38%. A Republican also won with more than 60% in 2012 and 2014. But despite those numbers, Morris is positive about his chances. He sees the district as more liberal than the figures suggest.

“There are more Democrats than Republicans. But what I saw in previous cycles was that the Democratic candidate didn’t really run a campaign or organize effectively,” Morris said.

“That’s what going to be different about this cycle – the energy and enthusiasm that a lot of people have, especially because of the current White House occupant. There’s something different about this cycle that will encourage more Democrats to come out.”

If Morris does win, he’ll serve a two-year term in the Texas state house in Austin alongside 149 other representatives. At a time where there is tension between the US and the UK, perhaps a Brit in Texas could help to repair relations a little.