. >> reporter: one engineer hoping to head to washington is joseph kopser. he's a tech executive from austin, texas, who's considering a run for congress. kopser spent 20 years in the army after studying aerospace engineering at west point. >> as a kid, i was so inspired by nasa, and the idea of being in space was just fascinating. >> reporter: kopser is exploring a run against texas republican lamar smith, a 30-year incumbent who's chairman of the house committee on science, space and technology. >> most climate science today appears to be based more on exaggerations, personal agendas and questionable predictions than on the scientific method. >> reporter: kopser says he's motivated in part by smith's skeptical views of climate change science. >> lamar smith is a nice gentlemen. he has a view toward science and technology that is not helpful in terms of where our economy is going. his views on climate change are not in step with where the body of the science is. >> reporter: smith also supported president trump's recent executive order rolling back presiden