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Hello and welcome to the Texas Tribune trip Cast for Friday, May fit.
My name is Matthew Watkins, Managing editor for News and Politics for the
Tribune, and we are coming down the home stretch of the legislative session.
There are eight thousand, three hundred and forty three bills filed so far this
year in Texas Legislative Session, and most of those will die not by being
voted down by a chamber or committee, but by missed deadlines for bills to
be voted out by the chamber or the committee. And next week those deadlines
are starting to come. We'll have May fourth, the deadline for House committees
to vote out bills. House bills at least in May eleventh, the deadline
for the full chamber of the House to vote out House bills. So basically
it's crunch time. It's it's time for bills to kind of get through or
start failing. Joining us to talk about this this week is two political reporters
for The Tribune, Patrick's Feetech Hey, Patrick, Hey, thanks for having
me, thanks for coming on. And James Bettergan Hey, James, So,
you know, I think the big question that many of us have coming
into this last month, the last few weeks of the legislative session is is
it all going to fall apart? And are we going to have a special
session forced? There's a long list of Dan patrick priorities that he, you
know, is still waiting to see come out of a House. And there
are you know, most past bills and the budget sunset legislation which we can
get into and explain a little bit that he can sort of, you know,
for a lack of a better term, hold hostage and force a special
session if they don't come through, and he has made very clear to us
into the world that he is willing to do so if he doesn't see some
of these priorities come through. Patrick, let's start with you, what are
those some of those priorities, and what stand out to you is the ones
that he's kind of highlighting the most well in the Lieutenant Governor's own words,
his uh, you know, highest priorities right now are his property tax relief
plan and his power grid performs that he's posts. I mean, he has
explicitly said that, you know, those are worth going to a special session
over if they can't come together on them in the next few weeks. And
so those are the two major issues to watch I think as far as Dan
Patrick and potential special sessions are concerned, you know, and in both of
those situations, there's not a lot of hope I think for consensus at the
moment we've gone over the property tax you know, dispute between the two chambers
repeatedly. They're both dug in, I think on their respective positions, and
Dan Patrick is especially dug in on his position. And then when it comes
to his priority good reform bills, sent it Bill and send it SENTI Bill
six and sent up Bill seven. I don't believe sent Uphill six as of
this hour has gotten a hearing in the House. Sent Uphill seven did get
a hearing this week, but it was not a very I would say successful
hearing for the you know, the bill's prospects going forward. It was left
pending and Chairman seemed critical of it. So that's where we're at in those
two. So these two issues, like you said, they are not they
seem to be farther apart. It would it be safe to say that they're
farther apart on property taxes than than than the grid or is that? Do
you say they're equally kind of split on this? I say maybe they're closer
around property taxes because I think that they actually maybe could come to a consensus
on property taxes just because, like the governor has put so much emphasis on
it, he wants to deliver the biggest tax cut, which you know asterisk
and you know we've all fact checked with that that that can't really be the
biggest tax cut in state history. But you know, they want to do
it like they do want to they just have different approaches for how to do
it. And I think we're going to see in the last couple of weeks
them trying to come together and see if they can hammer something out. But
the grid thing that Patrick is talking about, like that seems like a no
go for the House, and really it's it's Patrick who's the only one pushing
for that. For the natural gas plane incentive is the House wants something to
do with it. And I don't know if the governor has really weighed in
on that, although of course the grid is you know, a key issue
for him. He's he's very interested in making sure it's up and running.
Patrick, give us a brief rundown of what it is that that Dan Patrick
wants from the grid and where that might why that might run into a hitch
in the house. Well, I would maybe defer to our energy reporter foxall
and all the specifics of the legislation, but I think broadly speaking, it's
it's fair to say that Patrick is backing a suite of proposals that would incentivize
the construction of more natural gas capacity in Texas UM and there is, you
know, there is real disagreement, you know, how much more reliable that
actually makes the grid. Questions, environmental impact questions, even from members of
Dan Patrick's own party, about whether that amends you know, amounts to a
distortion of the free market, which is, you know, traditionally a conservative
principles is staying out of the free market and letting its work. It's letting
it work its will. And so it's you know, these proposals have really
encountered all these political cross currents, and that I think has contributed to the
really you know, uncertain state that they're in right now. It's also like
there's some politics at play here though, right Patrick, I mean, because
what the Lieutenant governor has said is like he doesn't like renewables, like the
wind is great wind energy and renewables are great when the wind is blowing and
the sun is out, but when it's not, like that doesn't work,
and that's why we need dispatchable energy like natural gas. I think there are
some politics here, but like you're saying, and like Emily has reported,
the experts say, hey, maybe this isn't the best way to go about
it, and there are like other solutions that you know, the legislature has
worked on over the last two years on this that you know, I would
say, maybe experts consider a little bit more serious than this. So but
I guess my whole point is like there are some politics here on the energy
talks. Yeah, and to go back to Abbott's position and all this that's
been you know, the subject of a lot of political intrigue. I mean,
after his reelect last year and as Dan Patrick was really ramping up his
focus on this as legislative issue, Abbott was was notably quiet. And then
in his inaugural address in January, he did come out and basically side with
Dan Patrick on this issue generally speaking. He mentioned it again in his State
of the State speech about a month later, but he did not designated an
emergency item. He didn't, you know, signal that it's the highest priority
for him. And so you know, I don't think Patrick, I don't
think Abbott is particularly invested in this issue this session. He has much higher
priorities. And you know, Patrick, I think is kind of on an
island among the three of them when it comes to being very vocal about this
issue. And like Urka and Mpuc, I can't remember which one I said
it, but they want to be like an agnostic on like what the source
is. They just want the grid up and running right, Like they don't
necessarily want to say like it's got to be dispatchable energy. They wanted to
They just wanted to be working, and they're like agnostic as to what makes
it work well and we did have some news this week coming from a state
report basically indicating that you know, we're in trouble, yeah, that that
demand might not keep up with or sorry, that supply might not keep up
with demand in this situation. And then I kind of raised my eyebrows because
I believe the next day Governor Abbott tweeted out, you know, that he
was holding a meeting with you know, leaders natural gap involved in the natural
gas industry, you know, about this situation and at that table. Was
Dan Patrick not present at that table day, Pheela. And I wonder maybe
I'm reading too much into that, Patrick, but that that felt like something
of a signal there. Sure, I think Abbot at least wants to be
a physically infiguratively at the table for those discussion as just as you just pointed
out, you know, the sense I get is that Abbott isn't necessarily m
you know, you know, like explicitly against what Dan Patrick is pushing.
But Abbott is someone who tried to kind of close the door on this issue
after the twenty twenty one session. He you know, Dan Patrick did not
let him close the door on it, and so Dan Patrick keeps I think
dragging out this issue in Abbott's view, and so Abbott I think just wants
to He wants resolution on this, and Patrick keeps extending the shelf life of
it legislatively and politically, and so I think Abbott is just eager for some
kind of solution to close this chapter of his governorship. And it may not
be that he explicitly opposes what Dan Patrick is pushing, but he wants to
be at the table and he wants to figure out, you know, a
timely resolution. And to be fair to Lieutenant governor, I mean, the
state of the grid does seem precarious. Yeah, so like there is,
and of course he's he's taking it, you know, he's putting his politics
on it, which is the he supports natural gas plant incentivization. But the
concern is there from the Lieutenant Governor and from the governor and quite frankly from
all of us who still have PTSD. Yeah. Yeah, well, I
just you know, it would be an interesting scenario where if we had a
special session forced over this, you know, going into the summer that period
where we are projects, Yeah, exactly. I wonder if that would change
the dynamics of the political conversation in any way, all right, let's talk
briefly about property taxes. Patrick. As you mentioned, we have kind of
talked about this quite a bit. UH Senate proposal seems to be, you
know, largely based around raising the homestead exemption for all homeowners as well as
particularly, I guess more for seniors, in addition to pushing a bunch of
money, you know, over five billion dollars toward buying down school property taxes.
The House on the other side, wants to limit appraisal growth appraisal caps
um. They also want to put billions of dollars towards the public school system
in those property taxes. So the issue seems to be more around whether it's
a home set exemption or an appraisal cap. You know, we've heard and
our reporter Josh Fector has done a lot of reporting on some of the challenges
and concerns being raised about appraisal caps and how you know, that might disincentivize
from people from you know, ever moving out of their house and could in
part, you know, raise property tax property values in that regard. I
guess my question here is it doesn't really seem like there's much progress being made
on this discussion. Is there any sign of compromise or or or you know,
other proposals out there that y'all are seen, not yet. I know
that the Senate bill was referred to a committee in the House in recent days,
but that's not necessarily the sign of real momentum. We'd have to wait
and see whether it's even going to get a hearing and set committee. So
I think folks are still waiting to see if there is a compromise in sight
there. Dan Patrick has been you know, they both have disagreements in this
situation, but Dan Patrick has been the one who's been more immovable, saying
he's not willing to compromise on appraisal caps. You know. In contrast,
you have Dave Feeling, who says, our legislation includes appraisal caps, but
I'm not closing the door on home set exemption. So I think, you
know, Feeling is the one who has already shown a little more flexibility on
this issue and maybe the path toward a compromise. But Patrick is the one
who just appears to be more dug in. I have continued to watch this
and speculate about, you know, is does Feelin appear to be digging in
his heels as some kind of negotiating tactic in order to pull anything out,
because I think a lot of us have lived at this and been a little
bit confused about his stance on here. But I guess my question is,
you know, you know, what is it that Feeling wants If he is,
you know, preparing for negotiations, what is at the top of his
list that he wants to see happen in the last few weeks. Yeah,
he's a lot. Yeah, I mean, he's got a lot, and
it's sometimes he has priority bills that he's designated and they haven't been as at
tension grabbing as Dan Patrick's priority bills, which tend to touch on more of
like the you know, red red meat debates of the day. But you
know, as I said, Feelings outlined a number of over a dozen i
think priority bills, and so one of the things things that I think is
striking in the final few weeks here is that when it comes to that kind
of horse trading you know arena that we're entering into, there are just so
many active, you know, issues on the table, so many different priorities
that each of these guys are focused on that do not line up with the
other chamber, and so there's just a lot of proposals in play when it
comes to thinking about the endgame of this legislative session. Yeah, I mean,
I think like some of the things that for example, the Speaker wants
that Bolusiana Governor hasn't really talked about or expressed any interest in it is like
the extension of Medicaid coverage for lecome mothers. You know, that's something that
they did last session, got it to twelve months in the House, and
then bumped it back down to six months in the Senate. The House is
back says they want it, you know, the sales tax exemption for feminine
hygiene products and diapers on something that the House wants that the Senate hasn't really
talked about. And it's like, uh, you know, more like um,
you know, things that like can touch people's lives in a very real
way. And then there's also things that are you know, kind of snooze
fest to us, like infrastructure funds, but very important, as our regional
reporters have reported, because the water infrastructure in the state is not great,
and so those are some of the things that could be you know, you
know, horse are of the bargaining chips in the horse trading. In the
end. The other thing that sort of we've noted in our reporting is that
you know, some of the like infrastructure funds. Sure they're not as sexy
to write about, but they're also very necessary and I think would be a
hard thing to kill because if you are the tenant governor, Damnatrick and you're
killing infrastructure of bonds or you're killing say another priority like the Bishop Evans Act
to give the benefits to National Guard troops on the border, like, that's
not a great look. So it puts him in a tough position. But
you know, the Lieutenant governor is never scared to be an except position.
Indeed, indeed, you know, Patrick, you and I started at the
tribute and that a you know, basically I think the same month or the
during the same legislative session at least, and we have been through a few
of these James. You have to and there is never a time. It's
usually in May when people start freaking out about how there's going to be a
special session. Of course, many times there are special sessions, including last
sessions. So I don't mean to completely downplay that that problem. But does
it feel more dire? Does it feel especially unusual for the two chambers to
be separate right now on these issues or is that just kind of the way
things go in a Texas legislature, particularly a Texas legislature where Dan Patrick is
a lieutenant governor and likes to do these kind of public negotiations. Yeah,
I will say, you know, the sessions that I've been here since twenty
fifteen onward, it has been more of the norm than not the norm.
That you know, in the final month, things look dire. You know,
some of the chambers are apart on big two chambers are apart on some
of the big issues. But this session, even by that standard, this
session does feel a little different for a couple of reasons. I think the
first reason is what I said several minutes ago, which is there are just
so many priority issues on the table that are unresolved with three weeks to go,
so you just have just so many issues in play. And number two,
I mean, I think the relationship among the big three is probably the
worst it's been in a long time. I mean, obviously we know Dan
Patrick and Dave Feeling don't have a good relationship. You have Dan Patrick calling
Dave pheelan California dad name calling him and you know, which you know to
us like at this point, just because we know Dan Patrick, that doesn't
really phase us. But I mean, you know, compared to how you
know, Patrick treated Strauss, which is very critical, but you know,
never would whip out a nick insulting nickname like that, right. Um,
so we just should pause and take take in the level of acrimony required to
do something like that. Um. And then you have Abbott, who you
know, I don't know your Abbott has been very quiet recently. Um.
You know, even on the issue that he's championed all sessions will choice,
he's been relatively quiet on it. Um. It's you know, they're not
having the Big three breakfast, you know anymore. Um. You know we've
learned through reporting. Uh, you know. And I don't even know what
the ab to say the Abbott and Patrick relationship is. You know, I've
heard that they haven't had a lot of contact this session. So you know,
I think those are some of the factors that make this a unique,
a uniquely perilous final month of this session. I will say it first of
all that I need to defend my home state California. Actually it's not.
It's not always. I'm already seeing all your emails in your tweets, but
I gotta stand up for my home state. Secondly, I will say your
point is very good, Patrick in that like there were so many priorities.
You know, I was doing a hobby hour talk with a bunch of other
reporters from across the state, and Groma Jeffers of the DMN noted like they
were now thirty priorities for the Lieutenant governor plus the twenty from the House Speaker.
It's a lot of things to get done. But you know, well,
I'll say, also, it's still May fifth. There, we've got
a little more than three weeks. A lot of things are in conference committee,
so we can get a lot of these things done. And the thing
that Patrick is pointing out, like the Big Three maybe fighting amongst each other.
I don't see the same animosity from like the actual members, Like the
members don't hate each other, it's just the Big Three they hate each other
so well, I wouldn't say hate each other. Maybe they just don't like
each other. I don't know. I'm not in their inner heads. Yeah,
but it's clear that, you know, feeling Hadrick going like each other.
But yeah, we got three weeks, so let's let's see what happens.
I'm not canceling my summer trouble yea, which I have not made except
for one winning. Yeah, I think that's a good point. The counterpoint
to that, you know, as it relates to how Senate rank and file
relationships is, you know, the Senate has just becomes such a one man
show with the strangle hold that Dan Patrick has on it. So you know,
to me, you know, I think to a certain point, it's
like, you know, why does it matter if the Senate, you know,
Brandon crate In and Brad Buckley have a good relationship, if Dan Patrick's
the one is going to call the shots in the Senate? I mean,
I do agree with you that you don't see a lot of animosity between the
rank and file in the two chambers, and you know, and that's great,
but I have to wonder, at the end of the day, just
given that the Senate is a one man show, how much does that matter?
Yep? Fair enough, all right, let's pause for a second.
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so, one other thing that I've noticed about, you know, regarding
Dan Patrick's threat of a special session, is that he brings up to issues
that are not particularly hot button issues in and of themselves. I mean,
you know, the grid. I think most Texans tend to agree that they
would like the grid to be functioning, while you know, there is some
disagreement as to how to go about that, of course, but really,
I mean, honestly, I would say most of the disagreement is in the
capital. I don't like hear a lot of people coming up to me and
being like, should this be you know, gas plants or whatever. And
then you know, the other one being property taxes is a very you know,
property taxes are deeply unpopular in the state. But then we have these
other issues, you know, related to universities, the canceling of ten year
DEI issues. You have school choice, a very very controversial issue kind of
across the state. And then all these LGBTQ bills that are coming up,
I mean the LGBTQ bills particularly. You know, as we record this the
houses in session, they have not started debating the bill to ban puberty blockers
or hormone therapies for children. But I think we all probably expect, barring
some other kind of point of order that you know, procedural challenge that blocked
that from getting passed earlier this week, we expect that to get through the
House today. But you know, the school choice in the university tenuere topics
are much more in much more precarious positions. Do you do we see the
fact that those haven't been brought up as I mean, those two items have
a potential to blow up the session. I guess it's my question. I
think, I mean take I'll take the contrary and opinion on the school choice
thing, because I think that with so much political capital, the capital exerted
by the governor on this, there is still a likelihood that something gets dump.
Like you gotta think that he's working behind the scenes with some of these
rural members who are opposed to it to get some kind of limited education savings
account passed there, get it over the hump, because otherwise he's taking the
L and he's taking the L on like a huge thing that he's been criss
crossing the state on. So I still see a likelihood of that passing.
In terms of like TEI stuff, I think that's a little bit harder because
or and ten year stuff, because you know, ten year is super important
to these public universities, which we have a lot of, like really great
research universities, which the governor is super interested in, and he loves to
tout how many Tier one research institutions we have. And getting rid of tenure,
as our reporter Kate McGee has already written about, it's already having an
impact on how professors who are up for tenure are thinking about when they consider
coming to a public constitution here in Texas. Yeah, you know, and
Dave feeling that set of trip fest back in the fall that you know,
I thought a pretty decent argument around this political debate of like, if you
get rid of tenure, the people you might be putting the most at risk
are the conservative professors, and so yeah, I agree that that seems to
be one both because of the impact and the arguments being made against it,
that seems to have a tall hill to climb there. I was just gonna
say, we covered this in our story that just posted before we got on
this podcast, but the anti d EI bill seems like it it has a
much better chance making it to Abbot's desk than the anti tenure bill, just
because we already saw the House kind of go on the record against these DEI
policies in a budget writer or a budget amendment. You know, I think
there was an effort to strip out in anti d EI part of the budget
and the House voted to keep it in. So we kind of already got
a temperature of the House on that issue. And we know Abbott generally,
you know, is opposed to these DEI efforts on college campuses based on the
public statements he's made over the past several past a few months, ten year.
Though, as you point out, I think is going to be more
uncertain. Like you said, Feeling has said he opposes it. We haven't
heard much from Abbot on it. When Dan Patrick first raised the idea over
a year ago. Abbott was very noncommittal about it. And then you know,
Abbott, you know, obviously has a close relationship with these universities through
the regency of Points, and I think he is We've seen time and time
again how Abbott is very protective of some of his highest profile appointees and doesn't
like putting them in political harms way. And I think that you know that
that's what the ten year Bill has potential to do. You know, you
mentioned school choice. I want to go back to that really quickly because there
was something that I read in that article that y'all just published that I had
somehow missed, which is that there's money in both chambers budgets for some kind
of a school choice proposal, right, which that was an interesting little timate
of information which suggested to me that, yeah, maybe there is room for
some kind of compromise along that line. Well, yeah, I think that's
because like House, you know, the Speaker has said, like if you
asked, you know, our one hundred and fifty members what school choice means,
you're going to get one hundred and fifty different answers. So there could
be the folks in there, and there could be well a majority that is
interested in having some type of school choice program, but they don't agree on
what it is. So the House, I think, as a buffer,
was like, Okay, the Governor's very interested in this, like let's let's
put it in there so that if it does pass, we have money to
do this with. But they just haven't come to terms on the actual bill
on what an education savings account a thing compromise would look like. And so
that's the different called part of this. How did they come to that compromise
and how limited in scope? And I think it will be limited in scope
just because of what the massive resistance that there is on the LGBTQ issues.
That was obviously a dramatic moment in the House earlier this week you had the
bill coming up for debate, Protesters, you know, getting loud, disrupting
the proceedings, immediately being removed from the chamber, many being removed from the
Capitol itself, two people being arrested. At least one of those folks had
their charges sort of immediately dropped by a magistrate judge, and then you know,
a pretty effective point of order, you know, that raised a basically
a misspelling on a bill analysis, causing the bill to be sent back to
committee in order to correct that error. They moved quickly on it. They
seem very intent on passing this bill. The leadership in the House, you
know, I think there were some folks we always like to bring up the
old you know, dad Feeling comment about the LGBTQ community community. There I
think been some hope among members of that community that the House might be a
a sort of last like a buffer buffer for that kind of stuff. I
mean, that does not seem to have come to fruition Jay And uh,
just just for all the tinfoil hats out there, that was a cough that
Matthew did not a laugh. So you know, keep your emails to yourselves.
But yeah, I think, um, you know, he's got to
go with the membership of the House, which is the way he has said
he would run the House. The House has become much more conservative on these
issues, and particularly on issues like cent A Bill fifteen, which is the
participation of transgender athletes in sports. I think that's a much more difficult,
Um, it's a much more difficult issue to really get into. And there
there are people who traditionally would support LGBT rights who say, maybe we've got
to think about this one. It deals with the advantages that a transgender person
would have and competing in sports. The other one too, dealing with,
you know, the treatment that kids can get. It does, and transgender
rights and transgender healthcare is so new to the general population that when people say
while they're mutilating them or something, it is very effective. And so then
the defender of those rights are having to be on the defensive and teaching and
trying to educate about what these puberty blockers and hormone therapy are, and so
it puts people in difficult positions, I would say, And so, yeah,
I mean it hasn't been the buff for that. Certainly it was when
Speaker Stress was there, when he was saying, you know, I don't
want the blood of kids, transgender kids on my hands, and so effectively,
yeah, it has been much more are welcoming to these kinds of bills
then perhaps would have been expected a couple of years ago. I'm patrick,
what you think? Yeah, And I would say, from Feeland's perspective,
I still find it very remarkable that I'm both the college trans athlete ban and
then this ban on gender affirm and care for trans miners, that the authors
went out and got majority chamber support for their proposal very early on in the
session. I would say, and so you know, from Feeland's perspective,
you're a Republican speaker, this is a Republican bill. It has enough,
it has enough people on the record for it to pass. How do you
not advance it? And maybe leadership was involved in, you know, corralling
majority support for those two proposals, but I do find it interesting that they
were able to get majority support, you know, all Republicans, very early
on in the session. And so you know that that puts it in a
pretty you know, politically natural position for Feeland to say, you know,
these are Republican bills. You know they have majority support, they could pass.
I mean, it kind of eliminates any excuse for him not to let
them get to a vote. Right He's and he's never addressed those you know,
he made those comments to Evan Smith in his podcast twenty nineteen before he
was the speaker, saying, you know, it's twenty twenty nineteen, we
should stopped the gay bashing. He's never addressed that, and We've certainly tried
to ask him about it. But this is sort of where where the political
atmosphere is in the House now, right. Yeah, you think about how
it was the twenty seventeen session where the bathroom bill kind of blew things up
and it became a chaotic. I mean, if you had the flipping of
those twelve seats by the Democrat right, a lot based on you know,
some of these very controversial topics like make sure city is like the bathroom bill.
Yeah, I mean, you know, it's hard to imagine that bill
not passing the House in this legislature. You don't consider that, but yeah,
it would definitely have a better chance, I think in the makeup of
the House. All Right, I want to talk about one non legislative thing.
We had news this week of Colin all Read, the US Rep Democratic
US REP. Out of Dallas, announcing his bid to challenge Senator Ted Cruz
for Senate in twenty twenty four. That is the first kind of high profile
official declaration in that race we have heard. You know, the possibility maybe
even likelihood of Roland Gautier as the state senator who represents Uvaldi in other parts
of South Texas possibly getting in that race as well. Patrick tell us a
little bit about that launch and what we heard from all Red. Yeah,
all right, I have been looking at this form you know, months and
months. I mean even before the last November twenty twenty two election. You
know, he was able to kind of keep it under the radar. But
then there was stories that leaked out earlier this week that said his launch was
imminent, and of course it ultimately came, and so you know, he
is probably you know, one, realistically one of the best candidates that Democrats
could get to run for this seat right now, given the monumental challenge of
a Democrat winning statewide in Texas. UM. You know, I think that,
uh, he's got a you know, he's got a compelling record,
and that he's one of the few Democrats in recent history in Texas who flipped
a seat in a really prominent, you know, nationally washed way. He
was one of two Democrats to flip congressional seats in Texas in twenty and eighteen
while betto Work was running against Cruz Um in Congress. Uh, you know,
he is probably going to talk about is bipartisan credentials, Um, And
he has some credible things to point to on that front. He's also going
to have to talk though about you know, being close to Democratic leadership and
you know, voting uh, you know, in alignment with Nancy Pelosi and
current Democratic leadership in the House, and so, um, you know that's
a that you know, that congressional record is definitely gonna cup both ways for
him. I do think his fundraising, you know, his initial fundraising was
pretty impressive. Um. You know, his campaign announced that he raised over
two million dollars in the first thirty six hours of his campaign and that they
raised one point six million of that in the first twenty four hours, which
which would be the biggest you know, first day for a Senate candidate this
election cycle so far. I think what that tells us, that just confirms
that, you know, Cruz, you know, remains a really galvanizing force
for small dollar donors across the country. And I don't think all Red is
going to be lacking for money in this race. And I will say he
was already a pretty strong fundraiser before he got into this race. I mean,
he got into this race with two point two million dollars cash on hand.
Crews has had three point three million cash on hand. So I do
think fundraising is going to be all red strong suit, both because of his
inherent skills that he's demonstrated already and also just because of the national spotlight and
hatred for Cruz among these small dollar donors. Yeah, you know, I
would say two things kind of sit out to me about its announcement. One
is, as you had mentioned, he'd been kind of viewed as something of
a rising star in the Texas Democratic Party. You know, all the reasons
that you mentioned. He's a former Baylor football player, played had a little
kind of cup of coffee in the NFL. Um wow he he um.
But you know, it's somewhat unusual to see those rising stars actually put their
hat in the ring in these races. You know, we saw the Castros
kind of be talked about for running statewide for a really long time and they
never really got around to doing it. You know, even betto Rourke obviously
has a very high profile now, but when he announced that race, you
know, his bid to challenge Crews the last time, he was not a
particularly well known member of Congress, and you know he had sort of term
limited himself, you know, saying that he wouldn't you know, would only
run I think two terms if I'm remembering that correctly. Maybe maybe you can
correct me if I'm wrong on that, Patrick, But but you know previously,
what you end up seeing people going to those races are like, you
know, mayors who can't run for mayor anymore, or some of those other
things. So it did feel notable to be to see a Democrat with that
prestige, I think, and this could be my Dallas bias, but I
definitely think that Colin Alred is much more well known than bett Ol Rourke was
at the beginning of his senatorial run twenty eighteen against Ted Cruz, you know
the other right, Yeah, yeah, I think so, Patrick. The
other thing that's interesting to me is to have a candidate of color heading up
so far a competitive or what could be a competitive Senate campaign in Texas.
Colin already he's got a he's got a good story. You know, it's
college did sometime in the NFL, has got a law degree. He sort
of speaks all the languages in terms of like he can get the fundraisers,
he can get big donors. He's from Dallas, and you know, a
candidate of color that can and he's he's forty. I think forty is how
old he is. So he's part of like a younger generation that can albumize
voters that are around that age that maybe wouldn't be captivated by an older candidate.
So I think he is an interesting pick, and obviously it'll be you
know, we'll have to see how that plays out. I think the rollout
was maybe didn't get as much flair as I expected, but that could also
be because you know, Politico broke the news early and so it kind of
fizzled down. But I am curious to see if he can continue that you
know, trajectory or you know energy, especially as we start seeing other people
jump into the mix. Yeah, one of the things is going to add
is that, you know, it should be noted this as a presidential election
cycle in Texas. So he's not leading the ticket, you know, he
is, you know, presumably Joe Biden will be leading the ticket in Texas.
Right, You're assuming that National Democrats will play in Texas. But in
any case, you know, this isn't you know, it's it's a little
different to compare this to bets are working twenty eighteen gets better work with at
the top of the ticket. When you're an in state statewide candidate at the
top of the ticket, there's a little more of a burden on YouTube develop
a distinct brand UM, you know, and create the wave that you want.
Whereas now, you know Colin Allred is going to be UM. You
know, he's you know, his chances are going to be pretty closely tied
to the presidential election because that's gonna be that's what's going to drag out most
voters in Texas UM in November twenty twenty four. And so I think there
is less of a burden on all Red to be necessarily some really unique,
huge celebrity candidate like bettor Work was in twenty eighteen. You know, in
a presidential election year, when you're running in this kind of race, you
just have to be disciplined, raise the money, UM, and you know,
relatively unoffensive I think ideologically UM, and be a good position for one
the wave breaks one way or another, and you know, I think all
Red picks that go right now, all right, well, it's going to
be an interesting to watch. I mean, there's also a possibility right of
of an interesting primary there. I mean, do we think good years sticks
with his you know, there's been some reporting that he was looking at that
seat as well. What is his seat up, Patrick, is he so
his State Senate seat is not up until twenty twenty six, so this would
be a free shot for him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't
know why he wouldn't do it. He doesn't lose the State Senate seat obviously.
Um, he's been very frustrated with the State Senate and it's an action
on gun restrictions at the evolved the shooting which happened in his district. Um.
You know, he's he's gonna, says, an outcast in the State
Senate for his efforts to move on those issues. So there's really no reason
for him, um not to do it. Um. And he also you
know, he's also um, a Hispanic Democrat from South Texas, which continues
to be a point of focus for for Democrats in terms of an area they
need to do betteran I think democrats, you know, all Reads from Dallas.
I think Democrats believe they're they're doing just okay in Dallas these days.
UM. So you know, he brings it definitely a different background and profile
than all Read. And you know, like I said, politically the stakes
are pretty you know, there's not a lot of risk for him. Yeah,
and he has an interesting story to tell, having spent you know,
much of the past session with families of victims of the shooting and Vivaldi in
the work that he's done with him as well. It will be an interesting
thing to watch, but first we will need to get through this legislative session.
Thank you, Patrick and James California, James for talking to us through
this. Thank you to our producer, Justin, and thank you to our
sponsors, the Texas Dental Association, Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Raise
your Hand Texas, and the Texas Hospital Association. We'll talk to y'all next
week. Thank you. Join us on May fifth in Midland for a conversation
with experts about water infrastructure in Texas and what it will take to keep the
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