1 00:00:16,039 --> 00:00:19,039 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Texas Tribune Trip Cast. I 2 00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:22,320 am Matthew Watkins, editor in chief of the trip Cast, 3 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:24,960 joined as usual by the trip Text. 4 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:27,039 Speaker 2: I mean you are your editor in chief of everything. 5 00:00:27,399 --> 00:00:29,800 That's everything that I can see in this building. 6 00:00:29,879 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: Yeah, and that other voice you hear, of course, eleanor 7 00:00:34,359 --> 00:00:37,719 Klibanoff and now I'm forgetting your title too. 8 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:40,320 Speaker 2: It's been a long couple of days law and politics 9 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,719 reporter at the Texas Tribune, which maybe give context. 10 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:47,439 Speaker 1: Yes, so we are we are joining you. We are 11 00:00:47,439 --> 00:00:51,280 recording this on the Tuesday of July eighth, but we 12 00:00:51,320 --> 00:00:54,000 are you will probably be hearing this in the future, 13 00:00:54,119 --> 00:00:58,159 as we are recording another podcast today on the flooding 14 00:00:58,200 --> 00:00:59,439 that happened in the Hill Country. 15 00:01:00,039 --> 00:01:03,359 Speaker 2: The Tribune is sort of on breaking news alert, so 16 00:01:04,719 --> 00:01:06,719 I'm glad we're going to pivot into a flood episode. 17 00:01:07,920 --> 00:01:10,799 Speaker 1: But for this week, we are beginning what is going 18 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:13,480 to be, I guess, a series of two podcasts looking 19 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,840 forward to the twenty twenty sixth election. I had to 20 00:01:17,959 --> 00:01:20,480 check myself there to make sure that that's correct. It 21 00:01:20,519 --> 00:01:22,359 is indeed almost twenty twenty six. 22 00:01:22,239 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 2: Since it is currently twenty twenty five. 23 00:01:23,879 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: It is currently twenty twenty five. I believe crazy? 24 00:01:26,519 --> 00:01:28,079 Speaker 2: Do you know? And I'm sorry we will get into this, 25 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,359 but do you know that because we are past July second, 26 00:01:30,439 --> 00:01:33,640 twenty twenty five, we are closer to twenty fifty than 27 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:35,079 we are to two thousand. 28 00:01:35,439 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 1: That is indeed shocking, horrifying. Yes, you know, time flies. 29 00:01:42,159 --> 00:01:45,200 I have nothing to say I'm going to say about that. Yes, yes, 30 00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:47,920 But today we are going to focus on the Democratic 31 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:52,519 Party and we are joined by a special guest, Kendall Scudder, 32 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,400 the new chair of the Texas Democratic Party. Hello, Kendall, 33 00:01:55,439 --> 00:01:56,840 thank you for joining us. 34 00:01:57,200 --> 00:01:59,560 Speaker 3: Hey, thanks so much for having me. Y'all. I've always 35 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:02,519 been a list so now it's a weird experience getting 36 00:02:02,519 --> 00:02:02,799 to be. 37 00:02:02,799 --> 00:02:06,879 Speaker 2: On Great to have a listener, a listener and a fan, 38 00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:08,639 A longtime listener, first time caller. 39 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. We asked that you still listen to 40 00:02:12,439 --> 00:02:14,400 the podcast even though you're on it, so yes, you 41 00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:15,520 can keep those listen. 42 00:02:15,719 --> 00:02:17,840 Speaker 2: You don't transcend to a new plane where you don't 43 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:18,759 have to listen anymore. 44 00:02:19,599 --> 00:02:21,879 Speaker 3: I don't know are y all the same way, where 45 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,319 like you can't listen to your own voice if you 46 00:02:24,400 --> 00:02:27,360 try to listen to it, it sounds weird, so this 47 00:02:27,439 --> 00:02:29,000 might be an episode I have to skip. 48 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:31,560 Speaker 1: That's fair, all right, Well, maybe just like play it, 49 00:02:31,719 --> 00:02:33,639 you know, like play it on your phone, and just 50 00:02:33,680 --> 00:02:35,360 like leave your phone in the other room, you. 51 00:02:35,319 --> 00:02:37,479 Speaker 2: Know, share it with your networks and have them listen 52 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:37,800 to it. 53 00:02:38,479 --> 00:02:39,159 Speaker 3: You go, there, you go. 54 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:41,479 Speaker 1: I will say, you have a very good radio voice, 55 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:44,560 so that I do understand everyone. 56 00:02:44,599 --> 00:02:46,479 Speaker 2: I don't listen anxiety. 57 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: And yes, all right, well, chairman, we are going to talk, 58 00:02:51,080 --> 00:02:53,400 like we said, about the twenty twenty six elections. But 59 00:02:53,479 --> 00:02:57,000 before we do that, I actually want to look back 60 00:02:57,159 --> 00:03:00,520 a little bit. You are fairly new to your position. 61 00:03:00,639 --> 00:03:04,960 You were elected in March, I believe, after your predecessor 62 00:03:05,039 --> 00:03:09,319 resigned mid term. In the aftermath of you know what, 63 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:13,840 was a pretty painful and I think we can say 64 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:20,280 unsuccessful twenty four election statewide, the party the top of 65 00:03:20,319 --> 00:03:24,400 the ticket for president losing by fourteen percent, the Senate 66 00:03:24,479 --> 00:03:27,919 candidate Colin all Read losing by nine percent, during a 67 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,840 time where at times during that cycle folks were thinking 68 00:03:30,879 --> 00:03:36,520 that Texas might be competitive. That election obviously brought about 69 00:03:37,039 --> 00:03:39,759 a considerable amount of soul searching in the Democratic Party 70 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:44,680 in Texas, and beyond your election, came amid that soul searching. 71 00:03:44,759 --> 00:03:46,759 Can you just sort of remind folks who might not 72 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,800 have fault paid attention to that race, what was your 73 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:52,759 kind of message, what was the vision you were selling 74 00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:56,439 to the party? Looking forward after and admittedly pretty tough 75 00:03:56,479 --> 00:03:57,240 twenty twenty four. 76 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,960 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, what I I think was probably the 77 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:03,479 most interesting about that election is that I come from 78 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:07,560 the grassroots. I'm not really of the political apparatus in Austin. 79 00:04:08,319 --> 00:04:11,680 I'm a farm kid from East Texas who ended up 80 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:13,800 moving to Dallas and being elected as one of the 81 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,000 directors of the Dallas Central Appraisal District, And so I'm 82 00:04:17,079 --> 00:04:20,439 kind of this outsider of that space. And for me, 83 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:24,439 I feel like the organizing, grassroots piece of our party 84 00:04:24,439 --> 00:04:27,600 has been neglected all across the state. It's been this 85 00:04:28,319 --> 00:04:30,639 idea that you could just stick a sack of flower 86 00:04:30,639 --> 00:04:32,720 in the oven and expect it to make biscuits every 87 00:04:32,759 --> 00:04:35,759 election cycle. You know, you just raise a whole bunch 88 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:37,959 of money and try to buy your way out of 89 00:04:37,959 --> 00:04:40,439 a loss. But you can't do that. I mean, we 90 00:04:40,639 --> 00:04:42,560 have a lot of steps that we have to go 91 00:04:42,639 --> 00:04:44,800 through if we want to have success in this state. 92 00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:48,439 And that means organizing in every corner of this state, 93 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:51,639 not just in the major metros. There's forty mid sized 94 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,120 cities with over one hundred thousand people in them. They 95 00:04:54,160 --> 00:04:56,600 deserve a little bit of love too. And you know 96 00:04:56,879 --> 00:04:59,079 these rural communities all across the state, a lot of 97 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,000 which we don't even have democratic county chairs in. I 98 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:04,480 mean over twenty percent of counties in Texas don't have 99 00:05:04,680 --> 00:05:07,759 Democratic county chairs. We just have not been building the 100 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:10,759 apparatus in Texas, in my opinion, in a way that 101 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,120 can be successful. I also am a firm believer that, 102 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,160 you know, as that farm kid from East Texas, that 103 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:19,839 the party's kind of gotten away from its key message, 104 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:21,519 and it's that we're the party of the little guy. 105 00:05:22,399 --> 00:05:25,279 My granddaddy was born on a farm in East Texas 106 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:28,759 that only had electricity because of Franklin Roosevelt, Sam Rayburn, 107 00:05:28,839 --> 00:05:31,600 the New Deal of the Democratic Party. And when our 108 00:05:31,639 --> 00:05:36,120 family lost everything after the big droughts in nineteen fifty nine, 109 00:05:36,160 --> 00:05:39,879 we depended on programs in Linda Johnson's Great Society in 110 00:05:39,959 --> 00:05:42,839 order to survive. You know, that used to be who 111 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:45,240 our party was, a party of big, bold ideas that 112 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:48,199 helped working people and poor people, and we would disrupt 113 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:50,879 systems and take on billionaires and banks and whoever. We 114 00:05:50,959 --> 00:05:53,199 had to to make sure that the little guy had 115 00:05:53,199 --> 00:05:55,279 a seat at the table. And I'm trying to bring 116 00:05:55,319 --> 00:05:56,879 that back for the party. That needs to be the 117 00:05:56,920 --> 00:05:59,480 focus of everything that we do. I'm not saying that 118 00:05:59,519 --> 00:06:01,879 the party hasn't made an effort at that, but it's 119 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:04,079 not been the center of all of our messaging and 120 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:07,839 all of our discussion discussions. So for me, everything that 121 00:06:07,879 --> 00:06:11,040 we talk about, everything that we do, everything that we 122 00:06:11,079 --> 00:06:14,040 are building for the next soccle is centered around how 123 00:06:14,040 --> 00:06:15,839 do we help the little guy? How do we help 124 00:06:16,040 --> 00:06:18,120 a work and family be able to get ahead in 125 00:06:18,199 --> 00:06:21,000 a society that just feels like it's stacked and stacked 126 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:22,199 against them every day. 127 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think I wonder if you agree 128 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:27,759 with this assessment. But there was like a weird sort 129 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:33,600 of sense of complacency among some Democrats in Texas, even 130 00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:37,439 though the party has you know, essentially lost every election 131 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:42,800 this century. I think, you know, people maybe looked at 132 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:46,319 the demographics of this state, the changing demographics, and said, oh, well, 133 00:06:46,399 --> 00:06:49,240 you know, there is this sort of inevitable shift, if 134 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:51,560 not to the left, at least to the middle. You know, 135 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:56,560 twenty sixteen the presidential ticket, Democrats lose by sixteen points 136 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:00,000 twenty sorry, twenty twelve, they lose by sixteen points. Sixteen, 137 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:02,399 they lose by nine points. Twenty twenty, they lose by 138 00:07:02,439 --> 00:07:05,079 six points. The state's becoming more urban, the state is 139 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:09,399 becoming more diverse. That means the state is becoming democratic. 140 00:07:09,639 --> 00:07:14,000 And then we get to twenty twenty four and all 141 00:07:14,040 --> 00:07:18,680 of those trends get reversed. You know, Hispanic voters go 142 00:07:19,040 --> 00:07:22,439 way to the right way to Trump. Even in the 143 00:07:22,439 --> 00:07:24,920 big cities, you see a bit of a shift to 144 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:28,279 the right. And maybe there's this idea of Okay, we 145 00:07:28,319 --> 00:07:31,800 can't just let demographics be destiny. We need to do 146 00:07:31,839 --> 00:07:34,920 something about the message here. Do you agree with that assessment? 147 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:36,720 Is that where the party is right now? 148 00:07:37,439 --> 00:07:40,279 Speaker 3: I partially agree with that assessment. I think that it 149 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:42,920 is kind of in order to have this discussion, you 150 00:07:42,959 --> 00:07:44,519 also have to have it about the fact that a 151 00:07:44,560 --> 00:07:47,800 fifth of our voters stayed home Democrats. You know, we 152 00:07:47,839 --> 00:07:50,160 had a million people in Texas that voted for Joe 153 00:07:50,199 --> 00:07:53,240 Biden and chose to stay home in twenty twenty four, So, 154 00:07:53,879 --> 00:07:56,759 you know, did they get redder in those areas, or 155 00:07:57,079 --> 00:08:00,360 did our people decide we weren't worth voting for. And 156 00:08:00,439 --> 00:08:02,240 I'm just going to be honest. I mean, if you 157 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,160 want to fix the situation, it's not about self preservation. 158 00:08:05,519 --> 00:08:07,680 Sometimes you got to look in a mirror and acknowledge 159 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:10,360 that you made some mistakes. And so I think that 160 00:08:10,399 --> 00:08:12,279 the party needs to do some of that. You know, 161 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:14,959 we need to figure out what we did wrong and 162 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:16,800 figure out what we can do to make it right. 163 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:20,600 I personally believe that it's because, you know, when you're 164 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:23,120 in a coalition party like ours that has so many 165 00:08:23,199 --> 00:08:27,680 diverse interests and groups inside of it, you have to 166 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:30,720 focus on the things that connect every single person in 167 00:08:30,759 --> 00:08:33,679 that coalition, And to me, it's that everyone of them 168 00:08:33,720 --> 00:08:36,080 pay bills and every single one of them are trying 169 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:39,399 to get along in this life that is just more 170 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,600 and more expensive. Since Republicans have taken over the state, 171 00:08:42,799 --> 00:08:46,039 I'd remind you that it was before I entered kindergarten, 172 00:08:46,200 --> 00:08:50,240 since a Democrat has held statewide office in Texas, and 173 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:54,000 because I am a thirty five year old, one of 174 00:08:54,039 --> 00:08:57,559 the only millennials in the country leading to major party. 175 00:08:57,639 --> 00:09:00,919 You know, in the last thirty years, do you feel 176 00:09:00,919 --> 00:09:03,919 like your taxes have gone down. Do you feel like 177 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:06,519 your community's more safe? Do you feel like your schools 178 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:08,600 are better? Do you feel like your hospitals are better? 179 00:09:08,759 --> 00:09:10,759 Do you feel like your bridges and roads have gotten better? 180 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,639 Because the only difference between thirty years ago and now 181 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:18,440 is that Democrats ran the state thirty years ago, and 182 00:09:18,759 --> 00:09:21,720 for the last thirty years, Republicans have been chipping away 183 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:25,279 at all of these wonderful projects and programs that we've 184 00:09:25,279 --> 00:09:27,919 had in Texas that help working people and that we're 185 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:32,279 designed to make us this beacon for business and for 186 00:09:32,399 --> 00:09:35,559 opportunity people in the country wanting to come to Texas. 187 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:38,639 You know, Republicans have eaten away at that over the years. 188 00:09:38,639 --> 00:09:40,840 And now we don't know that when we flip a 189 00:09:40,879 --> 00:09:42,639 LT switch to the electricity is going to come on. 190 00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:46,120 We don't know that whenever a natural disaster hits, we're 191 00:09:46,120 --> 00:09:48,840 going to get the emergency services warnings that we need 192 00:09:48,879 --> 00:09:53,480 to stay safe. We don't have the top schools in 193 00:09:53,519 --> 00:09:57,519 the country anymore. We're funded forty third, forty fourth in 194 00:09:57,559 --> 00:10:00,679 the nation now and this big beautiful bill that just 195 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:04,840 passes going to shut down you know, three hundred hospitals 196 00:10:04,879 --> 00:10:08,039 in this country in rural communities, a lot of those 197 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:10,600 in Texas where people aren't even going to get access 198 00:10:10,679 --> 00:10:13,600 to life saving medical care when they need it, or 199 00:10:13,639 --> 00:10:16,559 even primitive healthcare when they need it. Life has not 200 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:20,960 gotten better under Republican leadership. And it's our responsibility to 201 00:10:21,039 --> 00:10:23,679 make clear to people, you know, what that looks like 202 00:10:23,799 --> 00:10:26,000 and to point it out. And I think we've just 203 00:10:26,120 --> 00:10:29,320 kind of allowed it to happen and thrown our hands 204 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:31,159 in the air and said, well, it is what it is. 205 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:34,240 We just need demographics to change to take the state back. 206 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:36,639 I think we got to be more aggressive, and we've 207 00:10:36,639 --> 00:10:38,639 got to get to a point where we're reminding people 208 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:41,519 every day what it looks like under a Republican administration 209 00:10:41,639 --> 00:10:43,120 versus democratic administration. 210 00:10:43,840 --> 00:10:46,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, because I feel like this is like, you know, 211 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:48,559 I talk about this experience a lot, but I this 212 00:10:48,679 --> 00:10:52,080 last election cycle wrote a story that was like, you know, 213 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:56,200 is our Texas Supreme Court seats vulnerable because of their 214 00:10:56,720 --> 00:10:59,559 people are so unhappy about their rulings on abortion? And 215 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:01,159 then I was like, back in our archives and you know, 216 00:11:01,159 --> 00:11:03,840 we've written a version of that story every you know, 217 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:06,600 are these seeds vulnerable because of their COVID rulings? Are 218 00:11:06,600 --> 00:11:08,960 these seats vulnerable because of you know, their rulings on 219 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:11,799 you know xyz thing. I mean, there's so many things 220 00:11:11,799 --> 00:11:15,799 that actually think national Democrats but also Texas Democrats and 221 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:19,799 individual people are like good at saying I'm unhappy with 222 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:23,080 what lawmakers have done on this, I'm unhappy with what 223 00:11:23,120 --> 00:11:25,840 the governor is doing on this. I'm it's outrageous what's 224 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:30,159 happening here. But that's not translating into votes. 225 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:31,200 Speaker 1: I mean, you talk. 226 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 2: About people staying home. What is the disconnect there that 227 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:36,039 people are saying, I'm not happy with what the Republicans 228 00:11:36,039 --> 00:11:39,759 are doing, but I'm still not going to vote period 229 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:41,320 or not going to vote blue. 230 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:45,399 Speaker 3: Well, look, i mean the most conservative speaker in Texas 231 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:47,879 history was elected with fifty five percent of the votes 232 00:11:47,919 --> 00:11:52,519 coming from Democrats, you know. I mean, if I can't 233 00:11:52,559 --> 00:11:54,679 tell the difference between Democrat and a Republican, I don't 234 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:56,240 know how a voter is supposed to be able to. 235 00:11:56,879 --> 00:11:59,919 If you take that million voters and you ask them 236 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:02,080 why they chose to stay home, they'll say things to 237 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:05,519 you like the Democrats don't fight hard enough that whatever 238 00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:07,840 we elect them, they sit in the middle and negotiate 239 00:12:07,879 --> 00:12:10,879 away the things that are important to us. We've got 240 00:12:10,879 --> 00:12:13,799 to get back to a point where we don't put 241 00:12:13,840 --> 00:12:19,200 things like you know, cordiality above the fight for working people, 242 00:12:19,759 --> 00:12:22,159 that when we walk in a door, we're going to 243 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:25,679 flip whatever tables we have to to protect working people 244 00:12:25,919 --> 00:12:28,600 from the onsught of attacks that are coming from billionaires 245 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:30,799 in banks. And it's one thing to say it, it's 246 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:33,159 another thing to do it. And I don't think that 247 00:12:33,200 --> 00:12:35,840 they have seen that coming from Democrats. I mean, the 248 00:12:35,879 --> 00:12:39,279 most big, bold policy we've seen from Democrats aside from 249 00:12:39,639 --> 00:12:42,240 I mean, we saw some giant infrastructure investments in the 250 00:12:42,240 --> 00:12:45,240 Biden administration that haven't had enough time to come to fruition. 251 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:47,360 But if you're talking about programs that have had time 252 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:50,080 to come into fruition, the ACA, I guess is the 253 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:53,279 biggest Democratic accomplishment. And even that was us coming to 254 00:12:53,320 --> 00:12:57,360 the table with a center idea that Republicans chipped away on, 255 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:00,200 and then we took away things like the public option 256 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:04,840 that would have given people access to competitive healthcare costs. 257 00:13:04,919 --> 00:13:07,879 You know, it's a shame to me when the Democrats 258 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:11,919 don't walk in the door with big, bold, progressive ideas. 259 00:13:12,039 --> 00:13:14,960 If you don't have that healthy side of the spectrum 260 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:17,919 in politics, the people who are counting on us are 261 00:13:17,919 --> 00:13:20,279 going to struggle, and that's what I think has happened. 262 00:13:20,320 --> 00:13:22,279 So I'd like to see the Party get back to 263 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:27,399 situations where we're unapologetic advocates for the working poor and 264 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:31,320 for the working class. And you know, that's what I'd 265 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:32,799 like to see the Party do. I'm going to work 266 00:13:32,799 --> 00:13:34,759 with our legislators. I think a lot of them that 267 00:13:34,799 --> 00:13:36,559 I've talked to have been on board that idea. We 268 00:13:36,639 --> 00:13:39,639 just had to focus and stop thinking that this onslaught 269 00:13:39,639 --> 00:13:43,480 and this flooding of the end zone of their Trump administration, 270 00:13:44,159 --> 00:13:46,440 you know, nitpicking. That is the way forward. We have 271 00:13:46,480 --> 00:13:48,919 to have a fifty thousand foot view and some vision 272 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:51,320 and a guide on how to get there. 273 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:57,600 Speaker 1: I want to somewhat question a little bit of your 274 00:13:57,600 --> 00:14:00,559 framing here, particularly around the idea of like, you know, 275 00:14:00,960 --> 00:14:03,519 we have heard people say for a long time, right, 276 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:06,840 Texas isn't a red state or a blue state. It's 277 00:14:06,879 --> 00:14:09,519 a non voting state, right. And there's this idea of like, 278 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,039 if we could just get more this is the Democrats speaking, 279 00:14:13,080 --> 00:14:15,480 if we could just get more people to the polls, 280 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:20,879 you know, the people, the poorer folks, the people of color, 281 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,200 all those types of folks, like we can we can 282 00:14:23,279 --> 00:14:28,960 shift the election in this state. One of the few 283 00:14:29,120 --> 00:14:32,600 kind of public polling entities that tests not you know, 284 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,240 expected voters. What's the term I'm looking for here, Well, 285 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:41,919 we'll go with yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, like yeah, sorry, 286 00:14:43,919 --> 00:14:47,279 but actually just like eligible voters, not even just registered voters. 287 00:14:47,279 --> 00:14:50,159 It's the Texas Lyceum poll that comes out every I 288 00:14:50,159 --> 00:14:52,080 think a couple of years or something, or maybe it's 289 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:56,960 every year, and they the poll this year like really 290 00:14:58,240 --> 00:15:00,720 got into my head because I think it disrupted some 291 00:15:00,799 --> 00:15:04,559 of those expectations. Greg Abbott's approval rating in this group 292 00:15:04,759 --> 00:15:08,120 was fifty five percent. Donald Trump's was fifty four percent. 293 00:15:08,559 --> 00:15:13,000 The state had moved dramatically to the right on issues 294 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:17,480 of immigration compared to four years ago, and things like that. 295 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,879 It on the other hand, you talk about working class 296 00:15:21,879 --> 00:15:25,000 issues and things like that. I mean, we look at 297 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:28,480 what happened in the New York mayoral primary with Mom Dummy, 298 00:15:28,639 --> 00:15:33,399 who was really pushing some of these economic populist ideas 299 00:15:33,399 --> 00:15:34,960 and everything like that. And if you look at the 300 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:38,279 precincts where he won, he won in the wealthy areas 301 00:15:38,679 --> 00:15:41,480 and not the poorer areas. I mean, how sure are 302 00:15:41,519 --> 00:15:46,840 you that those voters, those working class voters are actually 303 00:15:46,879 --> 00:15:50,519 going to respond to that progressive message you're pointing to, 304 00:15:50,639 --> 00:15:52,720 because I think you look at some of the polls 305 00:15:53,440 --> 00:15:56,639 and history suggests that that's not always the case. 306 00:15:57,799 --> 00:16:00,279 Speaker 3: Well, this is the biggest difference between democt rights and 307 00:16:00,320 --> 00:16:04,200 Republicans in my opinion. We don't forge our ideas based 308 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:07,320 on who's going to politically respond to them. We forged 309 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:09,559 them over what the right thing to do is. And 310 00:16:09,639 --> 00:16:11,279 what the right thing to do is to make sure 311 00:16:11,320 --> 00:16:13,360 that somebody that gets out of bed every morning and 312 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:16,639 works their ass off in order to put soccer cleats 313 00:16:16,639 --> 00:16:19,600 on their kid, you know that they get an opportunity 314 00:16:19,639 --> 00:16:21,759 in this economy that's rigged so that the people at 315 00:16:21,799 --> 00:16:25,200 the top are constantly raking in record profits while all 316 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:27,080 the rest of us are left at the bottom groveling 317 00:16:27,159 --> 00:16:30,200 for crumbs. And you know whether or not that translates, 318 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:32,240 I mean, well, we'll have to see. But we as 319 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:34,559 a party have always made decisions based on what the 320 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:37,159 right thing to do is, and that hasn't always worked 321 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:39,000 out for us in pan But that's just kind of 322 00:16:39,200 --> 00:16:41,519 a crux of how weird different than them. That's what 323 00:16:41,559 --> 00:16:44,840 we do. I'll also point out that these holes are 324 00:16:44,919 --> 00:16:48,240 a snapshot of a moment in time, and that's fine. 325 00:16:48,799 --> 00:16:51,080 You know, I don't know what was happening in the 326 00:16:51,120 --> 00:16:53,000 news at the time that that license pulled. 327 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:55,039 Speaker 1: Well, you know what I will tell you was before 328 00:16:55,039 --> 00:16:57,720 a big beautiful bill. It was sure. Yeah, that poll 329 00:16:57,799 --> 00:17:00,200 I remember talking about at the time it was in 330 00:17:00,279 --> 00:17:02,039 the field. About three quarters of the time that was 331 00:17:02,039 --> 00:17:04,720 out in the field was before Liberation Day, before the 332 00:17:04,759 --> 00:17:07,240 tariffs came in. So you are correct in pointing out 333 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:09,079 that a lot has happened since then, for sure. 334 00:17:09,759 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 3: Yeah, And that was exactly where I was going with 335 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:15,079 that was Number one. In just three months, Donald Trump 336 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:17,480 pushed the largest tax increase in working class families in 337 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:21,559 my lifetime with these tariffs. Number two, this big beautiful 338 00:17:21,559 --> 00:17:23,799 bill pass where the richest people in this country will 339 00:17:23,839 --> 00:17:28,160 now pay a lower baseline tax rate than the poorest, 340 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,640 which is just straight up and moral that a billionaire 341 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:35,200 would pay less in taxes than their waiter, than their secretaries, 342 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:38,240 than their golf caddies, than their top secret cabana boys. Right, 343 00:17:38,599 --> 00:17:43,160 it's not acceptable. And when all of that is flushing 344 00:17:43,200 --> 00:17:45,759 through us, when people are getting their healthcare gutted through Medicaid, 345 00:17:45,880 --> 00:17:48,000 when rural hospitals are going to shut down because of 346 00:17:48,039 --> 00:17:51,960 that lack of funding, When we are seeing energy rates 347 00:17:52,039 --> 00:17:56,480 increasing because they failed to fund those programs for alternative 348 00:17:56,559 --> 00:17:59,039 energy that have always been funded. As these things start 349 00:17:59,079 --> 00:18:01,160 to hit, you're going to see it different, Stapshot in time. 350 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:03,440 Our job is to make sure that people know what 351 00:18:03,480 --> 00:18:07,319 we stand for. And I'm not here to chase polls. 352 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:09,440 We're going to do what's right. That's what we've always 353 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:10,640 done and that's who we're going to be. 354 00:18:11,319 --> 00:18:14,759 Speaker 2: But right, and I think that you know framework, so 355 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:16,440 that North start sounds like you guys have of like 356 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:18,359 we're going to do what's right and like sort of 357 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:20,799 you know, try to sell I presume, try to sell 358 00:18:20,799 --> 00:18:22,640 that to voters and like if they come with us 359 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,200 on that, great, but you do need to win elections 360 00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:27,759 to implement, you know, what you all see as like 361 00:18:27,799 --> 00:18:28,400 what is right? 362 00:18:28,519 --> 00:18:28,720 Speaker 1: Right? 363 00:18:28,759 --> 00:18:33,119 Speaker 2: I mean, when people see, you know, so many years 364 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:35,839 of Republican dominance, how do you sort of get them 365 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,960 to stay aboard with the Texas Democrats and maybe even 366 00:18:40,039 --> 00:18:42,400 join you know, what has been for to your point 367 00:18:42,519 --> 00:18:45,319 thirty years, you know, a losing party. 368 00:18:45,759 --> 00:18:49,079 Speaker 3: I would argue that we have a seismic shift right 369 00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:51,599 now in the way that we're operating as a party 370 00:18:52,599 --> 00:18:54,759 in addition to kind of the seismic shifts that are 371 00:18:54,799 --> 00:18:58,599 happening in the realignment of the electorate. But as a party, 372 00:18:58,759 --> 00:19:00,880 I mean, when you put a thirty five year old 373 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:03,200 for the Progressive Caucus in charge of the way that 374 00:19:03,240 --> 00:19:06,000 you're operating, I think you're sending a pretty strong message 375 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:07,920 that things are going to be done differently than the 376 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:10,599 way that we've been doing them. Our organizing is going 377 00:19:10,599 --> 00:19:14,519 to be different, our messaging is different. The way that 378 00:19:14,599 --> 00:19:17,440 we conduct our coordinated is going to be different. The 379 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:19,680 way that we go and solicit funds is going to 380 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:22,279 be different. I mean, I'm everywhere I go. We're building 381 00:19:22,279 --> 00:19:25,799 a grassroots movement across this state where we're going to 382 00:19:25,799 --> 00:19:27,920 be trying to lean on our grassroots donors so that 383 00:19:27,960 --> 00:19:32,440 we aren't reliant on the super wealthy and corporate donors 384 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:34,519 to be able to function as an organization. And when 385 00:19:34,519 --> 00:19:37,960 we do that, we're able to be faithful to the 386 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:40,960 people who fund our organization, and that's the working class 387 00:19:41,319 --> 00:19:44,400 and working people across the state. It doesn't happen overnight 388 00:19:44,559 --> 00:19:47,240 you can't make a U turn on the Titanic. But 389 00:19:47,319 --> 00:19:50,759 we're working right now to rebuild what it means to 390 00:19:50,759 --> 00:19:53,559 be a Texas Democrat. And if the National Party isn't 391 00:19:53,559 --> 00:19:54,920 going to be here with us, and they're not here 392 00:19:54,920 --> 00:19:57,839 to help, that's fine, that's their thing. I think it 393 00:19:57,920 --> 00:20:00,400 means something a little bit different to be a Texasmocrat 394 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:03,039 than being a National Democrat. And we're going to lean 395 00:20:03,079 --> 00:20:06,200 into the policies of Sam Rayburn and Lyndon Johnson and 396 00:20:06,279 --> 00:20:09,160 Lloyd Benson, and you know, we're going to make sure 397 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:13,519 that people understand that Texas Democrats get big things done. 398 00:20:13,759 --> 00:20:19,960 Speaker 1: So I am noticing your invocation of the working class. 399 00:20:20,319 --> 00:20:22,920 You're clearly a very big point of emphasis for you. 400 00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:26,319 I don't think you're the only Democrat in this situation. 401 00:20:27,279 --> 00:20:29,839 You know, there are many people who believe that the 402 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:32,880 failures of twenty twenty four, both nationally and in the state, 403 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:38,440 were in part because a rejection by the working class 404 00:20:38,559 --> 00:20:42,000 of whether it's real or perceived, an idea of the 405 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:46,519 Democrats going a little too far on the wokeness perspective. Right, 406 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:52,519 the social issues, social issues, race, all the you know, gender. 407 00:20:52,279 --> 00:20:55,680 Speaker 2: Issues, particularly right like this real tension around gender issues 408 00:20:55,759 --> 00:20:58,519 and you know trans you know, how much are we 409 00:20:58,559 --> 00:21:01,359 talking about issues of gender exactly? 410 00:21:01,599 --> 00:21:05,160 Speaker 1: Am I to take by the messaging that we're hearing 411 00:21:05,200 --> 00:21:09,640 from you today a sign of agreement on that? Do 412 00:21:09,759 --> 00:21:13,880 you feel like the Democrats should maybe, if not even 413 00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:17,519 change their positions, at least deemphasize some of those social 414 00:21:17,559 --> 00:21:20,039 issues and focus more on the economics. 415 00:21:20,599 --> 00:21:22,759 Speaker 3: When you're a part of a coalition party, you have 416 00:21:22,799 --> 00:21:24,799 a lot of different people, with a lot of different 417 00:21:24,799 --> 00:21:28,000 walks of life and different perspectives. And the way I 418 00:21:28,160 --> 00:21:30,960 view it is that if you're willing to respect everybody 419 00:21:31,039 --> 00:21:33,920 sitting at the table, you're welcome at it. And where 420 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:36,440 I'm from, you just be nice to people, mind your 421 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,640 own business. And that is how I think we're going 422 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:41,759 to continue to operate as a party as we always 423 00:21:41,759 --> 00:21:45,079 have been. I'm not throwing anybody overboard. The coach after 424 00:21:45,119 --> 00:21:47,319 losing a game doesn't go into the press junk it 425 00:21:47,359 --> 00:21:51,240 and blame the running backs. Okay, that's not how this works. 426 00:21:51,519 --> 00:21:54,039 But I do think we can get to a point 427 00:21:54,039 --> 00:21:57,240 where people say, you know, kind of, actually, I'll make 428 00:21:57,240 --> 00:21:58,839 a point, kind of like they do about Donald Trump. 429 00:21:58,920 --> 00:22:00,279 You hear people say this all the time. You know, 430 00:22:00,359 --> 00:22:03,359 the guy's a total asshole. We don't like him. We 431 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:05,240 think he goes too far on X, Y and Z. 432 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:07,279 But I did feel like in his first term he 433 00:22:07,319 --> 00:22:09,480 was throwing down and fighting for us. I disagree with that. 434 00:22:09,559 --> 00:22:12,480 I think that is a bad assessment, but I hear 435 00:22:12,519 --> 00:22:14,160 it a lot. You've heard it a lot. I'm sure 436 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:16,319 I can see why you're nodding. We've got to get 437 00:22:16,319 --> 00:22:17,880 to a point as a party where people will say 438 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:19,839 that about us. You know, I don't have to agree 439 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:22,000 with them on everything that they do all the time, 440 00:22:22,039 --> 00:22:24,519 and I may not understand this issue, and I may 441 00:22:24,559 --> 00:22:26,839 not appreciate where they're out on this issue, but I 442 00:22:26,839 --> 00:22:28,839 did feel like when they were elected they were throwing 443 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:32,359 down and fighting for us, and it's worth it. Nobody 444 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,160 agrees with every political party one hundred percent of the time, 445 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:37,640 except for the chairmen who are elected and required to. 446 00:22:38,559 --> 00:22:40,680 So I would say that we have to get to 447 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:43,880 a point where we're treating everybody with respect. Basic human 448 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:47,559 dignity is a baseline being nice to people, minding our 449 00:22:47,559 --> 00:22:50,279 own business, and leading with the issues that impact every 450 00:22:50,319 --> 00:22:53,920 member of our coalition. And fun fact about trans people. 451 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:58,000 They pay bills to every single person in our coalition 452 00:22:58,319 --> 00:23:01,720 is struggling to get by because we don't have massive 453 00:23:01,799 --> 00:23:06,000 old barons and billionaires in West Texas within our coalition. 454 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:09,200 Our people are struggling to pay their bills, to pay 455 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:11,480 their electric rates, to pay their insurance rates, to pay 456 00:23:11,480 --> 00:23:15,440 their property taxes, all of them skaha. I'll remind everyone 457 00:23:15,599 --> 00:23:19,240 that when the Democratic budget two sessions ago, we tried 458 00:23:19,240 --> 00:23:22,119 to double your home set exemptions, and every single Republican 459 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:24,960 voted against it. We tried to give a ten percent 460 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:29,119 rental rebate to renters, every single Republican voted against it. 461 00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:32,440 We tried to expand medicaid, every Republican voted against it. 462 00:23:32,720 --> 00:23:34,799 We are the ones advocating to make sure that work 463 00:23:34,759 --> 00:23:37,400 can people get an opportunity. It's our obligation to make 464 00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:39,240 sure they see it. If they haven't in the past, 465 00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:40,920 that's our bad. We need to fix it. 466 00:23:41,799 --> 00:23:43,559 Speaker 1: All right. Shall we talk a little bit about twenty 467 00:23:43,559 --> 00:23:46,359 twenty six? All right, twenty six, let's do it. I 468 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,400 would say one thing that the Democrats do have going 469 00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:53,640 from them is a pretty solid and prominent bench of 470 00:23:53,720 --> 00:24:01,000 candidates who have you know, high name recognition, you know support, 471 00:24:01,079 --> 00:24:04,599 you know. The Dallas Morning News wrote this story not 472 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:08,039 too long ago about four of those people, Beto Rourke, 473 00:24:08,119 --> 00:24:11,839 James Tall, Rico, Colin Allred, Joaquin Castro, all kind of 474 00:24:11,839 --> 00:24:19,119 coming together to discuss whether how they might run, and 475 00:24:19,160 --> 00:24:22,240 their interests in running, and where they might all piece together. 476 00:24:22,519 --> 00:24:30,559 I think there is a general idea of maybe the 477 00:24:30,599 --> 00:24:33,119 Senate is the best place to run statewide if you're 478 00:24:33,119 --> 00:24:36,519 a Democrat right now, particularly if if Ken Paxton is 479 00:24:37,079 --> 00:24:43,119 able to primary John Cornyan, particularly given the just massive, 480 00:24:43,279 --> 00:24:46,440 massive amounts of money and pretty strong popularity in the 481 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:51,880 polls of the governor Greg Abbott. But I think there's 482 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:55,400 also a sense even among those candidates that maybe the 483 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:57,759 best thing for the Democratic Party isn't to have four 484 00:24:57,799 --> 00:25:00,839 people running for Senate and no in any of those 485 00:25:00,839 --> 00:25:03,559 other seats. I'm curious, just, first of all, are you 486 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:09,359 involved in those conversations. Are you trying to help these 487 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:13,079 candidates and other candidates sort of make the right decision 488 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:15,240 for the party in terms of what sets up the 489 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:16,039 best slate for them. 490 00:25:17,039 --> 00:25:19,279 Speaker 3: Well, first, let me say this is a little less 491 00:25:19,359 --> 00:25:22,400 news oriented and kind of personal, but I'll say it's 492 00:25:22,480 --> 00:25:26,200 weird to me to be in those conversations, because you know, 493 00:25:26,279 --> 00:25:28,480 I'm still adjusting to it. I got elected one hundred 494 00:25:28,519 --> 00:25:32,519 days ago, and you know, I come from a family 495 00:25:32,559 --> 00:25:35,759 that just had nothing, and so it's just this wild, 496 00:25:36,359 --> 00:25:39,920 you know, acclaim to the Texas public school system that 497 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:42,119 I'm even able to be sitting in this chair and 498 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:45,279 doing it, and just I'm just appreciate the opportunity to 499 00:25:45,319 --> 00:25:46,960 be here. So yeah, I've been having a lot of 500 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,920 conversations with folks. What I'll say is that I love 501 00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:57,279 all my Democrats equally, that unlike my cohort in the 502 00:25:57,319 --> 00:26:02,440 Republican Party, I don't involve myself in those inter party spats. 503 00:26:02,480 --> 00:26:04,359 My job is to hold the team together, to be 504 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,519 a coach, to make sure that we're all moving in 505 00:26:06,519 --> 00:26:08,759 the same direction, working on a team to get more 506 00:26:08,799 --> 00:26:13,240 Democrats elected. So I think we have a really great 507 00:26:13,319 --> 00:26:16,519 slate of candidates. I've had conversations with all of them. 508 00:26:17,279 --> 00:26:19,799 Most of the time. My conversations say, you do what 509 00:26:19,839 --> 00:26:21,880 you feel is best for Texas first, and what you 510 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,960 feel is best for yourself second. And you know it's 511 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:26,440 all going to come out in the wash. It'll be 512 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:30,279 fine because I don't think primaries are bad. If primaries 513 00:26:30,279 --> 00:26:33,279 were bad, Republicans would have been losing this state for 514 00:26:33,319 --> 00:26:36,160 the last thirty years, right. I mean, just because you 515 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:38,160 have a contested primary, that doesn't mean you're going to 516 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:41,240 lose an election. I think that Democrats spending money on 517 00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:43,880 engaging and turning Democrats out to vote would be a 518 00:26:43,880 --> 00:26:46,400 good thing, you know, as long as we're treating everybody 519 00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,319 with respect in that process, and we're not being tacky, 520 00:26:49,759 --> 00:26:53,119 and we're not getting back into the huge, vitriolic fights 521 00:26:53,119 --> 00:26:56,359 of the Richards and Maddox fights of nineteen ninety. But 522 00:26:56,480 --> 00:26:59,200 I think we're going to be fine. So that's kind 523 00:26:59,200 --> 00:27:01,039 of what I told them. You know, we as a 524 00:27:01,039 --> 00:27:02,880 party are here to help them with their data systems 525 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:05,559 and helping them with filing. We're happy to do, you know, 526 00:27:05,599 --> 00:27:08,519 whatever a party does to interact with these folks. I 527 00:27:08,559 --> 00:27:11,880 think it's a miscalculation to assume that the Senate race 528 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:16,440 is the only race that is viable. Anybody that's doing that, 529 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:18,960 I think is making a big mistake. I think the 530 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:21,519 Senate race is viable for obvious reasons that people who 531 00:27:21,519 --> 00:27:23,799 listen to trip cast already knows. There's no reason to 532 00:27:23,799 --> 00:27:26,319 rehash it. But if you look at the governor's race, 533 00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:30,000 he just passed a coupon to put rich people's kids 534 00:27:30,039 --> 00:27:32,519 in fancy private schools in the backs of poor people, 535 00:27:33,599 --> 00:27:36,759 and it's going to shut down schools without a doubt 536 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,160 across the state. I don't even think it's really disputed 537 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,759 that that's going to happen. And so you have that. 538 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:46,920 You have a lieutenant governor who just fought to do 539 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:51,039 something that literally no one's asking for, that's decriminalized all 540 00:27:51,079 --> 00:27:54,720 THHC project products. You have Republicans up in arms about it. 541 00:27:54,799 --> 00:27:57,200 The guy's already pretty unpopular, and now he's going to 542 00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:59,319 have people in his own side that are going to 543 00:27:59,319 --> 00:28:01,960 be refusing to because he's just completely out of line 544 00:28:01,960 --> 00:28:04,839 with what Texans want. You have a comptroller's office that's 545 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:07,640 job is to administer this about your program. You have 546 00:28:07,839 --> 00:28:10,720 a land commissioner's office that's in charge of protecting our 547 00:28:10,759 --> 00:28:13,920 public lands at a time where pollutants are running rampant. 548 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:16,880 And we have a railroad Commission's office where, you know, 549 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:19,440 when we have an unstable electric grid. I think that 550 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:22,559 the office that regulates energy is really important. I think 551 00:28:22,599 --> 00:28:25,799 every office that we have has a real viable opportunity 552 00:28:26,200 --> 00:28:29,359 if we seize this moment, if we build in every 553 00:28:29,359 --> 00:28:31,799 corner of this state. And if we spend our time 554 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:36,160 defining ourselves and not allowing Republicans to define us. We 555 00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:38,920 have let Republicans lead us around this state and we 556 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:41,480 chase them around like a lost puppy, and we say, oh, 557 00:28:41,559 --> 00:28:44,079 don't say that about us. That's not true, that's not true. Well, 558 00:28:44,119 --> 00:28:46,480 if we don't have a cohesion message about who we 559 00:28:46,519 --> 00:28:49,759 are and what we stand for, the people can't define 560 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:52,160 us by who we are. They define us by what 561 00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:55,119 Republicans say we are right and they say we don't 562 00:28:55,119 --> 00:28:58,039 support strong borders and we don't support public safety. Well, 563 00:28:58,039 --> 00:29:01,160 I'm sorry. Last I checked, and Patrick is who just 564 00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:04,440 passed a new cash prop for the cartels, and Greg 565 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,640 Abbott is who just pushed for gun policies that arms 566 00:29:07,680 --> 00:29:11,000 those cartels, keeping all of our communities less safe. We 567 00:29:11,119 --> 00:29:13,599 are not people who are here to conceive those issues. 568 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:16,240 We need to define who we are and stick with it. 569 00:29:16,319 --> 00:29:18,240 That's what I intend to do is to make a 570 00:29:18,359 --> 00:29:21,119 very clear presentation of who we are as a party. 571 00:29:21,119 --> 00:29:23,440 We're a party for the working class, a party that 572 00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:25,039 gets out of bed every day to take on the 573 00:29:25,079 --> 00:29:27,359 billionaires and the banks to protect people who are depending 574 00:29:27,400 --> 00:29:29,359 on them. To keep your community safe, and to make 575 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:31,799 sure that we're making your schools better for your kiddos. 576 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:36,599 Speaker 1: Okay, so do you think it is important though? I 577 00:29:36,599 --> 00:29:39,839 mean so as we record this, it is earlier, and 578 00:29:39,880 --> 00:29:42,359 maybe things will have changed by the time people almost guarantee. 579 00:29:42,960 --> 00:29:45,039 But right now, Colin already is in the Senate race. 580 00:29:45,799 --> 00:29:48,640 We're wonder looking to see what the other three do. 581 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:55,119 Do you think it's important that that group in particular 582 00:29:55,240 --> 00:29:59,000 avoids a clustering into that race and seeks out other 583 00:29:59,039 --> 00:30:00,839 ones are Do you think you're a either way. 584 00:30:01,759 --> 00:30:03,200 Speaker 3: They're gonna do what they feel it best for the 585 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:06,000 state and what's best for themselves. And that's fine. Like, 586 00:30:06,039 --> 00:30:09,000 I literally this is I think where I'm me and 587 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,480 kind of my generation are different. Like we're not as 588 00:30:11,559 --> 00:30:15,279 risk adverse as the Democratic Party in the past. I 589 00:30:15,319 --> 00:30:17,920 didn't come onto this podcast with a script of talking 590 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:19,960 points I'm going to make sure I hit today. It's 591 00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:21,599 you know, we're just here to have a conversation. That's 592 00:30:21,599 --> 00:30:24,720 where I think my generation is different. Look, they're gonna 593 00:30:24,759 --> 00:30:26,119 duke it out if they want to duke it out. 594 00:30:26,240 --> 00:30:28,599 I don't think it's bad for Democrats to spend money 595 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:31,400 reach out to Democrats. In fact, there are some Democratic 596 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:34,480 strongholds in this state. When I'm doing precinct analysis that 597 00:30:34,559 --> 00:30:38,799 had thirteen percent turnout in a presidential year, I think 598 00:30:38,839 --> 00:30:41,440 having Democrats spending money on turning those people out to 599 00:30:41,519 --> 00:30:45,000 votes important. So, if anything, I think the primary could 600 00:30:45,039 --> 00:30:47,960 be great for us. It'd be healthy. We haven't had 601 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,079 one for a long time. The last time that we 602 00:30:50,119 --> 00:30:52,640 had a really well funded primary here I think was 603 00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:56,440 probably the Obama Hillary situation in eight where we started 604 00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,279 to see the party move and seismically start shifting in 605 00:30:59,279 --> 00:31:01,920 the right direction. So you know, it's going to happen 606 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:03,920 the way it's going to happen as long as they're 607 00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:06,279 what I would encourage them, and what in all of 608 00:31:06,279 --> 00:31:09,240 my conversations with them it's been is, you need to 609 00:31:09,279 --> 00:31:11,079 make do what you feel is right, but make sure 610 00:31:11,079 --> 00:31:14,039 that you're treating everybody with respect. You know, we're not gonna, 611 00:31:14,319 --> 00:31:16,480 you know, knock down the barn just so that you 612 00:31:16,519 --> 00:31:18,319 know we can get ahead a little bit, but you know, 613 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:21,839 treat everybody fairly, and let's have an honest discussion about 614 00:31:21,839 --> 00:31:22,880 where we want to see the party go. 615 00:31:23,559 --> 00:31:25,279 Speaker 2: I mean, we've got these four names that people are 616 00:31:25,279 --> 00:31:26,839 talking about a lot, and it's a good amount of 617 00:31:26,920 --> 00:31:30,799 enthusiasm around them, but also, you know, each or many 618 00:31:30,839 --> 00:31:32,599 of them can sort of come with their own baggage, right, 619 00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:35,440 I mean, bet o'rourk has lost several state wide races. 620 00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:39,240 Colin already coming off of a bruising loss, you know, 621 00:31:39,319 --> 00:31:41,839 James Hillerico a pretty fresh face, untested. 622 00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:43,119 Speaker 3: You know. 623 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:46,519 Speaker 2: If let's say, I mean, if they're all fighting off, 624 00:31:46,759 --> 00:31:48,640 you know, for the Senate or even the Senate and 625 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:51,039 the governor, are these like really high profile races, what 626 00:31:51,039 --> 00:31:53,039 do you make of the bench below them? I mean, 627 00:31:53,039 --> 00:31:55,359 we've got, like you said, comptroller, attorney general. We also 628 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,960 have you know, any number of smaller positions we need 629 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,480 to fill in, you know, really, you know, we're going 630 00:32:02,559 --> 00:32:05,920 to have races on you know, even state legislature and 631 00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:06,759 things like that. 632 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:12,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean this is where my job as state 633 00:32:12,039 --> 00:32:15,200 party chair of the Democratic Party in Texas actually isn't 634 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:18,039 the hardest job. A lot of places it is, and 635 00:32:18,079 --> 00:32:20,119 a lot of facets it is. But as I go 636 00:32:20,160 --> 00:32:22,559 around and talk to other state chairs around the country, 637 00:32:22,799 --> 00:32:25,039 what's different for us is that we've got so many 638 00:32:25,079 --> 00:32:28,799 people in this state and we're so geographically diverse that 639 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:31,440 even if we haven't been able to win some statewide races. 640 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:34,200 We have some real talent in a lot of places, 641 00:32:34,519 --> 00:32:37,519 so you know, the bench below them is only below 642 00:32:37,599 --> 00:32:41,200 them because you know they haven't been resourced. I think 643 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:43,839 we have a lot of stars all over the state. 644 00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,279 We have lots of great county judges, we have lots 645 00:32:47,279 --> 00:32:50,680 of great das, We have lots of great county commissioners, 646 00:32:50,720 --> 00:32:53,200 we have lots of great city council people. I mean, 647 00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,359 we have some good folks that are in elected office 648 00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:58,839 around the state. So we have a bit of an 649 00:32:58,839 --> 00:33:01,640 embarrassment of riches in that. Yeah, they can go ahead 650 00:33:01,680 --> 00:33:04,680 and slog out what they're going to do. But you know, 651 00:33:04,759 --> 00:33:07,079 if we have issues on we don't have a problem 652 00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:09,480 filling out a statewide ballot because of our talent. I 653 00:33:09,480 --> 00:33:12,960 guess that's the point I'm making. I don't lose a 654 00:33:13,119 --> 00:33:16,079 second of sleep at night worried about who's going to 655 00:33:16,119 --> 00:33:18,960 be able to pinch hit because we just have a 656 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,440 lot of talent. They just haven't had an opportunity to 657 00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:25,599 move up. Because I mean, let's call it like it 658 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:28,359 is and be a little honest. Our party's electeds tend 659 00:33:28,359 --> 00:33:30,920 to be quite a bit older than they are in Republicans. 660 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,480 That's just statistically true, and it's caused a lot of 661 00:33:34,599 --> 00:33:38,240 younger talent to just kind of be sitting in the waiting, 662 00:33:38,799 --> 00:33:41,480 And so there's plenty of people there ready to step 663 00:33:41,599 --> 00:33:42,960 up if given the opportunity. 664 00:33:44,240 --> 00:33:49,200 Speaker 1: There is, of course not a shortage of money among 665 00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:52,960 Democrats in Texas, at least among people who support Democrats 666 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,839 in Texas. There are wealthy Democratic donors in this state. 667 00:33:57,559 --> 00:34:00,680 I think often the question for the state party is 668 00:34:00,839 --> 00:34:04,559 can they convince those wealthy folks to spend the money 669 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:11,480 here as opposed to supporting races outside the state. You know, 670 00:34:11,599 --> 00:34:14,719 this is a race where I think Democrats nationally are 671 00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:17,400 going to find it very very important to try to 672 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:22,079 win back the House when the Senate, How are you 673 00:34:22,199 --> 00:34:27,159 going to convince those folks to spend locally as well? 674 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:29,639 How can you show people that that is a good 675 00:34:29,639 --> 00:34:32,679 investment when there's so much at stake elsewhere across the 676 00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:33,480 country as well? 677 00:34:34,199 --> 00:34:37,400 Speaker 3: Well? If they're listening today, I know a great statewide 678 00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:42,440 party that they can invest their resources. You know, here's 679 00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:46,199 the argument that I would make. We are not going 680 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:48,920 to make gains in this state unless we are making 681 00:34:48,960 --> 00:34:52,880 investments in long term infrastructure we have been looking at 682 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,599 the election right in front of us and not been 683 00:34:55,639 --> 00:34:58,280 looking down the road at how we build up long 684 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:02,079 term success. And that's how organizing apparatus has fallen as 685 00:35:02,079 --> 00:35:08,079 defunct as it has. We're working to rebuild that and 686 00:35:08,119 --> 00:35:11,599 that continues on with our data systems that we have 687 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:14,559 that we operate with all of our campaigns. It continues 688 00:35:14,599 --> 00:35:18,199 all with our compliance mechanisms, our voter protection mechanisms, everything 689 00:35:18,239 --> 00:35:21,559 that we have in our party. It requires long term investment. 690 00:35:22,119 --> 00:35:24,920 If you invest in a candidate, that's fine, they need 691 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:27,000 the help, but they're going to spend it all in 692 00:35:27,000 --> 00:35:30,320 one election and whether they win or they lose, that's 693 00:35:30,320 --> 00:35:34,599 over and the party's still going to be here. And 694 00:35:34,639 --> 00:35:37,519 so what we've been trying to convey to people is that, 695 00:35:37,639 --> 00:35:40,320 you know, it's a new day in the Texas Democratic Party. 696 00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:44,840 We have a laser focus on building for long term success. 697 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:49,599 I think most people have probably seen the redistricting maps 698 00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:52,480 after the United States Census, and that makes Texas a 699 00:35:52,599 --> 00:35:56,360 very high priority for the nation. And if we are 700 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:58,679 not doing the work now, we are going to be 701 00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:01,880 in a bad position six years from now, and so 702 00:36:02,760 --> 00:36:06,719 we're laser focused on it. That's what we're telling Texas donors. 703 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:08,119 If you want to send money out of the state, 704 00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:11,480 you know places around the country need it too, That's fine, 705 00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,440 but understand that neglecting the fight that we have right 706 00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:21,639 here at home is going to reach very long term consequences. Luckily, 707 00:36:22,079 --> 00:36:24,920 I don't think that we're seeing people afraid to invest 708 00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:26,920 in Texas. I think we have a little bit of 709 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:30,199 donor fatigue, but I think that people our donors are 710 00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:34,239 smart people. Are our activists are smart people. They understand 711 00:36:34,239 --> 00:36:36,519 that this doesn't just you don't just wake up and 712 00:36:36,679 --> 00:36:40,599 fix this overnight. It's going to take time, and hopefully 713 00:36:40,599 --> 00:36:43,480 in this upcoming year we can show some progress. You know, 714 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:47,760 progress looks to me like moving the needle statewide. It 715 00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:52,280 looks to me like flipping seats down ballot to show 716 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:54,360 that we're having success on the ground and moving in 717 00:36:54,400 --> 00:36:58,639 the right direction. If we're doing that and continuing the 718 00:36:58,679 --> 00:37:01,400 trend line moving in the right direction for us, I 719 00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:03,760 think we continue to lock those donors in long term. 720 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:06,679 Speaker 1: Do you it feels like in some ways there's been 721 00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:09,400 like two different ways for a Democrat to run statewide 722 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:11,920 in recent years. It's been the sort of you know, 723 00:37:12,079 --> 00:37:16,199 go everywhere hold the rallies and Lubbock and San Angeles 724 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:22,159 on the table. I'm just trying to make it that explicit, yeah, 725 00:37:22,320 --> 00:37:27,440 or the sort of like, you know, play go, go 726 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:30,400 to the middle, play the traditional you know, go for 727 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:33,960 the big cities, run the TV ads, but maybe not 728 00:37:34,159 --> 00:37:36,320 make such a big splash and the grassroots will come 729 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:42,159 with you. Do you have an opinion on how that 730 00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:45,599 should look in twenty twenty six, like O, which of 731 00:37:45,599 --> 00:37:47,199 those paths is the right way to go? 732 00:37:48,559 --> 00:37:52,559 Speaker 3: It is? Well, okay, look number one, I've already done 733 00:37:52,559 --> 00:37:55,400 events in forty five different counties across the state of Texas. 734 00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:58,880 I think you can assume where my natural inclination is 735 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:02,920 on that question. But I'll tell you I think it's hilarious, 736 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,639 honestly that every election cycle we have this discussion where 737 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:10,239 the party that put a man on the moon is 738 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:12,800 trying to figure out if we have the ability to 739 00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:18,719 organize in both rural and urban areas. It's not rocket science, Okay, 740 00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:22,079 we are a party of big, bold ideas. We should 741 00:38:22,119 --> 00:38:25,280 be able to walk into gum. At the same time, 742 00:38:25,719 --> 00:38:27,199 I think you've got to do a little bit of both. 743 00:38:27,239 --> 00:38:29,280 You've got to make sure you're milking votes out of 744 00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:31,599 urban areas. You've got to make sure that we're not 745 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:34,920 emorrhaging in rural areas of the state. But there's a 746 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:37,760 piece of that discussion, in my opinion where I think 747 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:40,599 my vision's a little different than others. That is missing. 748 00:38:41,079 --> 00:38:42,960 The piece of that that is missing is the forty 749 00:38:43,000 --> 00:38:45,159 mid sized cities with them were one hundred thousand people 750 00:38:45,239 --> 00:38:48,519 and then in this state, I'm sorry, Luddick is not rural. 751 00:38:49,480 --> 00:38:52,360 Am Marilla is not rural. You're talking to a guy 752 00:38:52,400 --> 00:38:56,000 who grew up in New Boston, Texas. Sant Angelo is 753 00:38:56,039 --> 00:39:00,760 not rural. They are mid size cities. They should be 754 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:08,960 treated as population centers. Beaumont, Texas is bigger than Richmond, Virginia. Laredo, 755 00:39:09,039 --> 00:39:14,519 Texas is bigger than Richmond, Abilee or Lubbock, Ambilla twice 756 00:39:14,559 --> 00:39:18,079 that size. So as a party, it's not just about 757 00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:20,119 do we do better in rural or do we run 758 00:39:20,199 --> 00:39:24,000 up our numbers in urban it's why aren't you walking 759 00:39:24,039 --> 00:39:28,400 into population centers and why are you not organizing there 760 00:39:28,519 --> 00:39:33,559 to treat them like their population centers. And it's unacceptable 761 00:39:33,639 --> 00:39:36,880 for us to have giant cities that in any other 762 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:41,360 state are population centers that we don't have precinct chairs 763 00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:43,760 in or don't have a county chair in, and we're 764 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:47,119 fixing that. We're going to be showing up in all 765 00:39:47,159 --> 00:39:50,360 of those communities and making sure that we're not hemorrhaging 766 00:39:50,400 --> 00:39:52,400 the way that we always have. When we do that, 767 00:39:53,039 --> 00:39:56,840 you're going to see repercussions across the state. And so 768 00:39:57,119 --> 00:40:00,320 I think it's all things and a part already a 769 00:40:00,360 --> 00:40:02,400 big bulld id issh should be able to do all 770 00:40:02,440 --> 00:40:05,760 of that organizing because it's nothing more than shaking people's hand, 771 00:40:05,760 --> 00:40:06,960 look at them in the ID, telling me what you 772 00:40:07,039 --> 00:40:09,440 stand for, and ask them for their vote. It's not 773 00:40:09,519 --> 00:40:10,360 that complicated. 774 00:40:11,000 --> 00:40:12,920 Speaker 2: I want to ask about one specific group that was 775 00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:15,880 a big storyline after the twenty twenty four election, which 776 00:40:15,920 --> 00:40:20,639 is Hispanic voters. You know, traditionally voted Democrat. Now you 777 00:40:20,639 --> 00:40:24,320 know really, I mean obviously pivoted in twenty four. Do 778 00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:26,199 you see that as still up in the air. What 779 00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:29,599 is the party doing to try to regain those voters? 780 00:40:30,159 --> 00:40:32,880 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, let's be honest about what's happening in 781 00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:36,440 that community. What's happening in that community is the same 782 00:40:36,639 --> 00:40:40,119 as what's happened in the white community, where you have 783 00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:43,199 seen billionaires that are on the conservative side of the 784 00:40:43,199 --> 00:40:46,920 spectrum buy up a lot of media markets and push 785 00:40:47,119 --> 00:40:50,320 far right news to people without presenting it as such, 786 00:40:51,119 --> 00:40:54,039 and so they're getting a lot of misinformation on their 787 00:40:54,039 --> 00:40:57,239 Spanish language media, and Democrats have not met them there. 788 00:40:57,599 --> 00:41:00,760 The Texas Democratic Party doesn't have a Spanish language department. 789 00:41:01,199 --> 00:41:04,440 The National Democratic Party doesn't have a Spanish language coms department. 790 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:07,960 Texas is unique because we are thirty percent of people 791 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:10,199 speaking Spanish at home. If you start to look at 792 00:41:10,199 --> 00:41:13,320 our border and swing communities, it's closer to sixty seven 793 00:41:13,440 --> 00:41:16,760 seventy percent of people speaking Spanish at home, and we're 794 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:18,960 not meeting no where they're at. We have to show 795 00:41:19,039 --> 00:41:22,679 up not just geographically in people's communities. We have to 796 00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:25,119 not only talk about the issues that are important to them, 797 00:41:25,280 --> 00:41:27,840 but we also have to show up where they're consuming news. 798 00:41:28,519 --> 00:41:31,039 And it's the same thing with young people too. You 799 00:41:31,079 --> 00:41:34,840 know young people. You know we saw in the last 800 00:41:34,840 --> 00:41:37,440 cycle they kind of moved away from the Democratic Party. 801 00:41:38,039 --> 00:41:40,800 I would argue it's a turnout thing, but you know, 802 00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:43,480 Democrats weren't showing up where they consume news. I mean, 803 00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:45,559 I'm going to say something that's going to shake all 804 00:41:45,599 --> 00:41:48,159 of your listeners who are liberal to the core. Ready, 805 00:41:49,119 --> 00:41:55,519 I've never watched Rachel Maddow. I'm thirty five. I don't 806 00:41:55,559 --> 00:41:59,800 have cable like people my age and in my age group. 807 00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:05,519 That mainstream formerly mainstream media is not where we're consuming information. 808 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:08,119 We have to meet people where they're consuming it. And 809 00:42:08,159 --> 00:42:11,039 so this ties in with the conversation on his spending 810 00:42:11,119 --> 00:42:14,199 voters because Democrats have not been meeting people where they're 811 00:42:14,199 --> 00:42:17,880 consuming news. We haven't been present in people's communities, and 812 00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:20,159 we have an obligation to fix it. I think we've 813 00:42:20,199 --> 00:42:23,199 also failed to make a really salient point on border 814 00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:26,800 security and on immigration. I mean, just sin Stone it that. 815 00:42:27,079 --> 00:42:29,960 I don't know why it's so hard to get Democrats 816 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:31,960 to say that we support strong borders. Every one of 817 00:42:32,039 --> 00:42:34,840 them do. I've never met a Democrat that says that 818 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:38,199 they don't support strong borders and keeping communities safe. But 819 00:42:38,320 --> 00:42:41,480 what they're supporting is modernizing the way that we're doing it. 820 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:44,559 And I don't know why Democrats are so adverse to 821 00:42:44,639 --> 00:42:46,519 talking about it. I think it's because it's a real 822 00:42:46,559 --> 00:42:49,599 complex issue and they get in their heads, you know. 823 00:42:49,679 --> 00:42:51,960 They Democrats sometimes can be a little too smart for 824 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:55,519 their own good and they spend too much time kind 825 00:42:55,519 --> 00:42:58,239 of trying to think about over analyzing things when you 826 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:01,239 just have to speak to people their guts and let 827 00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:03,480 them know who we are and what we're standing for. 828 00:43:03,599 --> 00:43:05,599 We want to keep your community safe. We want to 829 00:43:05,599 --> 00:43:08,639 make sure that your kids able to get the same 830 00:43:08,639 --> 00:43:11,440 opportunities that you had. And I'm only able to sit 831 00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:13,840 here as the chair of the Texas Democratic Party because 832 00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:15,880 I had a high quality public school out in East 833 00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:19,760 Texas and that opportunity is being taken away from kids 834 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:22,079 all across the state, including South Texas and then the 835 00:43:22,159 --> 00:43:25,079 Rio Grandee Valley and the Democrats are here standing on 836 00:43:25,119 --> 00:43:29,639 the front lines. Every single Democrat voted against vouchers. 837 00:43:31,239 --> 00:43:33,480 Speaker 1: All right, well, chairman, thank you for taking the time 838 00:43:33,519 --> 00:43:35,880 to talk to us. It's been a very interesting conversation. 839 00:43:36,920 --> 00:43:44,920 We will be back soon here from the other side 840 00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:47,719 of the aisle on this but that's it for today. 841 00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:51,360 Thank you again, Chairman, Thank you to our producers, Robin Chris, 842 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:53,559 thank you Eleanor, and we will talk to you all soon.