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Speaker 1: Hey, Trip Cast listeners. For the next two weeks, your

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podcast team will be taking a break for the holidays,

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so we'll be playing some interviews from the Texas Tribune

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Festival back in November. First up is my interview with

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James Tallerico, who is running as a Democrat for the

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US Senate. Hope you enjoy it and if you celebrate,

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Merry Christmas. Good morning, everybody, Welcome to day two of

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the Texas Tribune Festival. Very excited to be here with

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Representative James Tallerco. First, a little bit of just housekeeping

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things to know. We're going to talk for about forty

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five minutes. Then we're going to have audience Q and A.

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There are two microphones out there in the line, so

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you know, once we get toward the end, you can

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start lining up and talking. This is the first of

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two candidate candidates that conversations related to the US Senate.

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The second one will be with Representative Colin Alright, we're

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going to need to clear the room in between for

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security reasons, so I just ask, you know, let's try

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to get moving and back. You know, we can get

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back in line, but we want to be able to

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clear the room, make sure everything's safe in there. Representative.

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Thank you for being here.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. This is one of my

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favorite churches here in the Austin area, one of the

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most beautiful sanctuaries. Kind of felt like you and I

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were getting married walking down the aisle. But anyway, it's

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so good to see all of you here.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, So, you know, I don't think we need

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to spend too much time on your bio, but just briefly.

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You know, you, of course a former teacher, Presbyterian seminarian

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state representative since twenty eighteen. But the thing I really

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want to touch on most importantly is that you are

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a twenty sixteen Texas Tribune Festival trivia champion. That's right,

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that's right, Thank you, thank you. So you know when

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go to trivia night when and it'll take you far.

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That's right. That's right, that's right. So yeah, thanks for

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being here. So let's start talking about the race here.

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You have, you know, clearly built a passionate following a

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strong reputation, a lot of it built on your work

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in the state House, you know, advocating you know many

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times against you know, policies that have been passed or

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promoted in the Texas legislature by state leadership. You're now

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running for the Senate. Tell me why you chose this

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race as opposed to you know, say, governor or lieutenant

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governor or something like that.

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Speaker 2: Well, I firmly believe that all thirty million Texans deserve

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a senator who's going to represent them and not billionaire

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mega donors. And I, you know, I, I I do

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feel like something is broken in this country. Our economy

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is broken, our political system is broken, but even our

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relationships with each other feel broken. And I think that's

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because the most powerful people in the world want it

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that way. You know, my faith teaches me to love

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my neighbor as myself, not just my neighbor who looks

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like me, not just my neighbor who prays like me,

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not just my neighbor who votes like me. I'm called

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to love all of my neighbors the way I love myself.

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But those billionaires who own the algorithms, who own the

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cable news networks, who own politicians on both sides fighting

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on our screens, they want us at each other's throats.

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They want us focused on how we're different instead of

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on how we're the same. And as I travel this state,

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I really get the sense that people are tired of

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being pitted against their neighbor. People are tired of being

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told to hate their neighbor. It's been it's been more

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than ten years of this kind of politics. Politics as

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blood sport, politics as trolling and owning, politics as total war,

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and it's tearing families apart, it's ending friendships, and it's

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regardless of what side of the hour we're on, it's

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leaving us all feeling terrible all the time. And as

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I'm going around Texas As, I'm going to every corner

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of the state, I really do I sense that there's

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a hunger across the political spectrum for a different kind

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of politics, not one that's rooted in hate and fear

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and division, but a politics that's rooted in love. Love

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for this state, love for this country, and most importantly,

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a love for our neighbors. And so that's what I'm

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trying to build in this campaign, politics of love that

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can heal what's broken in our country.

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Speaker 1: What do you carry from the Texas House to the

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Senate if given the opportunity to do that, What have

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you learned? What experiences will be relevant to this wet job.

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Speaker 2: You know, I have had my fair share of criticism

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of the National Democratic Party. I'm a proud Texas Democrat,

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but I already have a religion, and I already have

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a sports team, and so I have no problem sharing

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hard truths with our party's leadership. And I really do

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believe that National Democrats could learn a thing or two

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from red state Democrats, particularly Texas Democrats, because we have

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to learn very quickly how to use every tool in

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our toolbox to fight for our constituents, fight for our values,

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fight for our freedoms, and we develop a thick skin,

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we develop certain muscles that I think you don't develop

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when you're in a safe blue seat on the coasts

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in a blue state. And so I hope, hope that

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the next generation of leaders stepping up in our party

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are going to be coming from states like Texas and

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coming from places like the Texas Legislature, where you learn

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how to fight. And I think we need fighters in

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this moment. And unfortunately, what we've seen from Senate Democrats

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is their willingness to fold and not fight, and that

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has got to change if we're going to save this

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American experiment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you've clearly generated a lot of excitement. You know,

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I mean this is a crowded room full of excited people,

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and you know, a massive social media following, gotten attention

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beyond Texas. There were you know, we've seen this before,

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right that Joe Rourke had a similar path. He made

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a race in twenty eighteen, very close and ended up

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coming short. What's different this time? How can it be

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different this time?

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, Betho and I are very different people.

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There's a lot that his campaign did in twenty eighteen

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that we can learn from the ability to reach out

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to voters who feel disillusioned, who feel disconnected from politics,

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particularly young voters. As I'm going all over the state,

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I've been shocked by the number of young people showing

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up at our events, Because this far out from an election,

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you don't typically see young people getting involved, but they're

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coming to our events and many of them say it's

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their first political rally ever. Many of them say that

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they've never donated to a candidate or signed up to

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volunteer for a candidate until now. And you know, I

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think that's going to be the key to breaking through

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statewide in Texas. You know, a lot has changed since

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twenty eighteen here in our state, I think we've seen

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even more extremism, even more corruption, and there is this

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backlash growing all over Texas, not just among Democrats, but

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independence and Republicans too. It's going to take a campaign

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that can use modern tools to organize and mobilize that

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backlash into electoral success, and we are building a campaign

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that can do just that.

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Speaker 1: There's of course a very interesting Republican primary in this

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race too, you know, and I'll stay for the record,

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all three candidates were in that side. We're also invited,

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and none of them were able to come. Do you

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does that situation, whether it's the position John cordenholds, the

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possibility of Ken Paxton, who of course has very controversial history,

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did that affect your interest and stepping into this race,

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and do you have a rooting interest in that primary?

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, I was Colin Allread's most active surrogate

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in twenty twenty four. I went all over the state

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for Colin and was proud to do it. And when

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I was campaigning for him, I often said that Ted

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Cruz is the worst senator in America. But now looking

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some Ted Cruz fans here, but now looking at the

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current Republican field in this Senate race, I think that

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title may be up for grabs because neither John Cornyn

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nor Ken Paxton deserve the honor of representing this great

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state in our nation's capital. Both of them, both of

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them are far more interested in serving their billionaire mega

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donors than serving the people of Texas. Both of them

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have sold this out time and time again. Ken Paxton's

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crimes are well known. I was part of the bipartisan

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majority in the Texas House that voted to impeach our

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corrupt attorney general. But you may not believe this, but

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I think John Cornyn may be even more corrupt than

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Ken Paxton, because because John Cornyn was the deciding vote

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on that big ugly bill a few months ago, that

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that big ugly bill that's going to kick millions of

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Texans off their healthcare, It's going to take food out

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of the mouths of hungry Texas children, all to give

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yet another tax break to his donors. We oftentimes think

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about corruption as something that's illegal, as in Ken Paxson's case,

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But corruption is really just the betrayal of the public's trust.

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It is the abuse of your public office and by

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casting the deciding vote on that big ugly bill. John

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Cornyn committed an act of corruption of the highest order,

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and he has forfeited the right to represent all of

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us in the United States Senate.

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Speaker 1: So do you think that there is a more Do

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you think there's a better candidate for you to be

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running against? Is there a candidate that you think gives

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you a better chance to win?

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Speaker 2: They both have strengths and weaknesses, and they're very different

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kinds of candidates. I would welcome, I would relish the

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opportunity to prosecute the case against John Cornyn or Kem

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Paxton in the general election.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned being a surrogate for Colin al Redd. He

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of course is also in the race. And it was

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reported during the summer that you all read Vetto and

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Joaching Castro, I believe, came together for a meeting to

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talk about you know, all four of you pretty prominent politicians,

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All four of you had varying degrees of interest in

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reuning for a race, and people trying to make the

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case of you know, there's a lot of important seats

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on the ballot this year. If we spread these folks out,

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it might be better for the Democratic party as a whole,

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call it already gets in the race. You get in

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the race a little bit longer. I mean, is this

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not a problem to have? You know, basically the two

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highest profile Democrats currently seeking higher office, both seeking the

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same office.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think you're seeing a strong ticket developing on

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the Democratic side. Those four politicians including me that you mentioned,

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are not the only strong leaders in the state, and

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you're seeing that ticket already filling out with incredible candidates.

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And so I think we're going to have a true

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team as a party going into the general election next year.

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And you asked earlier, I don't think answer your question

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about why I didn't run for governor, and I was

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flattered that people were asking me to run for governor

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and senator. I really think about these positions as jobs.

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You're applying for a job, and if I'm going to

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go all over the state, I want to feel confident

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that I can do the job on day one. Not

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that I couldn't serve as governor, but the skills that

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I developed in the trenches of the Texas Legislature, working

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across the aisle to pass legislation, questioning witnesses to get

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to the truth debating on the House floor with my colleagues.

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Those skills, in my mind, are much more transferable to

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a US Senate seat, and I know that I can

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do this job as a legislator. And so that's why

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I made the decision to run for this position, because

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I feel like I'm most qualified for this job. And

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if I'm going to ask Texans to put their trust

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in me to hire me for this position, I want

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to feel confident that I can deliver for them on

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day one. So that's the reason I ran for this position.

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But I'm looking forward to working with the whole ticket,

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all the talented leaders that are running to change the

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politics of this state, which we desperately need to do.

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Speaker 1: So what's the difference between Colin Allread, someone you've supported

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in the past, and you. Why should people you voting

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for you over him?

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Speaker 2: Well, I've got all kinds of reasons people should vote

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for me. I'm not going to spend time in this

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race tearing down my fellow Texas Democrats because we are

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all on the same team. We may have some friendly

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rivalries and friendly competition between teammates, but we all have

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the same goals and I'm going to be putting myself forward,

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and I'm going to be articulating why my vision, why

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my values, why my experiences and my skill set are

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going to be put to best use in the general

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election and hopefully as the next US Senator from Texas.

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I'm running a positive race in the primary, and I'm

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going to keep that commitment all the way until election day.

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Speaker 1: Let's set for sure, let's talk a little bit about

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current events. I think you know you're obviously not in

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the Senate right now, but it's maybe instructive to think

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about how you would be acting if you were. We

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just got through the end of the longest government shut

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down in you know, US history. How do you feel

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about how the Democrats handled that situation?

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Speaker 2: Frustrated? A handful of Senate Democrats caved to DC Republicans

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in these negotiations and got nothing in return. They called

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it a deal to end the government shutdown. But in

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my opinion, any deal that kicks one point seven million

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Texans off their healthcare isn't compromised. Its surrender, and we need,

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we need national Democrats to fight with everything they have

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for working people in this state and across the country.

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That's our job as Democrats. We're the party of working people,

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and so if we're not able to do that, and

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if Senate Democrats are going to cave so easily, we

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shouldn't wonder why voters don't trust us at the ballot box.

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Republicans shut down the government for forty days, taking food

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out of the mouths of children to fund tax breaks

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for billionaires. And instead of holding the line, instead of

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holding those Republican politicians accountable, Senate Democrats folded. They snatched

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defeat from the jaws of victory. And I think the

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only path forward is for red State Democrats to remake

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our party at the national level in our own image,

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because we desperately need fighters, not folders at this critical

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moment in our country's history.

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Speaker 1: Ye I want to drill into the Republicans shut down

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the government here because, of course, you know, the Republican

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House passed continuing resolution. The Senate Republicans voted for a

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clean bill that would have kept the government open. It

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was the decision of Democrats not to support that bill.

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You know, the push was to continue Affordable Care Act subsidies.

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I understand that, and that's a very important issue for Democrats,

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but it also means for forty three days that you know,

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thousands of government workers went without a paycheck. It also

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means that it created sort of an air travel apocalypse

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for you know, a lot of people for a long time.

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But maybe most importantly, it meant that people, including many

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people in this state, were losing access to food stamps.

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You know, we can talk about caving and everything like that,

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but these are a lot of programs. This is happening

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against a party that is very skeptical of skeptical of government.

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And when they hear the thing, you know, shut down

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the government put federal workers, you know, to the side,

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it kind of feels like the response is, you know,

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you don't threaten me with a good time here, you know, like,

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let's do this right. There might not have been a

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lot of leverage, so how can you say that you're

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willing to kind of continue to inflict that pain if

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there's not a sign that the Republicans are going to

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come across and make a.

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Speaker 2: Deal with you. Well, and the Republicans in Washington, who

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control every branch of government, they tried to pin the

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blame on Democrats for the shutdown, and the American people

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weren't buying it. Every single poll that came out showed

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that the American people understood exactly who's to blame for

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this shutdown, and if they need Democratic votes in the Senate,

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they need to negotiate with Democrats. Again. I've served for

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eight years in the state legislature. I know how a

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legislative body works, and if you need someone's vote, you

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need to sit down at the table and figure out

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how to get that vote. And so I don't think

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Senate Democrats should give their votes away for nothing. And

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I think fighting to make sure that healthcare premiums don't

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skyrocket for nearly two million Texans is a very reasonable

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thing to ask for in exchange for our votes. And

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so I'm proud that most Senate Democrats held the line

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on that issue and fought for the health insurance for

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millions of Texans and millions of Americans. And I'm incredibly

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disappointed that a handful of Senators decided that it was

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more important to cave without any concessions to DC Republicans

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in these negotiations instead of fighting for working people here

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in our state.

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Speaker 1: The other big bit of news coming into the festival was,

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of course, the release of these files related to Jeffrey

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Epstein and the president, you know, particular one calling Donald

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Trump the dog who hasn'tmbarked, he's spent you know, I

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think I think it was hours with a victim hasn't

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said anything about this. What was your reaction to that

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coming out?

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Speaker 2: I mean, when did pedophilia become a partisan issue. The

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American people deserve to know the whole truth about Jeffrey

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Epstein and every single powerful person who enabled him, every name,

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every flight log, every cover up, all of it. The

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White House and congressional Republicans are hiding the Epstein files.

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Why these are the same politicians who call librarians groomers,

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who call their political opponents pedophiles. And to be clear,

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if there is a Democrat on that list, I will

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be the first to call for their prosecution, because if

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there's one thing we should all be able to agree on,

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Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and progressives, it's that no one,

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including the president of the United States, should be able

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to cover up crimes against children.

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Speaker 1: So as implicit in that at a feeling that Donald

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Trump should be prosecuted for what's in these files.

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Speaker 2: No, I think he needs to release these files. And

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if we have evidence that Donald Trump either knew about

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this pedophile ring and did nothing about it, or worst

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was somehow involved in it, then the justice system should

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should respond accordingly. But all I'm asking for is to

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see all the files, to have all the information, because

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I think that's what we're owed in this country. And

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when a powerful person tells you there's nothing to see here,

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that should be that should be an indication that there

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is more to learn. And honestly, I think my suspicion is,

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when we get the whole truth here, this Epstein scandal

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is going to make Watergate look like a nothing burger.

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Speaker 1: If you are elected, there's two years of being in

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the Senate under Donald Trump. What is your approach to

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working with him or his administration during that time?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, again, as a member of the Texas Legislature,

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I worked with my Republican colleagues across the aisle. I

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even worked with Governor Abbot on issues where we agreed.

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It's well known that he and I battled it out

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on his private school voucher scam. But when there was

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an issue that we agreed on, we worked together. And

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one comes to mind in particular, which is stopping fentanyl

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overdoses in our state. I spoke at a press conference

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with Governor Abbot on my bill to equip every single

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school campus in the state with Narcan, which is what

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allows a fentanyl overnose to reverse. And so I'm going

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to keep working with people across the isle, even leaders

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who have deep dissert agreements with like Greg Abbott and

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like Donald Trump. But if there is a sliver of

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common ground, I'm going to seize it so that I

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can make progress for my constituents. There's oftentimes a temptation

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for Democrats to choose between fighting back and getting stuff done.

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I think that's a false choice. I think effective legislators

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can do both, and I have done both over eight

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years in the legislature, and I will do both as

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the next Senator from Texas.

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Speaker 1: There was another piece of news in the past week,

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a story that ran an Axios about your social media account.

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It said, you know, among the thirty seven hundred people

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that you follow on Instagram was a small handful of

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adult entertainers or perhaps maybe even sex workers in that

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I'm curious whether you could just tell us what's going

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on there?

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Speaker 2: What's Yeah, So, our social media team, including me. We

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follow back all big accounts that have major followings, because

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that's how new media works. We've been able to build

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one of the largest Instagram followings of any Democrat in

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the country, and we've done that by following back actors

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and musicians and athletes, and I even followed back a

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very popular bulldog which I don't know much about. But

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they share our content and get our message out and

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we're all for it. And you know, the media went

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through this long list of big accounts that we follow back,

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and they looked and found out that some of them,

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you know, are in the sex industry, and decided to

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decided to report that as clickbait because it gets clicks

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and it makes them money. Axios a few days after

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that story came out, said that they had blown past

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all their revenue goals for the year, and so, you know,

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I was glad to help, I guess. But while I

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didn't know how these women made money, I don't judge

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them for it, and I will not participate in an

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effort to smear them for clickbait. That is exactly the

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kind of senator I would be. And I just you know,

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the corporate media is going to do their thing. But

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I don't think Texans are interested in clickbait. I think

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they are interested in bringing down costs and cleaning up

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government and taking on this broken, corrupt political system.

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Speaker 1: The headline of that story described you as a faith

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forward candidate. I think the implication being that there was

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maybe some hypocrisy there. I mean, what do you how

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do you feel about that framing?

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Speaker 2: Again? I mean, the goal was for that website to

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make money, yeah, and that's exactly why they they wrote

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the headline the way they did. But again, my faith

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calls me to fight for all of my neighbors, every

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single one, regardless of how they make their money. It

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also requires that I don't judge my neighbors, and so

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I'm going to keep doing that, whether Axios wants to

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turn it into a clickbait article or not. I'm going

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to keep fighting for every single Textan. And that's what

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people can expect if I'm the next US Senator from

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the state.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you have put your faith very forward out there,

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and I wonder if you could just talk a little

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bit about how I mean, this is somewhat unusual these

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days for a Democrat to do. Tell us a little

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bit about how it guides you in your politics and

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you're legislating and all those things, and what it means

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for you to be a Christian and a Democrat.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, well, my faith is the reason I'm in public service.

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So I feel that as a public official and as

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a candidate for public office, that I should be sharing

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my why. And for some leaders that's fair. For others,

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it's maybe an experience, it could be a worldview, it

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could be a certain policy issue, but we should explain

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to voters why we're doing this crazy thing of running

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for office. And I was taught at a very early

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age to follow those two commandments from Jesus to love

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God and love neighbor. My granddad was a Baptist preacher

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in South Texas, and he always said, the reason we

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have those two commandments is because there is no love

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of God without love of neighbor. Loving our neighbors is

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how we show our love for God. And so that's

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what led me to led me into public service, first

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as a public school teacher on the west side of

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San Antonio and now as a public official. Every day

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in the legislature, I am trying to love my neighbor

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through public policy by bringing down the cost of childcare,

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bringing down the cost of prescription drugs, bringing down the

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cost of housing. That is how I I show love

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for my neighbors all over this state, and it's exactly

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why I'm running for Senate. But the most challenging question

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in the New Testament, a question that's posed to Jesus

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when he says that we should love our neighbors, is

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who is my neighbor? And right now, for me, my

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neighbor is the child going to bed hungry tonight. My

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neighbor is the worker making poverty level wages in this state.

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My neighbor is the mother kidnapped by masked men in

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unmarked vehicles off of our streets. My neighbor is the

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student sitting in an overcrowded classroom in an underfunded school.

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And so those are the neighbors I'm fighting for in

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this race, and they will be the neighbors I fight

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for as us senator from Texas.

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Speaker 1: You know, we are, of course in a state where

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a lot of our leaders put their faith very forward

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into the decisions that are being made. Is it important

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to you to provide sort of a counter narrative of

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you know, how you see things differently being guided by

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your faith.

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Speaker 2: Well, I, as you know, in my time in legislature,

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got fed up with my fellow Christians who are twisting

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our religion to hurt our neighbors on a whole host

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of issues, and I felt a moral obligation as a

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believer to speak out against that perversion of our faith, tradition,

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and that subversion of our democracy. You know, although I am,

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although I'm a Christian, although it is central in my

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life and central in my public service, I am also

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probably the fiercest champion for the separation of church and

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state because I came I mentioned my granddad being Baptist.

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I come from a tradition that cherished that separation. I

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was taught that it is a sacred boundary. And the

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separation of church and state doesn't just benefit the state.

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It also benefits the church because when the church as

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an institution gets too cozy with political power, it robs

479
00:30:25,960 --> 00:30:29,640
the church of its prophetic voice, of its ability to

480
00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:34,119
speak truth to power. And so this separation is something

481
00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:38,240
that religious people and Christians in particular should cherish and

482
00:30:38,279 --> 00:30:41,119
should defend at every turn. That's what I'm trying to

483
00:30:41,119 --> 00:30:43,799
do in the halls of power and I hope to

484
00:30:43,839 --> 00:30:49,480
see us cultivate more of a Christian commitment to democracy,

485
00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:52,240
to the First Amendment, and to the separation of church

486
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:52,559
and state.

487
00:30:53,680 --> 00:30:58,039
Speaker 1: I wonder if, as you look forward to a election,

488
00:30:58,359 --> 00:31:00,799
if you make it out of the primary, you'll be

489
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:02,839
running as a Democrat in a state that has not

490
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,839
elected a Democrat in a very long time. Statewide, there's

491
00:31:05,839 --> 00:31:09,119
a lot of conversation within the Democratic Party about how

492
00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:13,599
to most effectively win in this state. Is it reach

493
00:31:13,680 --> 00:31:16,359
out to the middle, paint yourself as a moderate, maybe

494
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:19,240
disavow some of the more controversial stances of the Democratic

495
00:31:19,279 --> 00:31:24,480
Party related to guns, defunding the police, things like that

496
00:31:24,599 --> 00:31:28,680
law enforcement, or do you activate the base, do you

497
00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:33,480
fire up young folks who might be, you know, disinclined

498
00:31:33,519 --> 00:31:38,920
to vote these days, and things like that. Which strategy

499
00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:40,559
do you think is the right strategy?

500
00:31:41,119 --> 00:31:44,920
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think we should be painting ourselves one

501
00:31:44,920 --> 00:31:47,680
way or the other. I have two simple rules when

502
00:31:47,680 --> 00:31:52,240
it comes to political communications. One is tell the truth,

503
00:31:53,200 --> 00:31:55,960
two is be yourself. And I've found that if you

504
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:58,359
can do both of those things, you can connect with

505
00:31:58,519 --> 00:32:01,839
most people, even people who don't with you. And so

506
00:32:02,359 --> 00:32:06,079
I'm not a believer in making yourself look one way

507
00:32:06,160 --> 00:32:10,279
or the other, or or trying to change yourself to

508
00:32:10,359 --> 00:32:12,799
appeal to certain voters. I'm going to be me all

509
00:32:12,799 --> 00:32:15,640
the way through this campaign, and I hope that's enough

510
00:32:15,839 --> 00:32:18,880
to get elected. If it's not, i'llbe at peace with that.

511
00:32:19,079 --> 00:32:21,759
But I'm not going to change myself or my convictions

512
00:32:21,839 --> 00:32:25,079
or my beliefs in order to get a vote. But

513
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:28,680
to answer your question about strategy, so I first got

514
00:32:28,720 --> 00:32:31,400
elected by flipping a Trump district in Williamson County. It

515
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:34,759
was a district that no one thought was winnable. It

516
00:32:34,799 --> 00:32:36,759
was a district that hadn't voted for a Democrat in

517
00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:39,839
thirty years, and it's in the current boundaries. When I

518
00:32:39,839 --> 00:32:43,519
was running, and I remember I was told that it

519
00:32:43,599 --> 00:32:47,519
was an impossible, unwinnable race. But my neighbors and I

520
00:32:47,599 --> 00:32:53,920
we ran an aggressive, authentic, unorthodox campaign that brought people together,

521
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:56,799
and on election night, we flipped that district with fifty

522
00:32:56,839 --> 00:33:01,359
one percent of the vote. And so when I was

523
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,880
running that campaign, I certainly saw that there were swing

524
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:07,920
voters who were choosing between the Democratic Party and the

525
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:11,160
Republican Party, and I won over those voters. And I

526
00:33:11,279 --> 00:33:14,240
plan on competing for those voters in this race, but

527
00:33:14,319 --> 00:33:17,960
the largest group of swing voters were people choosing between

528
00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:23,240
the Democratic Party and the couch. It was particularly young

529
00:33:23,279 --> 00:33:29,400
people who felt disillusioned, who felt disconnected, who felt disempowered

530
00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:32,640
in our political system. And I remember I was knocking

531
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:35,960
on those doors, apartment complexes, dorm rooms. I was talking

532
00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:39,119
to my fellow young people, millennials like me, but also

533
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:44,119
gen z And that is also a form of persuasion,

534
00:33:44,799 --> 00:33:47,160
because they may agree with me on policy for the

535
00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:50,000
most part, but I'm trying to persuade them of their

536
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:53,480
own power. I'm trying to persuade them that the only

537
00:33:53,839 --> 00:33:56,759
way that this corrupt political system will change, the only

538
00:33:56,799 --> 00:34:00,680
way this corrupt media system will change, is if they

539
00:34:01,599 --> 00:34:05,319
get in the game, if they and millions like them

540
00:34:05,359 --> 00:34:08,440
all over the country use their god given rights at

541
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:13,199
the ballot box to transform this broken system and remake

542
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:15,800
it in their own image. And so I'm going to

543
00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:21,519
be doing persuasion with both kinds of voters, voters who

544
00:34:21,559 --> 00:34:23,920
are maybe in the middle, but also voters who are

545
00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,840
sympathetic to my policy views but feel like they can't

546
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:29,639
make a difference in this broken system.

547
00:34:30,119 --> 00:34:35,159
Speaker 1: Another person who ran an aggressive, authentic unconventional campaign is

548
00:34:35,199 --> 00:34:39,960
the new mayor elect of New York. I couldn't help,

549
00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:43,119
but notice, you know, almost immediately after that happened, there

550
00:34:43,159 --> 00:34:46,039
started to be emails in my inbox from the NRSC,

551
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:50,920
the Republican Senate campaign arm, seeking to tie you to him, saying,

552
00:34:51,119 --> 00:34:55,960
you know, he's trying to do the Mamdani style in Texas.

553
00:34:56,599 --> 00:34:59,559
I wonder like, do you what do you think of

554
00:34:59,599 --> 00:35:03,119
that compare and do you see yourself as an ideological

555
00:35:03,119 --> 00:35:04,559
ally to mom Donny.

556
00:35:05,000 --> 00:35:07,800
Speaker 2: I think the beauty of the last election night was

557
00:35:07,840 --> 00:35:12,320
that you saw Democrats of all kinds winning in very

558
00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:14,840
different parts of the country. And that's what's going to

559
00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:18,440
be necessary if we are gonna if we're going to

560
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:21,039
revitalize the Democratic Party, if we're going to win in

561
00:35:21,079 --> 00:35:25,280
places like Texas, we have to have candidates who who

562
00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:28,840
actually represent their communities. I don't know much about New

563
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:31,039
York City, don't know much about New York City politics,

564
00:35:32,199 --> 00:35:36,039
but I do know Texas, and I plan on running

565
00:35:36,159 --> 00:35:41,000
a Texas campaign to serve Texans. And you know, you

566
00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:46,239
talked about unconventional tactics when I was first running in

567
00:35:46,280 --> 00:35:48,920
Williamson County in that Trump district. One of the things

568
00:35:48,960 --> 00:35:52,800
I did was walk the entire length of my district

569
00:35:53,079 --> 00:35:56,760
from round Rock, Texas to Taylor, Texas, all on one day,

570
00:35:57,239 --> 00:35:59,880
all in the Texas heat, twenty five miles all on,

571
00:36:00,920 --> 00:36:03,400
and I held three town halls along that walk. I

572
00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,199
livestreamed the whole thing on social media. And to me,

573
00:36:06,559 --> 00:36:08,320
not only was that a great way to get out,

574
00:36:08,679 --> 00:36:11,320
get attention, and let people know there's a race in

575
00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:13,559
their community, that I was a candidate in that race,

576
00:36:14,119 --> 00:36:18,480
but to me symbolically it was refreshing because it felt

577
00:36:18,559 --> 00:36:22,639
almost like an old school form of politics. Like right now,

578
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:24,679
in our political system and our media system, there are

579
00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:28,280
so many filters right There's so many things in between

580
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,320
you and the people you seek to represent. And so

581
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:35,960
by getting on the ground, by walking humbly with the

582
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:38,639
people that I wanted to fight for, I think it

583
00:36:38,760 --> 00:36:42,960
was it was the antidote to the kind of politics

584
00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:46,159
we've all been suffering underneath. And those are the kind

585
00:36:46,159 --> 00:36:47,679
of tactics. I don't think I can walk the whole

586
00:36:47,679 --> 00:36:48,679
state of Texas.

587
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:48,440
Speaker 3: But.

588
00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 2: That that is going to be the kind of approach

589
00:36:52,639 --> 00:36:55,960
to this race. I'm going to do things differently. I'm

590
00:36:55,960 --> 00:36:58,360
going to go places you wouldn't expect a Democrat to

591
00:36:58,400 --> 00:37:00,000
go to I'm going to talk to people you would

592
00:37:00,039 --> 00:37:03,239
and expected Democrat to talk to because the cookie cutter

593
00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:05,119
campaigns of the past are not going to cut it,

594
00:37:05,519 --> 00:37:07,239
and they're certainly not going to cut it in Texas,

595
00:37:07,559 --> 00:37:10,079
and so this campaign will be different. And I think

596
00:37:10,079 --> 00:37:12,280
you're already seeing in the first two months of our

597
00:37:12,320 --> 00:37:16,679
baby campaign, you're seeing this energy and this excitement growing,

598
00:37:17,199 --> 00:37:20,280
and you're seeing people take ownership of the campaign. We've

599
00:37:20,320 --> 00:37:23,480
had eight thousand people go to our website and sign

600
00:37:23,519 --> 00:37:26,320
up to volunteer. That's without us asking. They're just going

601
00:37:26,320 --> 00:37:28,519
to the website and saying they want to make phone calls,

602
00:37:28,559 --> 00:37:30,800
they want to knock on doors, they want to write postcards.

603
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:36,320
And then during this snap crisis, those volunteers start organizing

604
00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:39,280
to go to food banks and to serve our neighbors.

605
00:37:39,519 --> 00:37:42,440
And to me, that is what politics should be about.

606
00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:46,280
It shouldn't be about self promotion or personal advancement. It

607
00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:49,400
should be about service. It should be about loving our neighbors.

608
00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:51,360
And I am so proud that we're building a movement

609
00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:53,119
to do just that here in Texas.

610
00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:56,159
Speaker 1: All Right, we are getting close to the audience. Q

611
00:37:56,239 --> 00:37:58,320
and a portion, so if you have a question, you

612
00:37:58,400 --> 00:38:01,639
might start ambling your way toward the microphone. But before

613
00:38:01,719 --> 00:38:03,679
we do that, I am going to try to do

614
00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:07,119
a little bit of a policy lightning round here. Let's

615
00:38:07,119 --> 00:38:09,679
talk about some substance here and there's it looks like

616
00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:11,440
we're getting a good line, so let's try to keep

617
00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:16,039
it quick here. If you were elected Democrat, if Democrats

618
00:38:16,039 --> 00:38:18,480
were to retake control of the Senate, would you support

619
00:38:18,559 --> 00:38:19,559
repealing the filibuster?

620
00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:25,039
Speaker 2: I would support reforming the filibuster. I think the current

621
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:29,320
rules for a filibuster and the Senate really disrupt the

622
00:38:29,400 --> 00:38:33,960
democratic feedback loop where people elect a Congress and they

623
00:38:33,960 --> 00:38:36,199
expect to see policies from that Congress so they can

624
00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:39,000
judge whether or if those policies hurt or help, and

625
00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:43,119
the current rules I think disrupt that feedback loop. I

626
00:38:43,159 --> 00:38:47,280
think we should have a speaking filibuster where the minority

627
00:38:47,280 --> 00:38:50,119
can be represented. But I would certainly support an effort

628
00:38:50,119 --> 00:38:51,800
to reform the current filibuster that we have.

629
00:38:52,159 --> 00:38:59,079
Speaker 1: Okay, if Democrats were to control Congress, which of these

630
00:38:59,079 --> 00:39:04,800
three options should they prioritize? Pursuing Medicare for All a

631
00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:09,920
public option, or shoring up the affordable care Act a

632
00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:10,639
public option.

633
00:39:12,159 --> 00:39:15,880
Speaker 2: I really do believe that healthcare is a human right.

634
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:19,480
I believe we should guarantee healthcare for every single American.

635
00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:22,440
As a Type one diabetic, I know what it means

636
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:24,639
not to be able to afford my insulin, and it's

637
00:39:24,679 --> 00:39:27,719
why I worked with Republicans here in Texas to put

638
00:39:27,719 --> 00:39:30,360
in place the first ever cap on insulin copays in

639
00:39:30,400 --> 00:39:33,519
our state's history. And so I think a public option

640
00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:40,920
provides both the guarantee for insurance but also provides the

641
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,599
flexibility for people to choose what that insurance looks like.

642
00:39:44,719 --> 00:39:48,079
Speaker 1: Legalized marijuana thumbs up or thumbs down, thumbs up, all right,

643
00:39:48,199 --> 00:39:55,840
great mandatory assault rifle buyback program, thumbs up or thumbs down.

644
00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:59,239
Speaker 2: I would do what I did in legislature, which is

645
00:40:00,079 --> 00:40:03,920
fight for common sense gun safety things like universal background checks,

646
00:40:04,039 --> 00:40:07,679
closing the gun show loophole, red flag laws. I am

647
00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:09,840
a believer in the Second Amendment. I don't pick and

648
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:13,760
choose between the bill of rights. I value them all

649
00:40:13,800 --> 00:40:16,639
equally and give them all equal weight. And so I

650
00:40:16,639 --> 00:40:20,519
will always defend a citizen's right to bear arms, the

651
00:40:20,559 --> 00:40:23,320
citizen's right to defend themselves and their families. But just

652
00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:27,079
like any freedom in the Bill of Rights. There can

653
00:40:27,119 --> 00:40:29,760
be common sense regulations to keep us all safe. And

654
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:31,360
that's what I'll fight for if I'm US senator.

655
00:40:31,679 --> 00:40:36,840
Speaker 1: Very good than you think. Should the US repeal Section

656
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:40,480
thirteen twenty five, which criminalizes illegal border crossings.

657
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:41,079
Speaker 4: No.

658
00:40:41,679 --> 00:40:46,000
Speaker 2: I've said before on immigration that our southern border should

659
00:40:46,039 --> 00:40:49,360
be like our front porch. There should be a giant

660
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:52,000
welcome mat out front and a lock on the door.

661
00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:55,079
We can do both of those things. You can be

662
00:40:55,159 --> 00:40:58,280
pro immigrant, which I am. You can also be pro security,

663
00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:01,199
which I am. And I know it's gonna be a

664
00:41:01,199 --> 00:41:02,599
little longer than the Lightning Round, but this is an

665
00:41:02,599 --> 00:41:06,920
important issue. I do feel like both political parties have

666
00:41:07,039 --> 00:41:14,559
failed the American people on this issue, and Joe Biden's

667
00:41:14,599 --> 00:41:18,199
failures on the border are what opened the door to

668
00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:22,320
this extremism from the current administration, Kidnapping people off the street,

669
00:41:22,639 --> 00:41:27,039
tearing parents from their children, waiting in school pickup lines,

670
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:32,679
lurking in hospital waiting rooms, deporting the very people who

671
00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:36,320
keep our economy running. So I think the American people,

672
00:41:36,360 --> 00:41:39,360
I think people here in Texas are desperate for a

673
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:43,320
candidate who can both ensure that we're welcoming immigrants who

674
00:41:43,400 --> 00:41:46,159
want to build our economy, who want to live the

675
00:41:46,159 --> 00:41:48,960
American dream, who want to contribute to our communities, and

676
00:41:49,039 --> 00:41:51,639
also secure the border so that we can keep us

677
00:41:51,679 --> 00:41:53,639
all safe. I think you can do both of those

678
00:41:53,639 --> 00:41:54,559
things at the same time.

679
00:41:55,719 --> 00:41:58,599
Speaker 1: Do you believe that Donald Trump has committed offenses during

680
00:41:58,639 --> 00:42:02,599
his first two years in office? That should Democrats take

681
00:42:02,639 --> 00:42:05,440
control of the House and the Senate impeach him for

682
00:42:05,800 --> 00:42:07,400
and remove him from office for.

683
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:11,159
Speaker 2: Well, I participated in an impeachment effort here in Texas.

684
00:42:11,159 --> 00:42:14,800
We were just talking about Ken Paxson's impeachment, so I

685
00:42:14,800 --> 00:42:17,880
think Texans should know that I would. I would approach

686
00:42:18,440 --> 00:42:21,480
any impeachment charge of any president the same way I

687
00:42:21,519 --> 00:42:24,840
approached it as a state legislator, which is very seriously

688
00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:28,840
evaluating all the evidence and making a judgment based on

689
00:42:29,159 --> 00:42:32,920
our constitution and laws and nothing else, not partisan politics,

690
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:39,199
not personal political beliefs, but based on the law. That's

691
00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:42,360
exactly what I would do if impeachment charges wherever brought

692
00:42:43,559 --> 00:42:44,159
last one?

693
00:42:44,639 --> 00:42:46,719
Speaker 1: Would? I think I know the answer to this, but

694
00:42:46,719 --> 00:42:48,760
I'm going to ask it anyway. Would you consider yourself

695
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:50,000
a Democratic socialist?

696
00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:54,280
Speaker 2: No, I wouldn't, but I do think that the Democratic

697
00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:57,360
Party has to become a big tent party again, and

698
00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:01,480
I think that means welcoming Joe Mannhan. It also means

699
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:05,559
welcoming AOCS. I think we need all kinds of Democrats

700
00:43:06,119 --> 00:43:10,119
in order to get this country back on track, and

701
00:43:10,199 --> 00:43:13,639
we cannot be satisfied with a fifty one percent coalition.

702
00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:16,400
We have to grow a majority that's a lot bigger

703
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:19,079
than that if we're going to transform this political system

704
00:43:19,119 --> 00:43:21,639
and transform this economy so that it works for regular people.

705
00:43:21,679 --> 00:43:24,480
Speaker 1: Again, Okay, and I promise we'll get to questions, but

706
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:26,119
I realized I forgot to ask one other thing that

707
00:43:26,119 --> 00:43:27,800
I need to ask, which is, what do you think

708
00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:30,000
of the possibility of Jasmine Crockett entering the race?

709
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,800
Speaker 2: Well, Jasmine our friends. We served here in the state

710
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:37,400
legislature together, and I would welcome her entry into the race.

711
00:43:37,519 --> 00:43:41,920
I think competition is good in politics. I think it's

712
00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,840
good in sports, it's good in business, and I think

713
00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:47,920
it's good in elections because it makes us all stronger

714
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:52,119
and better. And again, all Texas Democrats are on the

715
00:43:52,159 --> 00:43:54,000
same team. We're all trying to do the same thing,

716
00:43:54,039 --> 00:43:57,000
which has changed this political system in Texas so that

717
00:43:57,039 --> 00:43:59,960
it works for working people. And so I would welcome

718
00:44:00,239 --> 00:44:03,159
anyone and everyone getting in this race so that we

719
00:44:03,199 --> 00:44:06,320
can have a healthy, productive, positive competition.

720
00:44:06,519 --> 00:44:09,079
Speaker 1: Excellent, All right, thank you. We will go to audience questions. Now,

721
00:44:09,079 --> 00:44:11,639
we'll start here. We'll go there just very quickly. Please

722
00:44:11,719 --> 00:44:14,519
make sure the questions are short, because we've got a

723
00:44:14,519 --> 00:44:16,639
lot of people asking and in with a question mark

724
00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:19,760
and you know, are respectful as well. So we'll start here,

725
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:21,360
then we'll go, you know, back and forth.

726
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:26,039
Speaker 5: Hi, Chloe Wilkinson with Austin Community College Democrats. I just

727
00:44:26,119 --> 00:44:31,519
wanted to ask because I am a Jewish trans woman

728
00:44:31,599 --> 00:44:36,280
of faith, and it's very refreshing to see a campaign

729
00:44:36,480 --> 00:44:40,199
of faith that is based on love and unity, especially

730
00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:45,119
with so much division between different fates and sets, between

731
00:44:45,199 --> 00:44:51,239
Jewish and Muslims, or Catholics and Protestant. I'm curious, how

732
00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:56,199
do you think we revitalize politics and faith to where

733
00:44:56,239 --> 00:45:01,320
we're rooted in the shared history of Abrahamic beliefs, are

734
00:45:01,480 --> 00:45:03,639
shared religious freedoms.

735
00:45:04,639 --> 00:45:08,199
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think politics is just another word

736
00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:11,840
for how we treat our neighbors, and so we all

737
00:45:11,840 --> 00:45:16,039
bring our philosophies, our moralities, our worldviews to our politics,

738
00:45:16,079 --> 00:45:19,880
and faith is no different and I completely agree that

739
00:45:19,920 --> 00:45:24,239
the major world religions are all speaking about the same

740
00:45:24,360 --> 00:45:29,840
fundamental truth, the same fundamental oneness, that we're all connected.

741
00:45:30,599 --> 00:45:35,679
The word religion literally means to religament, to reconnect us

742
00:45:35,719 --> 00:45:39,559
to each other, into one body because we are, We're

743
00:45:39,599 --> 00:45:42,440
all coming from the same source. Whatever that source is,

744
00:45:42,639 --> 00:45:48,320
it's a mystery. And having a reverence for that oneness,

745
00:45:48,360 --> 00:45:51,760
that interconnectedness, I think is what's missing from our world

746
00:45:51,880 --> 00:45:55,280
right now, and I hope that this campaign can be

747
00:45:55,599 --> 00:46:00,400
just part of the effort to bring that love back

748
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:03,840
into our politics, back into our systems, and back into

749
00:46:03,840 --> 00:46:04,519
our communities.

750
00:46:05,880 --> 00:46:07,000
Speaker 1: All Right, we'll go to the same.

751
00:46:07,719 --> 00:46:10,440
Speaker 6: Thank you for taking our questions, so I'll just make

752
00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:12,960
it quick. Do you believe it is time for new

753
00:46:13,039 --> 00:46:16,000
leadership in the House and the Senate among Democrats given

754
00:46:16,039 --> 00:46:17,760
everything that's happened over the last few weeks.

755
00:46:17,840 --> 00:46:23,920
Speaker 2: Thank you well. I absolutely think that we should. We

756
00:46:23,960 --> 00:46:27,800
should welcome a new generation of leaders in the Democratic Party.

757
00:46:28,599 --> 00:46:32,320
I hope more millennials like me, but also gen zers

758
00:46:32,320 --> 00:46:35,679
will step up and run for office at all levels.

759
00:46:35,760 --> 00:46:39,760
We need new blood in our party. And that's not

760
00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:45,920
to discount the wisdom and the experiences of our more

761
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:49,920
senior elected officials. I know working here in the legislature,

762
00:46:49,960 --> 00:46:53,320
I've probably learned more from Sinphronia Thompson than I've ever

763
00:46:53,400 --> 00:46:55,840
learned from anybody about how to fight for people in

764
00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:58,480
the legislature. So I don't mean to make this a

765
00:46:58,559 --> 00:47:02,760
binary choice between young folks and old folks. But I

766
00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:05,440
do think we have to make room for new leaders

767
00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:07,719
in our party. And I think it's to our detriment

768
00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:10,639
that we have kept young people out of leadership positions

769
00:47:10,639 --> 00:47:11,480
at the national level.

770
00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:14,000
Speaker 1: So does that mean you would vote for someone other

771
00:47:14,039 --> 00:47:16,400
than Chuck Schumer to leave the nympret So.

772
00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:18,519
Speaker 2: I actually I've been asked this question a lot of

773
00:47:18,519 --> 00:47:22,440
the last week. I think this is a much bigger

774
00:47:22,480 --> 00:47:26,159
problem than any one senator, any one minority leader. And

775
00:47:26,239 --> 00:47:29,519
there's a temptation in our politics, especially in our media

776
00:47:29,719 --> 00:47:32,840
entertainment complex, that we all are stuck in to kind

777
00:47:32,880 --> 00:47:37,199
of pin the blame on one personality rather than having

778
00:47:37,239 --> 00:47:40,760
a more difficult conversation about a culture and a system

779
00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:46,960
that incentivizes national Democrats to fold and to cave instead

780
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:49,360
of to fight. And so that's the conversation I want

781
00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:52,920
to have. And when it comes to a minority leader,

782
00:47:53,000 --> 00:47:56,559
or hopefully a majority leader. If I'm elected, I'm going

783
00:47:56,639 --> 00:47:59,599
to do what I did as a state lawmaker. I'm

784
00:47:59,599 --> 00:48:01,840
going to sit down with every candidate and I'm going

785
00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:04,000
to have a lot of tough questions about their plans

786
00:48:04,039 --> 00:48:06,320
and their vision, and then I'll make a judgment based

787
00:48:06,360 --> 00:48:07,199
on those conversations.

788
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:09,559
Speaker 1: So I think, thank you.

789
00:48:09,480 --> 00:48:11,840
Speaker 3: You seem pretty strident on the issue before. But I'm

790
00:48:11,880 --> 00:48:14,639
wondering if you can see any nuanced value of the

791
00:48:14,679 --> 00:48:18,199
Democrats who help the government reopen, having showed that Trump

792
00:48:18,639 --> 00:48:21,760
would deny snap benefits and work actively to deny them

793
00:48:21,840 --> 00:48:26,559
to needy people, he would ignore rising healthcare costs. And

794
00:48:26,639 --> 00:48:31,400
I guess secondly, can you compare the Democrats allowing the

795
00:48:31,440 --> 00:48:34,400
government to reopen with the Texas legislatures the Democrats who

796
00:48:34,400 --> 00:48:36,760
walked out to protest a vote of vouchers but then

797
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:38,719
you guys came back and vouchers passed.

798
00:48:38,719 --> 00:48:39,719
Speaker 7: What did that accomplish?

799
00:48:40,000 --> 00:48:45,320
Speaker 2: Yes, So, as a Texas Democrat and a Republican dominated legislature,

800
00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:49,400
I'm usually working with a losing hand, and my and

801
00:48:49,960 --> 00:48:51,920
my colleagues are Our job is to try to lose

802
00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:55,559
in the best way possible where we are, Where we're

803
00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:59,559
where we're hurting the you know, the fewest number of

804
00:48:59,599 --> 00:49:02,559
Texans and mitigating as much harm as we can. It's

805
00:49:02,599 --> 00:49:06,039
not a glamorous job, but it is an important job.

806
00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:09,039
But this is not the case when it comes to

807
00:49:09,119 --> 00:49:11,679
national Democrats who have a lot more power, a lot

808
00:49:11,719 --> 00:49:15,559
more leverage than we had here in Texas. And that

809
00:49:15,639 --> 00:49:21,199
was my frustration is politically and legislatively, they were in

810
00:49:21,239 --> 00:49:25,119
a position to actually get concessions on some of these

811
00:49:25,199 --> 00:49:30,519
key issues, healthcare premiums for the ACA being foremost among them.

812
00:49:31,079 --> 00:49:34,000
And my frustration is that they didn't use their leverage

813
00:49:35,039 --> 00:49:37,280
to be able to fight for the people of the state,

814
00:49:37,360 --> 00:49:40,400
nearly two million people who are going to lose their

815
00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:43,639
health care because of what the current administration is doing.

816
00:49:44,199 --> 00:49:46,559
And so, you know, I think it's because of my

817
00:49:46,599 --> 00:49:49,000
experience in the Texas legislature that I feel so much

818
00:49:49,000 --> 00:49:51,280
frustration that they're not willing to go to the links

819
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:54,119
that we went to here in Texas to fight for

820
00:49:54,159 --> 00:49:54,639
our people.

821
00:49:57,960 --> 00:49:59,480
Speaker 8: Sorry, I'm kind of covered by this poll.

822
00:50:00,119 --> 00:50:00,280
Speaker 9: Good.

823
00:50:00,480 --> 00:50:03,360
Speaker 8: My name is Rowan Bancroft. I'm a political science student

824
00:50:03,400 --> 00:50:07,440
at Lone Star College. Yeah, and hopefully I'll be your coworkers,

825
00:50:07,480 --> 00:50:10,719
So remember me Okay, I have a question. And the

826
00:50:10,719 --> 00:50:14,519
Trump administration announced this morning plans to make major budget

827
00:50:14,519 --> 00:50:20,039
cuts towards homelessness efforts. And even throughout this few days

828
00:50:20,039 --> 00:50:22,280
that I've been here, I've walked on the street and

829
00:50:22,320 --> 00:50:25,880
been yelled at and been cussed at by homeless people,

830
00:50:25,960 --> 00:50:28,639
and I don't have any ill will towards them. I

831
00:50:28,679 --> 00:50:30,800
sit and I pray that they get the help that

832
00:50:30,840 --> 00:50:33,519
they need, because they clearly have addiction struggles and mental

833
00:50:33,519 --> 00:50:37,239
health struggles. So I ask you, with these plans that

834
00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:39,840
are being made to worsen their conditions, with the anti

835
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:43,159
homelessness architecture that is being built into our society, and

836
00:50:43,159 --> 00:50:47,199
with the demonization of these people, how do you plan

837
00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:48,039
to help them?

838
00:50:48,360 --> 00:50:50,400
Speaker 2: Yeah? And I don't think we should just pray for

839
00:50:50,440 --> 00:50:53,199
their well being. We have to act as a community

840
00:50:53,199 --> 00:50:58,599
for their well being. And one example, you know, we've

841
00:50:58,679 --> 00:51:01,480
got some communities here in Texas that are innovating on

842
00:51:01,519 --> 00:51:04,559
this issue. And I've gotten a chance to speak with

843
00:51:04,599 --> 00:51:08,639
some of the professionals in communities around Texas that are

844
00:51:08,880 --> 00:51:13,559
starting to solve the issue of homelessness in their own neighborhoods.

845
00:51:14,840 --> 00:51:19,840
I didn't realize how this crisis is so much bigger

846
00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:23,199
than just housing, although housing is central to it. But

847
00:51:23,320 --> 00:51:28,199
for instance, it's something like seventy percent of homeless people

848
00:51:28,760 --> 00:51:31,960
aren't able to pick up prescriptions that are filled for them,

849
00:51:32,920 --> 00:51:35,320
and so you saw people having a mental health crisis

850
00:51:35,320 --> 00:51:37,599
on the street, it's because they don't have a way

851
00:51:37,599 --> 00:51:39,760
to get to Walgreens or to CBS and be able

852
00:51:39,800 --> 00:51:42,719
to get the medicine they need. So if we're going

853
00:51:42,760 --> 00:51:45,039
to solve this crisis, it can't just be about housing.

854
00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:47,519
It's got to be holistic. We got to make sure

855
00:51:47,519 --> 00:51:50,559
that we are meeting their needs and providing them the

856
00:51:50,599 --> 00:51:54,639
help they need so that they can become full contributing

857
00:51:54,679 --> 00:51:57,239
members of our community again, which is what they want.

858
00:51:57,360 --> 00:52:00,840
And so my goal as a US Senator is to

859
00:52:01,119 --> 00:52:04,440
actually solve this problem and not score political points off

860
00:52:04,480 --> 00:52:04,639
of it.

861
00:52:05,239 --> 00:52:09,079
Speaker 7: Thank you, Hi, thank you. My name is Blair Lyles

862
00:52:09,079 --> 00:52:11,239
and I'm from here in Austin, and I am so

863
00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:14,280
excited about you and your campaign. And I know you

864
00:52:14,400 --> 00:52:16,920
mentioned that you're you know, you can't do this alone

865
00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:19,159
and you really need volunteers. And we've had these no

866
00:52:19,320 --> 00:52:22,960
Keys rallies that have just brought huge energy and then

867
00:52:23,079 --> 00:52:26,760
everything just kind of falls off and people get really resigned,

868
00:52:26,760 --> 00:52:29,280
and we get all these emails and texts and everything

869
00:52:29,280 --> 00:52:31,480
for money from the Democrat. They ask for money all

870
00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:34,239
the time. But how And I know you said that

871
00:52:34,280 --> 00:52:36,079
you can't do this alone and you want to get

872
00:52:36,199 --> 00:52:41,360
volunteers involved and engaged, But so how are you going

873
00:52:41,400 --> 00:52:44,360
to engage people and get people involved instead of just

874
00:52:44,639 --> 00:52:45,440
asking for money?

875
00:52:45,519 --> 00:52:46,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know you kind of answered that.

876
00:52:46,840 --> 00:52:47,199
Speaker 7: A little bit.

877
00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:51,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's such a great question. And you know, contributing

878
00:52:52,159 --> 00:52:54,320
money to campaigns is an important part, but it's not

879
00:52:54,400 --> 00:52:57,840
everything when it comes to organizing. And like I said,

880
00:52:58,079 --> 00:52:59,960
we had eight thousand people go to the website sign

881
00:53:00,119 --> 00:53:04,639
to volunteer, and those volunteers have already started organizing meetups

882
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:07,239
in communities all over the state, red and blue and

883
00:53:07,280 --> 00:53:11,719
purple communities alike, and they're organizing to engage in direct action,

884
00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:14,440
in direct service, especially when so many of our neighbors

885
00:53:14,599 --> 00:53:17,000
are going hungry all over the state of Texas. And

886
00:53:17,039 --> 00:53:21,000
I think that's going to be the key again. Politics

887
00:53:21,039 --> 00:53:24,760
shouldn't just be about winning votes. It should be about

888
00:53:24,840 --> 00:53:28,079
winning hearts and minds. It should be about serving our

889
00:53:28,119 --> 00:53:31,679
neighbors and doing something that's bigger than any one of

890
00:53:31,760 --> 00:53:34,880
us individually, and I'm really excited that our campaign, just

891
00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:36,519
in the first two months is already building that kind

892
00:53:36,519 --> 00:53:39,119
of grassroots movement, and I'm excited to see what we're

893
00:53:39,119 --> 00:53:41,800
going to accomplish together next year. Thank you, thank you.

894
00:53:43,400 --> 00:53:43,679
Speaker 5: Hello.

895
00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:46,199
Speaker 4: My name is Vincent's. I study political science at the

896
00:53:46,280 --> 00:53:48,679
University of Houston ko Koog's.

897
00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:49,639
Speaker 2: Hey.

898
00:53:50,840 --> 00:53:55,679
Speaker 4: Earlier, you mentioned embracing authenticity, telling the truth, being yourself,

899
00:53:56,159 --> 00:53:58,119
so I wanted to wanted to follow up and ask

900
00:53:58,480 --> 00:54:01,480
what is the biggest mistake misjudgment that you've made during

901
00:54:01,519 --> 00:54:05,119
your legislative career and on that, how did you learn

902
00:54:05,159 --> 00:54:06,679
from that or course correct.

903
00:54:07,199 --> 00:54:10,960
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I've told this story of my friendship

904
00:54:11,119 --> 00:54:19,159
with Representative James Frank He's a far right conservative from

905
00:54:19,199 --> 00:54:21,639
wich Tall Falls. I think was a member of the

906
00:54:21,639 --> 00:54:25,039
Freedom Caucus at one point, if I'm not mistaken, he

907
00:54:25,159 --> 00:54:29,960
and I started a friendship on the most superficial basis.

908
00:54:30,920 --> 00:54:35,079
We shared the same first name, and you know that's

909
00:54:35,079 --> 00:54:38,719
how all friendships start, right with the silliest of things,

910
00:54:39,199 --> 00:54:41,239
And so, you know, it became an ongoing joke. We

911
00:54:41,280 --> 00:54:45,360
said we were members of the James Caucus and we

912
00:54:45,360 --> 00:54:49,119
would debate who was chair, who was vice chair, and

913
00:54:49,159 --> 00:54:53,320
then that kind of ongoing joke led James to come

914
00:54:53,400 --> 00:54:55,679
sit with me in the back row when there was

915
00:54:55,719 --> 00:54:57,639
not a lot going on on the floor, and we

916
00:54:57,679 --> 00:55:01,360
started talking, and we realized that despite our many differences,

917
00:55:01,679 --> 00:55:03,840
we actually shared a lot of the same beliefs on

918
00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:08,440
how our political system is so deeply and thoroughly broken,

919
00:55:08,960 --> 00:55:12,400
and how there's no longer room for dissent and disagreement

920
00:55:12,480 --> 00:55:19,440
within political parties, and that idiosyncratic or unorthodox beliefs aren't

921
00:55:19,480 --> 00:55:23,440
really welcome anymore. And then we were able to put

922
00:55:23,519 --> 00:55:27,199
that commonality into practice on the House floor. He ended

923
00:55:27,280 --> 00:55:29,960
up supporting a bill of mine, a Bernie Sanders bill

924
00:55:30,360 --> 00:55:34,559
to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada into Texas. I

925
00:55:34,599 --> 00:55:36,280
filed the bill. I didn't think it was going to pass.

926
00:55:36,320 --> 00:55:38,880
I was just trying to start a conversation. But James

927
00:55:38,880 --> 00:55:41,079
Frank read the bill. He called me up. He was like,

928
00:55:41,159 --> 00:55:43,840
I love this because I believe in free markets and

929
00:55:43,920 --> 00:55:47,639
big pharma is disrupting the free market here in our country.

930
00:55:48,280 --> 00:55:50,559
And he and I got that bill passed through the House,

931
00:55:50,599 --> 00:55:54,440
through the Senate and then signed by the governor, and

932
00:55:54,519 --> 00:55:56,800
hopefully if the FDA approves it, we're going to start

933
00:55:57,320 --> 00:56:00,960
importing those cheaper prescription drugs into Texas. But then, to

934
00:56:01,000 --> 00:56:04,039
answer your question, there was a bill that James Frank

935
00:56:04,079 --> 00:56:09,519
put forward that would allow homeschool students in Texas to

936
00:56:09,639 --> 00:56:14,320
participate in UIL, participate in public school sports and extracurriculars.

937
00:56:14,920 --> 00:56:18,400
And I was adamantly opposed to the bill. I think

938
00:56:18,440 --> 00:56:22,679
I even publicly spoke out against the bill because my

939
00:56:22,800 --> 00:56:25,880
first instinct was public education is not a buffet line.

940
00:56:26,360 --> 00:56:28,920
You can't just pick and choose what you want to

941
00:56:28,960 --> 00:56:31,079
participate in and what you want to buy into and

942
00:56:31,239 --> 00:56:34,360
not take all of it. But that was a big mistake.

943
00:56:35,400 --> 00:56:38,239
James Frank came to my office because we had a friendship,

944
00:56:38,280 --> 00:56:40,719
because we had a relationship, again proof that the only

945
00:56:40,760 --> 00:56:44,480
way people change is through relationships, through trust, through respect,

946
00:56:44,519 --> 00:56:47,039
through love. He sat down with me and he said,

947
00:56:47,480 --> 00:56:53,079
James talking to me. He said, it's confusing. He said,

948
00:56:53,639 --> 00:56:56,840
you always say when we talk about immigration that we

949
00:56:56,840 --> 00:57:01,840
shouldn't punish children for the decisions their parents make. I

950
00:57:01,880 --> 00:57:07,679
know he had me, and you know, I realized that

951
00:57:08,400 --> 00:57:10,760
these kids, this may be the only opportunity they have

952
00:57:11,440 --> 00:57:15,639
to interact with kids their own age, to experience some

953
00:57:15,679 --> 00:57:20,960
of these extracurricular activities, whether it's sports or music. And

954
00:57:21,039 --> 00:57:23,400
I ended up crossing party lines to support that bill,

955
00:57:24,280 --> 00:57:28,000
and it was because James spoke to me and my values.

956
00:57:28,719 --> 00:57:31,039
And I then got to meet after we passed that bill,

957
00:57:31,119 --> 00:57:34,039
some of the homeschoolers who participated in the program, and

958
00:57:34,119 --> 00:57:36,360
I saw how life changing it was for them. And

959
00:57:36,400 --> 00:57:39,679
I will say, and James probably hates this, but it

960
00:57:39,719 --> 00:57:43,639
has become a huge recruitment tool for public schools because,

961
00:57:44,519 --> 00:57:47,280
you know, because public schools are great, and you know,

962
00:57:47,360 --> 00:57:50,360
once you experience what we have to offer, oftentimes you

963
00:57:50,400 --> 00:57:53,519
want to come and join our community. And so that

964
00:57:53,639 --> 00:57:55,760
was a big mistake that I made. I was thankful

965
00:57:55,760 --> 00:58:00,000
that my Republican colleague helped me correct that mistake. Thank you.

966
00:58:00,440 --> 00:58:05,039
Speaker 1: All Right, Well, I think this is We're gonna have

967
00:58:05,039 --> 00:58:06,880
to be quick. We'll do one last question because you're

968
00:58:06,920 --> 00:58:08,480
right in front, but everyone else, I'm sorry. I know

969
00:58:08,559 --> 00:58:10,440
you've waited, but I'll be running out of time.

970
00:58:10,320 --> 00:58:12,920
Speaker 2: And I'll stick around a little bit. So yeah, thank

971
00:58:12,920 --> 00:58:13,519
you for being here.

972
00:58:13,559 --> 00:58:15,719
Speaker 9: Representative Taliquo. My name's Arvin. I'm a student at the

973
00:58:15,800 --> 00:58:19,079
University of Texas at Austin and a lot of young

974
00:58:19,119 --> 00:58:22,880
people are really worried about the future of emerging technology

975
00:58:23,199 --> 00:58:25,599
and the way it's going to impact our job markets

976
00:58:25,639 --> 00:58:30,239
with AI data centers and you know, energy prices, surveillance. Yeah,

977
00:58:30,440 --> 00:58:35,400
what principles and what specific policy are you going to

978
00:58:35,440 --> 00:58:39,480
carry with you when you reach the Senate as you

979
00:58:39,639 --> 00:58:41,880
kind of lead this country into the future.

980
00:58:42,119 --> 00:58:45,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you for asking this question. AI is coming

981
00:58:45,400 --> 00:58:49,840
when we already have a huge generational crisis in our economy.

982
00:58:50,360 --> 00:58:53,519
I was just reading a stat that said ninety percent

983
00:58:53,960 --> 00:58:56,519
of baby boomers went on to earn more money than

984
00:58:56,519 --> 00:59:00,679
their parents. For millennials like me, it's fifty percent. It's

985
00:59:00,679 --> 00:59:04,079
even lower for gen Z. So the American dream that

986
00:59:04,360 --> 00:59:06,639
was once a reality for the vast majority of people

987
00:59:06,639 --> 00:59:10,800
in this country is slipping away for young people, and

988
00:59:10,880 --> 00:59:13,599
I worry that if we don't have a regulatory framework,

989
00:59:15,239 --> 00:59:19,599
we're going to see AI exacerbate that crisis. I already

990
00:59:19,639 --> 00:59:23,320
saw that only thirty percent of recent college graduates have

991
00:59:23,360 --> 00:59:26,800
been able to find an entry level position in their field.

992
00:59:27,280 --> 00:59:32,800
Thirty percent of college graduates, and so I am deeply

993
00:59:32,840 --> 00:59:38,679
concerned that AI is going to destroy the opportunities for

994
00:59:38,719 --> 00:59:41,119
an entire generation. I think if we do this right,

995
00:59:41,199 --> 00:59:44,719
though we can harness that technology to help people instead

996
00:59:44,719 --> 00:59:46,960
of hurt people. But that means that the US Senate

997
00:59:47,559 --> 00:59:50,000
and our federal government has to get in the game

998
00:59:50,519 --> 00:59:53,320
and be involved in this emerging technology, just like we

999
00:59:53,320 --> 00:59:56,000
did in the Space Race or with the Manhattan Project.

1000
00:59:56,519 --> 01:00:00,599
When you have this kind of technology with such potential

1001
01:00:00,679 --> 01:00:07,039
but also so much danger, the public sector, US as

1002
01:00:07,079 --> 01:00:09,800
a democracy, we have got to be involved in that conversation.

1003
01:00:10,159 --> 01:00:13,480
It cannot be something that's only done in you know,

1004
01:00:13,719 --> 01:00:17,239
by private hands, in for profit corporations. So I would

1005
01:00:17,239 --> 01:00:19,320
love if I'm elected to be a leading voice on

1006
01:00:19,360 --> 01:00:22,639
this issue and help figure out how we can harness

1007
01:00:22,639 --> 01:00:25,440
the potential AI instead of allowing it to destroy the

1008
01:00:25,480 --> 01:00:28,119
opportunities for young people all across this country.

1009
01:00:28,360 --> 01:00:32,519
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, Representative. Thank you so much. A

1010
01:00:32,559 --> 01:00:34,800
reminder will need to clear the room, but thank you

1011
01:00:34,840 --> 01:00:36,119
for being here. Thank you all. Chris