Speaker 1: Hey, Trip Cast listeners. For the next two weeks, your
Speaker 1: podcast team will be taking a break for the holidays,
Speaker 1: so we'll be playing some interviews from the Texas Tribune
Speaker 1: Festival back in November. First up is my interview with
Speaker 1: James Tallerico, who is running as a Democrat for the
Speaker 1: US Senate. Hope you enjoy it and if you celebrate,
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas. Good morning, everybody, Welcome to day two of
Speaker 1: the Texas Tribune Festival. Very excited to be here with
Speaker 1: Representative James Tallerco. First, a little bit of just housekeeping
Speaker 1: things to know. We're going to talk for about forty
Speaker 1: five minutes. Then we're going to have audience Q and A.
Speaker 1: There are two microphones out there in the line, so
Speaker 1: you know, once we get toward the end, you can
Speaker 1: start lining up and talking. This is the first of
Speaker 1: two candidate candidates that conversations related to the US Senate.
Speaker 1: The second one will be with Representative Colin Alright, we're
Speaker 1: going to need to clear the room in between for
Speaker 1: security reasons, so I just ask, you know, let's try
Speaker 1: to get moving and back. You know, we can get
Speaker 1: back in line, but we want to be able to
Speaker 1: clear the room, make sure everything's safe in there. Representative.
Speaker 1: Thank you for being here.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. This is one of my
Speaker 2: favorite churches here in the Austin area, one of the
Speaker 2: most beautiful sanctuaries. Kind of felt like you and I
Speaker 2: were getting married walking down the aisle. But anyway, it's
Speaker 2: so good to see all of you here.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, So, you know, I don't think we need
Speaker 1: to spend too much time on your bio, but just briefly.
Speaker 1: You know, you, of course a former teacher, Presbyterian seminarian
Speaker 1: state representative since twenty eighteen. But the thing I really
Speaker 1: want to touch on most importantly is that you are
Speaker 1: a twenty sixteen Texas Tribune Festival trivia champion. That's right,
Speaker 1: that's right, Thank you, thank you. So you know when
Speaker 1: go to trivia night when and it'll take you far.
Speaker 1: That's right. That's right, that's right. So yeah, thanks for
Speaker 1: being here. So let's start talking about the race here.
Speaker 1: You have, you know, clearly built a passionate following a
Speaker 1: strong reputation, a lot of it built on your work
Speaker 1: in the state House, you know, advocating you know many
Speaker 1: times against you know, policies that have been passed or
Speaker 1: promoted in the Texas legislature by state leadership. You're now
Speaker 1: running for the Senate. Tell me why you chose this
Speaker 1: race as opposed to you know, say, governor or lieutenant
Speaker 1: governor or something like that.
Speaker 2: Well, I firmly believe that all thirty million Texans deserve
Speaker 2: a senator who's going to represent them and not billionaire
Speaker 2: mega donors. And I, you know, I, I I do
Speaker 2: feel like something is broken in this country. Our economy
Speaker 2: is broken, our political system is broken, but even our
Speaker 2: relationships with each other feel broken. And I think that's
Speaker 2: because the most powerful people in the world want it
Speaker 2: that way. You know, my faith teaches me to love
Speaker 2: my neighbor as myself, not just my neighbor who looks
Speaker 2: like me, not just my neighbor who prays like me,
Speaker 2: not just my neighbor who votes like me. I'm called
Speaker 2: to love all of my neighbors the way I love myself.
Speaker 2: But those billionaires who own the algorithms, who own the
Speaker 2: cable news networks, who own politicians on both sides fighting
Speaker 2: on our screens, they want us at each other's throats.
Speaker 2: They want us focused on how we're different instead of
Speaker 2: on how we're the same. And as I travel this state,
Speaker 2: I really get the sense that people are tired of
Speaker 2: being pitted against their neighbor. People are tired of being
Speaker 2: told to hate their neighbor. It's been it's been more
Speaker 2: than ten years of this kind of politics. Politics as
Speaker 2: blood sport, politics as trolling and owning, politics as total war,
Speaker 2: and it's tearing families apart, it's ending friendships, and it's
Speaker 2: regardless of what side of the hour we're on, it's
Speaker 2: leaving us all feeling terrible all the time. And as
Speaker 2: I'm going around Texas As, I'm going to every corner
Speaker 2: of the state, I really do I sense that there's
Speaker 2: a hunger across the political spectrum for a different kind
Speaker 2: of politics, not one that's rooted in hate and fear
Speaker 2: and division, but a politics that's rooted in love. Love
Speaker 2: for this state, love for this country, and most importantly,
Speaker 2: a love for our neighbors. And so that's what I'm
Speaker 2: trying to build in this campaign, politics of love that
Speaker 2: can heal what's broken in our country.
Speaker 1: What do you carry from the Texas House to the
Speaker 1: Senate if given the opportunity to do that, What have
Speaker 1: you learned? What experiences will be relevant to this wet job.
Speaker 2: You know, I have had my fair share of criticism
Speaker 2: of the National Democratic Party. I'm a proud Texas Democrat,
Speaker 2: but I already have a religion, and I already have
Speaker 2: a sports team, and so I have no problem sharing
Speaker 2: hard truths with our party's leadership. And I really do
Speaker 2: believe that National Democrats could learn a thing or two
Speaker 2: from red state Democrats, particularly Texas Democrats, because we have
Speaker 2: to learn very quickly how to use every tool in
Speaker 2: our toolbox to fight for our constituents, fight for our values,
Speaker 2: fight for our freedoms, and we develop a thick skin,
Speaker 2: we develop certain muscles that I think you don't develop
Speaker 2: when you're in a safe blue seat on the coasts
Speaker 2: in a blue state. And so I hope, hope that
Speaker 2: the next generation of leaders stepping up in our party
Speaker 2: are going to be coming from states like Texas and
Speaker 2: coming from places like the Texas Legislature, where you learn
Speaker 2: how to fight. And I think we need fighters in
Speaker 2: this moment. And unfortunately, what we've seen from Senate Democrats
Speaker 2: is their willingness to fold and not fight, and that
Speaker 2: has got to change if we're going to save this
Speaker 2: American experiment.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you've clearly generated a lot of excitement. You know,
Speaker 1: I mean this is a crowded room full of excited people,
Speaker 1: and you know, a massive social media following, gotten attention
Speaker 1: beyond Texas. There were you know, we've seen this before,
Speaker 1: right that Joe Rourke had a similar path. He made
Speaker 1: a race in twenty eighteen, very close and ended up
Speaker 1: coming short. What's different this time? How can it be
Speaker 1: different this time?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, Betho and I are very different people.
Speaker 2: There's a lot that his campaign did in twenty eighteen
Speaker 2: that we can learn from the ability to reach out
Speaker 2: to voters who feel disillusioned, who feel disconnected from politics,
Speaker 2: particularly young voters. As I'm going all over the state,
Speaker 2: I've been shocked by the number of young people showing
Speaker 2: up at our events, Because this far out from an election,
Speaker 2: you don't typically see young people getting involved, but they're
Speaker 2: coming to our events and many of them say it's
Speaker 2: their first political rally ever. Many of them say that
Speaker 2: they've never donated to a candidate or signed up to
Speaker 2: volunteer for a candidate until now. And you know, I
Speaker 2: think that's going to be the key to breaking through
Speaker 2: statewide in Texas. You know, a lot has changed since
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen here in our state, I think we've seen
Speaker 2: even more extremism, even more corruption, and there is this
Speaker 2: backlash growing all over Texas, not just among Democrats, but
Speaker 2: independence and Republicans too. It's going to take a campaign
Speaker 2: that can use modern tools to organize and mobilize that
Speaker 2: backlash into electoral success, and we are building a campaign
Speaker 2: that can do just that.
Speaker 1: There's of course a very interesting Republican primary in this
Speaker 1: race too, you know, and I'll stay for the record,
Speaker 1: all three candidates were in that side. We're also invited,
Speaker 1: and none of them were able to come. Do you
Speaker 1: does that situation, whether it's the position John cordenholds, the
Speaker 1: possibility of Ken Paxton, who of course has very controversial history,
Speaker 1: did that affect your interest and stepping into this race,
Speaker 1: and do you have a rooting interest in that primary?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I was Colin Allread's most active surrogate
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty four. I went all over the state
Speaker 2: for Colin and was proud to do it. And when
Speaker 2: I was campaigning for him, I often said that Ted
Speaker 2: Cruz is the worst senator in America. But now looking
Speaker 2: some Ted Cruz fans here, but now looking at the
Speaker 2: current Republican field in this Senate race, I think that
Speaker 2: title may be up for grabs because neither John Cornyn
Speaker 2: nor Ken Paxton deserve the honor of representing this great
Speaker 2: state in our nation's capital. Both of them, both of
Speaker 2: them are far more interested in serving their billionaire mega
Speaker 2: donors than serving the people of Texas. Both of them
Speaker 2: have sold this out time and time again. Ken Paxton's
Speaker 2: crimes are well known. I was part of the bipartisan
Speaker 2: majority in the Texas House that voted to impeach our
Speaker 2: corrupt attorney general. But you may not believe this, but
Speaker 2: I think John Cornyn may be even more corrupt than
Speaker 2: Ken Paxton, because because John Cornyn was the deciding vote
Speaker 2: on that big ugly bill a few months ago, that
Speaker 2: that big ugly bill that's going to kick millions of
Speaker 2: Texans off their healthcare, It's going to take food out
Speaker 2: of the mouths of hungry Texas children, all to give
Speaker 2: yet another tax break to his donors. We oftentimes think
Speaker 2: about corruption as something that's illegal, as in Ken Paxson's case,
Speaker 2: But corruption is really just the betrayal of the public's trust.
Speaker 2: It is the abuse of your public office and by
Speaker 2: casting the deciding vote on that big ugly bill. John
Speaker 2: Cornyn committed an act of corruption of the highest order,
Speaker 2: and he has forfeited the right to represent all of
Speaker 2: us in the United States Senate.
Speaker 1: So do you think that there is a more Do
Speaker 1: you think there's a better candidate for you to be
Speaker 1: running against? Is there a candidate that you think gives
Speaker 1: you a better chance to win?
Speaker 2: They both have strengths and weaknesses, and they're very different
Speaker 2: kinds of candidates. I would welcome, I would relish the
Speaker 2: opportunity to prosecute the case against John Cornyn or Kem
Speaker 2: Paxton in the general election.
Speaker 1: You mentioned being a surrogate for Colin al Redd. He
Speaker 1: of course is also in the race. And it was
Speaker 1: reported during the summer that you all read Vetto and
Speaker 1: Joaching Castro, I believe, came together for a meeting to
Speaker 1: talk about you know, all four of you pretty prominent politicians,
Speaker 1: All four of you had varying degrees of interest in
Speaker 1: reuning for a race, and people trying to make the
Speaker 1: case of you know, there's a lot of important seats
Speaker 1: on the ballot this year. If we spread these folks out,
Speaker 1: it might be better for the Democratic party as a whole,
Speaker 1: call it already gets in the race. You get in
Speaker 1: the race a little bit longer. I mean, is this
Speaker 1: not a problem to have? You know, basically the two
Speaker 1: highest profile Democrats currently seeking higher office, both seeking the
Speaker 1: same office.
Speaker 2: Well, I think you're seeing a strong ticket developing on
Speaker 2: the Democratic side. Those four politicians including me that you mentioned,
Speaker 2: are not the only strong leaders in the state, and
Speaker 2: you're seeing that ticket already filling out with incredible candidates.
Speaker 2: And so I think we're going to have a true
Speaker 2: team as a party going into the general election next year.
Speaker 2: And you asked earlier, I don't think answer your question
Speaker 2: about why I didn't run for governor, and I was
Speaker 2: flattered that people were asking me to run for governor
Speaker 2: and senator. I really think about these positions as jobs.
Speaker 2: You're applying for a job, and if I'm going to
Speaker 2: go all over the state, I want to feel confident
Speaker 2: that I can do the job on day one. Not
Speaker 2: that I couldn't serve as governor, but the skills that
Speaker 2: I developed in the trenches of the Texas Legislature, working
Speaker 2: across the aisle to pass legislation, questioning witnesses to get
Speaker 2: to the truth debating on the House floor with my colleagues.
Speaker 2: Those skills, in my mind, are much more transferable to
Speaker 2: a US Senate seat, and I know that I can
Speaker 2: do this job as a legislator. And so that's why
Speaker 2: I made the decision to run for this position, because
Speaker 2: I feel like I'm most qualified for this job. And
Speaker 2: if I'm going to ask Texans to put their trust
Speaker 2: in me to hire me for this position, I want
Speaker 2: to feel confident that I can deliver for them on
Speaker 2: day one. So that's the reason I ran for this position.
Speaker 2: But I'm looking forward to working with the whole ticket,
Speaker 2: all the talented leaders that are running to change the
Speaker 2: politics of this state, which we desperately need to do.
Speaker 1: So what's the difference between Colin Allread, someone you've supported
Speaker 1: in the past, and you. Why should people you voting
Speaker 1: for you over him?
Speaker 2: Well, I've got all kinds of reasons people should vote
Speaker 2: for me. I'm not going to spend time in this
Speaker 2: race tearing down my fellow Texas Democrats because we are
Speaker 2: all on the same team. We may have some friendly
Speaker 2: rivalries and friendly competition between teammates, but we all have
Speaker 2: the same goals and I'm going to be putting myself forward,
Speaker 2: and I'm going to be articulating why my vision, why
Speaker 2: my values, why my experiences and my skill set are
Speaker 2: going to be put to best use in the general
Speaker 2: election and hopefully as the next US Senator from Texas.
Speaker 2: I'm running a positive race in the primary, and I'm
Speaker 2: going to keep that commitment all the way until election day.
Speaker 1: Let's set for sure, let's talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: current events. I think you know you're obviously not in
Speaker 1: the Senate right now, but it's maybe instructive to think
Speaker 1: about how you would be acting if you were. We
Speaker 1: just got through the end of the longest government shut
Speaker 1: down in you know, US history. How do you feel
Speaker 1: about how the Democrats handled that situation?
Speaker 2: Frustrated? A handful of Senate Democrats caved to DC Republicans
Speaker 2: in these negotiations and got nothing in return. They called
Speaker 2: it a deal to end the government shutdown. But in
Speaker 2: my opinion, any deal that kicks one point seven million
Speaker 2: Texans off their healthcare isn't compromised. Its surrender, and we need,
Speaker 2: we need national Democrats to fight with everything they have
Speaker 2: for working people in this state and across the country.
Speaker 2: That's our job as Democrats. We're the party of working people,
Speaker 2: and so if we're not able to do that, and
Speaker 2: if Senate Democrats are going to cave so easily, we
Speaker 2: shouldn't wonder why voters don't trust us at the ballot box.
Speaker 2: Republicans shut down the government for forty days, taking food
Speaker 2: out of the mouths of children to fund tax breaks
Speaker 2: for billionaires. And instead of holding the line, instead of
Speaker 2: holding those Republican politicians accountable, Senate Democrats folded. They snatched
Speaker 2: defeat from the jaws of victory. And I think the
Speaker 2: only path forward is for red State Democrats to remake
Speaker 2: our party at the national level in our own image,
Speaker 2: because we desperately need fighters, not folders at this critical
Speaker 2: moment in our country's history.
Speaker 1: Ye I want to drill into the Republicans shut down
Speaker 1: the government here because, of course, you know, the Republican
Speaker 1: House passed continuing resolution. The Senate Republicans voted for a
Speaker 1: clean bill that would have kept the government open. It
Speaker 1: was the decision of Democrats not to support that bill.
Speaker 1: You know, the push was to continue Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Speaker 1: I understand that, and that's a very important issue for Democrats,
Speaker 1: but it also means for forty three days that you know,
Speaker 1: thousands of government workers went without a paycheck. It also
Speaker 1: means that it created sort of an air travel apocalypse
Speaker 1: for you know, a lot of people for a long time.
Speaker 1: But maybe most importantly, it meant that people, including many
Speaker 1: people in this state, were losing access to food stamps.
Speaker 1: You know, we can talk about caving and everything like that,
Speaker 1: but these are a lot of programs. This is happening
Speaker 1: against a party that is very skeptical of skeptical of government.
Speaker 1: And when they hear the thing, you know, shut down
Speaker 1: the government put federal workers, you know, to the side,
Speaker 1: it kind of feels like the response is, you know,
Speaker 1: you don't threaten me with a good time here, you know, like,
Speaker 1: let's do this right. There might not have been a
Speaker 1: lot of leverage, so how can you say that you're
Speaker 1: willing to kind of continue to inflict that pain if
Speaker 1: there's not a sign that the Republicans are going to
Speaker 1: come across and make a.
Speaker 2: Deal with you. Well, and the Republicans in Washington, who
Speaker 2: control every branch of government, they tried to pin the
Speaker 2: blame on Democrats for the shutdown, and the American people
Speaker 2: weren't buying it. Every single poll that came out showed
Speaker 2: that the American people understood exactly who's to blame for
Speaker 2: this shutdown, and if they need Democratic votes in the Senate,
Speaker 2: they need to negotiate with Democrats. Again. I've served for
Speaker 2: eight years in the state legislature. I know how a
Speaker 2: legislative body works, and if you need someone's vote, you
Speaker 2: need to sit down at the table and figure out
Speaker 2: how to get that vote. And so I don't think
Speaker 2: Senate Democrats should give their votes away for nothing. And
Speaker 2: I think fighting to make sure that healthcare premiums don't
Speaker 2: skyrocket for nearly two million Texans is a very reasonable
Speaker 2: thing to ask for in exchange for our votes. And
Speaker 2: so I'm proud that most Senate Democrats held the line
Speaker 2: on that issue and fought for the health insurance for
Speaker 2: millions of Texans and millions of Americans. And I'm incredibly
Speaker 2: disappointed that a handful of Senators decided that it was
Speaker 2: more important to cave without any concessions to DC Republicans
Speaker 2: in these negotiations instead of fighting for working people here
Speaker 2: in our state.
Speaker 1: The other big bit of news coming into the festival was,
Speaker 1: of course, the release of these files related to Jeffrey
Speaker 1: Epstein and the president, you know, particular one calling Donald
Speaker 1: Trump the dog who hasn'tmbarked, he's spent you know, I
Speaker 1: think I think it was hours with a victim hasn't
Speaker 1: said anything about this. What was your reaction to that
Speaker 1: coming out?
Speaker 2: I mean, when did pedophilia become a partisan issue. The
Speaker 2: American people deserve to know the whole truth about Jeffrey
Speaker 2: Epstein and every single powerful person who enabled him, every name,
Speaker 2: every flight log, every cover up, all of it. The
Speaker 2: White House and congressional Republicans are hiding the Epstein files.
Speaker 2: Why these are the same politicians who call librarians groomers,
Speaker 2: who call their political opponents pedophiles. And to be clear,
Speaker 2: if there is a Democrat on that list, I will
Speaker 2: be the first to call for their prosecution, because if
Speaker 2: there's one thing we should all be able to agree on,
Speaker 2: Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and progressives, it's that no one,
Speaker 2: including the president of the United States, should be able
Speaker 2: to cover up crimes against children.
Speaker 1: So as implicit in that at a feeling that Donald
Speaker 1: Trump should be prosecuted for what's in these files.
Speaker 2: No, I think he needs to release these files. And
Speaker 2: if we have evidence that Donald Trump either knew about
Speaker 2: this pedophile ring and did nothing about it, or worst
Speaker 2: was somehow involved in it, then the justice system should
Speaker 2: should respond accordingly. But all I'm asking for is to
Speaker 2: see all the files, to have all the information, because
Speaker 2: I think that's what we're owed in this country. And
Speaker 2: when a powerful person tells you there's nothing to see here,
Speaker 2: that should be that should be an indication that there
Speaker 2: is more to learn. And honestly, I think my suspicion is,
Speaker 2: when we get the whole truth here, this Epstein scandal
Speaker 2: is going to make Watergate look like a nothing burger.
Speaker 1: If you are elected, there's two years of being in
Speaker 1: the Senate under Donald Trump. What is your approach to
Speaker 1: working with him or his administration during that time?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, again, as a member of the Texas Legislature,
Speaker 2: I worked with my Republican colleagues across the aisle. I
Speaker 2: even worked with Governor Abbot on issues where we agreed.
Speaker 2: It's well known that he and I battled it out
Speaker 2: on his private school voucher scam. But when there was
Speaker 2: an issue that we agreed on, we worked together. And
Speaker 2: one comes to mind in particular, which is stopping fentanyl
Speaker 2: overdoses in our state. I spoke at a press conference
Speaker 2: with Governor Abbot on my bill to equip every single
Speaker 2: school campus in the state with Narcan, which is what
Speaker 2: allows a fentanyl overnose to reverse. And so I'm going
Speaker 2: to keep working with people across the isle, even leaders
Speaker 2: who have deep dissert agreements with like Greg Abbott and
Speaker 2: like Donald Trump. But if there is a sliver of
Speaker 2: common ground, I'm going to seize it so that I
Speaker 2: can make progress for my constituents. There's oftentimes a temptation
Speaker 2: for Democrats to choose between fighting back and getting stuff done.
Speaker 2: I think that's a false choice. I think effective legislators
Speaker 2: can do both, and I have done both over eight
Speaker 2: years in the legislature, and I will do both as
Speaker 2: the next Senator from Texas.
Speaker 1: There was another piece of news in the past week,
Speaker 1: a story that ran an Axios about your social media account.
Speaker 1: It said, you know, among the thirty seven hundred people
Speaker 1: that you follow on Instagram was a small handful of
Speaker 1: adult entertainers or perhaps maybe even sex workers in that
Speaker 1: I'm curious whether you could just tell us what's going
Speaker 1: on there?
Speaker 2: What's Yeah, So, our social media team, including me. We
Speaker 2: follow back all big accounts that have major followings, because
Speaker 2: that's how new media works. We've been able to build
Speaker 2: one of the largest Instagram followings of any Democrat in
Speaker 2: the country, and we've done that by following back actors
Speaker 2: and musicians and athletes, and I even followed back a
Speaker 2: very popular bulldog which I don't know much about. But
Speaker 2: they share our content and get our message out and
Speaker 2: we're all for it. And you know, the media went
Speaker 2: through this long list of big accounts that we follow back,
Speaker 2: and they looked and found out that some of them,
Speaker 2: you know, are in the sex industry, and decided to
Speaker 2: decided to report that as clickbait because it gets clicks
Speaker 2: and it makes them money. Axios a few days after
Speaker 2: that story came out, said that they had blown past
Speaker 2: all their revenue goals for the year, and so, you know,
Speaker 2: I was glad to help, I guess. But while I
Speaker 2: didn't know how these women made money, I don't judge
Speaker 2: them for it, and I will not participate in an
Speaker 2: effort to smear them for clickbait. That is exactly the
Speaker 2: kind of senator I would be. And I just you know,
Speaker 2: the corporate media is going to do their thing. But
Speaker 2: I don't think Texans are interested in clickbait. I think
Speaker 2: they are interested in bringing down costs and cleaning up
Speaker 2: government and taking on this broken, corrupt political system.
Speaker 1: The headline of that story described you as a faith
Speaker 1: forward candidate. I think the implication being that there was
Speaker 1: maybe some hypocrisy there. I mean, what do you how
Speaker 1: do you feel about that framing?
Speaker 2: Again? I mean, the goal was for that website to
Speaker 2: make money, yeah, and that's exactly why they they wrote
Speaker 2: the headline the way they did. But again, my faith
Speaker 2: calls me to fight for all of my neighbors, every
Speaker 2: single one, regardless of how they make their money. It
Speaker 2: also requires that I don't judge my neighbors, and so
Speaker 2: I'm going to keep doing that, whether Axios wants to
Speaker 2: turn it into a clickbait article or not. I'm going
Speaker 2: to keep fighting for every single Textan. And that's what
Speaker 2: people can expect if I'm the next US Senator from
Speaker 2: the state.
Speaker 1: I mean, you have put your faith very forward out there,
Speaker 1: and I wonder if you could just talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about how I mean, this is somewhat unusual these
Speaker 1: days for a Democrat to do. Tell us a little
Speaker 1: bit about how it guides you in your politics and
Speaker 1: you're legislating and all those things, and what it means
Speaker 1: for you to be a Christian and a Democrat.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, my faith is the reason I'm in public service.
Speaker 2: So I feel that as a public official and as
Speaker 2: a candidate for public office, that I should be sharing
Speaker 2: my why. And for some leaders that's fair. For others,
Speaker 2: it's maybe an experience, it could be a worldview, it
Speaker 2: could be a certain policy issue, but we should explain
Speaker 2: to voters why we're doing this crazy thing of running
Speaker 2: for office. And I was taught at a very early
Speaker 2: age to follow those two commandments from Jesus to love
Speaker 2: God and love neighbor. My granddad was a Baptist preacher
Speaker 2: in South Texas, and he always said, the reason we
Speaker 2: have those two commandments is because there is no love
Speaker 2: of God without love of neighbor. Loving our neighbors is
Speaker 2: how we show our love for God. And so that's
Speaker 2: what led me to led me into public service, first
Speaker 2: as a public school teacher on the west side of
Speaker 2: San Antonio and now as a public official. Every day
Speaker 2: in the legislature, I am trying to love my neighbor
Speaker 2: through public policy by bringing down the cost of childcare,
Speaker 2: bringing down the cost of prescription drugs, bringing down the
Speaker 2: cost of housing. That is how I I show love
Speaker 2: for my neighbors all over this state, and it's exactly
Speaker 2: why I'm running for Senate. But the most challenging question
Speaker 2: in the New Testament, a question that's posed to Jesus
Speaker 2: when he says that we should love our neighbors, is
Speaker 2: who is my neighbor? And right now, for me, my
Speaker 2: neighbor is the child going to bed hungry tonight. My
Speaker 2: neighbor is the worker making poverty level wages in this state.
Speaker 2: My neighbor is the mother kidnapped by masked men in
Speaker 2: unmarked vehicles off of our streets. My neighbor is the
Speaker 2: student sitting in an overcrowded classroom in an underfunded school.
Speaker 2: And so those are the neighbors I'm fighting for in
Speaker 2: this race, and they will be the neighbors I fight
Speaker 2: for as us senator from Texas.
Speaker 1: You know, we are, of course in a state where
Speaker 1: a lot of our leaders put their faith very forward
Speaker 1: into the decisions that are being made. Is it important
Speaker 1: to you to provide sort of a counter narrative of
Speaker 1: you know, how you see things differently being guided by
Speaker 1: your faith.
Speaker 2: Well, I, as you know, in my time in legislature,
Speaker 2: got fed up with my fellow Christians who are twisting
Speaker 2: our religion to hurt our neighbors on a whole host
Speaker 2: of issues, and I felt a moral obligation as a
Speaker 2: believer to speak out against that perversion of our faith, tradition,
Speaker 2: and that subversion of our democracy. You know, although I am,
Speaker 2: although I'm a Christian, although it is central in my
Speaker 2: life and central in my public service, I am also
Speaker 2: probably the fiercest champion for the separation of church and
Speaker 2: state because I came I mentioned my granddad being Baptist.
Speaker 2: I come from a tradition that cherished that separation. I
Speaker 2: was taught that it is a sacred boundary. And the
Speaker 2: separation of church and state doesn't just benefit the state.
Speaker 2: It also benefits the church because when the church as
Speaker 2: an institution gets too cozy with political power, it robs
Speaker 2: the church of its prophetic voice, of its ability to
Speaker 2: speak truth to power. And so this separation is something
Speaker 2: that religious people and Christians in particular should cherish and
Speaker 2: should defend at every turn. That's what I'm trying to
Speaker 2: do in the halls of power and I hope to
Speaker 2: see us cultivate more of a Christian commitment to democracy,
Speaker 2: to the First Amendment, and to the separation of church
Speaker 2: and state.
Speaker 1: I wonder if, as you look forward to a election,
Speaker 1: if you make it out of the primary, you'll be
Speaker 1: running as a Democrat in a state that has not
Speaker 1: elected a Democrat in a very long time. Statewide, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of conversation within the Democratic Party about how
Speaker 1: to most effectively win in this state. Is it reach
Speaker 1: out to the middle, paint yourself as a moderate, maybe
Speaker 1: disavow some of the more controversial stances of the Democratic
Speaker 1: Party related to guns, defunding the police, things like that
Speaker 1: law enforcement, or do you activate the base, do you
Speaker 1: fire up young folks who might be, you know, disinclined
Speaker 1: to vote these days, and things like that. Which strategy
Speaker 1: do you think is the right strategy?
Speaker 2: Well, I don't think we should be painting ourselves one
Speaker 2: way or the other. I have two simple rules when
Speaker 2: it comes to political communications. One is tell the truth,
Speaker 2: two is be yourself. And I've found that if you
Speaker 2: can do both of those things, you can connect with
Speaker 2: most people, even people who don't with you. And so
Speaker 2: I'm not a believer in making yourself look one way
Speaker 2: or the other, or or trying to change yourself to
Speaker 2: appeal to certain voters. I'm going to be me all
Speaker 2: the way through this campaign, and I hope that's enough
Speaker 2: to get elected. If it's not, i'llbe at peace with that.
Speaker 2: But I'm not going to change myself or my convictions
Speaker 2: or my beliefs in order to get a vote. But
Speaker 2: to answer your question about strategy, so I first got
Speaker 2: elected by flipping a Trump district in Williamson County. It
Speaker 2: was a district that no one thought was winnable. It
Speaker 2: was a district that hadn't voted for a Democrat in
Speaker 2: thirty years, and it's in the current boundaries. When I
Speaker 2: was running, and I remember I was told that it
Speaker 2: was an impossible, unwinnable race. But my neighbors and I
Speaker 2: we ran an aggressive, authentic, unorthodox campaign that brought people together,
Speaker 2: and on election night, we flipped that district with fifty
Speaker 2: one percent of the vote. And so when I was
Speaker 2: running that campaign, I certainly saw that there were swing
Speaker 2: voters who were choosing between the Democratic Party and the
Speaker 2: Republican Party, and I won over those voters. And I
Speaker 2: plan on competing for those voters in this race, but
Speaker 2: the largest group of swing voters were people choosing between
Speaker 2: the Democratic Party and the couch. It was particularly young
Speaker 2: people who felt disillusioned, who felt disconnected, who felt disempowered
Speaker 2: in our political system. And I remember I was knocking
Speaker 2: on those doors, apartment complexes, dorm rooms. I was talking
Speaker 2: to my fellow young people, millennials like me, but also
Speaker 2: gen z And that is also a form of persuasion,
Speaker 2: because they may agree with me on policy for the
Speaker 2: most part, but I'm trying to persuade them of their
Speaker 2: own power. I'm trying to persuade them that the only
Speaker 2: way that this corrupt political system will change, the only
Speaker 2: way this corrupt media system will change, is if they
Speaker 2: get in the game, if they and millions like them
Speaker 2: all over the country use their god given rights at
Speaker 2: the ballot box to transform this broken system and remake
Speaker 2: it in their own image. And so I'm going to
Speaker 2: be doing persuasion with both kinds of voters, voters who
Speaker 2: are maybe in the middle, but also voters who are
Speaker 2: sympathetic to my policy views but feel like they can't
Speaker 2: make a difference in this broken system.
Speaker 1: Another person who ran an aggressive, authentic unconventional campaign is
Speaker 1: the new mayor elect of New York. I couldn't help,
Speaker 1: but notice, you know, almost immediately after that happened, there
Speaker 1: started to be emails in my inbox from the NRSC,
Speaker 1: the Republican Senate campaign arm, seeking to tie you to him, saying,
Speaker 1: you know, he's trying to do the Mamdani style in Texas.
Speaker 1: I wonder like, do you what do you think of
Speaker 1: that compare and do you see yourself as an ideological
Speaker 1: ally to mom Donny.
Speaker 2: I think the beauty of the last election night was
Speaker 2: that you saw Democrats of all kinds winning in very
Speaker 2: different parts of the country. And that's what's going to
Speaker 2: be necessary if we are gonna if we're going to
Speaker 2: revitalize the Democratic Party, if we're going to win in
Speaker 2: places like Texas, we have to have candidates who who
Speaker 2: actually represent their communities. I don't know much about New
Speaker 2: York City, don't know much about New York City politics,
Speaker 2: but I do know Texas, and I plan on running
Speaker 2: a Texas campaign to serve Texans. And you know, you
Speaker 2: talked about unconventional tactics when I was first running in
Speaker 2: Williamson County in that Trump district. One of the things
Speaker 2: I did was walk the entire length of my district
Speaker 2: from round Rock, Texas to Taylor, Texas, all on one day,
Speaker 2: all in the Texas heat, twenty five miles all on,
Speaker 2: and I held three town halls along that walk. I
Speaker 2: livestreamed the whole thing on social media. And to me,
Speaker 2: not only was that a great way to get out,
Speaker 2: get attention, and let people know there's a race in
Speaker 2: their community, that I was a candidate in that race,
Speaker 2: but to me symbolically it was refreshing because it felt
Speaker 2: almost like an old school form of politics. Like right now,
Speaker 2: in our political system and our media system, there are
Speaker 2: so many filters right There's so many things in between
Speaker 2: you and the people you seek to represent. And so
Speaker 2: by getting on the ground, by walking humbly with the
Speaker 2: people that I wanted to fight for, I think it
Speaker 2: was it was the antidote to the kind of politics
Speaker 2: we've all been suffering underneath. And those are the kind
Speaker 2: of tactics. I don't think I can walk the whole
Speaker 2: state of Texas.
Speaker 3: But.
Speaker 2: That that is going to be the kind of approach
Speaker 2: to this race. I'm going to do things differently. I'm
Speaker 2: going to go places you wouldn't expect a Democrat to
Speaker 2: go to I'm going to talk to people you would
Speaker 2: and expected Democrat to talk to because the cookie cutter
Speaker 2: campaigns of the past are not going to cut it,
Speaker 2: and they're certainly not going to cut it in Texas,
Speaker 2: and so this campaign will be different. And I think
Speaker 2: you're already seeing in the first two months of our
Speaker 2: baby campaign, you're seeing this energy and this excitement growing,
Speaker 2: and you're seeing people take ownership of the campaign. We've
Speaker 2: had eight thousand people go to our website and sign
Speaker 2: up to volunteer. That's without us asking. They're just going
Speaker 2: to the website and saying they want to make phone calls,
Speaker 2: they want to knock on doors, they want to write postcards.
Speaker 2: And then during this snap crisis, those volunteers start organizing
Speaker 2: to go to food banks and to serve our neighbors.
Speaker 2: And to me, that is what politics should be about.
Speaker 2: It shouldn't be about self promotion or personal advancement. It
Speaker 2: should be about service. It should be about loving our neighbors.
Speaker 2: And I am so proud that we're building a movement
Speaker 2: to do just that here in Texas.
Speaker 1: All Right, we are getting close to the audience. Q
Speaker 1: and a portion, so if you have a question, you
Speaker 1: might start ambling your way toward the microphone. But before
Speaker 1: we do that, I am going to try to do
Speaker 1: a little bit of a policy lightning round here. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about some substance here and there's it looks like
Speaker 1: we're getting a good line, so let's try to keep
Speaker 1: it quick here. If you were elected Democrat, if Democrats
Speaker 1: were to retake control of the Senate, would you support
Speaker 1: repealing the filibuster?
Speaker 2: I would support reforming the filibuster. I think the current
Speaker 2: rules for a filibuster and the Senate really disrupt the
Speaker 2: democratic feedback loop where people elect a Congress and they
Speaker 2: expect to see policies from that Congress so they can
Speaker 2: judge whether or if those policies hurt or help, and
Speaker 2: the current rules I think disrupt that feedback loop. I
Speaker 2: think we should have a speaking filibuster where the minority
Speaker 2: can be represented. But I would certainly support an effort
Speaker 2: to reform the current filibuster that we have.
Speaker 1: Okay, if Democrats were to control Congress, which of these
Speaker 1: three options should they prioritize? Pursuing Medicare for All a
Speaker 1: public option, or shoring up the affordable care Act a
Speaker 1: public option.
Speaker 2: I really do believe that healthcare is a human right.
Speaker 2: I believe we should guarantee healthcare for every single American.
Speaker 2: As a Type one diabetic, I know what it means
Speaker 2: not to be able to afford my insulin, and it's
Speaker 2: why I worked with Republicans here in Texas to put
Speaker 2: in place the first ever cap on insulin copays in
Speaker 2: our state's history. And so I think a public option
Speaker 2: provides both the guarantee for insurance but also provides the
Speaker 2: flexibility for people to choose what that insurance looks like.
Speaker 1: Legalized marijuana thumbs up or thumbs down, thumbs up, all right,
Speaker 1: great mandatory assault rifle buyback program, thumbs up or thumbs down.
Speaker 2: I would do what I did in legislature, which is
Speaker 2: fight for common sense gun safety things like universal background checks,
Speaker 2: closing the gun show loophole, red flag laws. I am
Speaker 2: a believer in the Second Amendment. I don't pick and
Speaker 2: choose between the bill of rights. I value them all
Speaker 2: equally and give them all equal weight. And so I
Speaker 2: will always defend a citizen's right to bear arms, the
Speaker 2: citizen's right to defend themselves and their families. But just
Speaker 2: like any freedom in the Bill of Rights. There can
Speaker 2: be common sense regulations to keep us all safe. And
Speaker 2: that's what I'll fight for if I'm US senator.
Speaker 1: Very good than you think. Should the US repeal Section
Speaker 1: thirteen twenty five, which criminalizes illegal border crossings.
Speaker 4: No.
Speaker 2: I've said before on immigration that our southern border should
Speaker 2: be like our front porch. There should be a giant
Speaker 2: welcome mat out front and a lock on the door.
Speaker 2: We can do both of those things. You can be
Speaker 2: pro immigrant, which I am. You can also be pro security,
Speaker 2: which I am. And I know it's gonna be a
Speaker 2: little longer than the Lightning Round, but this is an
Speaker 2: important issue. I do feel like both political parties have
Speaker 2: failed the American people on this issue, and Joe Biden's
Speaker 2: failures on the border are what opened the door to
Speaker 2: this extremism from the current administration, Kidnapping people off the street,
Speaker 2: tearing parents from their children, waiting in school pickup lines,
Speaker 2: lurking in hospital waiting rooms, deporting the very people who
Speaker 2: keep our economy running. So I think the American people,
Speaker 2: I think people here in Texas are desperate for a
Speaker 2: candidate who can both ensure that we're welcoming immigrants who
Speaker 2: want to build our economy, who want to live the
Speaker 2: American dream, who want to contribute to our communities, and
Speaker 2: also secure the border so that we can keep us
Speaker 2: all safe. I think you can do both of those
Speaker 2: things at the same time.
Speaker 1: Do you believe that Donald Trump has committed offenses during
Speaker 1: his first two years in office? That should Democrats take
Speaker 1: control of the House and the Senate impeach him for
Speaker 1: and remove him from office for.
Speaker 2: Well, I participated in an impeachment effort here in Texas.
Speaker 2: We were just talking about Ken Paxson's impeachment, so I
Speaker 2: think Texans should know that I would. I would approach
Speaker 2: any impeachment charge of any president the same way I
Speaker 2: approached it as a state legislator, which is very seriously
Speaker 2: evaluating all the evidence and making a judgment based on
Speaker 2: our constitution and laws and nothing else, not partisan politics,
Speaker 2: not personal political beliefs, but based on the law. That's
Speaker 2: exactly what I would do if impeachment charges wherever brought
Speaker 2: last one?
Speaker 1: Would? I think I know the answer to this, but
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask it anyway. Would you consider yourself
Speaker 1: a Democratic socialist?
Speaker 2: No, I wouldn't, but I do think that the Democratic
Speaker 2: Party has to become a big tent party again, and
Speaker 2: I think that means welcoming Joe Mannhan. It also means
Speaker 2: welcoming AOCS. I think we need all kinds of Democrats
Speaker 2: in order to get this country back on track, and
Speaker 2: we cannot be satisfied with a fifty one percent coalition.
Speaker 2: We have to grow a majority that's a lot bigger
Speaker 2: than that if we're going to transform this political system
Speaker 2: and transform this economy so that it works for regular people.
Speaker 1: Again, Okay, and I promise we'll get to questions, but
Speaker 1: I realized I forgot to ask one other thing that
Speaker 1: I need to ask, which is, what do you think
Speaker 1: of the possibility of Jasmine Crockett entering the race?
Speaker 2: Well, Jasmine our friends. We served here in the state
Speaker 2: legislature together, and I would welcome her entry into the race.
Speaker 2: I think competition is good in politics. I think it's
Speaker 2: good in sports, it's good in business, and I think
Speaker 2: it's good in elections because it makes us all stronger
Speaker 2: and better. And again, all Texas Democrats are on the
Speaker 2: same team. We're all trying to do the same thing,
Speaker 2: which has changed this political system in Texas so that
Speaker 2: it works for working people. And so I would welcome
Speaker 2: anyone and everyone getting in this race so that we
Speaker 2: can have a healthy, productive, positive competition.
Speaker 1: Excellent, All right, thank you. We will go to audience questions. Now,
Speaker 1: we'll start here. We'll go there just very quickly. Please
Speaker 1: make sure the questions are short, because we've got a
Speaker 1: lot of people asking and in with a question mark
Speaker 1: and you know, are respectful as well. So we'll start here,
Speaker 1: then we'll go, you know, back and forth.
Speaker 5: Hi, Chloe Wilkinson with Austin Community College Democrats. I just
Speaker 5: wanted to ask because I am a Jewish trans woman
Speaker 5: of faith, and it's very refreshing to see a campaign
Speaker 5: of faith that is based on love and unity, especially
Speaker 5: with so much division between different fates and sets, between
Speaker 5: Jewish and Muslims, or Catholics and Protestant. I'm curious, how
Speaker 5: do you think we revitalize politics and faith to where
Speaker 5: we're rooted in the shared history of Abrahamic beliefs, are
Speaker 5: shared religious freedoms.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think politics is just another word
Speaker 2: for how we treat our neighbors, and so we all
Speaker 2: bring our philosophies, our moralities, our worldviews to our politics,
Speaker 2: and faith is no different and I completely agree that
Speaker 2: the major world religions are all speaking about the same
Speaker 2: fundamental truth, the same fundamental oneness, that we're all connected.
Speaker 2: The word religion literally means to religament, to reconnect us
Speaker 2: to each other, into one body because we are, We're
Speaker 2: all coming from the same source. Whatever that source is,
Speaker 2: it's a mystery. And having a reverence for that oneness,
Speaker 2: that interconnectedness, I think is what's missing from our world
Speaker 2: right now, and I hope that this campaign can be
Speaker 2: just part of the effort to bring that love back
Speaker 2: into our politics, back into our systems, and back into
Speaker 2: our communities.
Speaker 1: All Right, we'll go to the same.
Speaker 6: Thank you for taking our questions, so I'll just make
Speaker 6: it quick. Do you believe it is time for new
Speaker 6: leadership in the House and the Senate among Democrats given
Speaker 6: everything that's happened over the last few weeks.
Speaker 2: Thank you well. I absolutely think that we should. We
Speaker 2: should welcome a new generation of leaders in the Democratic Party.
Speaker 2: I hope more millennials like me, but also gen zers
Speaker 2: will step up and run for office at all levels.
Speaker 2: We need new blood in our party. And that's not
Speaker 2: to discount the wisdom and the experiences of our more
Speaker 2: senior elected officials. I know working here in the legislature,
Speaker 2: I've probably learned more from Sinphronia Thompson than I've ever
Speaker 2: learned from anybody about how to fight for people in
Speaker 2: the legislature. So I don't mean to make this a
Speaker 2: binary choice between young folks and old folks. But I
Speaker 2: do think we have to make room for new leaders
Speaker 2: in our party. And I think it's to our detriment
Speaker 2: that we have kept young people out of leadership positions
Speaker 2: at the national level.
Speaker 1: So does that mean you would vote for someone other
Speaker 1: than Chuck Schumer to leave the nympret So.
Speaker 2: I actually I've been asked this question a lot of
Speaker 2: the last week. I think this is a much bigger
Speaker 2: problem than any one senator, any one minority leader. And
Speaker 2: there's a temptation in our politics, especially in our media
Speaker 2: entertainment complex, that we all are stuck in to kind
Speaker 2: of pin the blame on one personality rather than having
Speaker 2: a more difficult conversation about a culture and a system
Speaker 2: that incentivizes national Democrats to fold and to cave instead
Speaker 2: of to fight. And so that's the conversation I want
Speaker 2: to have. And when it comes to a minority leader,
Speaker 2: or hopefully a majority leader. If I'm elected, I'm going
Speaker 2: to do what I did as a state lawmaker. I'm
Speaker 2: going to sit down with every candidate and I'm going
Speaker 2: to have a lot of tough questions about their plans
Speaker 2: and their vision, and then I'll make a judgment based
Speaker 2: on those conversations.
Speaker 1: So I think, thank you.
Speaker 3: You seem pretty strident on the issue before. But I'm
Speaker 3: wondering if you can see any nuanced value of the
Speaker 3: Democrats who help the government reopen, having showed that Trump
Speaker 3: would deny snap benefits and work actively to deny them
Speaker 3: to needy people, he would ignore rising healthcare costs. And
Speaker 3: I guess secondly, can you compare the Democrats allowing the
Speaker 3: government to reopen with the Texas legislatures the Democrats who
Speaker 3: walked out to protest a vote of vouchers but then
Speaker 3: you guys came back and vouchers passed.
Speaker 7: What did that accomplish?
Speaker 2: Yes, So, as a Texas Democrat and a Republican dominated legislature,
Speaker 2: I'm usually working with a losing hand, and my and
Speaker 2: my colleagues are Our job is to try to lose
Speaker 2: in the best way possible where we are, Where we're
Speaker 2: where we're hurting the you know, the fewest number of
Speaker 2: Texans and mitigating as much harm as we can. It's
Speaker 2: not a glamorous job, but it is an important job.
Speaker 2: But this is not the case when it comes to
Speaker 2: national Democrats who have a lot more power, a lot
Speaker 2: more leverage than we had here in Texas. And that
Speaker 2: was my frustration is politically and legislatively, they were in
Speaker 2: a position to actually get concessions on some of these
Speaker 2: key issues, healthcare premiums for the ACA being foremost among them.
Speaker 2: And my frustration is that they didn't use their leverage
Speaker 2: to be able to fight for the people of the state,
Speaker 2: nearly two million people who are going to lose their
Speaker 2: health care because of what the current administration is doing.
Speaker 2: And so, you know, I think it's because of my
Speaker 2: experience in the Texas legislature that I feel so much
Speaker 2: frustration that they're not willing to go to the links
Speaker 2: that we went to here in Texas to fight for
Speaker 2: our people.
Speaker 8: Sorry, I'm kind of covered by this poll.
Speaker 9: Good.
Speaker 8: My name is Rowan Bancroft. I'm a political science student
Speaker 8: at Lone Star College. Yeah, and hopefully I'll be your coworkers,
Speaker 8: So remember me Okay, I have a question. And the
Speaker 8: Trump administration announced this morning plans to make major budget
Speaker 8: cuts towards homelessness efforts. And even throughout this few days
Speaker 8: that I've been here, I've walked on the street and
Speaker 8: been yelled at and been cussed at by homeless people,
Speaker 8: and I don't have any ill will towards them. I
Speaker 8: sit and I pray that they get the help that
Speaker 8: they need, because they clearly have addiction struggles and mental
Speaker 8: health struggles. So I ask you, with these plans that
Speaker 8: are being made to worsen their conditions, with the anti
Speaker 8: homelessness architecture that is being built into our society, and
Speaker 8: with the demonization of these people, how do you plan
Speaker 8: to help them?
Speaker 2: Yeah? And I don't think we should just pray for
Speaker 2: their well being. We have to act as a community
Speaker 2: for their well being. And one example, you know, we've
Speaker 2: got some communities here in Texas that are innovating on
Speaker 2: this issue. And I've gotten a chance to speak with
Speaker 2: some of the professionals in communities around Texas that are
Speaker 2: starting to solve the issue of homelessness in their own neighborhoods.
Speaker 2: I didn't realize how this crisis is so much bigger
Speaker 2: than just housing, although housing is central to it. But
Speaker 2: for instance, it's something like seventy percent of homeless people
Speaker 2: aren't able to pick up prescriptions that are filled for them,
Speaker 2: and so you saw people having a mental health crisis
Speaker 2: on the street, it's because they don't have a way
Speaker 2: to get to Walgreens or to CBS and be able
Speaker 2: to get the medicine they need. So if we're going
Speaker 2: to solve this crisis, it can't just be about housing.
Speaker 2: It's got to be holistic. We got to make sure
Speaker 2: that we are meeting their needs and providing them the
Speaker 2: help they need so that they can become full contributing
Speaker 2: members of our community again, which is what they want.
Speaker 2: And so my goal as a US Senator is to
Speaker 2: actually solve this problem and not score political points off
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 7: Thank you, Hi, thank you. My name is Blair Lyles
Speaker 7: and I'm from here in Austin, and I am so
Speaker 7: excited about you and your campaign. And I know you
Speaker 7: mentioned that you're you know, you can't do this alone
Speaker 7: and you really need volunteers. And we've had these no
Speaker 7: Keys rallies that have just brought huge energy and then
Speaker 7: everything just kind of falls off and people get really resigned,
Speaker 7: and we get all these emails and texts and everything
Speaker 7: for money from the Democrat. They ask for money all
Speaker 7: the time. But how And I know you said that
Speaker 7: you can't do this alone and you want to get
Speaker 7: volunteers involved and engaged, But so how are you going
Speaker 7: to engage people and get people involved instead of just
Speaker 7: asking for money?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I know you kind of answered that.
Speaker 7: A little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's such a great question. And you know, contributing
Speaker 2: money to campaigns is an important part, but it's not
Speaker 2: everything when it comes to organizing. And like I said,
Speaker 2: we had eight thousand people go to the website sign
Speaker 2: to volunteer, and those volunteers have already started organizing meetups
Speaker 2: in communities all over the state, red and blue and
Speaker 2: purple communities alike, and they're organizing to engage in direct action,
Speaker 2: in direct service, especially when so many of our neighbors
Speaker 2: are going hungry all over the state of Texas. And
Speaker 2: I think that's going to be the key again. Politics
Speaker 2: shouldn't just be about winning votes. It should be about
Speaker 2: winning hearts and minds. It should be about serving our
Speaker 2: neighbors and doing something that's bigger than any one of
Speaker 2: us individually, and I'm really excited that our campaign, just
Speaker 2: in the first two months is already building that kind
Speaker 2: of grassroots movement, and I'm excited to see what we're
Speaker 2: going to accomplish together next year. Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 5: Hello.
Speaker 4: My name is Vincent's. I study political science at the
Speaker 4: University of Houston ko Koog's.
Speaker 2: Hey.
Speaker 4: Earlier, you mentioned embracing authenticity, telling the truth, being yourself,
Speaker 4: so I wanted to wanted to follow up and ask
Speaker 4: what is the biggest mistake misjudgment that you've made during
Speaker 4: your legislative career and on that, how did you learn
Speaker 4: from that or course correct.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I've told this story of my friendship
Speaker 2: with Representative James Frank He's a far right conservative from
Speaker 2: wich Tall Falls. I think was a member of the
Speaker 2: Freedom Caucus at one point, if I'm not mistaken, he
Speaker 2: and I started a friendship on the most superficial basis.
Speaker 2: We shared the same first name, and you know that's
Speaker 2: how all friendships start, right with the silliest of things,
Speaker 2: And so, you know, it became an ongoing joke. We
Speaker 2: said we were members of the James Caucus and we
Speaker 2: would debate who was chair, who was vice chair, and
Speaker 2: then that kind of ongoing joke led James to come
Speaker 2: sit with me in the back row when there was
Speaker 2: not a lot going on on the floor, and we
Speaker 2: started talking, and we realized that despite our many differences,
Speaker 2: we actually shared a lot of the same beliefs on
Speaker 2: how our political system is so deeply and thoroughly broken,
Speaker 2: and how there's no longer room for dissent and disagreement
Speaker 2: within political parties, and that idiosyncratic or unorthodox beliefs aren't
Speaker 2: really welcome anymore. And then we were able to put
Speaker 2: that commonality into practice on the House floor. He ended
Speaker 2: up supporting a bill of mine, a Bernie Sanders bill
Speaker 2: to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada into Texas. I
Speaker 2: filed the bill. I didn't think it was going to pass.
Speaker 2: I was just trying to start a conversation. But James
Speaker 2: Frank read the bill. He called me up. He was like,
Speaker 2: I love this because I believe in free markets and
Speaker 2: big pharma is disrupting the free market here in our country.
Speaker 2: And he and I got that bill passed through the House,
Speaker 2: through the Senate and then signed by the governor, and
Speaker 2: hopefully if the FDA approves it, we're going to start
Speaker 2: importing those cheaper prescription drugs into Texas. But then, to
Speaker 2: answer your question, there was a bill that James Frank
Speaker 2: put forward that would allow homeschool students in Texas to
Speaker 2: participate in UIL, participate in public school sports and extracurriculars.
Speaker 2: And I was adamantly opposed to the bill. I think
Speaker 2: I even publicly spoke out against the bill because my
Speaker 2: first instinct was public education is not a buffet line.
Speaker 2: You can't just pick and choose what you want to
Speaker 2: participate in and what you want to buy into and
Speaker 2: not take all of it. But that was a big mistake.
Speaker 2: James Frank came to my office because we had a friendship,
Speaker 2: because we had a relationship, again proof that the only
Speaker 2: way people change is through relationships, through trust, through respect,
Speaker 2: through love. He sat down with me and he said,
Speaker 2: James talking to me. He said, it's confusing. He said,
Speaker 2: you always say when we talk about immigration that we
Speaker 2: shouldn't punish children for the decisions their parents make. I
Speaker 2: know he had me, and you know, I realized that
Speaker 2: these kids, this may be the only opportunity they have
Speaker 2: to interact with kids their own age, to experience some
Speaker 2: of these extracurricular activities, whether it's sports or music. And
Speaker 2: I ended up crossing party lines to support that bill,
Speaker 2: and it was because James spoke to me and my values.
Speaker 2: And I then got to meet after we passed that bill,
Speaker 2: some of the homeschoolers who participated in the program, and
Speaker 2: I saw how life changing it was for them. And
Speaker 2: I will say, and James probably hates this, but it
Speaker 2: has become a huge recruitment tool for public schools because,
Speaker 2: you know, because public schools are great, and you know,
Speaker 2: once you experience what we have to offer, oftentimes you
Speaker 2: want to come and join our community. And so that
Speaker 2: was a big mistake that I made. I was thankful
Speaker 2: that my Republican colleague helped me correct that mistake. Thank you.
Speaker 1: All Right, Well, I think this is We're gonna have
Speaker 1: to be quick. We'll do one last question because you're
Speaker 1: right in front, but everyone else, I'm sorry. I know
Speaker 1: you've waited, but I'll be running out of time.
Speaker 2: And I'll stick around a little bit. So yeah, thank
Speaker 2: you for being here.
Speaker 9: Representative Taliquo. My name's Arvin. I'm a student at the
Speaker 9: University of Texas at Austin and a lot of young
Speaker 9: people are really worried about the future of emerging technology
Speaker 9: and the way it's going to impact our job markets
Speaker 9: with AI data centers and you know, energy prices, surveillance. Yeah,
Speaker 9: what principles and what specific policy are you going to
Speaker 9: carry with you when you reach the Senate as you
Speaker 9: kind of lead this country into the future.
Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you for asking this question. AI is coming
Speaker 2: when we already have a huge generational crisis in our economy.
Speaker 2: I was just reading a stat that said ninety percent
Speaker 2: of baby boomers went on to earn more money than
Speaker 2: their parents. For millennials like me, it's fifty percent. It's
Speaker 2: even lower for gen Z. So the American dream that
Speaker 2: was once a reality for the vast majority of people
Speaker 2: in this country is slipping away for young people, and
Speaker 2: I worry that if we don't have a regulatory framework,
Speaker 2: we're going to see AI exacerbate that crisis. I already
Speaker 2: saw that only thirty percent of recent college graduates have
Speaker 2: been able to find an entry level position in their field.
Speaker 2: Thirty percent of college graduates, and so I am deeply
Speaker 2: concerned that AI is going to destroy the opportunities for
Speaker 2: an entire generation. I think if we do this right,
Speaker 2: though we can harness that technology to help people instead
Speaker 2: of hurt people. But that means that the US Senate
Speaker 2: and our federal government has to get in the game
Speaker 2: and be involved in this emerging technology, just like we
Speaker 2: did in the Space Race or with the Manhattan Project.
Speaker 2: When you have this kind of technology with such potential
Speaker 2: but also so much danger, the public sector, US as
Speaker 2: a democracy, we have got to be involved in that conversation.
Speaker 2: It cannot be something that's only done in you know,
Speaker 2: by private hands, in for profit corporations. So I would
Speaker 2: love if I'm elected to be a leading voice on
Speaker 2: this issue and help figure out how we can harness
Speaker 2: the potential AI instead of allowing it to destroy the
Speaker 2: opportunities for young people all across this country.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you, Representative. Thank you so much. A
Speaker 1: reminder will need to clear the room, but thank you
Speaker 1: for being here. Thank you all. Chris