1 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:21,039 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of the trib 2 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:25,359 Cast for Tuesday, August nineteenth, which is both my mother's 3 00:00:25,399 --> 00:00:28,640 birthday and Bill Clinton's birthday, which I know because it 4 00:00:28,719 --> 00:00:29,640 is my mother's birthday. 5 00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:32,479 Speaker 2: Is your mother, Bill Clinton? 6 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:33,640 Speaker 1: My mother is Bill Clinton? 7 00:00:34,079 --> 00:00:34,520 Speaker 2: Twist? 8 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:40,439 Speaker 1: No, that's a growing up in the Clinton era and 9 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,000 having a I thought that was a very fun fact. 10 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,280 Less relevant now than when I was eight. But anyway, 11 00:00:47,759 --> 00:00:50,479 we have a lot to talk about this week. I 12 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:53,439 am elean Or Klebanoff Law and politics reporter, joined as 13 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:56,320 always by my co host, Matthew Watkins. Matthew, how's it going. 14 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:00,280 Speaker 3: I'm you know, I'm a little grumpy, but maybe that 15 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:02,079 I'll lead to a happy podcast. 16 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:04,319 Speaker 2: Just sat in First day of School traffic. 17 00:01:04,079 --> 00:01:07,879 Speaker 1: I was going to say that the first day of school. Yeah, 18 00:01:08,079 --> 00:01:09,719 I was gonna ask if your kids, I guess maybe 19 00:01:09,719 --> 00:01:11,200 your daughter are they old enough to be affected by 20 00:01:11,239 --> 00:01:12,400 the cell phone band? 21 00:01:12,599 --> 00:01:14,879 Speaker 3: So my daughter does not have a cell phone, she 22 00:01:14,920 --> 00:01:17,640 does have an Apple Watch, and so right before I 23 00:01:17,719 --> 00:01:21,439 dropped her off, she had to put her Apple Watch 24 00:01:21,480 --> 00:01:23,599 in her backpack because they're not allowed to wear the 25 00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:26,280 Apple Watch anymore. And I was like, you were one 26 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:28,719 hundred percent going to lose this in the first week 27 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:32,920 of school. So if anyone finds an Apple Watch around 28 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:36,079 Anne Richard's High school and Austin, just drop it off 29 00:01:36,079 --> 00:01:36,799 of the text tribune. 30 00:01:36,879 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: Yeah great, And also like, how will she know how 31 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:39,719 many steps she took? 32 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 2: Right? 33 00:01:40,239 --> 00:01:45,599 Speaker 1: So yeah, her step going to take it. The Texas legislature, 34 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:47,480 I don't know when you think and I think about 35 00:01:47,519 --> 00:01:49,959 that like kind of I'm like, that's the sort of 36 00:01:49,959 --> 00:01:52,359 thing that Texas legilature should be keeping themselves busy with, 37 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:54,280 Like should we have cell phones in schools? The rest 38 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:56,760 of this seems like a little bit of a sideshow, 39 00:01:56,799 --> 00:01:59,799 but that's what we're here to talk about. We are 40 00:02:00,079 --> 00:02:02,840 joined this week by two very special guests. We have 41 00:02:03,879 --> 00:02:09,319 Kayla Lake Saint Charles is not Chicago who and uh 42 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:14,360 Renzo We will let him talk about the srec Downey. Thanks, 43 00:02:14,719 --> 00:02:16,000 thanks you both for joining. 44 00:02:15,759 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 4: Us, Thanks for having us. 45 00:02:17,199 --> 00:02:19,960 Speaker 1: Yeah. So, as I was telling Kyle and Renzo before 46 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:21,840 we got started, I'm going to try to summarize everything 47 00:02:21,879 --> 00:02:24,560 that has happened in the last ten weeks in two minutes, 48 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,039 all right, so then we can talk about times where 49 00:02:27,039 --> 00:02:27,879 things go from here. 50 00:02:28,360 --> 00:02:31,879 Speaker 2: Kay Ready, set go June. 51 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: Second, the Texas Legislature gabbles out siney die. Everyone starts 52 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:39,240 making their summer plants. Governor Abbott veto's the THHC bill. 53 00:02:39,319 --> 00:02:42,639 Everyone cancels their summer plans. Then we start hearing rumors 54 00:02:42,639 --> 00:02:46,319 that President Trump is asking Texas to redraw the legislative maps. 55 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:48,599 Is tech is Governor Abbitt gonna put this on the 56 00:02:48,599 --> 00:02:53,759 special session call? This is the question. Then July fourth, devastating, 57 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:56,360 horrible Hill Country floods, one of the worst tragedies the 58 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,479 state has ever seen. Then Governor Abbott puts out the 59 00:02:59,479 --> 00:03:03,439 call it flooding response. It also has congressional mid decade 60 00:03:03,439 --> 00:03:07,240 congressional redistricting, and it has a bunch of other conservative 61 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:10,439 priorities on it. Immediately Democrats start saying, we might have 62 00:03:10,479 --> 00:03:13,240 to quorum break. We have a bunch of hearings on redistricting. 63 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,120 People are very upset about it. We see the map. 64 00:03:16,159 --> 00:03:19,039 It adds five additional seats for Republicans. It gets voted 65 00:03:19,039 --> 00:03:22,400 out of the committee. Democrats go on the lamb, they 66 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,719 leave for Chicago and other places. They break quorum. They 67 00:03:25,719 --> 00:03:29,560 stay out for about two weeks. Governor Abbott a Churnyhynal 68 00:03:29,599 --> 00:03:32,400 compacton say that they are going to try to remove 69 00:03:32,439 --> 00:03:39,080 them from their seats. Bunch of legal brujaha proceeds. Then 70 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,680 they both chambers adjourn. California says they're going to redistrict. 71 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:48,280 Democrats return yesterday, say we did it. Republicans say we 72 00:03:48,319 --> 00:03:51,759 did it. We're back to Special Session number two with 73 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:54,800 the maps already passed out of both committees. 74 00:03:55,280 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 4: Nice. How do you do under sub two minutes? 75 00:03:58,039 --> 00:04:02,639 Speaker 2: Amazing? You want to just talk about. 76 00:04:01,960 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 1: Bill Clinton was born? Did I miss any major high points? 77 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:07,759 Speaker 2: You know? 78 00:04:07,879 --> 00:04:10,560 Speaker 3: I think there's just you have all heard me talk 79 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:12,120 about this in the newsroom. I think there's this one 80 00:04:12,159 --> 00:04:14,560 other thing to point out, right, which is the how 81 00:04:14,639 --> 00:04:16,720 the timing of this with regard to the floods too. 82 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:19,240 There's been a lot of talk about Greg Abbott, you know, 83 00:04:19,319 --> 00:04:23,079 being accused of using the floods as a political football 84 00:04:23,160 --> 00:04:26,160 to to force the redistricting and things like that. Of course, 85 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:30,800 Abbott had called a special session, or at least announced 86 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,079 that a special session was coming and detailed you know 87 00:04:34,240 --> 00:04:37,399 that it was very clear that redistricting was going to 88 00:04:37,399 --> 00:04:40,279 be on the ballot before these floods actually happened. So 89 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:42,480 that's like a whole other aspect of this that I 90 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:45,399 think is just worth like including in that timeline too. 91 00:04:45,519 --> 00:04:48,319 Speaker 1: Yes, I think he had not formally said redistricting would 92 00:04:48,319 --> 00:04:50,279 be on the call before the floods, but. 93 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:51,399 Speaker 2: We all knew it was going to be. 94 00:04:51,879 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 4: It seems likely. 95 00:04:53,560 --> 00:04:55,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it seemed likely, but it was sort of 96 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:58,240 an open question. I mean, to be clear in hindsight, 97 00:04:58,399 --> 00:04:59,920 like of course one hundred percent they were going to 98 00:05:00,399 --> 00:05:04,040 to the call, but it was like, oh, is he 99 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:06,839 really going to do this? And now of course it's like. 100 00:05:07,399 --> 00:05:09,279 Speaker 2: Yeah, he was. He always knows. 101 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:10,879 Speaker 1: I think he's safe to say he would have done 102 00:05:10,879 --> 00:05:15,600 it without the floods, but certainly the floods enabled were 103 00:05:15,639 --> 00:05:18,959 like lowered the political well, there was still a lot 104 00:05:18,959 --> 00:05:20,959 of political pushback to it, but someone lowered the political 105 00:05:20,959 --> 00:05:24,480 pushback into doing that. So that's where we are. I 106 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:26,600 do want to talk about sort of where things go next, 107 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:28,279 but Kayla, maybe you can start. You were in the 108 00:05:28,279 --> 00:05:35,399 house yesterday as they triumphantly returned question mark or question 109 00:05:35,399 --> 00:05:37,360 mark on triumphant, if you know, if you ask, what 110 00:05:37,439 --> 00:05:39,600 was the vibe in the chamber. 111 00:05:39,519 --> 00:05:41,839 Speaker 5: I mean there was just a huge crowd, right outside 112 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:45,000 of the chamber that gave them a real warm welcome, 113 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,160 a lot of cheers. Like you said, they kind of 114 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:55,560 returned presenting as heroes, although obviously not like six hours later, 115 00:05:55,639 --> 00:05:57,800 they did pass the new map out of committee. 116 00:05:59,079 --> 00:06:00,639 Speaker 4: I mean, the floor was pretty quick. 117 00:06:00,759 --> 00:06:05,879 Speaker 5: Speaker of Burrows was really like, enough with the name 118 00:06:05,959 --> 00:06:07,240 calling and that sort of thing. 119 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:10,439 Speaker 4: Time for action. Let's get a move on. 120 00:06:10,879 --> 00:06:13,319 Speaker 5: Also, you will have a dps ES court around the 121 00:06:13,319 --> 00:06:16,600 clock until we vote this smap out in two days. 122 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:20,800 So yeah, I mean, I think some wladmakers made like 123 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:23,920 made light of their dpsscore people were like, I think 124 00:06:23,959 --> 00:06:26,680 Renzo tweeted Tony Rose was exchanging phone numbers with her 125 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:29,360 s core Ramon Romero was sort of like, oh, we're 126 00:06:29,360 --> 00:06:30,399 going to become good buddies. 127 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:32,759 Speaker 4: Obviously not everyone. 128 00:06:32,959 --> 00:06:36,199 Speaker 5: Reacted that way to their ES court, but yeah, and 129 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:38,480 I think Republicans were like, let's just get this done. 130 00:06:38,519 --> 00:06:39,240 Speaker 4: I want to go home. 131 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,879 Speaker 3: And of course Nicole Collier does not sign the paper 132 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:47,959 and accept her escort, leaving her stuck in the Texas House. 133 00:06:48,079 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 1: A representative from Fort Worth. 134 00:06:49,399 --> 00:06:54,279 Speaker 3: Yes, as people, it kind of the House livestream kind 135 00:06:54,279 --> 00:06:56,639 of becomes like bald Eagle cam and people are just 136 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:59,079 watching her like wander around the house floor, which I 137 00:06:59,120 --> 00:06:59,959 found entertaining. 138 00:07:00,319 --> 00:07:04,279 Speaker 1: Yeah, I used to when I worked in a public 139 00:07:04,319 --> 00:07:06,959 radio station Louisville, and when we did our fun drives, 140 00:07:06,959 --> 00:07:08,959 we would always put up on the big screen this 141 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:13,279 camera that watched senior Dogs and it was very sweet. 142 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:17,319 Had sort of a similar vibe. Not a commentary on 143 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:20,040 represent of Collier's age, of course, but you know, just 144 00:07:20,079 --> 00:07:24,040 sort of watching a lot of nothing rindo. What is 145 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:28,439 the vibe from Republicans going into this, Well, I think 146 00:07:28,519 --> 00:07:31,120 before the Democrats actually came back, there was starting to 147 00:07:31,160 --> 00:07:34,680 be some talk of like, maybe we should punish. 148 00:07:34,399 --> 00:07:36,639 Speaker 6: These Democrats a little bit more. I mean, that's pretty 149 00:07:37,439 --> 00:07:39,879 I mean this is full discleasure. This is my first 150 00:07:39,959 --> 00:07:43,120 quorum break. But I think when there's a quorum break, 151 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:45,000 those kind of sentiments tend to come out where like, 152 00:07:45,079 --> 00:07:47,560 you know, we need to stop this from happening ever again. 153 00:07:48,079 --> 00:07:51,600 And you know, you had people like Represent Jeff Leach 154 00:07:51,680 --> 00:07:56,680 from North Texas saying that maybe we should go for 155 00:07:56,759 --> 00:07:59,759 more congressional seats, kind of echoing what Abbott had said. 156 00:08:00,040 --> 00:08:03,519 You know, maybe we go for state house or state 157 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:08,120 senate redistricting. And I think right now, that seems unlikely. 158 00:08:08,279 --> 00:08:11,040 Although you know, Abbott was asked about that at his 159 00:08:11,199 --> 00:08:14,920 last press conference in the Capitol and he was like, well, 160 00:08:14,959 --> 00:08:16,680 you know it's on the table if you know, they 161 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:19,560 don't play along. That's me paraphrasing, But. 162 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, it doesn't really seem like there's been a lot 163 00:08:22,199 --> 00:08:24,800 of chatter. Doesn't seem like yet there's been any action 164 00:08:25,160 --> 00:08:26,279 towards that, right. 165 00:08:26,959 --> 00:08:31,439 Speaker 6: Right, Yeah, there's been absolutely zero indication that, like, you know, 166 00:08:31,519 --> 00:08:34,279 that's actually happening. I think what may be more likely 167 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:39,080 is legislative punishment and that things that maybe weren't going 168 00:08:39,159 --> 00:08:43,360 to pass before will pass now. So like maybe bathroom 169 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:50,559 bill passes, maybe abortion pill bill passes. So yeah, although 170 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:52,279 that one seems like a bit more of a stretch 171 00:08:52,279 --> 00:08:55,120 to me, just because Republicans also don't like that. Some 172 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:56,399 Republicans don't like that. 173 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:00,559 Speaker 1: Yeah, it definitely feels like there are like the ways 174 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:03,639 that lawmakers talk about punitive measures that like you know, 175 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:05,720 we're going to redraw seats or we're gonna you know, 176 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:08,039 evict them from their offices, or we're going to put 177 00:09:08,039 --> 00:09:11,080 them in jail, and then there's like the actual ways 178 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:13,399 that you can sort of enact retribution that are like 179 00:09:13,919 --> 00:09:16,639 much more subtle, but also for like Democrats who've been 180 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:19,360 fighting against some of these other bills for so long, 181 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,720 are pretty devastating to just like Ramrod in this like 182 00:09:22,759 --> 00:09:24,799 conservative list of priorities. 183 00:09:25,360 --> 00:09:28,480 Speaker 6: The other thing here is that you know, Burrows may 184 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:31,120 now have the seventy six votes to be re elected 185 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:34,759 speaker from within the Republican Caucus, but that doesn't mean 186 00:09:34,799 --> 00:09:38,320 that he has the one hundred votes to pass constitutional amendments. 187 00:09:38,399 --> 00:09:40,120 So it may seem like, you know, he now has 188 00:09:40,159 --> 00:09:42,799 this mandate, but he still has to play along with 189 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:47,120 the Democrats next session, so he can't you go too 190 00:09:47,159 --> 00:09:48,440 far punishing them. 191 00:09:48,559 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: And importantly, you can't pass a bill to ban quorum. 192 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:56,679 You can't get rid of quorum breaking. You can't let 193 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:58,679 me says, you can't lower the quorum, which I've been 194 00:09:58,679 --> 00:09:59,879 hearing from a lot of people right like, we got 195 00:09:59,919 --> 00:10:02,519 to find a way to not allow quorum breaks anymore. 196 00:10:02,639 --> 00:10:05,679 You cannot lower the quorum count without a conscitial amendment, 197 00:10:05,679 --> 00:10:10,080 which would require one hundred votes. So unlikely, despite all 198 00:10:10,080 --> 00:10:12,440 of the big talk of the last two weeks, unlikely 199 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:14,720 to be our last quorum break, unless you know the 200 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:18,759 tex Supreme Court rules that these members can be expelled, 201 00:10:18,799 --> 00:10:22,120 but even that seems increasingly a long shot now that 202 00:10:22,159 --> 00:10:22,679 they're back. 203 00:10:24,159 --> 00:10:27,639 Speaker 3: Do we know has anything changed in the Supreme Court case? 204 00:10:27,639 --> 00:10:29,120 I mean, do do we have a sense of where 205 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:29,679 that's going to go? 206 00:10:29,759 --> 00:10:29,960 Speaker 2: Now? 207 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:33,120 Speaker 1: Nothing has changed in terms of rulings. We've gotten this 208 00:10:33,200 --> 00:10:35,720 timeline that extends, you know, past Labor Day in terms 209 00:10:35,759 --> 00:10:40,360 of waiting for arguments. Certainly, I think there's a sense 210 00:10:40,399 --> 00:10:42,519 that the Court might just declare up moot now that 211 00:10:42,559 --> 00:10:45,759 they're back a turn in general. Ken Paxson was tweeting 212 00:10:45,799 --> 00:10:47,799 yesterday as if that is not what he would like. 213 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:50,600 I mean, that would require, you know, probably one of 214 00:10:50,639 --> 00:10:52,279 the parties to ask for it to be declared moot, 215 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:55,480 and he seemed to indicate like he wants to see 216 00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,879 this through. I don't know that. I don't know that 217 00:10:57,879 --> 00:10:59,960 we've heard the same sentiment from Governor Abbott, but maybe, 218 00:11:00,000 --> 00:11:02,679 you know, maybe we will. But certainly, as we talked 219 00:11:02,679 --> 00:11:05,120 about on last week's episode, a long shot legal case. 220 00:11:06,159 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 2: Okay, so it's time for me to ask the question. 221 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:10,639 Speaker 3: I've been sitting in traffic for the last forty five minutes, 222 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:13,399 so I'll ask it. What was the point of this 223 00:11:14,639 --> 00:11:19,200 like we the Democrats leave, they're saying they're blocking this 224 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:21,799 terrible map, and here we are thirty days later and 225 00:11:21,799 --> 00:11:24,240 we're in the exact same place. Maybe some bills, as 226 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:26,720 y'all mentioned, that might not have passed in the first 227 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:32,240 legislative session will pass. You know, we have heard things 228 00:11:32,360 --> 00:11:36,080 like we brought national attention to this redistricting fight. But 229 00:11:36,639 --> 00:11:39,759 the Tribune reported well before the quorum break that Gavin 230 00:11:39,840 --> 00:11:42,320 Newsom was, you know, or allies of Gavin Newsom were 231 00:11:42,320 --> 00:11:45,000 already convening meetings to do this sort of like tit 232 00:11:45,039 --> 00:11:47,679 for tat redistricting. They said something along the lines of 233 00:11:47,679 --> 00:11:49,720 when they started to indicate they were coming back, that 234 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:52,320 you know, we need to come back and you know, 235 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:55,279 create a legislative record that will you know, call into 236 00:11:55,399 --> 00:11:57,639 question and allow this to be challenged in court or 237 00:11:57,639 --> 00:12:00,320 strengthen the challenge of court, something that would have been 238 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,320 necessary had it had passed in the first session. And 239 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:05,559 you know, you don't have a legislative record if the 240 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:09,399 House isn't there. I mean, the only thing that seems 241 00:12:09,399 --> 00:12:11,720 to have changed between then and now is that the 242 00:12:11,759 --> 00:12:15,080 House Democrats have you know, brought in a million dollars 243 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:17,679 from beteo'rourke, like, what was the point of this. 244 00:12:20,399 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 2: Well, I think that. 245 00:12:23,519 --> 00:12:26,240 Speaker 6: Yes, Gavin Usim was already saying he was going to 246 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:30,759 try to get California to redraw their lines, but I 247 00:12:30,799 --> 00:12:34,519 don't think that the national attention was necessarily on it. 248 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:36,600 So I do think they are right in that they 249 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:41,240 brought the national conversation to Texas and redistricting. 250 00:12:41,919 --> 00:12:42,039 Speaker 1: Uh. 251 00:12:42,639 --> 00:12:44,600 Speaker 2: And I also think that. 252 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:50,759 Speaker 6: You had a Keem Jeffries in the Texas capital meeting 253 00:12:50,759 --> 00:12:52,159 with Democrats. 254 00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:52,399 Speaker 2: You had. 255 00:12:54,480 --> 00:13:01,440 Speaker 6: DNC chair in Chicago meeting with Democrats. I think that 256 00:13:01,480 --> 00:13:05,279 there's now a whole lot of attention from the National 257 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:11,840 Party on Texas that they have been lacking for years. 258 00:13:11,919 --> 00:13:15,000 And they've been saying like, hey, DNC needs to pay 259 00:13:15,039 --> 00:13:18,440 attention to us, and now they're paying attention, So that 260 00:13:18,440 --> 00:13:19,759 could be one thing that they're seeing. 261 00:13:22,360 --> 00:13:25,519 Speaker 5: I think another thing I heard Geen Mussey yesterday was 262 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,600 it gave them time to evaluate the legal case that 263 00:13:29,639 --> 00:13:32,840 they could bring against these maps and in this map, 264 00:13:32,879 --> 00:13:35,759 and in the past two weeks they've sort of come 265 00:13:35,799 --> 00:13:38,600 to the conclusion that they have a really strong challenge 266 00:13:38,639 --> 00:13:42,840 to be brought, which is why roughly half of them 267 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:45,720 are back to now times. Of the essence, if they 268 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:49,000 want to kill this map in the court before the midterm, 269 00:13:49,279 --> 00:13:51,600 then the faster it gets past, the faster they can 270 00:13:51,600 --> 00:13:55,399 bring this legal challenge. And so I don't know how 271 00:13:55,399 --> 00:13:57,159 long it takes to come up with a legal challenge. 272 00:13:57,200 --> 00:13:59,799 Two weeks, but that's no. 273 00:14:00,399 --> 00:14:03,600 Speaker 1: They have already asked in the ongoing case against the 274 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:06,919 twenty twenty one maps, some groups have filed have issued 275 00:14:06,919 --> 00:14:10,279 a filing to the court proactively saying once these do pass, 276 00:14:10,399 --> 00:14:12,879 we would like a preliminary junction blocking it, which is 277 00:14:13,399 --> 00:14:16,480 again a little bit of posturing ahead of you know, 278 00:14:16,519 --> 00:14:19,120 the thing actually happening, but like, you know, it gives 279 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:22,480 them this I think part of it, right, it is 280 00:14:22,559 --> 00:14:24,840 optics of like if this happens so fast, people don't 281 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:27,120 even know it was happening, right, Like this could have 282 00:14:27,159 --> 00:14:29,639 theoretically passed and like a matter of weeks and you 283 00:14:29,639 --> 00:14:32,759 get people kind of upset at the capitol. But beyond that, 284 00:14:32,919 --> 00:14:35,960 like not it's really hard to make people think about, 285 00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:37,679 understand or care about redistricting. 286 00:14:38,600 --> 00:14:41,519 Speaker 3: Yeah, all right, Well, you know where politics is an 287 00:14:41,519 --> 00:14:45,200 attention economy, I guess, and I suppose this brought a 288 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:47,799 little bit more of attention. It does feel to me 289 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:50,320 a little bit like the victory over vouchers in twenty 290 00:14:50,320 --> 00:14:53,919 twenty three, where it's just like we stopped it, actually, 291 00:14:54,159 --> 00:14:56,840 and now five million dollars aren't coming to our schools, 292 00:14:57,279 --> 00:14:58,840 and they're just going to come back and they're going 293 00:14:58,879 --> 00:14:59,799 to pass it the next time. 294 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:01,279 Speaker 2: They they pulled together, I mean, and. 295 00:15:01,279 --> 00:15:03,960 Speaker 1: They're going to replace some like moderate incumbents with some 296 00:15:04,039 --> 00:15:04,679 really hard. 297 00:15:04,519 --> 00:15:07,519 Speaker 3: Line exactly, and the legislature is going to be changed 298 00:15:07,559 --> 00:15:10,080 because of it. Right, And obviously that's maybe not the 299 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:13,039 case this time, at least from who's in the legislature, 300 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:15,360 but it might be the case in terms of how 301 00:15:15,759 --> 00:15:18,799 much power democrats have and how they're treated in the chamber. 302 00:15:19,559 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think And I wasn't here in 303 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:24,840 two thousand and three, but I talked to some of 304 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:26,480 the people who were involved in that qure and break cale. 305 00:15:26,519 --> 00:15:31,960 I know you did twenty twenty one, two three, three, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, 306 00:15:31,759 --> 00:15:34,919 the last mid decade REGISTRICTA which like I guess I 307 00:15:34,960 --> 00:15:36,799 had not realized like some of that history as well, 308 00:15:36,799 --> 00:15:39,000 which was like very similar, right they left the state, 309 00:15:39,039 --> 00:15:41,480 they but then the maps ended up passing. But a 310 00:15:41,480 --> 00:15:43,200 lot of people involved in that felt like, well, we 311 00:15:43,399 --> 00:15:47,120 brought attention to Tom Dealay's plan to like redraw maps 312 00:15:47,159 --> 00:15:50,200 everywhere and like made it clear that like this would 313 00:15:50,200 --> 00:15:53,240 not just like kind of sail through. We were like 314 00:15:53,279 --> 00:15:55,879 a blocker to this larger national plan. And it's like, 315 00:15:56,120 --> 00:15:58,639 if that's the framing of what they've done here, I 316 00:15:58,679 --> 00:16:02,879 think that's there. There's an argument there. Yes, the more nationally, 317 00:16:02,879 --> 00:16:05,240 I think the like framing of like we did it, 318 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:07,759 we're heroes, a little bit of a hurt herself, Kayla. 319 00:16:07,879 --> 00:16:08,440 Speaker 4: I think that's right. 320 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:10,519 Speaker 5: And I also think that split is probably within the 321 00:16:10,519 --> 00:16:13,440 Democratic Caucus too. I mean two dozen or so, maybe 322 00:16:13,440 --> 00:16:15,559 slightly under of them are still out of state. 323 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:16,399 Speaker 4: You know, I don't. 324 00:16:16,759 --> 00:16:18,120 Speaker 5: I think we saw a lot of statements from those 325 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:19,600 people who were out of stay. I think we saw 326 00:16:19,679 --> 00:16:24,000 TMF Jessica Gonzalez both saying like, this is our only 327 00:16:24,039 --> 00:16:27,240 tool as a minority party is to continue denying quorum 328 00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:29,519 and so we're going to stay out of state. And 329 00:16:29,559 --> 00:16:31,159 I think the flip side of the people who came 330 00:16:31,200 --> 00:16:33,799 back is, you know, let's just get this battle to 331 00:16:33,879 --> 00:16:36,279 court already and and fight it out there, because we're 332 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,200 under no illusion that we can we have the votes 333 00:16:39,240 --> 00:16:41,519 to defeat this map on the floor and that we 334 00:16:41,519 --> 00:16:43,759 can stay away forever. So I think that that's split 335 00:16:43,799 --> 00:16:45,399 of what was the point and what's the goal is? 336 00:16:45,559 --> 00:16:47,279 You know, it's not just among us. I think it's 337 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:48,519 among Democrats too. 338 00:16:49,840 --> 00:16:53,399 Speaker 1: As and then the lone only other person who has 339 00:16:53,399 --> 00:16:55,360 a different strategy, which is Nicole colly or stay on 340 00:16:55,360 --> 00:16:58,279 the floor. Yes, as we were joking like they couldn't 341 00:16:58,279 --> 00:16:59,679 get them on the floor and now she won't leave 342 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:02,000 the floor. They're like, we cannot figure out where you're 343 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:04,119 coming from. But you know, it's getting a ton of attention, 344 00:17:04,279 --> 00:17:05,720 So it's an attention economy. 345 00:17:05,799 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 2: Yeah. 346 00:17:06,079 --> 00:17:10,400 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean in terms of like we are now, 347 00:17:10,599 --> 00:17:12,799 let's forecast ahead a week or so, We're going to 348 00:17:12,880 --> 00:17:15,119 have new congressional maps. There will be a legal challenge, 349 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:17,960 as we've seen before, those challenges take forever to sort 350 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:20,839 of move through the court system unless something sort of 351 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:23,720 unusual happens and they managed to get an injunction blocking it. 352 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:27,039 We will have five new Republican We'll have five new 353 00:17:27,079 --> 00:17:33,039 seats that will seem to favor Republicans in the twenty 354 00:17:33,079 --> 00:17:36,480 twenty six midterms. Kayla, can you sort of talk about 355 00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:39,920 you know, the position that puts you know, some Democrats 356 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:42,440 in I mean we're saying maybe a Caasar dogg It 357 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:43,799 this fight. 358 00:17:43,799 --> 00:17:45,400 Speaker 4: Yeah, put them in an awkward position. 359 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:51,039 Speaker 5: I think Tazar dogg It being the primary interesting primary 360 00:17:51,240 --> 00:17:54,039 to come among Democrats. I mean it kind of leaves 361 00:17:54,119 --> 00:18:00,400 Julie Johnson untethered. Al Green's district is like just not 362 00:18:00,519 --> 00:18:03,880 a district anymore at all. But I mean al Green 363 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:07,720 is somebody like Doggett who has said that they're you know, 364 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:11,640 committed to running again, which again sets up these weird 365 00:18:11,839 --> 00:18:14,680 little primaries that I think will sort of reflect these 366 00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:19,440 broader clashes within the Party of experience and age versus 367 00:18:19,720 --> 00:18:26,200 you know, youth and a new fresh face and strategy. So, yeah, 368 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:27,599 that's going to be pretty exciting. 369 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:32,240 Speaker 1: Your thoughts on the weird fights we're going to see. 370 00:18:32,359 --> 00:18:36,400 Speaker 6: Yeah, there's also that special election to replace oh yeah, 371 00:18:36,519 --> 00:18:40,519 Sheila Jackson Lee and then Sylvester Turner. You know that's 372 00:18:40,599 --> 00:18:43,440 going to be somebody's gonna be elected to serve that 373 00:18:43,519 --> 00:18:46,799 district for one year and then who knows what's going 374 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:50,480 to happen to you know, where you live within that district, 375 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,559 you may have that new representative, you may have Al Green. 376 00:18:54,599 --> 00:18:56,160 I don't know if he runs in that district or 377 00:18:56,240 --> 00:18:59,519 you know what ends up happening. But that's that's a 378 00:18:59,559 --> 00:19:06,799 lot of turnover for those residents who've had the same 379 00:19:07,000 --> 00:19:09,519 leadership for quite a while and. 380 00:19:09,519 --> 00:19:14,000 Speaker 1: Like such a sort of historic district in so many ways. Matthew, 381 00:19:14,599 --> 00:19:16,400 I know you're dying to talk about it. What does 382 00:19:16,400 --> 00:19:18,519 this mean in terms of representation? 383 00:19:20,599 --> 00:19:23,519 Speaker 3: I mean, it's pretty I think it's pretty dark, right, 384 00:19:23,559 --> 00:19:28,480 I mean, this practice of it happening in both states, right, 385 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:31,799 you know, I think Democrats would argue, and they would 386 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:35,279 argue correctly, that Republicans have started this battle. But what 387 00:19:35,319 --> 00:19:37,519 it's going to mean is that in places Lake Texas, 388 00:19:37,640 --> 00:19:41,599 in places like California, people are going to have much 389 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:45,799 less of an opportunity to decide who represents them. Right, 390 00:19:45,880 --> 00:19:49,200 it's being determined ahead of time by politicians wanting to 391 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:53,000 preserve power and you know, strength of their party as 392 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,559 opposed to what our democracy is supposed to do, which 393 00:19:56,599 --> 00:20:00,599 is people are accountable to the voters. And really, you know, 394 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:04,000 if when you move the when you make the only 395 00:20:04,200 --> 00:20:07,680 primaries that matter are the only elections that matter the primaries. 396 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:09,599 And by the way, the primaries, as you mentioned, are 397 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:13,440 going to be super interesting and fun, yes, but it 398 00:20:13,559 --> 00:20:16,839 leads to a boring general election, which means essentially you're 399 00:20:16,880 --> 00:20:19,240 only accountable to the primary voters, who are a very 400 00:20:19,279 --> 00:20:23,880 tiny proportion of the electorate, and that skews everything. It 401 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:27,839 skews the incentive structure, right. The primary electorate often are 402 00:20:27,839 --> 00:20:31,720 more prone to these attention seeking behaviors that that you know, 403 00:20:31,759 --> 00:20:37,559 the hardcore in the parties seem to reward. And it 404 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:39,799 just doesn't seem to me like it sets up a 405 00:20:39,839 --> 00:20:44,559 great system for good governance, which you know, I think 406 00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:47,119 is supposed to be the goal here, but you know, 407 00:20:47,839 --> 00:20:49,960 it seems in a lot of ways we've sort of 408 00:20:50,519 --> 00:20:51,599 lost the plot. 409 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,079 Speaker 1: I mean, certainly I think these like and again it 410 00:20:54,240 --> 00:20:57,599 happens we've like created this bad system across the country. 411 00:20:57,680 --> 00:20:59,039 I mean, there are some states that are sort of 412 00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:02,240 doing this better and have you know, non parson commissions 413 00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:04,680 and things like that, but generally our system is like 414 00:21:05,839 --> 00:21:08,519 a race to the bottom, and like your only most 415 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,000 candidate's only real threat is from someone more extreme within 416 00:21:13,039 --> 00:21:16,079 their own party, and that's and in I mean all 417 00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:17,680 these districts that they've drawn, and this has been the 418 00:21:17,720 --> 00:21:20,440 case for a long time, even whether they're blue or red. 419 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:23,839 Districts can be one almost entirely by appealing to one party, 420 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:26,119 which means like there's no even putting aside like the 421 00:21:26,119 --> 00:21:29,000 primaries or whatever, but there's no like need to do 422 00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:33,480 consensus building or coalition building or like even just like 423 00:21:33,519 --> 00:21:36,480 the political work of like persuading someone to believe your 424 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:39,240 vers like that your view of the world matters, like 425 00:21:39,279 --> 00:21:44,039 you can just mostly assuming you appease your base sale 426 00:21:44,079 --> 00:21:44,319 to a. 427 00:21:44,359 --> 00:21:48,799 Speaker 3: Victory, right exactly, and so your your only focus becomes 428 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:52,200 appeas of your base, so that you don't you know, 429 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:55,000 get that right, get that challenge right? 430 00:21:55,079 --> 00:22:01,920 Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, it's not great. There's another side show happening 431 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,799 in Texas right now that is similarly about representation in 432 00:22:04,799 --> 00:22:08,519 some ways, Renzo, this is your time to shine. What 433 00:22:08,720 --> 00:22:10,400 if you had to summarize in two minutes what is 434 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,000 going on with the start by what is the SRAC, 435 00:22:13,279 --> 00:22:14,160 and what is going on? 436 00:22:15,799 --> 00:22:17,759 Speaker 2: TuS up for that? But can you do? Yeah under 437 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:19,000 started star. 438 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:23,079 Speaker 6: So the first question was what is the SRAC. That's 439 00:22:23,079 --> 00:22:26,240 the State Republican Executive Committee. It's basically the governing board 440 00:22:26,359 --> 00:22:30,480 of the Texas GOP. And back in twenty twenty four, 441 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,640 I guess a little over a year ago now, at 442 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,559 the state convention, they adopted not they being the SRAC, 443 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,440 but the Texas GOP convention, a whole bunch of delegates. 444 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:42,640 Speaker 2: This is like thousands of people. 445 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:47,279 Speaker 6: They adopted this rule that says that no, if you 446 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:50,839 are censured under a certain process where you commit you know, 447 00:22:51,079 --> 00:22:56,160 three strikes against the legislative priorities or parts of the 448 00:22:56,359 --> 00:23:01,720 party principles, then you could be it for censure and 449 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:07,039 even removal from the primary ballot. And that has got 450 00:23:07,079 --> 00:23:10,920 a lot of people concerned, and you know what the 451 00:23:10,960 --> 00:23:14,440 Texas GOP may be trying to do here. I think 452 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:19,039 that you have to remember that this started immediately after 453 00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:25,519 the you know, the Ken Paxton impeachment. After the primaries. 454 00:23:25,559 --> 00:23:31,559 I think there's a lot of anxiety within the you know, 455 00:23:31,599 --> 00:23:36,119 the GOP primary base that their house, the State House 456 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:40,839 was not going to be as conservative as I think 457 00:23:40,880 --> 00:23:45,319 it ended up being. And so you had this campaign 458 00:23:47,079 --> 00:23:52,000 to try to hold House members accountable. And that has 459 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:56,519 carried over until now where people are kind of happy 460 00:23:56,519 --> 00:23:59,000 with what Burrows is doing and his leadership. 461 00:24:00,240 --> 00:24:00,559 Speaker 1: And all. 462 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:02,880 Speaker 6: And so you have this whole framework that's been in 463 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:07,599 place in this whole movement, Like the train was already 464 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:11,519 rolling on this, and so it's kind of gotten to 465 00:24:11,519 --> 00:24:16,319 the point now where you have the the State Republican 466 00:24:16,359 --> 00:24:20,000 Executive Committee. They not have this process that they've outlined, 467 00:24:20,039 --> 00:24:22,319 and yes, they want to hold members accountable, but like, 468 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:24,039 we don't actually. 469 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:25,799 Speaker 2: Want to boot people from the ballot. 470 00:24:25,839 --> 00:24:28,039 Speaker 1: They don't want to own and like start and also 471 00:24:28,079 --> 00:24:31,000 I assume start a giant legal process of or like 472 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,640 some legal blowback of can you remove someone from the ballot? 473 00:24:34,599 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 6: It would come from that, yes, and you know, millions 474 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:42,720 of dollars and defending that yes. So in the state 475 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:44,440 party already being kind of broke. 476 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:46,359 Speaker 1: You know, sure, right, that's very good summary. 477 00:24:46,480 --> 00:24:48,960 Speaker 6: Yeah, well I haven't even gotten into what happened most recently. 478 00:24:50,480 --> 00:24:52,319 Speaker 1: Yes, now two minutes again. 479 00:24:52,440 --> 00:25:01,079 Speaker 6: Yeah, So, for the first time in this whole reforming 480 00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:03,559 of the Texas GOP that you've had in the past 481 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:07,920 few years, they decided that they're going to have this 482 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:12,440 Legislative Task Force report that was going to be basically 483 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:14,319 a scorecard of the session, like what were the good 484 00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:15,319 things that members did? 485 00:25:15,319 --> 00:25:16,319 Speaker 2: What were the bad things? 486 00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:20,000 Speaker 6: And the subtext throughout all this was that the list 487 00:25:20,039 --> 00:25:23,440 of bad things are going to be the central offenses, 488 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:30,519 and so you had it was months long process to research. 489 00:25:30,559 --> 00:25:33,640 They were going through the House journals, they were going 490 00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:37,519 through public statements that members had made, and you had 491 00:25:37,519 --> 00:25:40,680 this segment of the sor rec that was really trying 492 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:44,720 to create this list of every single thing that was 493 00:25:44,759 --> 00:25:47,799 done wrong. And then you had this other segment that 494 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:51,160 is that had been kind of more like, hey, these 495 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,640 are our friends, like they've been playing along. 496 00:25:56,119 --> 00:25:57,960 Speaker 2: House calendars Committee Chair Todd Hunter. 497 00:25:58,039 --> 00:26:01,559 Speaker 6: He doesn't have to help us, but he's been helping us. 498 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,079 And so there's kind of this like split brand thing 499 00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:08,279 that's been going on within the SEC. And I think 500 00:26:08,319 --> 00:26:12,920 what ended up happening this past weekend was they had 501 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:14,920 added in a few extra. 502 00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:18,400 Speaker 2: Strikes in the. 503 00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:22,680 Speaker 6: Report and that by doing that, they ended up roping 504 00:26:22,799 --> 00:26:29,000 almost half of the the GOP caucus into potential censer 505 00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:29,799 territory and. 506 00:26:29,720 --> 00:26:32,319 Speaker 1: Potentially being removed, not being allout to run again. Essentially. 507 00:26:32,559 --> 00:26:35,960 Speaker 6: Yeah, so that happened. I think everybody freaked out. They're like, 508 00:26:36,000 --> 00:26:38,240 maybe we should pump the brakes on this. They delayed 509 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,279 the report by an extra week, they gave members a 510 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:44,680 chance to respond, and in those responses, there were some 511 00:26:44,720 --> 00:26:47,839 of those items that they've targeted, be like, hey, you 512 00:26:47,839 --> 00:26:52,079 should back off on this, and ultimately they did back off. 513 00:26:52,559 --> 00:26:54,680 It took a they had to revote. 514 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:55,519 Speaker 2: On one of them. 515 00:26:55,559 --> 00:26:58,759 Speaker 6: I won't get into what happened there, but they voted 516 00:26:58,759 --> 00:27:00,200 one way and then they came back to the next stay 517 00:27:00,279 --> 00:27:03,839 voted the other way. And by the end of it, 518 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:08,000 you ended up with only Ken King, how State Affairs 519 00:27:08,039 --> 00:27:12,039 Committee chair with like over a dozen centrable offenses and 520 00:27:12,079 --> 00:27:15,759 those are mostly for holding up GOP priorities and the 521 00:27:15,759 --> 00:27:18,680 State Affairs Committee, which is like been the bottleneck that 522 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:22,720 has kind of always been the bottleneck, right. And you 523 00:27:22,799 --> 00:27:26,480 also had a former Speaker Dave Feelin, you know, getting 524 00:27:26,480 --> 00:27:31,400 three strikes, and you had Senator Robert Nichols getting five 525 00:27:31,519 --> 00:27:35,000 or six strikes, but he's already retiring. Yeah, so you 526 00:27:35,079 --> 00:27:37,680 kind of ended up with like, oh, well, now all that, 527 00:27:37,839 --> 00:27:40,200 who is going to get centered. 528 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:41,519 Speaker 1: And like, are we even going to see this through 529 00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:44,960 for those two right, like are Feeling and King and 530 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:46,480 really try to strip them from the ballot. Is that 531 00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:48,640 like going to end up even happening. 532 00:27:50,160 --> 00:27:51,119 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's. 533 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:54,200 Speaker 6: Like the they could try to remove them from the ballot, 534 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:56,559 but that's like the most extreme option, that is the 535 00:27:57,200 --> 00:27:59,359 upper bounds of what the SRAC could. 536 00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:00,759 Speaker 1: So they might just give him a slap on the 537 00:28:00,759 --> 00:28:01,480 wrist and be like. 538 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:03,319 Speaker 6: And they would only do that if the county parties 539 00:28:03,319 --> 00:28:05,480 asked them to. Okay, So for all. 540 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:10,039 Speaker 1: This like there, I mean it is it's like the Democrats. 541 00:28:10,079 --> 00:28:12,000 Of course, I have spent a lot of the last 542 00:28:12,079 --> 00:28:14,559 couple of weeks being like bemoaning their lack of options 543 00:28:14,640 --> 00:28:18,119 and like the challenges being the minority party Republicans proving 544 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:21,400 you can make even being the majority party very complicated 545 00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:23,960 and hard and not that fun. Like they're like really 546 00:28:24,759 --> 00:28:27,240 trying to start this internal war against each other that 547 00:28:27,279 --> 00:28:30,079 they don't nobody even seems to really want. 548 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:33,000 Speaker 6: Yeah, and I think what you saw a couple of 549 00:28:33,039 --> 00:28:36,079 weeks ago where the SRAC was coming to town to 550 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:38,400 have this meeting where they were going to adopt this report, 551 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:42,079 and then they ended up going to the governor's mansion 552 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:45,079 and they met with Dustin Burss. That's the first time 553 00:28:45,079 --> 00:28:47,960 they had met with the speaker, and he was there, 554 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:51,400 Todd Hunter, I mentioned the Coulendar's committee chair. 555 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:51,920 Speaker 2: He was there. 556 00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:57,960 Speaker 6: Mitch Little, a freshman representative who has kind of been 557 00:28:57,960 --> 00:29:03,160 an anti leadership force but also now has been a 558 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:06,000 little bit complimentary of what Burrows has been doing. You know, 559 00:29:06,119 --> 00:29:09,960 he was there, So I think that's that gives you 560 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:14,119 a good picture of where the state of the Texas 561 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:18,440 GOP is at right now, given the quorum break and 562 00:29:18,519 --> 00:29:21,920 everything else, that has kind of helped put internal stuff aside. 563 00:29:22,039 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: Well, that's what I was going to ask in cale 564 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:25,440 maybe have a sense of this from Republicans, like how 565 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:29,480 much has this quorum break served to unify Republicans. 566 00:29:29,759 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 5: I think it has absolutely unified Republicans. I talked to 567 00:29:34,240 --> 00:29:36,960 Tony Tinderholt and Tom Olivers in yesterday and they're like, 568 00:29:37,559 --> 00:29:39,519 Democrats have done a great job of getting us all 569 00:29:39,559 --> 00:29:41,920 on the same page. They were both like, yeah, we've 570 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,319 both been you know, sort of in the anti leadership contingent. 571 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,960 We've had disagreements with Speaker Burroughs. But they both really 572 00:29:48,960 --> 00:29:51,720 commended the way that Burrows handled this. I asked if 573 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:53,599 there was a speaker's race today there like he would 574 00:29:53,640 --> 00:29:57,920 get the entire Republican caucus. And the other thing they 575 00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,279 mentioned in terms of sort of what run to have 576 00:30:00,519 --> 00:30:03,960 alluded to earlier was, you know, they're absolutely determined to 577 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:05,839 pass every single thing on the call and then some 578 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:07,559 more which Speaker Burrows. 579 00:30:07,279 --> 00:30:07,920 Speaker 4: Had also. 580 00:30:09,559 --> 00:30:12,799 Speaker 5: Sort of said I think last week, and you know, 581 00:30:12,839 --> 00:30:15,680 they were like if Democrats had any leverage going into 582 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:18,799 the first special session or any like seat at the table, 583 00:30:19,319 --> 00:30:22,880 they don't anymore. And so I think Republican Republicans are 584 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:25,519 very much on the same page now in opposition to 585 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:26,680 the Corn Break. 586 00:30:27,319 --> 00:30:29,400 Speaker 3: It's pretty amazing what Burrows has done. I mean, I 587 00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:31,960 feel like I've said this multiple times on this show 588 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:36,519 over the months, but but to go from being sort 589 00:30:36,519 --> 00:30:42,920 of the representative of that loathed leadership faction in the House, 590 00:30:43,880 --> 00:30:46,759 something that like multiple speakers have not been able to 591 00:30:46,759 --> 00:30:49,640 sort of shake off and face that sort of intense blowback, 592 00:30:50,079 --> 00:30:53,640 you know, session after session after session. Do you have 593 00:30:53,839 --> 00:30:58,519 kind of flipped this in one session from highly controversial 594 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:01,559 like was his you know, know, ascension to speaker even 595 00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:06,920 legitimate under the House Caucus rules, to where he stands 596 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:10,799 now where you say it's essentially unanimous in support. You 597 00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,319 just kind of have to tip your hat. I don't 598 00:31:14,319 --> 00:31:18,480 think I thought it was possible to have pulled that off, 599 00:31:18,599 --> 00:31:21,880 and it seems, at least for now that he has. 600 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: That's what I was gonna say they're a fickle butch 601 00:31:24,440 --> 00:31:26,960 you know, politicians writ large, so you know, it's a 602 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:28,079 long time till the next speakers. 603 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:30,240 Speaker 5: But at the same time, even though he's sort of 604 00:31:30,640 --> 00:31:33,839 consolidated his caucus behind him, I don't think we've seen 605 00:31:33,839 --> 00:31:38,079 Democrats sort of really condemn him either. You know, like 606 00:31:38,799 --> 00:31:41,119 even Ramon Romero yesterday was like, I don't blame Burrows 607 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:42,359 for any of this. You know, this is all on 608 00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:46,319 Governor Abbot's hands, and Burrows has even though he's been 609 00:31:46,359 --> 00:31:49,440 aggressive and harsh in trying to get Democrats back, which 610 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,119 is something that the Republicans have been you know, very 611 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:58,079 appreciative of and happy about, he's also, at least in 612 00:31:58,119 --> 00:32:00,839 my ears, sort of struck this tone of you know, 613 00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:03,640 the minority party always has a role to play in 614 00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:06,519 the House, you know, they always they have a right 615 00:32:06,599 --> 00:32:09,039 to you know, have their say, and but also like 616 00:32:09,079 --> 00:32:11,200 the majority is going to prevail. So you've seen him 617 00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,759 sort of manage to walk this fine line that hasn't 618 00:32:15,799 --> 00:32:19,880 seemed to make anyone really unhappy. In facts, like everyone 619 00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:20,960 seems pretty satisfied. 620 00:32:21,359 --> 00:32:23,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean even just like his excuse me, even 621 00:32:23,519 --> 00:32:25,240 though like his tone in the chamber has been like 622 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:28,160 through this whole thing has been like pretty like uh 623 00:32:29,039 --> 00:32:31,119 almost like I mean, amused is not the right word, 624 00:32:31,119 --> 00:32:32,960 but almost just like we're gonna get them back, guys. 625 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:35,119 Like it's i mean it's leadership in a sense, right, 626 00:32:35,200 --> 00:32:37,640 like what supports his politics or not, but like it's 627 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:40,480 like he's basically being like you guys can like scream 628 00:32:40,519 --> 00:32:43,400 and bang your you know, feet on the ground, and 629 00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:45,240 you guys can be so mad over here, and like 630 00:32:45,279 --> 00:32:46,680 I'm just like gonna be like we just got to 631 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:48,440 get quorum. We're just gonna do what we got to 632 00:32:48,480 --> 00:32:51,559 do to get quorum. Even now with this Nicole Collier thing, 633 00:32:51,599 --> 00:32:53,599 like you know, the name you're hearing flowing around is 634 00:32:53,599 --> 00:32:56,440 like Charlie Garren for you know, as the House chair 635 00:32:56,519 --> 00:32:59,160 of the House Administration Committee, like as the one who 636 00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,480 sort of is making calls. It's like, it's interesting that's 637 00:33:02,519 --> 00:33:03,440 not sticking to Burrows. 638 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:05,599 Speaker 3: I think it was one of y'all who kind of 639 00:33:05,640 --> 00:33:09,559 described Burrows's tone yesterday is I'm not mad, I'm just 640 00:33:09,559 --> 00:33:10,319 just disappointed. 641 00:33:11,119 --> 00:33:14,039 Speaker 2: I think that was that was a stuff on Twitter. 642 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,000 Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, but yeah, no, it's it's. 643 00:33:16,319 --> 00:33:18,359 Speaker 2: Work credits, Yeah, shout out to that stuff. 644 00:33:18,559 --> 00:33:21,440 Speaker 1: Yeah no, but It's true, it's just very like letting 645 00:33:21,480 --> 00:33:26,119 everyone else be like having the meltdowns kind of Yeah, 646 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:30,039 it's I'm sure, you know, he probably is feeling pretty 647 00:33:30,039 --> 00:33:31,960 good about how this is all played out. But again, 648 00:33:32,039 --> 00:33:34,599 it is a long time till the twenty twenty seven 649 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:41,039 speakers race, and god knows what can happen twenty twenty seven, 650 00:33:41,839 --> 00:33:43,960 we will have a whole other primary in them, or 651 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:45,759 a whole other congressional race in the middle of that. 652 00:33:45,799 --> 00:33:48,039 You know, our congressional delegation could look very different. 653 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:48,960 Speaker 2: We will have. 654 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,279 Speaker 1: Major statewide races, open primaries for the first time in 655 00:33:52,359 --> 00:33:57,480 several of those. Going to be an exciting stretch of politics. 656 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,400 Speaker 3: I'm really curious, and I don't expect any of y'all 657 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:04,039 to know the answer to this, because I don't think 658 00:34:04,039 --> 00:34:06,680 anyone knows the answer yet. But I'm really curious about 659 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:10,000 what this means for the long term with regard to 660 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,199 a dis routine, right, Like, is this a one time 661 00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:15,440 flash in the pan because Donald Trump told them to 662 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:17,800 do it, and nobody else really seemed like they wanted 663 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,599 to do it, and even California doesn't really seem like 664 00:34:20,639 --> 00:34:22,280 they want to do it, but they feel like they're 665 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:23,800 going to do it because the Republicans are doing it 666 00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:27,079 in Texas, and are we entering a new era where 667 00:34:27,639 --> 00:34:31,239 you know, states are manipulating their maps every two or 668 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:35,239 four years to try to upset the dynamic, or is 669 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:37,519 this going to be like a one time thing that 670 00:34:37,559 --> 00:34:39,199 we've moved beyond. 671 00:34:39,360 --> 00:34:41,920 Speaker 1: Fingers crossed for one time thing. I'm just gonna go 672 00:34:41,960 --> 00:34:45,280 ahead and put my vote in that camp. But I 673 00:34:45,320 --> 00:34:47,280 think I do think some of that depends on how 674 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:48,159 twenty twenty six goes. 675 00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:48,360 Speaker 2: Right. 676 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,119 Speaker 1: If this blows up in either party's face, but I 677 00:34:51,159 --> 00:34:54,800 think particularly the Republicans face, I think there will be 678 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:56,800 a lot more hesitancy to like embark on this again. 679 00:34:57,000 --> 00:34:59,800 Speaker 2: But one of the things that it is done. 680 00:35:00,320 --> 00:35:02,519 Speaker 3: We've talked about this in the past, right, is that 681 00:35:02,639 --> 00:35:05,880 the reason the Republicans drew the maps that were currently 682 00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:10,519 drawn was because of incumbent protection, right, And they've done 683 00:35:10,519 --> 00:35:12,880 a pretty good job of drawing maps that I think 684 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:16,000 for the that is going to allow them to safely 685 00:35:16,119 --> 00:35:19,320 gain seats in twenty twenty six. But what happens is 686 00:35:19,519 --> 00:35:23,559 over five to ten years, populations shift, and you know, 687 00:35:23,679 --> 00:35:26,519 suburbs pop up, and you know, all those different types 688 00:35:26,519 --> 00:35:30,159 of things and things that once looked safe get less safe. 689 00:35:30,239 --> 00:35:33,079 Particularly if you change the margin from a forty percentage 690 00:35:33,079 --> 00:35:35,719 point to a twenty percentage point, it's a narrower gap 691 00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:38,360 to go. So I don't think it's inconceivable that in 692 00:35:38,519 --> 00:35:41,960 twenty thirty, for instance, you know, some of these seats 693 00:35:41,960 --> 00:35:46,159 that they drew will become might become more competitive. And 694 00:35:46,639 --> 00:35:49,039 what do they do then? That's I think the question 695 00:35:49,159 --> 00:35:51,440 is do they just allow that to happen and say like, ah, 696 00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:53,239 these are the maps we drew, or do we end 697 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:55,400 up back in all the same place again. 698 00:35:55,599 --> 00:35:57,880 Speaker 1: Well, I mean they're constitutionally required to redraw the maps 699 00:35:57,880 --> 00:36:01,400 in twenty thirty one, right, right, So they definitely will 700 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:03,239 redraw it then, and it'll be interesting to see what 701 00:36:03,519 --> 00:36:05,760 lessons they've taken from this. 702 00:36:06,000 --> 00:36:07,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, that was. 703 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:08,679 Speaker 6: Basically the point I was going to make, is that 704 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:11,320 it's a shorter window that they have to worry about 705 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:13,920 the Dumby matter taken effect. 706 00:36:14,159 --> 00:36:15,840 Speaker 1: Even than two thousand and three when they did the 707 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:19,239 mid decade last time, then they had, you know, seven 708 00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:20,960 years to see how it played out. 709 00:36:21,400 --> 00:36:23,599 Speaker 5: But I think I've heard even from Republicans who are like, 710 00:36:23,639 --> 00:36:26,199 I mean, yeah, we have the margin in Texas and 711 00:36:26,239 --> 00:36:28,320 we've won enough in the past election to be able 712 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:30,320 to do this. Like, I don't know that I've heard 713 00:36:30,320 --> 00:36:33,239 anyone really describe it as a long term strategy. It's 714 00:36:33,239 --> 00:36:36,039 a short term keep a majority in the House in 715 00:36:36,079 --> 00:36:38,519 twenty twenty six, let Trump finish out his term, pass 716 00:36:38,599 --> 00:36:39,679 all the stuff he wants. 717 00:36:39,480 --> 00:36:43,400 Speaker 4: To pass, and then that I think people will. 718 00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:46,360 Speaker 5: Argue about whether that is generally popular, But if you're 719 00:36:46,400 --> 00:36:48,840 of the belief that it is, then that allows you to, 720 00:36:49,119 --> 00:36:51,400 you know, get Jade Vans into office after Trump and 721 00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:53,679 that sort of that is the long term goal is 722 00:36:53,679 --> 00:36:57,760 not necessarily to you know, continue padding the majority, but 723 00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:00,039 it's to set off this sort of domino. 724 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:02,400 Speaker 3: Ef Yeah, but there there was once a time where 725 00:37:02,599 --> 00:37:05,280 corn breaking was considered sort of the nuclear option, and 726 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:07,320 you'll do it. And now we're in this cycle where 727 00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:09,039 you know, it's like, oh, well you did in twenty 728 00:37:09,079 --> 00:37:10,719 twenty one, why don't you do it now? You know, 729 00:37:10,840 --> 00:37:13,559 And like it just sort of it feels like another 730 00:37:13,679 --> 00:37:15,679 kind of weapon has been placed on the table and 731 00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:17,199 like eventually someone's going to pick it up. 732 00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:22,559 Speaker 6: And I think what's fascinating is that nobody likes gerrymandering, right, 733 00:37:22,559 --> 00:37:25,599 But when you can say the other party's doing it. Yeah, 734 00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:27,679 then this is a defensive measure. 735 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:30,159 Speaker 2: Ye. People are all game for it. 736 00:37:30,119 --> 00:37:32,079 Speaker 1: Right, and it becomes a tool, like I mean the 737 00:37:32,159 --> 00:37:34,679 idea that like people have been sort of dangling this 738 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:36,719 out there, not of we're gonna yes, like, oh, we 739 00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:40,519 could redraw worst congressional maps for Democrats, which would endanger incumbents, 740 00:37:40,599 --> 00:37:43,159 but we could redraw house maps, we could redraw Senate maps. 741 00:37:43,159 --> 00:37:45,840 They have a lot more flexibility on that, like they can. 742 00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:48,920 There are these tools now on the table, and it's 743 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:50,920 like a loaded gun sitting in the middle of the table, 744 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:56,639 and uh really the only thing that would like, you know, 745 00:37:56,920 --> 00:37:58,679 sort of disable that is what we did see like 746 00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:02,440 after the Obama which is that Republicans did, which is 747 00:38:02,440 --> 00:38:06,239 like shift the dynamics of state houses. Right, Republicans control 748 00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:08,559 a lot of state houses that control a lot of maps. 749 00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:14,039 Democrats want to unload that gun win some seats in Texas. 750 00:38:14,239 --> 00:38:17,000 Speaker 2: Oh, that's gonna become a lot harder, you know. 751 00:38:17,679 --> 00:38:22,199 Speaker 1: Yeah in the Congress. Yeah, yeah, right, yes, exactly. All right, 752 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:25,119 Well that is it for this week's episode. Thank you 753 00:38:25,119 --> 00:38:28,000 guys so much for joining us. Renzo Kyla, We're gonna 754 00:38:28,159 --> 00:38:30,440 fore you guys back to the wilds of the Chambers. 755 00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:34,679 Uh see what Nicole Collier's up to. Matthew, thank you 756 00:38:34,760 --> 00:38:38,159 for braving the traffic to get here. Our producers are 757 00:38:38,239 --> 00:38:40,960 Rob and Chris. You can watch the trip cast on 758 00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,559 YouTube or get us wherever you get your podcasts, and 759 00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:46,239 we will be back next week.