WEBVTT 1 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:21.039 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 Is your mother, Bill Clinton? 6 00:00:32.520 --> 00:00:33.640 My mother is Bill Clinton? 7 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:34.520 Twist? 8 00:00:37.640 --> 00:00:40.439 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 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 Just sat in First day of School traffic. 17 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:07.879 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 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 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 Right? 33 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:45.599 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 Us, Thanks for having us. 45 00:02:17.199 --> 00:02:19.960 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 Kay Ready, set go June. 51 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:35.560 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 Nice. How do you do under sub two minutes? 75 00:03:58.039 --> 00:04:02.639 Amazing? You want to just talk about. 76 00:04:01.960 --> 00:04:07.000 Bill Clinton was born? Did I miss any major high points? 77 00:04:07.560 --> 00:04:07.759 You know? 78 00:04:07.879 --> 00:04:10.560 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 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 We all knew it was going to be. 94 00:04:51.879 --> 00:04:52.800 It seems likely. 95 00:04:53.560 --> 00:04:55.600 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 Yeah, he was. He always knows. 101 00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:10.879 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 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 I mean, the floor was pretty quick. 117 00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:05.879 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 Time for action. Let's get a move on. 120 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:13.319 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 Obviously not everyone. 128 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:36.199 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 I want to go home. 131 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:44.879 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 A representative from Fort Worth. 134 00:06:49.399 --> 00:06:54.279 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 Now? 207 00:10:30.840 --> 00:10:33.120 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 Okay, so it's time for me to ask the question. 221 00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:10.639 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 Well, I think that. 245 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:26.240 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 Uh. 251 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:44.600 And I also think that. 252 00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:50.759 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 You had. 255 00:12:54.480 --> 00:13:01.440 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 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 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 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 They they pulled together, I mean, and. 295 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:03.960 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 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 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 I think that's right. 320 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:10.519 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 You know, I don't. 324 00:16:16.759 --> 00:16:18.120 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 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 Yeah. 346 00:17:06.079 --> 00:17:10.400 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 Yeah, put them in an awkward position. 359 00:17:46.200 --> 00:17:51.039 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 Your thoughts on the weird fights we're going to see. 370 00:18:32.359 --> 00:18:36.400 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 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 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