Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / GOP 'divide and conquer' culture war strategy meets its match in Talarico campaign

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GOP 'divide and conquer' culture war strategy meets its match in Talarico campaign · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Back with That's Live on set is Texas State Representative
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  Speaker 1: James Tallerico. He's the Democratic Party's nominee for the open
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  Speaker 1: Senate seat in Texas this year. Representative Talrico, thank you
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  Speaker 1: again for being here, Thanks for having me. Critics have
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  Speaker 1: argued that one of the things that makes you unelectable
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  Speaker 1: in Texas is the reason that you can't win in
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  Speaker 1: Texas is because you have been empathetic toward and voiced
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  Speaker 1: support for trans people, that you have not been willing
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  Speaker 1: to join in in the demonization of trans people that
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  Speaker 1: motivates so many candidates right now, and that the Republican
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  Speaker 1: Party has relied on so heavily in general election campaigns.
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  Speaker 1: What's your response to that.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't think we win by selling people out,
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  Speaker 2: and we're refusing to do that in this campaign. This
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  Speaker 2: is a campaign of buy and for all Texans, and
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  Speaker 2: I think people are really tired of these culture works
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  Speaker 2: fights that are designed to tear us apart, designed to
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  Speaker 2: get us angry. I mean, there are difficult issues trying
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  Speaker 2: to figure out trans athletes in sports. That's an issue
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  Speaker 2: where we could actually come to a policy solution, but
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  Speaker 2: instead politicians like Ken Paxton They use those difficult issues
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  Speaker 2: to rile people up, to divide us, to distract us,
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  Speaker 2: in order to win power for themselves. I mean, it's
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  Speaker 2: divide and conquer. It's the oldest strategy in the world.
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  Speaker 2: And so what we're trying to do in this campaign
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  Speaker 2: is bring people together. I've said that the most radical
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  Speaker 2: thing you can do in an era of division is
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  Speaker 2: unite people. And we're not going to win with the
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  Speaker 2: politics of division. We can't win that game. We have
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  Speaker 2: to change the game. And I think what's exciting about
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  Speaker 2: this campaign is so many people are hungry for that
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  Speaker 2: kind of politics of union, of friendship, of love, and
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  Speaker 2: people have been so starved of it for so long now.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, we've seen what a politics of fear looks like,
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  Speaker 2: We've seen what the politics of anger and rage looks like.
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  Speaker 2: It's been a while since politics has made us feel
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  Speaker 2: hopeful or excited about the future, or brings us together
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  Speaker 2: and creates community. And I think that's what we're building
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  Speaker 2: in Texas.
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  Speaker 1: In the selection, well, you had a very difficult, very
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  Speaker 1: hard fought primary to get this nomination against Congresom and
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  Speaker 1: Jasmine Crockett, and that was a very racially striated result,
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  Speaker 1: she had a lot of support from Black Texans and
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  Speaker 1: you did not. I mean, Texas has more African American
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  Speaker 1: residents than any other state in the country. Black Democrats
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  Speaker 1: are absolutely the backbone of the Texas State Democratic Party.
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  Speaker 1: What are you doing to repair any remaining bitterness from
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  Speaker 1: that campaign, to reach Black Texans to convince them that
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  Speaker 1: you're their candidate too.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to pick up on something you just said.
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  Speaker 2: When I win this seat as the next US Senator
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  Speaker 2: from Texas, I'll represent the most African Americans of any
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  Speaker 2: senator in the state in the country. And that work
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  Speaker 2: of representing Black Texans starts now. It doesn't start the
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  Speaker 2: day after the election. And so I've been traveling the
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  Speaker 2: whole state. I've been convening private conversations with black business
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  Speaker 2: leaders and elected officials and community leaders and faith leaders.
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  Speaker 2: I've been visiting black churches and black owned businesses, appearing
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  Speaker 2: on black media throughout the state, particularly our local Dallas
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  Speaker 2: Weekly and Houston Defender, but also podcasts and YouTube shows
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  Speaker 2: where folks are now getting their information in their news.
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  Speaker 2: And I've been rolling out policy proposals based on all
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  Speaker 2: these conversations that can meet the needs of black Texans. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: there are issues that we all face, right the rising
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  Speaker 2: cost of groceries and gas, and housing and childcare and
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  Speaker 2: prescription drugs, and in there are issues that Black Texans
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  Speaker 2: face uniquely. And you think about the maternal mortality crisis
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  Speaker 2: in our state that is three times deadlier for black women.
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  Speaker 2: Harris County, home to Houston is it's the deadliest place
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  Speaker 2: for a black woman to give birth in the entire country.
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  Speaker 2: And so we've rolled out a comprehensive plan to combat
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  Speaker 2: that crisis. We've been visiting our HBCUs into a town
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  Speaker 2: hall at Prairie View and then gave the commencement address
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  Speaker 2: at Paul Quinn College in Dallas, the oldest HBCU. We've
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  Speaker 2: been talking about how to bring HBCU funding up to
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  Speaker 2: parody because there's a gap in funding between our historically
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  Speaker 2: black colleges and universities and similar institutions with a similar
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  Speaker 2: percentage of low income students. And imagine if we actually
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  Speaker 2: closed that gap what our HBCUs in Texas could do.
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  Speaker 2: And then we already talked about voting rights. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: we have seen the most aggressive attack on black political
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  Speaker 2: power since Jim Crow cutting of the voting Rights Act,
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  Speaker 2: these racist redistricting maps, and I think the first thing
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  Speaker 2: that we have to do, to your point earlier, when
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  Speaker 2: we win a Senate majority, our first priority before we
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  Speaker 2: get to housing and healthcare and education, has to be
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  Speaker 2: passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and guaranteeing that
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  Speaker 2: all of our neighbors, particularly our black and brown neighbors,
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  Speaker 2: can access their God given rights at the ballot box.
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  Speaker 1: Well, last question I want to ask you about, even
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  Speaker 1: though I've just been told for out of time, no, no, forget,
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  Speaker 1: I'm breaking the rules.
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  Speaker 2: Up, it's your show.
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  Speaker 1: One of the sort of one of the things that
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  Speaker 1: I came across and prepping for today's show was interesting
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  Speaker 1: images out of San Antonio from just a few days
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  Speaker 1: ago Friday, in San Antonio, where I know you were
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  Speaker 1: middle school teacher at the very beginning of your career,
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  Speaker 1: people protesting there against ice detention facilities, immigrant prisons. A
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  Speaker 1: group of Democratic Texas members of Congress recently toward Dilly,
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  Speaker 1: the Family Detention Center in South Texas, and what they
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  Speaker 1: found there was shocking in terms of the conditions in
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  Speaker 1: which people were held, but they also found things that
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  Speaker 1: were just shocking. Categorically, they said that the youngest person
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  Speaker 1: they found incarcerated there was two months old. Should Dilly
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  Speaker 1: be shut down?
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  Speaker 2: You know, my friend and colleague, Congressman Joaquin Castro, has
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  Speaker 2: done a lot of work on this, and he's telling
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  Speaker 2: me about the human rights abuses that are happening at Dilly.
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  Speaker 2: It has to end, and that can't be on our watch.
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  Speaker 2: And this is not the last time, the first time
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  Speaker 2: that we've seen a baby, an infant being treated this
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  Speaker 2: way in Dilli. I am sick to my stomach seeing
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  Speaker 2: the abuses that have been committed against our undocumented neighbors
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  Speaker 2: in Texas and all over this country. You mentioned that
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  Speaker 2: I was a teacher on the west side of San Antonio.
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  Speaker 2: I taught a lot of undocumented students. In Houston, we
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  Speaker 2: saw ice murder. Lorenzo Salgado, our fellow Texan who had
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  Speaker 2: lived in Houston for thirty five years and as a
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  Speaker 2: construction worker. He sent his three boys to college. His
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  Speaker 2: oldest is a public school teacher, his middle son's an engineer,
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  Speaker 2: his youngest is still in school. I mean, Lorenzo Salgado
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  Speaker 2: embodied the American dream and the fact that we are
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  Speaker 2: spending our limited law enforcement resources on Lorenzo Salgado on
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  Speaker 2: a two month old Those are law enforcement resources that
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  Speaker 2: aren't going to actual immigration and customs enforcement. Those resources
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  Speaker 2: aren't going to keeping us safe and removing people who
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  Speaker 2: actually mean to do us harm, which we should do. Instead,
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  Speaker 2: those resources are going to massed men and unmarked vehicles
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  Speaker 2: that are terrorizing our communities all of the state. They're
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  Speaker 2: going to these detention centers like Dilly, and I think
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  Speaker 2: we need a senator from Texas who is going to
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  Speaker 2: hold Ice accountable, who's going to end these human rights
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  Speaker 2: abuses in these facilities, and who's going to fight for
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  Speaker 2: comprehensive immigration reform finally, so we can stop grandstanding on
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  Speaker 2: this issue and actually fix it.
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  Speaker 1: Texas State Representative James Tallerico is the Democratic Party's nominee
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  Speaker 1: for the open US Senate seat in Texas this year.
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  Speaker 1: It's really nice to meet you. I'm glad to have
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  Speaker 1: a chance to talk to you this way. Coming back
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  Speaker 1: you good luck, Thank you,