Latest / Breaking The Meta / Texas Town Got a Data Center. Then Rent Exploded.
Transcript
- Mike Winson: Hello and welcome to Breaking the Meadow. My name is Mike Quinson. Today we are sitting down with Diana Luna, who is running for House District 71 in the never get out of our faces, some reason state of Texas. Diana Luna For Hd71: Yeah. Mike Winson: You somehow you guys are always in the news, but that's okay. Hopefully, Diana Luna For Hd71: Yeah. Mike Winson: you'll be in the news for better reasons come November. Diana Luna For Hd71: I hope so. Yeah, I'm actually tired of my specific reason my specific region being in the news. so it would be great to just go back to security. Mike Winson: Yeah. Yeah. well, welcome. Thank you for being here. And I look forward to talking to you. Diana Luna For Hd71: Thank you for having me. I'm always down to speak to like I think an area where we don't really get to on the campaign trail, I don't really get to talk to more, I guess like like you say breaking the meta, like more in-depth conversations. It's always like flash conversations. So it's always nice to just sit Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: down and really get into things. Mike Winson: Sure. Yeah. well, to start out, for people that may not know Texas, which is obviously a lot of people, where Diana Luna For Hd71: Mm. Mike Winson: where is District 71 in Texas? Diana Luna For Hd71: So I'm in West Texas. if you are driving west of Dallas Fort Worth on I-20, you are going to hit my region essentially right after you get out of the Metroplex, you're going to hit District 71. So the main town is Abilene, Texas. So that's the city of about 150,000 people. but it's the rural parts of Texas where they're building all the data centers. That's my district. Mike Winson: That's awesome. Politics today is very wild. Let's let's go with wild. I think wild is as Diana Luna For Hd71: Yeah. Mike Winson: good of a description as ever. and it's not something that probably most people are willing to to jump in and do. What made you decide I'm gonna run for office in 2026? Diana Luna For Hd71: Well, funny enough, I did not want to run for office in 2026. I was one of the people that was actively recruiting someone to run for this office. I knew it was important for somebody to run for this Mike Winson: Mm. Diana Luna For Hd71: office. I've been on the ground doing a lot of organizing. I've block walk, knock doors. I have been kind of in the organizer space for a really long time. I created a mom group. for in this really deep red part of Texas, for women who believed that COVID wasn't a hoax, a hoax, and wanted to exchange information during that time. and that group kind of group blew up into this activist organizer space where we have had even flipped a few local elections, just getting out the vote. It grew into like what we thought was gonna be like 20 women strong to like a thousand women strong. And in this rural part of Texas, that's a significant number. It's enough to flip a local election. so we were active after SB2 passed, obviously that's a very it's the voucher bill. after that passed, we were actively looking for somebody to run for statewide rep. and my name just kept getting thrown out there. and I said no several times because Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: I've worked for candidates before. I know. First of all, what it's like to lose your privacy, Mike Winson: Mm. Diana Luna For Hd71: and how hard that can be for people because that's essentially what you're doing. even though if you're a good candidate, you're speaking for your region, but you are sacrificing your privacy to do it. and I have children. I have a very close circle of friends. I never wanted any negative impacts of me being out in the community to follow my kids. but they then asked Wendy Davis to come out here and have lunch with me. And she was a representative and a legislator. she filibustered for like 16 hours and actually a hero of mine. And she said, I've looked at your demographics. I've looked at what you can do and what you're already doing. You have a real shot at this. and if I were you, I'd at least consider it. And you know, when somebody that's a hero of yours tells you just For real, think about it. We're for real asking Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: you. I went home, I talked to my husband and I even being in the game as long as I've been, I had no idea what was coming for me, but I said yes. So it was not an easy decision to come to by any stretch of the imagination, and I question it every single day. Mike Winson: Yeah. How how has your family reacted so far since you decided to put like how has it been for your family since you decided to put your foot in and actually run for this office? Diana Luna For Hd71: it's I think it's just a two-sided coin. My kids love being in those rooms where the high level things are being discussed, funny enough. my 12 year old got to see Bernie Sanders this summer and got to Mike Winson: Hey Diana Luna For Hd71: meet James James Talerico several times and has gotten to volunteer for Powered by People, which is Beto's Pack and Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: You know, and she loves that. She wants to be in the midst. She gets a meet the young Democrats in Texas who are, you know, have their own agenda of what they want from their legislators. And I love that she's politically active. Mike Winson: Mm. Diana Luna For Hd71: but then on the same side, they get less time with me. And that so every moment that we do get together, it just feels like you're kind of grasping at sand because Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: it's just fleeting so fast. I think my husband's probably the one that's had the hardest time. He's a super introvert. he is a Mike Winson: yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: yeah, introvert like PC gamer, like Mike Winson: Yep. Yep. Diana Luna For Hd71: analyst, analytical guy that he's just like, You you want me to go and meet how many people today? Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: And you know, he's like, I just wanna, you know, go home. So he's Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: had a pretty hard time with it, but we've tried to like block off in my schedule just time to just be at home together as a family. Mike Winson: Well, that's good. Texas is no stranger to issues, especially in the last couple of years, especially. As Diana Luna For Hd71: Yeah. Mike Winson: you are going around your district and talking to different people, what are the common, what are the common threads of of of what they're telling you that they want you to do in office when you win? Diana Luna For Hd71: So my home, my hometown is where they're building Stargate Data Center Project. that is the yeah, hyperscale data center project. And I actually didn't come into this race to talk about data centers. I didn't, I anticipated it was going to be the forefront of of the conversation a year ago. Mike Winson: Mm-hmm. Diana Luna For Hd71: Actually, when I was talking to Progress Texas a year ago when I l I launched, they were like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, and then this summer they're like, You were talking about this before anybody else. I was like, Yeah, I kind of saw that this was going to be a big issue because very early on I had people showing up to our office going, hey, they're building this data center and now all of a sudden my rent just went up $300. And then they're saying that in the next six months they're gonna raise the rent again because they need to house a data center workers. So they are the data centers calling home property owners And saying, hey, if you will just not renew that lease, we will actually double the rent if you'll just rent it to us instead. and so that began right away. And so if you just think Mike Winson: my. Diana Luna For Hd71: two steps ahead, you think, this is gonna cause major problems down the road. And it went from traffic problems to a major homelessness crisis within about six months. so very quickly. affordability was already at the top and then it just took over. So the conversation over and over again actually is we feel powerless against corruption. we feel powerless in our own communities. and what are you gonna do about it? so really the in Texas, nobody cares about democratic socialist or whatever the heck you're calling you yourself. People care about the real problems and what are you gonna do about it. Mike Winson: And have you noticed that when you have conversations with someone who has been historically a Republican, that they have been more open to listening to you and even considering voting for you in a way that they may not have, you know, three or four years ago? Diana Luna For Hd71: Yeah, so I think one of the major things that Democrats in general get wrong about Republicans, especially Texas Republicans, is that Republican was really a cultural stance. It's not really just your political stance. So when you're asking somebody to break away from voting Republican for the first time, probably in their entire life, you're asking them to question their entire identity. You're asking them to question their religious upbringing and some respects because it's so tied to everything. and so people wonder like why can't they see this person is so corrupt and so this or so that. But it just takes one person in that community of faith or of that community of people that you know to say, hey, I'm voting Democrat or hey, I actually think that these people have something to say. And that's Mike Winson: Mm. Diana Luna For Hd71: where a lot of the Republican interest has come from is because I've been a member of this community for a long time. I was raised in those conservative spaces. And it takes one friend or somebody's Mima that knows me or something like that to be like, no, I know Diana. She isn't this crazy radical person. And then those people start to show up and they trust you. they trust me not because I'm a Democrat, they trust me because I'm their neighbor. And so a big part of my campaign has just been showing up in rooms that I expect people to hate me because I'm running with a Democrat next to my name. Mike Winson: Right. Diana Luna For Hd71: but sitting down and actually talking to people and not telling them who I am, but asking them what's going on with what would actually bring you out to an event to talk to me. Like what's going on? And get rid of that. And so yeah, and that's been it's been actually the reception has been great. there are a lot of people that are very unhappy because that national those national politics really come home to roost here in West Texas. Mike Winson: Yeah. I think one of the other issues that you hear a lot nationwide, and I think it crosses the aisle, Republican, Democrat, Conservative, Progressive, is this idea of accountability or the lack thereof when it comes to our representatives. What does accountability mean to you? What does being held accountable by your constituents look like to you? Diana Luna For Hd71: First of all, it's being brave enough to face my constituents. one of my biggest issues with literally every Republican from city council all the way up in Texas is they won't show up to actual public forums. constituents Mike Winson: Mm. Diana Luna For Hd71: will call forums specifically about the data centers and they have like whipping boys that they send out that are no longer elected in office that will show up maybe. or they just won't show up. And these are Republican areas, like deep red areas. And they will not show up to meet their constituents. Instead, it's I get yelled at, funny enough, for a lot of the problems in our current Texas government. and I'm not elected official, but I'm the only person that's showing up. me and Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: like Kyle Rabel and Riley Rodriguez, we're like, we'll go, we'll go and hear you out, and we'll go and tell you what are the levers of Texas government. That we can actually use to rein in the corruption in Texas. but they're going expecting their representatives to show up and they're not. Even if they've RSVP that they will, they just don't show up. and so first of all, it's being able to show up and face your constituents. you should be afraid of your constituents because this government is our government. We pay their salaries, they work for us, and so they should be accountable to us. but also realizing that there are a lot of things that have been exploited and broken and that we do need to get in and fix it. building community and showing people that you actually have to participate in democracy. It doesn't just say a democracy. You have to go to those boring city council meetings, you have to go to those school board meetings, you have to go to those county commissioner meetings. democracy, it takes everyone and it's exhausting. but that is what accountabil that's how you hold people accountable. But for so long out here, nobody's done the work to maintain this democracy and now here we are. Mike Winson: Texas has been in the news recently, especially over the last, you know, six, eight months, with doing a whole host of pretty, I would consider unethical things, specifically in regards to access to voting in in your state. even more recently, it came out that. I can't remember the county off the top of my head, but one of the counties in your state has reduced the number of voting voting places by ninety-two in one of the largest counties in your state. Diana Luna For Hd71: Yeah, that was in Tarrant County. Yeah. Mike Winson: That's it. Yeah. what how what would you like to do? voting has always been a struggle, it feels like, in Texas. You guys have some probably the second third or second or third most people in in the entire country in your state, but the amount of people that don't come out and vote in your state is also extremely large. What What would you like to do? How would you like to help your state get out and vote more when you get in office? How would you like to use your position as legislature to help in that? Diana Luna For Hd71: the main things that I hear from people that move here from out of state is that they don't realize that we don't have same day voter registration, which means you can have you've moved to Texas, you switched over all of your stuff to Texas, and then you show up to the polls and you're not registered. And you can't just register there because you have your driver's license, you have everything that you need to be able to register there. You can't do that. Mike Winson: Mm. Diana Luna For Hd71: So same day voter registration and automatic voter registration for those who turn 18, that's another group that we're not capturing. because here in Texas, when you go in to get your permit at 16, you don't actually have to come back at 18 to renew your driver's license, which is when you can register to vote. And so if you're 16 Mike Winson: Mm. Diana Luna For Hd71: and don't consciously, when you turn 18, go to a VDR, go up to the county clerk's office, or go to the DMV to register to vote, you don't you're not registered to vote. So the we have a lot of 18-year-olds that aren't on the rolls. but the most important thing is that elections are held. on a county level. we need to make sure that our county clerks' offices have the resources that they need to be able to get people on the rolls. They don't have the budgets, they don't have the personnel that they need. And constantly our Secretary of State is tinkering with things that make their job much harder. I know I have full faith in our county officials. They are fantastic and they do a great job. But every year they're also at a loss for poll workers. And they're calling anybody who is gonna be that's on the rolls, anybody who is in an official capacity in any way to send them a list of people to volunteer to work the polls. If you want free and fair elections, volunteer to work the polls. It's actually a paid position. and so you get paid to work those elections. and you help keep elections fair. there's also a A piece of software that the Secretary of State uses that has been purposely tinkered with in the state of Texas. But that is a whole other thing. but yes, so right now you can register somebody to vote. Your county clerk has verified that their birth certificate's good, their driver's license is good, everything is good, they are eligible to vote. That information then goes into a system with the secretary of state's office, and they can just leave it impending, essentially indefinitely. The system is programmed to put them in a pending status instead of before if your secretary of state checked off that ever all the documents are good, you trust your local officials because they are your first Mike Winson: Mm. Diana Luna For Hd71: line of defense. They legally have to check everything. they would go through as processed. And now in Texas, when you register to vote, it takes forever to get on the voting rolls. So that's one of the problems that we're seeing down here in Texas. It is very much being broken systematically to keep people off the rolls. yeah, there's a lot of things that we could do in Texas and there's a lot of reason why people don't vote. and it's because it's being purposely made difficult to get people to the polls. Mike Winson: Yeah. Let's assume November fourth comes around and you win. So congratulations. January comes around and you are sworn in as the representative of the 71st district of Texas. What are the first things that you want to do as as their representative? Diana Luna For Hd71: We have a lot of heavy lifting to do inste in Texas, I will say. first and foremost, we need to tackle our water crisis, which is very closely tied with the AI crisis. Mike Winson: Mm-hmm. Diana Luna For Hd71: and we also need to tackle public education immediately. our schools are drowning, our teachers are drowning, our administrators are drowning. we're going to have to do a lot of things at at all at once, and healthcare. so I think the big items and the big legislative items with the state of Texas are going to be school, public school, healthcare, and water, specifically tied to the data center issue. we need a moratorium on the data centers. and then we got to try our standas to make people whole as quickly as possible because people are hurting out here. the horror stories that I've heard. I actually don't see how the people who are profiting off of this can say with a straight face that it's just temporary pain and then we're gonna have long-term gain. I've actually heard that multiple times. but for the people that are being affected and displaced, it is lifelong pain. So it's temporary pain because you have to hear their story, but for them it is lifelong pain. so we have to do our damnedest to make people whole. And then we also have to have to have a public school in this voucher program because it is eating our independent school districts alive. Mike Winson: Texas Hopefully you'll also get a new governor, which will which Diana Luna For Hd71: Yeah. Mike Winson: will help a lot of things too. And it's looking very good in that respect from what I'm hearing. Diana Luna For Hd71: Yes. Mike Winson: There's there's often a lot of confusion about a state legislator's place, especially when it comes to interacting with the federal government. Normally, there is not supposed to be much interaction between a state's legislature and the federal government. At most, the governor may interact. In twenty twenty-six, it feels like it's it's harder than ever to keep that separation. How do you see? How do you see an interaction? between the state and the federal government now, just based on the realities of what we're kind of experiencing here. Diana Luna For Hd71: I think purpose I think that narrative is purposely being convoluted. in the state of Texas, if you live here, you would think every Republican is running against James Talarico. and he's running for that federal sentence seat. nobody Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: on purpose, nobody is saying Gina Hinahosa's name. Nobody is saying Vicki Goodwin's name. because Mike Winson: Mm. Diana Luna For Hd71: they don't want you to look into Gina Hinahosa Vicky Goodwin. Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: they don't want you to look into the representatives that are running in your area. And I'll tell you why. Because the media has looked into them and they are amazing. I cannot Mike Winson: Mm-hmm. Diana Luna For Hd71: tell you that how much every candidate that I've come across this cycle inspires me. the only reason I have been able to continue in this fight and to continue whenever literally my opponent has spent like millions of dollars in their primary already. and I'm just, you know, a working mom, you know? Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: but then I meet the candidates that are running this cycle. And it is just fighters and badasses. Like I'm serious. It's people like Gina who save their school district, people like Vicky Goodwin Who is just 10 toes down for just doing what is right and you will not shake her. it's Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: people who are like Jo John Rosenthal, who is actually an engineer and has worked in the oil field that's running for railroad commissioner. It's Clayton Tucker, who actually lives and breeds ag running for ag commissioner. It's my friend Shiloh down in San Angelo, who's a school teacher that's running on public school, and Angie Caraway. And it's just every single person that I talk to. It gives me hope that if they win their race, if people will Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: just go to the ballot box and when you click James Taler Rico, just go blue all the way down, then we can actually make a better future for our kids and we can actually have that Texas inheritance that we all were lucky enough to inherit. and we can restore that for the next generation. It and that is, I think, on purpose why it seems like everything is the federal election against James Talarrico. But it's I think the media doesn't want you looking into anybody else because they will see how stacked this roster is, honestly. Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: and in the legislator, I don't expect the Texas legislator to interact with the federal legislator very much because we have a lot of things to do in Texas, but where Texas goes. the rest of the country goes. And I would go further and to say that if West Texas goes blue, then there goes the rest of the country. Mike Winson: Yeah. Especially in in the regards to gerrymandering. It'd be nice to to do something about that in every state or just make gerrymandering Diana Luna For Hd71: Yeah. Mike Winson: illegal. yeah, I've gotten to interview a few people that are running that are running for state in Texas for state positions in Texas. And it's it's I don't know if you've interacted with Keenan Colbert. Diana Luna For Hd71: Yeah. Yeah. He and Mike Winson: Yeah. I got to interview him. He's Diana Luna For Hd71: yes, he's w gonna be one of the youngest legislators when he gets elected. and Mike Winson: Yes. When? Diana Luna For Hd71: yes, he's inspi inspiring every single one of them. I have yet Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: to meet a single person that I'm just like, that guy sucks. Like, you know, Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: running in my area, I'm running alongside of Kyle Ray Rabel who's running for C D nineteen for Congress. and he's a union guy and a new dad. And he's running while his wife is pregnant with her second child any day now. He's gonna be a dad of two. And then Riley Rodriguez, who was born and raised rural and you know, has been fighting for rural healthcare rights and against these Mike Winson: Mm. Diana Luna For Hd71: data centers. And just anytime I and Malik Williams joining up in Lubbock for the HD seat there, pro bono lawyer. You know, just anytime I'm around these people, I'm just like, all right, so I'm not in this fight by myself. It they the media and like the major news media and the algorithms are trying to make it seem like it is hopeless and it's Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana Luna For Hd71: not. Whenever I see the work that they're doing, it gives me a lot of hope. Mike Winson: Yeah. so Diana, for everyone that has listened up until this point and heard everything that we've talked about, everything that you said about what you hope to do, what are one or two things that no matter what you would want them to come away with knowing about you and your campaign? Diana Luna For Hd71: So I actually come from the data analyst world. I'm an analyst by trade. it's what I do, it's my day job. I worked for a few government programs. and I have seen so many government programs that are written, and you can tell that these are written to break and they're not written in good faith. they're written to make somebody rich and not actually address the issue that they're so called written in. So I know what good legislation looks like, and I know what bad legislation looks like. Like. And that's actually why I was asked to run in this race because I've been auditing govern government programs for a while. And so as far as my competency and who I am, that is where I come from. And I more than anything am a neighbor first community member. I am part of this West Texas community. I want what is best for my children, for anybody that's watching this for your future. I don't think that we should have to wait another generation to make things better. I think we can do that work now and we can start seeing the fruits of that now. I believe in just common sense legislation. I don't think we have to have big bureaucracies and things like that in order to fix people's problems. We can do it directly. Mike Winson: For anyone that wants to learn more about you and support you in any way, whether volunteering or financially, where can they find you? Diana Luna For Hd71: Diana Luna for Texas dot com. that is my website. and I am Diana Luna for Texas and D Luna for HD seventy one on everything. So if you look up Diana Luna for Texas, you're gonna find me everywhere. Mike Winson: Yeah. Diana, thank you so much for coming on here, sitting down with me for a little bit and letting us get to know who you are and what you hope to do for your district. I appreciate it. Diana Luna For Hd71: Thank you. Thank you for having me. Mike Winson: Yeah, and for everyone else listening, thank you so much too. what I do is not possible without people like you watching and sharing and supporting me. So please hit all those buttons down below. It makes it possible for me to keep doing it. for anyone that might be new to this podcast, just so you know, breaking the meta is about having hard conversations when necessary, fighting to break the status quo and the idea that all people, no matter your race, religion, gender, or identity, deserve rights, respect, dignity, and safety. Dan again, thank you for being here and everyone else will see you next time on Breaking the Meta. By guys.