Latest / The Breakfast Club / INTERVIEW: James Talarico on Texas Senate Race, Ken Paxton, Jasmine Crockett, Black Voters & Businesses + More

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INTERVIEW: James Talarico on Texas Senate Race, Ken Paxton, Jasmine Crockett, Black Voters & Businesses + More · The Breakfast Club

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Morning, everybody.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: It's DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne Tha Guy. We are
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club. Our sis Angela Rye is here with
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: us this morning.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Angela who?
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: I said Angela Rye is.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Here with us.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: You said Angela High. High?
• 0:19
  Speaker 4: Wow.
• 0:20
  Speaker 5: Our sis Angela Rye is with us this morning.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: And we got a special guest in the building. We
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: have James Tallarico.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Welcome.
• 0:26
  Speaker 6: Thanks for having me.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: How are you feeling this morning?
• 0:28
  Speaker 6: Feeling good. Thank y'all for the invitation.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: I'm happy to be here.
• 0:32
  Speaker 4: James is the Democratic nominee in the 2026 U.S.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Senate election in Texas.
• 0:37
  Speaker 4: Now, I told somebody you was coming up here and
• 0:39
  Speaker 4: they said, oh, his internals must show he's down bad
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: with black people.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: Is that the case?
• 0:44
  Speaker 6: Actually, it shows the opposite. You know, the polling that
• 0:47
  Speaker 6: we've seen, both private and public, shows us outperforming recent
• 0:52
  Speaker 6: Democratic nominees in Texas.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: With black voters.
• 0:55
  Speaker 6: But we have a lot more work to do and
• 0:57
  Speaker 6: we got to keep our foot on the gas because
• 0:59
  Speaker 6: it's going to take all of us to to win
• 1:01
  Speaker 6: this race in Texas.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Including Janet Crockett?
• 1:03
  Speaker 6: I haven't polled Congresswoman Crockett, but she has been out
• 1:08
  Speaker 6: there campaigning for down ballot candidates all over the state
• 1:12
  Speaker 6: of Texas, kind of shining a spotlight on candidates who
• 1:15
  Speaker 6: don't get to come on the Breakfast Club, but are
• 1:17
  Speaker 6: still running really important races all over the state. And
• 1:21
  Speaker 6: so this is very much a team effort to make
• 1:25
  Speaker 6: this happen. And it really feels like this is probably
• 1:27
  Speaker 6: the best shot we've had in 30 years.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Now let's start from the beginning. I'd like to start
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: from the beginning. What got you into politics? Why are
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: you here? What makes you say, this is what I
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: want to do, this is why I want to help people?
• 1:36
  Speaker 6: Well, before I was a politician, I was a public
• 1:38
  Speaker 6: school teacher. I taught sixth grade language arts at Rhodes
• 1:42
  Speaker 6: Middle School on the west side of San Antonio. I
• 1:45
  Speaker 6: always say that teaching middle school is the best preparation
• 1:48
  Speaker 6: for politics. If you can handle the drama of a
• 1:51
  Speaker 6: middle school classroom, you can handle the drama of the
• 1:55
  Speaker 6: Texas House or the US Senate. And the west side
• 1:58
  Speaker 6: of San Antonio is one of the poor zip codes
• 2:01
  Speaker 6: in the state of Texas. I entered the classroom in
• 2:04
  Speaker 6: the fall of 2011, right after the state legislature in
• 2:08
  Speaker 6: Texas cut $ 5 billion from public schools. So as a
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: brand new teacher, I saw the impact of those cuts firsthand.
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: At one point, I had 45 students in one classroom.
• 2:22
  Speaker 6: There weren't enough desks for all those kids, and so
• 2:25
  Speaker 6: I had students sitting on the air conditioning unit. And that,
• 2:30
  Speaker 6: you know, got me mad. I mean, this is the
• 2:32
  Speaker 6: wealthiest country in human history. This is the 21st century,
• 2:37
  Speaker 6: and you've got kids sitting on the air conditioning unit.
• 2:40
  Speaker 6: So when I left the classroom, I led an education
• 2:43
  Speaker 6: nonprofit that was helping schools like mine in Central Texas.
• 2:48
  Speaker 6: And then when a seat in that same legislature opened
• 2:51
  Speaker 6: up in my hometown of Round Rock, Texas, I threw
• 2:54
  Speaker 6: my hat in the ring. I was 28 years old
• 2:57
  Speaker 6: I had never run for office before. I was a
• 3:00
  Speaker 6: Democrat running in a Trump district in a county that
• 3:05
  Speaker 6: was so red it hadn't voted for a Democrat for
• 3:07
  Speaker 6: president since Jimmy Carter. And so I was told by
• 3:09
  Speaker 6: all the powers that be in the Democratic Party that
• 3:12
  Speaker 6: the race was a lost cause, that I shouldn't spend
• 3:15
  Speaker 6: any time or effort on this project. But my neighbors
• 3:19
  Speaker 6: and I in Williamson County, we believed it was possible.
• 3:22
  Speaker 6: We ran an aggressive campaign, an authentic campaign, an unorthodox
• 3:26
  Speaker 6: campaign at times. And on election night, we flipped that
• 3:29
  Speaker 6: district with 51% of the vote. And now I'm in
• 3:33
  Speaker 6: my fourth term in the Texas House. I've gotten to
• 3:36
  Speaker 6: pass major policies through the legislature. It's not an easy
• 3:40
  Speaker 6: place to work as a Democrat, as you can imagine.
• 3:42
  Speaker 6: We don't have either chamber. We don't have the governor's mansion.
• 3:45
  Speaker 6: We don't have any agency, but I've been able to
• 3:48
  Speaker 6: pass 60 bipartisan bills, many of them around education, helping
• 3:53
  Speaker 6: schools like the one I taught in, helping students like
• 3:55
  Speaker 6: mine all over the state. And now so many of
• 3:59
  Speaker 6: these fights that I've been leading at the statehouse for education,
• 4:03
  Speaker 6: for voting rights, for health care access, all those fights
• 4:07
  Speaker 6: are now more urgent than ever at the federal level.
• 4:11
  Speaker 6: We've seen a full frontal assault on public education in D.C. too.
• 4:17
  Speaker 6: So that's what motivated me to step up and throw
• 4:20
  Speaker 6: my hat in the ring again for this U.S. Senate seat.
• 4:23
  Speaker 7: You all talked about voting rights. You rose to some
• 4:27
  Speaker 7: prominence nationally with the voting rights issues taking place in Texas,
• 4:32
  Speaker 7: really where I believe conservatives tested out the ability to
• 4:36
  Speaker 7: start to take away seats mid-decade redistricting. Can you talk
• 4:41
  Speaker 7: a little bit about how you would continue in this
• 4:45
  Speaker 7: fight as a senator? Of course, all of the Voting
• 4:48
  Speaker 7: Rights Act sections that have given us black folks protection
• 4:51
  Speaker 7: are gutted.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 4:53
  Speaker 7: So what would you do to ensure that we regain
• 4:55
  Speaker 7: some of our voting rights?
• 4:56
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, this is the most aggressive attack on
• 5:00
  Speaker 6: black political power since Jim Crow. And I know it
• 5:03
  Speaker 6: sounds like a big statement to make, but I mean,
• 5:05
  Speaker 6: you look at the last 12 months, you look at
• 5:07
  Speaker 6: these Supreme Court cases, you look at this racist redistricting
• 5:11
  Speaker 6: map in Texas, and I say racist because it is systematically...
• 5:16
  Speaker 6: diluting the voting power of black and brown Texans. And
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: when you look at now how the districts are drawn,
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: a white Texan has a lot more political power. Their
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: vote matters more than the vote of our black and
• 5:31
  Speaker 6: brown neighbors. And it's why last year, a year ago yesterday,
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: my colleagues and I in the Texas House took the
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: extraordinary step of breaking quorum. And for those that don't
• 5:44
  Speaker 6: follow legislative politics, in order to conduct business on the
• 5:48
  Speaker 6: floor of the house, you have to have something called
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: a quorum, which is a certain number of members present
• 5:54
  Speaker 6: in order to start the day. And what we did is,
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: my colleagues and I, we left the state of Texas.
• 6:01
  Speaker 6: We went up to Illinois in order to prevent them
• 6:04
  Speaker 6: from getting quorum. So they couldn't take up these new
• 6:07
  Speaker 6: maps because we were gone. And they actually, they called
• 6:13
  Speaker 6: the Texas Rangers on us to find us and and
• 6:15
  Speaker 6: arrest us and bring us back to the Capitol. We
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: got bomb threats and death threats when we were up
• 6:21
  Speaker 6: in Chicago. But we did it, not because it's necessarily
• 6:24
  Speaker 6: a sustainable legislative tactic, like we're a part-time legislature in Texas.
• 6:30
  Speaker 6: Our members have families and kids and aging parents that
• 6:33
  Speaker 6: they've got to get back to. We have jobs that
• 6:35
  Speaker 6: we've got to get back to. But the goal, strategically,
• 6:38
  Speaker 6: was to shine a national spotlight on those maps, because
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: when they first kind of got introduced last summer, no
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: one was talking about it. And by breaking quorum, suddenly
• 6:50
  Speaker 6: the whole national media was talking about this redistricting power grab.
• 6:53
  Speaker 6: And then you saw California and Virginia and other states
• 6:57
  Speaker 6: get in the fight to try to level the playing
• 7:00
  Speaker 6: field and cancel out the stolen seats in Texas. And
• 7:04
  Speaker 6: so I'm really proud of what we did. But to
• 7:07
  Speaker 6: answer your question, the first thing that we have to
• 7:10
  Speaker 6: do when we win this seat, when we have a
• 7:12
  Speaker 6: government that actually serves people, We have to pass the
• 7:15
  Speaker 6: John Lewis Voting Rights Act. We have to restore federal
• 7:19
  Speaker 6: voting rights protections. Because my faith is very important to me,
• 7:24
  Speaker 6: and I believe that these rights are God-given. I don't
• 7:27
  Speaker 6: think these rights come from politicians, because if they come
• 7:30
  Speaker 6: from politicians, it means politicians can take them away. I
• 7:34
  Speaker 6: think they are inherent to each person, to each citizen.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: But they have taken them away.
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: But that's what I'm saying. What they are doing is
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: robbing people of rights that are inherent to them as
• 7:45
  Speaker 6: human beings. That the ability to shape your own destiny,
• 7:50
  Speaker 6: the ability for all of us to shape our own destiny,
• 7:52
  Speaker 6: that comes from something a lot bigger than any elected
• 7:56
  Speaker 6: official or any political party. And it's why it's a
• 7:59
  Speaker 6: red line. We can disagree on budget policy. We can
• 8:02
  Speaker 6: disagree on education policy. But if you rob people of
• 8:06
  Speaker 6: their voting rights, that means we don't have a shot
• 8:08
  Speaker 6: in the next election to make our case and change
• 8:11
  Speaker 6: the power structure. And so you're essentially, you mentioned mid-decade,
• 8:16
  Speaker 6: and this is also confusing for folks who don't obsess
• 8:19
  Speaker 6: about politics, but you're supposed to adjust district boundaries at
• 8:24
  Speaker 6: the beginning of every decade after we get a census,
• 8:26
  Speaker 6: because population changes and you want to adjust the districts, right?
• 8:30
  Speaker 6: If you've got a place that's growing rapidly or a
• 8:31
  Speaker 6: place that's declining, you got to adjust so everybody has
• 8:34
  Speaker 6: one vote, one person, one vote. But what they're doing
• 8:37
  Speaker 6: in Texas is they are redrawing the lines in the
• 8:40
  Speaker 6: middle of the decade, which is unprecedented. I mean, it's
• 8:43
  Speaker 6: like changing the rules after halftime because you're worried the
• 8:47
  Speaker 6: other team's going to win the game. I mean, it's cheating.
• 8:49
  Speaker 6: That's the real word for it, is they are cheating.
• 8:51
  Speaker 6: They're trying to steal an election.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: I think more politicians should say that.
• 8:56
  Speaker 6: That they're cheating?
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Yes, just like that.
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I made the joke about middle school
• 9:01
  Speaker 6: being good preparation, but it's actually true. As a middle
• 9:04
  Speaker 6: school teacher, I had to boil down complicated things, so
• 9:08
  Speaker 6: a bunch of 11-year-olds... who didn't want to be there,
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: who were forced to be there by law, would understand
• 9:12
  Speaker 6: what I was talking about. And people are busy. People
• 9:16
  Speaker 6: have jobs, they've got lives, they've got families to take
• 9:18
  Speaker 6: care of, and they don't have time to obsess over
• 9:21
  Speaker 6: politics and watch all the coverage. And so they just
• 9:24
  Speaker 6: want to know simply, what are you talking about? What
• 9:26
  Speaker 6: are you going to do for me and my family?
• 9:28
  Speaker 6: And I'm trying to speak as plainly as I can
• 9:31
  Speaker 6: about some of these issues that we're facing.
• 9:33
  Speaker 7: I think some of the issues around the mid-decade redistricting
• 9:37
  Speaker 7: is what kind of created the fever pitch around your primary.
• 9:42
  Speaker 7: When I think about a quorum breaker, I also think
• 9:44
  Speaker 7: about Jasmine Crockett, who did that in the statehouse. And
• 9:47
  Speaker 7: so I'm curious, when she was in the statehouse, were
• 9:50
  Speaker 7: you all friends? Did you all ally around some pieces
• 9:53
  Speaker 7: of policy, some legislation?
• 9:55
  Speaker 6: We were, you know, partly because like we were some
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: of the only young people in the state house. Like
• 10:01
  Speaker 6: everybody else is like my grandparents' age. And so she
• 10:05
  Speaker 6: and I bonded immediately because we were younger. I think
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: we were also, we tended to be the troublemakers in
• 10:11
  Speaker 6: the house. And from the moment she walked onto the floor,
• 10:16
  Speaker 6: actually before she walked on the floor, because I'd followed
• 10:17
  Speaker 6: her campaign, like I saw what a stark, she was, um,
• 10:21
  Speaker 6: you can just tell, um, she still is, she still is. Um,
• 10:25
  Speaker 6: and it was so apparent from those, those, you know,
• 10:28
  Speaker 6: that first campaign and her first time in the Texas house.
• 10:31
  Speaker 6: And so, yeah, we were friends and then she got
• 10:33
  Speaker 6: elected to Congress, um, and then the Senate primary. And
• 10:36
  Speaker 6: it was, I think, um, even more painful, at least
• 10:40
  Speaker 6: for me, because of that friendship, um, um, primaries always
• 10:44
  Speaker 6: suck because they're kind of in the coalition in the family. And,
• 10:49
  Speaker 6: and they can be really painful, because there's not a
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: ton of policy differences, right? So it's more like, how
• 10:56
  Speaker 6: are you gonna campaign, and those tactical questions, and then personalities,
• 11:01
  Speaker 6: and it just gets really, really ugly, especially now with
• 11:04
  Speaker 6: social media. But I'm still a huge fan.
• 11:07
  Speaker 7: And so to that point, two weeks ago, you were
• 11:10
  Speaker 7: at a town hall. I know Keith Edwards came up,
• 11:13
  Speaker 7: Rogue DNC came up, the folks who were adamant about
• 11:16
  Speaker 7: attacking Jasmine Online, and you said... that you wanted them
• 11:19
  Speaker 7: to keep Jasmine's name out of their mouths. The primary's over.
• 11:23
  Speaker 7: Do you wish you would have said that sooner?
• 11:25
  Speaker 6: The first day that the congresswoman got in the race,
• 11:28
  Speaker 6: I put out a video on social media, sent it
• 11:31
  Speaker 6: to our 50,000 volunteers, sent it to our entire campaign staff,
• 11:35
  Speaker 6: every person who worked for the campaign. And you go
• 11:38
  Speaker 6: back and watch it. It was in December. And I
• 11:40
  Speaker 6: said that congresswoman Crockett is my friend. She is a
• 11:43
  Speaker 6: leader and she deserves our utmost respect. And then I,
• 11:47
  Speaker 6: kept repeating it throughout the campaign because I kept seeing
• 11:50
  Speaker 6: this vitriol on social media. And obviously I can't police
• 11:53
  Speaker 6: every single comment section, but I can show leadership. And,
• 11:56
  Speaker 6: you know, I look back and it's possible I could
• 11:59
  Speaker 6: have showed more leadership because, again, this is so much
• 12:04
  Speaker 6: bigger than me. It's so much bigger than Congresswoman Crockett.
• 12:07
  Speaker 6: I mean, we have to win this race. People are
• 12:11
  Speaker 6: dying in our state because of policies that have been
• 12:13
  Speaker 6: passed by the extremists in Texas. And so this is
• 12:16
  Speaker 6: a lot bigger than any of us. And people online,
• 12:19
  Speaker 6: especially people who don't live in Texas, who are just
• 12:22
  Speaker 6: like pushing their own agenda or trying to make some
• 12:24
  Speaker 6: kind of political point at our expense. I'm like, we
• 12:27
  Speaker 6: don't have time for that. We have to win to
• 12:30
  Speaker 6: help our people in Texas. And so whatever agenda you have,
• 12:34
  Speaker 6: whatever clicks or likes you're trying to get on social media,
• 12:37
  Speaker 6: take that elsewhere because we have work to do in Texas.
• 12:40
  Speaker 4: But it does help your campaign, right? Like I want
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: you to really answer this question. If you saw these coded,
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: I guess, racial dog whistles that were undermining Jasmine Crockett.
• 12:49
  Speaker 4: It doesn't really behoove you to step out there and
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: be like, hey, don't do that because you still.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: Want to win, right?
• 12:55
  Speaker 6: Well, so I would disagree because attacks on the congresswoman,
• 12:59
  Speaker 6: I think, make it harder for us to win this
• 13:01
  Speaker 6: general election because the whole coalition has to be together.
• 13:05
  Speaker 6: Like in Texas, there's no way for any one of
• 13:08
  Speaker 6: our communities to win this election alone. And so we
• 13:12
  Speaker 6: need black Texans to win this race. And then when
• 13:16
  Speaker 6: we win this race in November, I'll represent the most
• 13:19
  Speaker 6: African Americans of any senator in the country. And so
• 13:23
  Speaker 6: all these attacks have, I think, hurt our campaign. They
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: have hurt our coalition. They've hurt our chances of winning
• 13:30
  Speaker 6: in November. I still think we're going to win, but
• 13:32
  Speaker 6: this has made it harder, I would say.
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: Because that was one of the racial dogmas was that
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: they said that she wasn't electable. Like you could win statewide,
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: but she couldn't.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 13:39
  Speaker 6: And I got asked about this on The View. on
• 13:41
  Speaker 6: national television, and they asked me point blank, do you
• 13:44
  Speaker 6: think Congresswoman Crockett is electable?
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I said, absolutely.
• 13:48
  Speaker 6: And I said, if she wins this primary, I'm gonna
• 13:51
  Speaker 6: be behind her 1,000%. What's your relationship now? Obviously, the
• 13:55
  Speaker 6: primary was difficult. We've exchanged some messages. I was blown
• 13:59
  Speaker 6: away by the fact that the morning after the primary,
• 14:02
  Speaker 6: I mean early, the next morning, Congresswoman Crockett was out
• 14:06
  Speaker 6: there with a statement endorsing me and the entire ticket.
• 14:10
  Speaker 6: If I'm being very honest, I don't know if I
• 14:12
  Speaker 6: could have done that the morning after. I would probably
• 14:15
  Speaker 6: have to take a day before I was ready to
• 14:18
  Speaker 6: come out and do that.
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: It's hard because you said it's all about winning this election.
• 14:24
  Speaker 6: Of course, but we're all still human beings. You can
• 14:27
  Speaker 6: know the work is important and it can still hurt
• 14:29
  Speaker 6: you personally.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: That's what I meant when I said when you see
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: her being attacked, it does help your campaign when that happens.
• 14:36
  Speaker 6: I don't know. I really think that Anyone who is
• 14:40
  Speaker 6: sowing division within our coalition is hurting my chances, hurting
• 14:45
  Speaker 6: all of our chances to win. But I mean, she
• 14:49
  Speaker 6: put all of that behind the work. And she came
• 14:55
  Speaker 6: out that morning and endorsed the entire ticket, endorsed me.
• 14:59
  Speaker 6: And then now she's been campaigning all over the state
• 15:02
  Speaker 6: for these down-ballot candidates and still in the fight. Once
• 15:06
  Speaker 6: she has a job, right? She's a sitting congresswoman. She
• 15:09
  Speaker 6: could also just like, you know, take a breather and
• 15:12
  Speaker 6: take a beat and walk away for a little bit.
• 15:14
  Speaker 6: I don't think any of us would blame her for
• 15:15
  Speaker 6: doing that. But she's out there hitting the trail and
• 15:17
  Speaker 6: raising money.
• 15:18
  Speaker 7: There's a lot of people blaming her for doing what
• 15:20
  Speaker 7: they see as not campaigning hard enough for you.
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: And I think, again, I think that's wrong.
• 15:25
  Speaker 7: I think it's representative of what is happening within the
• 15:28
  Speaker 7: Democratic Party. So there's now DSA. There's establishment Democrats and
• 15:33
  Speaker 7: all of those divides. How do you plan to bring
• 15:38
  Speaker 7: all of those folks into a big tent, which you
• 15:40
  Speaker 7: will absolutely need to win in the general in Texas?
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 15:43
  Speaker 6: This is LBJ's Senate seat. that I'm running for. We
• 15:47
  Speaker 6: were talking about the Voting Rights Act that was signed
• 15:49
  Speaker 6: into law by a Texas Democrat, by a Texas teacher,
• 15:52
  Speaker 6: by Lyndon Johnson. I think LBJ, he brought together two
• 15:58
  Speaker 6: things that right now are being pitted against each other
• 16:00
  Speaker 6: in the party. One is a bold moral imagination about
• 16:04
  Speaker 6: how we could transform the country. Every time Democrats get
• 16:08
  Speaker 6: in power, at least over the last few decades, it's
• 16:10
  Speaker 6: all like incremental nibbling around the edges LBJ was not
• 16:15
  Speaker 6: nibbling around the edges. I mean, Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start,
• 16:19
  Speaker 6: Title I, Voting Rights Act, Civil Rights Act, public television.
• 16:22
  Speaker 6: I mean, the ambition of the great society is really
• 16:26
  Speaker 6: unrivaled in modern times.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: He also had black people on his ass.
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: I was just about to say.
• 16:32
  Speaker 6: Exactly. And he was smart enough to listen to the
• 16:35
  Speaker 6: activists and the organizers who were pushing him, right?
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Eventually.
• 16:39
  Speaker 6: Yeah. Well, politicians were a stubborn breed. And And you've
• 16:44
  Speaker 6: got to push politicians. I've told people in Texas, I
• 16:47
  Speaker 6: am your megaphone, but you have to speak into it, right?
• 16:50
  Speaker 6: Like I am there as your representative. And it only
• 16:53
  Speaker 6: works if there's a real relationship between you and the
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: people you're seeking to serve. But the other thing LBJ
• 17:00
  Speaker 6: brought was a practical politics of winning, which is, I think,
• 17:03
  Speaker 6: something you're hearing the Democratic Party. It's like there are
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: folks who want to win and there are folks who
• 17:07
  Speaker 6: want to change the country. And I guess my thing
• 17:10
  Speaker 6: is those two things are not mutually exclusive.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 17:13
  Speaker 6: You need both. You have to kind of see the
• 17:16
  Speaker 6: world from the mountaintop and you've got to see the
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: world from the weeds. And you need to marry those
• 17:21
  Speaker 6: two things together in order to actually get stuff done.
• 17:23
  Speaker 6: That's what LBJ did in partnership with with Dr. King
• 17:27
  Speaker 6: and Andrew Young and Jesse Jackson. I mean, I think
• 17:30
  Speaker 6: you have to we have to get the party back
• 17:32
  Speaker 6: to that place because I honestly think we're going to
• 17:35
  Speaker 6: get one more shot as a party before working people
• 17:38
  Speaker 6: in this country, black, white and brown. aren't going to
• 17:42
  Speaker 6: trust us again to fight for them.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: And that's only because Trump is so bad. Right.
• 17:46
  Speaker 6: I mean, people are, I would agree with that because
• 17:50
  Speaker 6: people are, you know, a lot of folks in Texas
• 17:52
  Speaker 6: voted for Donald Trump in the last election because they
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: thought he was going to get the economy back on track.
• 17:57
  Speaker 6: Like they didn't like how we talked to people. They
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: didn't like January 6th, but they remembered the economy of
• 18:02
  Speaker 6: 2017 and 2018, 2019. And that was a good economy.
• 18:05
  Speaker 6: And you know, I would, I would say that was
• 18:08
  Speaker 6: Barack Obama's economy, but you know, Donald Trump was presiding
• 18:12
  Speaker 6: over it and people were desperate to get back to
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: a place where they could afford groceries and gas and
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: insurance and healthcare. And so they took a chance on Trump.
• 18:25
  Speaker 6: And I don't blame them for that. Especially young people
• 18:28
  Speaker 6: in our state. Some of them, I mean, President Trump
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: is really the only leader they've really known for a
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: long time. And I think now a lot of them
• 18:36
  Speaker 6: are seeing that the administration has done the opposite, right?
• 18:40
  Speaker 6: On tariffs. the war in Iran, I mean, all that
• 18:42
  Speaker 6: stuff has been driving up prices all over the state
• 18:45
  Speaker 6: of Texas. It's been making this affordability crisis even worse.
• 18:49
  Speaker 6: And so now they're, a lot of people are feeling disillusioned, right?
• 18:52
  Speaker 6: Because they put their faith in the president. He's let
• 18:55
  Speaker 6: them down. They thought he was going to release the
• 18:58
  Speaker 6: Epstein files.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: He did the opposite.
• 19:00
  Speaker 6: And so now they're just kind of, they're in a
• 19:02
  Speaker 6: weird place. And what I'm trying to do is welcome
• 19:07
  Speaker 6: them into this movement that we're building in Texas.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Is Texas, it's always portrayed as deep red, right?
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: Is it actually conservative or is it just a state
• 19:16
  Speaker 4: where Democrats haven't figured out how to communicate with enough voters?
• 19:19
  Speaker 6: Well, so if you look at the last 15, 20
• 19:22
  Speaker 6: years of statewide election results in Texas, you will see
• 19:24
  Speaker 6: an unmistakable trend line toward more competitive elections. And that's
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: not true for, you think about Florida was a swing state,
• 19:32
  Speaker 6: now it's not. Ohio is moving in the wrong direction.
• 19:36
  Speaker 6: But Texas is very much in the vein of Georgia
• 19:40
  Speaker 6: and Arizona, right? Sunbelt states, incredibly diverse, rapidly growing. And
• 19:46
  Speaker 6: those two states, Georgia and Arizona, they were hopeless. red
• 19:50
  Speaker 6: until they weren't. The challenge is Texas is a lot
• 19:54
  Speaker 6: bigger than both of those states, right? The entire population
• 19:57
  Speaker 6: of Georgia is equal to the entire population of Dallas-Fort Worth.
• 20:03
  Speaker 6: So you think about the number of Georgias and Arizonas
• 20:05
  Speaker 6: that can fit into Texas, you start to see the
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: the scope of the challenge that we face. But yeah,
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: I mean, Republicans, when I was growing up in Texas,
• 20:14
  Speaker 6: they would win by 25, 30 points. Now they're winning
• 20:16
  Speaker 6: by single digits. So I would say that Texas, just
• 20:19
  Speaker 6: by the numbers, is a pink state.
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: Why are you convinced this moment is different? Like how
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: we know it's not Beto O'Rourke 2.0?
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: Well, you know, in 2018, Beto got within two and
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: a half points of beating Ted Cruz. That was the
• 20:32
  Speaker 6: last Trump midterm that we've had. This is the second
• 20:35
  Speaker 6: Trump midterm in 2026. I think the backlash, honestly, the
• 20:40
  Speaker 6: bipartisan backlash to the extremism and the corruption in our
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: government is bigger than it was in 2018. And then
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: I didn't think it was possible to find a candidate
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: worse than Ted Cruz, but I think we found him
• 20:51
  Speaker 6: in Ken Paxton. So I think the stars are aligning
• 20:57
  Speaker 6: to finally allow us to end 30 years of one-party
• 21:01
  Speaker 6: rule in our state. And I think Texans are hungry
• 21:03
  Speaker 6: for it. I mean, Republicans control everything, right, at every
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: level of government. And and Texans are really angry about
• 21:10
  Speaker 6: the state of this economy. They're angry about data centers.
• 21:13
  Speaker 6: They're angry about these tariffs and they're looking for change. And,
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: and we're, we're providing a hopeful vision for people to
• 21:20
  Speaker 6: get behind. And it's why we're leading in every poll
• 21:23
  Speaker 6: that's come out this month against Ken Paxton. I mean,
• 21:26
  Speaker 6: we've never seen a Texas Democrat leading in polls like this.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: So the last three, right? Yeah.
• 21:31
  Speaker 6: I mean, I think, yeah, it might've been the last
• 21:33
  Speaker 6: four or five, but, So it's matching the energy on
• 21:36
  Speaker 6: the ground that I'm seeing. I mean, we've had thousands
• 21:39
  Speaker 6: of Texans showing up at our events. They've been hitting capacity.
• 21:42
  Speaker 6: So many young people showing up at the events who
• 21:44
  Speaker 6: say it's the first political event they've ever attended. And
• 21:48
  Speaker 6: then you have the hard data like these polls that
• 21:50
  Speaker 6: just show that there is a coalition forming. But again,
• 21:54
  Speaker 6: we have to keep our foot on the gas. They
• 21:56
  Speaker 6: are going to throw everything they've got at me. They're
• 21:57
  Speaker 6: going to drop $ 200 million to try to stop us.
• 22:01
  Speaker 6: So we're in a really good position right now, but
• 22:03
  Speaker 6: we cannot take anything for granted. And we have to
• 22:06
  Speaker 6: make sure that, that people have the knowledge and the
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: skills and the tools to actually overcome some of this
• 22:12
  Speaker 6: voter suppression, because it's really hard to vote in Texas.
• 22:15
  Speaker 6: It's one of the hardest places to vote in the country.
• 22:17
  Speaker 6: And it's why we have the second lowest voter turnout rate. Um,
• 22:21
  Speaker 6: like you have to, you have to register a whole
• 22:23
  Speaker 6: month in advance for the election. I had messages on,
• 22:27
  Speaker 6: on TikTok and Instagram from young folks in the primary
• 22:30
  Speaker 6: who were like, I was really excited to go and vote,
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: and I didn't realize I had to register a month ago.
• 22:37
  Speaker 6: So anybody listening in Texas, make sure you register to vote,
• 22:39
  Speaker 6: because you can't do it the day of. And there's
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: no online voter registration. You have to change your registration
• 22:44
  Speaker 6: every time you move, which really hurts young people. So
• 22:47
  Speaker 6: there are just a lot of systemic barriers that people
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: have to overcome, and we're going to have to do
• 22:52
  Speaker 6: the organizing work on the ground. We have 59,000 volunteers
• 22:54
  Speaker 6: on the campaign. but we're going to need to do
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: that in every community to make sure that folks can
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: fulfill those God-given rights.
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: What's important that people are not talking about more? You
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: talk about the THC on your social media, about banning THC,
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: but what's important that people are not talking about that's
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: important to you and important to people in Texas?
• 23:14
  Speaker 7: No, no, no.
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: I'm for legalizing weed.
• 23:16
  Speaker 8: He's for legalizing weed.
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: I'm talking about the ban.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: He talked about Texas officially banning THC and he's like, it's.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: Not going to stop.
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: And I don't think people are aware that this is
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: really happening. The law just went into effect. But THC
• 23:31
  Speaker 6: products are virtually banned in the state of Texas. Now
• 23:34
  Speaker 6: it's a felony to have Delta 8. I mean, even DUIs.
• 23:41
  Speaker 6: I mean, you have to have a, you have to
• 23:43
  Speaker 6: have three DUIs to get a felony. And now just
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: having Delta eight can get you that felony. So, I mean,
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: like it's, it's, it's insane. And, and I mentioned corruption.
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: This is because of corruption. Think, think about what industries
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: are most worried about THC products being readily available, big,
• 24:05
  Speaker 6: big beer, big tobacco.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 24:08
  Speaker 6: And so they were the ones pushing this THC ban
• 24:12
  Speaker 6: because it hurts their bottom line. And a lot of
• 24:15
  Speaker 6: research shows that THC, cannabis, these products are safer and
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: less addictive than beer or tobacco. And so to me,
• 24:25
  Speaker 6: this is a prime example of what corruption looks like
• 24:28
  Speaker 6: when you've got big industries buying politicians and pushing bills
• 24:32
  Speaker 6: that harm people, but benefit them financially. And I think
• 24:38
  Speaker 6: a lot of Texans, a lot of young Texans, a
• 24:41
  Speaker 6: lot of our veterans, they use THC products for PTSD.
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: Seniors use it.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: It's from the Earth, James. Yeah, that's right.
• 24:46
  Speaker 6: It's in the Bible, the burning bush.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Oh, okay.
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: That's not the burning bush.
• 24:51
  Speaker 6: Well, I mean, they legalized hemp in Texas, I think
• 24:55
  Speaker 6: it was six years ago. And this is now a
• 24:57
  Speaker 6: booming industry in our state. I mean, these are local,
• 25:00
  Speaker 6: small businesses. This bill, this ban is a gift to
• 25:04
  Speaker 6: the drug cartels because Texans are going to keep smoking weed.
• 25:07
  Speaker 6: They're going to keep eating edibles. they're not going to
• 25:10
  Speaker 6: stop because some politicians told them to, but now instead
• 25:13
  Speaker 6: of supporting a local small business, they're going to go
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: get it on the black market.
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: They don't know what they're getting, what they're smoking, what's
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: in it.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: Right. Right.
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: I mean, it's, it's, it just drives me crazy when
• 25:22
  Speaker 6: you have these policies that, that clearly don't serve people,
• 25:26
  Speaker 6: actively hurt people. I mean, things are so hard right now.
• 25:29
  Speaker 6: Like Texans can't afford the basics. They can't get ahead
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: no matter how hard they work or how much they save.
• 25:34
  Speaker 6: And you're going to ban a product that gives them
• 25:36
  Speaker 6: a little bit of peace. Like I just, It just
• 25:38
  Speaker 6: drives me crazy. We should be trying to make people's
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: lives easier, not making their lives harder. That's the line.
• 25:44
  Speaker 7: Sorry, we know cost of living is a huge issue
• 25:46
  Speaker 7: for every American, but there are also some big picture
• 25:49
  Speaker 7: ideas you keep referencing, young people in particular who want
• 25:53
  Speaker 7: to hear. Recently, Madam Vice President Kamala Harris appeared at
• 25:57
  Speaker 7: the Urban League, and she mentioned some things that many
• 26:00
  Speaker 7: of us have been touting for.
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: A little bit. Eddie, I think we have that sound.
• 26:04
  Speaker 8: We need to revisit the Electoral College. We need to
• 26:11
  Speaker 8: revisit the point of expanding the court to 13 justices
• 26:17
  Speaker 8: like we have 13 district courts. We need to revisit,
• 26:24
  Speaker 8: if they so want, statehood for Puerto Rico and D.C.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 26:31
  Speaker 3: So, yeah.
• 26:32
  Speaker 6: I think it's great. Yeah. I mean, I'm really happy
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: that the vice president is here. is calling for these
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: systemic political reforms. And I mentioned the John Lewis Voting
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: Rights Act, but I think those measures she talked about
• 26:46
  Speaker 6: should be part of that package. And I think I
• 26:49
  Speaker 6: would add one more, and I know the vice president
• 26:51
  Speaker 6: supports this, because she was a big supporter of our
• 26:54
  Speaker 6: quorum break last summer, a national ban to end gerrymandering
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: nationwide in red states and blue states. Because this, I
• 27:02
  Speaker 6: don't think people realize this issue of redistricting, of gerrymandering,
• 27:05
  Speaker 6: of drawing district lines, And you draw these districts into
• 27:08
  Speaker 6: these crazy shapes in order to manufacture an outcome. What
• 27:12
  Speaker 6: ends up happening is that most lawmakers at the federal level,
• 27:15
  Speaker 6: at the state level, are in either deep red seats
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: that are always going to vote for Republicans or deep
• 27:22
  Speaker 6: blue seats that are always going to vote for Democrats.
• 27:25
  Speaker 6: And so in those districts, which are now the majority
• 27:28
  Speaker 6: of districts, your only threat as a politician, your only
• 27:31
  Speaker 6: threat to your reelection is from your most either far
• 27:35
  Speaker 6: right flank in a Republican primary or the far left
• 27:39
  Speaker 6: flank in the Democratic primary. And so the incentives that's
• 27:42
  Speaker 6: in front of any elected official is to really just
• 27:46
  Speaker 6: appeal to the most extreme elements in your party. Like
• 27:50
  Speaker 6: if you have a district like the one that I
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: won in Williamson County, that's a 50-50 swing district, then
• 27:55
  Speaker 6: you've got to appeal to a broad coalition of people.
• 27:58
  Speaker 6: You've got to kind of speak to mainstream issues that
• 28:02
  Speaker 6: are really impacting folks. But the reason you see crazy
• 28:05
  Speaker 6: stuff in Texas, I'm on the public education committee. There
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: was a bill to, I can't believe I'm saying this,
• 28:11
  Speaker 6: but a bill to go after furries in schools. There
• 28:17
  Speaker 6: was this internet rumor that students were dressing up as
• 28:20
  Speaker 6: cats in public schools.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: And in Jersey too.
• 28:23
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 28:23
  Speaker 6: And that they were giving, the rumor was that public
• 28:27
  Speaker 6: schools in Texas were giving students litter boxes in the school.
• 28:32
  Speaker 6: It wasn't true. There were no documented cases in Texas
• 28:35
  Speaker 6: of that happening, but they wrote a whole bill to
• 28:38
  Speaker 6: go after this problem of furries in schools. And it's
• 28:41
  Speaker 6: because it's a red meat issue in these Republican primaries.
• 28:45
  Speaker 6: So the reason you're seeing such crazy stuff in our
• 28:47
  Speaker 6: politics is because the system itself encourages extremism. And until
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: we fix that systemically, until we do some of the
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: things the vice president was talking about, until we pass
• 28:57
  Speaker 6: the Voting Rights Act, until we fix the system itself,
• 29:00
  Speaker 6: we're not going to see progress on all the other
• 29:02
  Speaker 6: issues we care about, education and healthcare and jobs and housing.
• 29:06
  Speaker 6: So I'm a big believer in political reform, like the
• 29:09
  Speaker 6: Vice President's talking about.
• 29:10
  Speaker 7: You mentioned voting rights several times when you consider a
• 29:13
  Speaker 7: black agenda to urge black voters in Texas to support
• 29:17
  Speaker 7: your campaign. What are some of the things beyond justice reform,
• 29:19
  Speaker 7: beyond THC, beyond SNAP benefits and food stamps that you
• 29:24
  Speaker 7: would encourage voters to pay attention to regarding your platform?
• 29:27
  Speaker 6: Well, I mean, we've talked about some of the issues
• 29:29
  Speaker 6: that all Texans are struggling with, including housing.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: But I mean specifically black Texans.
• 29:33
  Speaker 6: Yes. So there's those issues. And then there are the
• 29:35
  Speaker 6: issues that concern black Texans in particular. And so in
• 29:39
  Speaker 6: addition to the ones we've talked about, the maternal mortality
• 29:42
  Speaker 6: crisis in Texas, which is three times deadlier for black women.
• 29:47
  Speaker 6: Harris County, home to Houston, is the deadliest place for
• 29:50
  Speaker 6: a black woman to give birth in the entire country.
• 29:53
  Speaker 6: And so we've rolled out a comprehensive plan to combat
• 29:55
  Speaker 6: that crisis at the federal level. I worked with My colleague,
• 29:59
  Speaker 6: Representative Tony Rose, shout out to Tony Rose in Dallas,
• 30:02
  Speaker 6: she passed a historic bill at the state capitol to
• 30:06
  Speaker 6: increase postpartum coverage on Medicaid to now one year to
• 30:11
  Speaker 6: help new mothers, particularly new black mothers, tend to their
• 30:14
  Speaker 6: health and the health of their newborn. That's a state policy,
• 30:17
  Speaker 6: but at the federal level, we could guarantee universal paid
• 30:21
  Speaker 6: family leave for every mother, including every black mother.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: We could.
• 30:27
  Speaker 6: improve provider training. We could improve data collection. We could
• 30:32
  Speaker 6: end some of these maternal care deserts in Texas, a
• 30:35
  Speaker 6: huge state, by requiring insurance companies to cover doulas and
• 30:40
  Speaker 6: midwife services. So there's so much we could do at
• 30:43
  Speaker 6: the federal level to combat this crisis. I've been touring
• 30:49
  Speaker 6: HBCUs across the state. We held a town hall at
• 30:51
  Speaker 6: Prairie View A & M, and then I gave the
• 30:53
  Speaker 6: the commencement address at Paul Quinn College, which is the
• 30:56
  Speaker 6: oldest HBCU in Texas. And there is a funding gap
• 31:00
  Speaker 6: between HBCUs and institutions with a similar number of low-income students.
• 31:06
  Speaker 6: And imagine if we brought HBCU funding up to parity,
• 31:09
  Speaker 6: you know, what schools like Prairie View and Texas Southern
• 31:12
  Speaker 6: and Paul Quinn could accomplish, could do, if we gave
• 31:16
  Speaker 6: them the funding that they needed. And so.
• 31:21
  Speaker 6: Some of these issues that we've been hearing about, meeting
• 31:26
  Speaker 6: with black business leaders and black faith leaders, they're all
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: now being incorporated into our platform because there are issues
• 31:34
  Speaker 6: that affect all Texans, and then there are issues that
• 31:37
  Speaker 6: impact black Texans in particular.
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: I didn't hear nothing about upward mobility just for black
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: working class people. The things you named are great, but
• 31:44
  Speaker 4: just what do you plan to do just for working
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: class Black people in Texas.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 31:49
  Speaker 6: They've been attacking black businesses in Texas. There's a program
• 31:53
  Speaker 6: called Hub, which is for historically underutilized businesses, helps kind
• 31:56
  Speaker 6: of level the playing field for black entrepreneurs. And they
• 32:00
  Speaker 6: have attacked that program. They've defunded that program in Texas.
• 32:03
  Speaker 6: So I hear all the time, especially from young black
• 32:05
  Speaker 6: Texans who are entrepreneurs, who have a great idea for business,
• 32:09
  Speaker 6: and they can't access capital. And so I think at
• 32:11
  Speaker 6: the federal level, we can ensure that we're providing entrepreneurial
• 32:14
  Speaker 6: grants to to the next great business leaders in our community.
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: I mean, you think about Tesla, you think about the internet,
• 32:22
  Speaker 6: those were only possible because government, the public sector, invested
• 32:27
  Speaker 6: in those private companies and gave them the startup they needed.
• 32:30
  Speaker 6: And we could do that with young black entrepreneurs across
• 32:33
  Speaker 6: our state who have great ideas and wanna start a
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: business and they don't have access to that capital that
• 32:40
  Speaker 6: they need. They don't have generational wealth. They don't have
• 32:43
  Speaker 6: a rich dad who can cut a check They don't
• 32:45
  Speaker 6: have a network of rich friends that can invest in
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: that company. We could do that in the public sector.
• 32:51
  Speaker 6: And then we would reap the benefits. I mean, I
• 32:53
  Speaker 6: don't think anyone thinks the small amount of money we
• 32:55
  Speaker 6: invested in Tesla or invested in R & D to
• 32:58
  Speaker 6: get the internet, those investments paid off many times over.
• 33:02
  Speaker 6: And I think the same could be true investing in
• 33:05
  Speaker 6: young entrepreneurs and in Black-owned businesses across the state.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: What do you say to people who said you were
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: created in a lab?
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: What?
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: I've seen that.
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: It says, from arguing God is non-binary to grieving over
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: protecting the unborn, it's clear Tallarico is a leftist lab
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: experiment gone wrong.
• 33:21
  Speaker 6: Oh, interesting. You know, I speak my mind. And I
• 33:27
  Speaker 6: did over my four terms in the state house. And
• 33:31
  Speaker 6: I don't always say everything perfectly. I've certainly missed the
• 33:36
  Speaker 6: mark on some things that I've said in the past.
• 33:38
  Speaker 6: But at least people can... They can... count on me
• 33:42
  Speaker 6: for actually speaking the truth, for saying what I think.
• 33:45
  Speaker 6: There's a lot of politicians who don't ever say anything
• 33:50
  Speaker 6: because they're too worried about offending someone or messing up.
• 33:54
  Speaker 6: But I think what people are hungry for is just
• 33:55
  Speaker 6: someone who's going to speak the truth, who's going to
• 34:01
  Speaker 6: speak their mind, who's going to be honest about how
• 34:03
  Speaker 6: they feel about things. And so, yeah, I mean, there
• 34:06
  Speaker 6: are some things that I've said over my four terms
• 34:08
  Speaker 6: that I probably would say differently if I.
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: Could go back.
• 34:10
  Speaker 6: But I think what has been consistent throughout my entire
• 34:14
  Speaker 6: time is who I fight for and how I fight.
• 34:17
  Speaker 6: And I think that's what Texans are desperate for right now.
• 34:20
  Speaker 6: They just want someone who's going to actually fight for them.
• 34:23
  Speaker 6: And in this race, the alternative is Ken Paxton, who
• 34:27
  Speaker 6: is the most corrupt politician in our state, who has
• 34:30
  Speaker 6: a history of serving himself, of enriching himself on the
• 34:33
  Speaker 6: public dime. And I'll put my record up against Ken
• 34:37
  Speaker 6: Paxton's career of corruption any day.
• 34:39
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I've just heard people say that they feel like
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: you're being, I guess, groomed, right? Like if you do
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: well in the Senate, you might be vice president in 2028.
• 34:50
  Speaker 4: But if you actually win, you might run for president
• 34:53
  Speaker 4: in 2028.
• 34:54
  Speaker 6: I'm going to be, God willing, the U.S. senator from
• 34:57
  Speaker 6: Texas for the next six years. And that's the job
• 35:02
  Speaker 6: I want. That's the job I'm going to have and
• 35:03
  Speaker 6: not going to be applying for any other jobs. Hopefully,
• 35:08
  Speaker 6: if all this goes well, will be running for re-election
• 35:11
  Speaker 6: to the U.S. Senate six years from now.
• 35:15
  Speaker 7: To Lenard's point, any candidate on a national stage is
• 35:22
  Speaker 7: being forced to contend with the genocide in Gaza. And
• 35:28
  Speaker 7: I think what is remarkable is, in most cases, including
• 35:32
  Speaker 7: in interviews you've done, the statement is made, Israel has
• 35:36
  Speaker 7: a right to defend itself. As a senator, you will
• 35:38
  Speaker 7: have to vote. on whether or not Israel should receive
• 35:41
  Speaker 7: military aid. How would you vote on whether or not
• 35:44
  Speaker 7: the country gives Israel military aid?
• 35:46
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I would not vote to send weapons to the
• 35:49
  Speaker 6: Netanyahu government.
• 35:50
  Speaker 3: But what about military aid? Like, is it more broader?
• 35:53
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I think all of that needs to be conditioned
• 35:56
  Speaker 6: on ending the death and the destruction in Gaza and
• 35:59
  Speaker 6: the West Bank. I've been very outspoken on this issue
• 36:03
  Speaker 6: from the beginning of the campaign.
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: But you're specific to say death and destruction and not genocide.
• 36:07
  Speaker 3: Why is that?
• 36:09
  Speaker 6: Well, I know that the legal term genocide is being
• 36:14
  Speaker 6: litigated in the International Criminal Court. And certainly there's evidence
• 36:19
  Speaker 6: to bring those charges. And I think the United States
• 36:23
  Speaker 6: should abide by whatever ruling the court comes to. But
• 36:30
  Speaker 6: I think as a U.S. Senator, my job would be
• 36:32
  Speaker 6: to take action. My job would not be to litigate
• 36:35
  Speaker 6: what terms are used. My job would be to stop
• 36:38
  Speaker 6: what's happening. And that's why I've said I would use
• 36:41
  Speaker 6: every bit of our nation's diplomatic and financial leverage to
• 36:46
  Speaker 6: protect the lives of Palestinians. And my North Star on
• 36:51
  Speaker 6: this issue is always protecting innocent life. Obviously what happened
• 36:54
  Speaker 6: on October 7th was horrific, and I grieve for the
• 36:57
  Speaker 6: lost Israeli lives, and I grieve for the lost Palestinian lives.
• 37:03
  Speaker 6: When I first got in the race, I was asked
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: about this the first week of the campaign, And I
• 37:09
  Speaker 6: quoted a theologian who said, I screamed at God for
• 37:13
  Speaker 6: the starving children until I realized the starving children was
• 37:17
  Speaker 6: God screaming at me. And God is screaming at all
• 37:20
  Speaker 6: of us in Gaza and in the West Bank. And
• 37:24
  Speaker 6: we have to heed those cries. And it demands action.
• 37:29
  Speaker 6: And so I've gotten some heat for saying that I
• 37:33
  Speaker 6: would stop those weapon sales and condition that military aid.
• 37:38
  Speaker 6: But I think we all have to meet this moral moment.
• 37:41
  Speaker 6: And our country is complicit in what's happening. And I
• 37:47
  Speaker 6: know at least I, for one, can't stand by and
• 37:50
  Speaker 6: do nothing while it's happening.
• 37:52
  Speaker 4: Why is it so hard for some elected officials to
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: criticize Bibi Netanyahu?
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 37:57
  Speaker 6: I mean, I have no problem criticizing any leader, certainly
• 38:00
  Speaker 6: any foreign leader.
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: And I don't, you know, I think sometimes when people
• 38:04
  Speaker 4: think they're criticizing Bibi, that's an indictment of all of Israel.
• 38:09
  Speaker 6: Or all of our Jewish neighbors right here in this country.
• 38:13
  Speaker 6: And I've stood by the Jewish community in my state,
• 38:17
  Speaker 6: in my community in Central Texas, every time they've faced anti-Semitism,
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: just like I've stood by our Muslim neighbors when they're
• 38:24
  Speaker 6: facing Islamophobia.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: But isn't that ridiculous? I can be pro-America and be anti-Trump.
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: Oh, of course.
• 38:29
  Speaker 6: Absolutely. But, I mean, back to the issue of corruption,
• 38:34
  Speaker 6: let's be honest, I do think the influence of AIPAC,
• 38:39
  Speaker 6: in our elections has a chilling effect. And people don't
• 38:43
  Speaker 6: feel like they can speak their minds because they're worried
• 38:45
  Speaker 6: AIPAC is going to drop hundreds of millions of dollars
• 38:48
  Speaker 6: in their race. Usually not even talking about the issue
• 38:52
  Speaker 6: of Israel or issues that Jewish Americans face. These are
• 38:56
  Speaker 6: usually completely separate issues that they're campaigning on. So I
• 39:01
  Speaker 6: do think the reason I keep going back to money
• 39:03
  Speaker 6: and politics and corruption is I do think it's the
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: rot at the core of our broken system. And until
• 39:08
  Speaker 6: you Fix that system like the vice president is proposing
• 39:12
  Speaker 6: until you get the big money out of our politics,
• 39:14
  Speaker 6: until you ban corporate PACs and super PACs. We're not
• 39:18
  Speaker 6: going to be able to, one, have elected officials who
• 39:20
  Speaker 6: can speak their mind. Two, we're not going to be
• 39:22
  Speaker 6: able to make progress on all those issues that we
• 39:25
  Speaker 6: care about, whether they're here or abroad. So I always
• 39:29
  Speaker 6: think you just follow the money. and everything comes back
• 39:32
  Speaker 6: to the influence of these giant PACs on our political process.
• 39:35
  Speaker 6: Same is true of AI. I mean, there are a
• 39:37
  Speaker 6: lot of candidates around the country who are being very
• 39:39
  Speaker 6: careful about what they say on AI because they're worried
• 39:42
  Speaker 6: these giant AI companies are going to drop hundreds of
• 39:44
  Speaker 6: millions of dollars against them. So we have to have
• 39:48
  Speaker 6: a a small D democratic system where candidates can say
• 39:55
  Speaker 6: what they think and then be judged on that. But
• 39:59
  Speaker 6: right now, it's basically these giant PACs, whether it's APAC,
• 40:02
  Speaker 6: whether it's OpenAI, that are creating a chilling effect. And
• 40:07
  Speaker 6: then people can't speak their mind.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: Why small D?
• 40:11
  Speaker 6: Well, capital D Democratic Party would be the party I
• 40:15
  Speaker 6: belong to, but democracy is beyond any political party. This
• 40:18
  Speaker 6: guy's a jerk.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: You know that, right?
• 40:21
  Speaker 6: Hey, middle school is the best preparation for politics, okay?
• 40:25
  Speaker 6: Including Charlemagne.
• 40:26
  Speaker 5: You kept a straight face, though.
• 40:29
  Speaker 6: Charlemagne's a good student, and I'm not giving up on him.
• 40:31
  Speaker 6: He's got potential.
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: He just woke up.
• 40:37
  Speaker 6: Feel free to ignore a troll.
• 40:40
  Speaker 5: Now, you said in your state of Texas, we see
• 40:42
  Speaker 5: what happened with Carmelo Anthony, and you said it was
• 40:44
  Speaker 5: a tragedy.
• 40:46
  Speaker 6: What did you mean by that? Well, I've done a
• 40:48
  Speaker 6: lot of work in the state house on justice reform.
• 40:50
  Speaker 6: And right now we've got a system that doesn't serve
• 40:53
  Speaker 6: all Americans equally. And we know that black Texans have
• 40:59
  Speaker 6: not gotten the justice they deserve in many cases. And
• 41:04
  Speaker 6: I'm not an expert on this particular case, but I
• 41:05
  Speaker 6: know that there were no black members of the jury.
• 41:08
  Speaker 6: And to me, that's the only evidence you need to
• 41:13
  Speaker 6: really prove that this system is not working for black Texans.
• 41:17
  Speaker 6: And so I'm going to keep doing the work I
• 41:20
  Speaker 6: did in the state house, trying to reform the system.
• 41:23
  Speaker 6: One of the bills that I passed was after the
• 41:26
  Speaker 6: murder of one of my constituents. His name was Javier Ambler,
• 41:30
  Speaker 6: unarmed black man who was killed by the Williamson County
• 41:33
  Speaker 6: Sheriff's Department. He was pulled over for not dimming his brights.
• 41:38
  Speaker 6: He told the officers that night that he had a
• 41:41
  Speaker 6: heart condition. They tased him so many times he died
• 41:46
  Speaker 6: right in front of them. the whole thing was filmed
• 41:50
  Speaker 6: for a reality TV show called Live PD, kind of
• 41:53
  Speaker 6: like Cops. And so I worked with Javier's family, his
• 41:58
  Speaker 6: sister Kimberly, and we went office by office in the
• 42:02
  Speaker 6: state house, Republicans and Democrats alike, and we passed Javier
• 42:08
  Speaker 6: Ambler's law, which bans reality TV policing in the state
• 42:13
  Speaker 6: of Texas. So no longer can a show like Life
• 42:15
  Speaker 6: PD or Cops contract with a law enforcement agency in Texas.
• 42:19
  Speaker 6: And that's just one small reform. That same session, the
• 42:22
  Speaker 6: George Floyd Act, which would have had many more significant
• 42:25
  Speaker 6: reforms to policing in the state of Texas, didn't even
• 42:27
  Speaker 6: get a hearing. Didn't even get to.
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: The floor of the house.
• 42:30
  Speaker 5: Why was the taping important for you to ban and
• 42:31
  Speaker 5: not banning the fact that they tased this gentleman with
• 42:34
  Speaker 5: a bad eye?
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 42:34
  Speaker 6: So these, well, we absolutely, like I said, the George
• 42:38
  Speaker 6: Floyd Act would have had a lot more of the
• 42:39
  Speaker 6: reforms to actual policing. But the reason we went after
• 42:42
  Speaker 6: these shows is because Kimberly and I started to dig
• 42:44
  Speaker 6: into some of the research on these reality TV policing programs.
• 42:49
  Speaker 6: And the evidence is very clear that these shows increase policing.
• 42:54
  Speaker 6: the number of violent interactions between- Kind of more performative. Correct.
• 42:57
  Speaker 6: Because it's good for ratings, right? Like you treat one
• 43:00
  Speaker 6: of your black constituents respectfully, that's not good TV. And
• 43:05
  Speaker 6: so these shows, and I think the producers actively encourage
• 43:10
  Speaker 6: more violence, more aggression. And then my constituents, like Javier Ambler,
• 43:16
  Speaker 6: are the ones who pay the ultimate price for that.
• 43:18
  Speaker 6: And so again, this was just one reform, but if
• 43:21
  Speaker 6: we can If we can go piece by piece and
• 43:23
  Speaker 6: try to try to make this system actually work for everybody,
• 43:27
  Speaker 6: including every black Texan, then we can have a we
• 43:32
  Speaker 6: can have true public safety.
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: Did you get backlash for saying Carmelo Anthony verdict was
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: a tragedy at all?
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: Yes. Yeah.
• 43:39
  Speaker 6: I mean, in this day and age, like you're always
• 43:41
  Speaker 6: going to get backlash for whatever.
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 43:44
  Speaker 6: And at the end of the day, I have to
• 43:46
  Speaker 6: I have to look myself in the mirror. At the
• 43:50
  Speaker 6: end of the day, I've got to be comfortable with
• 43:52
  Speaker 6: the race that I ran and I've got to be
• 43:54
  Speaker 6: true to myself. And my gut is that Texans are
• 43:59
  Speaker 6: hungry for someone who believes what they believe and is
• 44:04
  Speaker 6: authentic and is grounded and rooted in something deeper than
• 44:07
  Speaker 6: partisanship or politics. And so even if they disagree with
• 44:11
  Speaker 6: me on an issue, I hope they can sense that
• 44:14
  Speaker 6: it is genuine and that I'm here to serve them. Uh,
• 44:19
  Speaker 6: I'm going to do that as authentically as I possibly can.
• 44:21
  Speaker 6: Do you get backlash from AIPAC for not taking their money? Uh, thankfully, uh,
• 44:26
  Speaker 6: AIPAC has not spent against me in this race. Uh,
• 44:28
  Speaker 6: but I had, you know, I was, you know, I
• 44:30
  Speaker 6: talked about it, you know, sometimes it's painful on the
• 44:32
  Speaker 6: campaign trail. After I spoke out on Gaza, there was
• 44:35
  Speaker 6: an article that said I was anti-Semitic, which was very
• 44:39
  Speaker 6: painful to me, given the work I've done, done with, um,
• 44:42
  Speaker 6: the Jewish community in Texas. Um, you know, I, I
• 44:47
  Speaker 6: have so much love and respect for the Jewish tradition.
• 44:50
  Speaker 6: It's what gave birth to my religious tradition. And so
• 44:55
  Speaker 6: to be called anti-Semitic because of my criticisms of Benjamin
• 45:00
  Speaker 6: Netanyahu is painful for me personally. But again, this is
• 45:03
  Speaker 6: just part of the territory. No one asked me to
• 45:05
  Speaker 6: run for the US Senate. No one made me do this.
• 45:08
  Speaker 6: I stepped up to run, and it's such an honor
• 45:10
  Speaker 6: to do this. And there's so much energy and excitement
• 45:13
  Speaker 6: around the campaign that it makes all that other stuff
• 45:15
  Speaker 6: definitely worth it. But You know, you got to be
• 45:18
  Speaker 6: ready for the slings and arrows that come with the territory.
• 45:22
  Speaker 4: I heard you on Joe Rogan. That was one of
• 45:24
  Speaker 4: the first times I heard of you. But, you know,
• 45:26
  Speaker 4: Joe also on Tuesday warned liberals that moving to Texas
• 45:31
  Speaker 4: and turning the state blue would ruin the delicate balance
• 45:34
  Speaker 4: for everybody, including liberal Texans. The liberals that want to
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: turn Texas blue like don't, you're going to ruin it.
• 45:40
  Speaker 4: He said, many coastal elites and coastal snobs often have
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: this idea of it being filled with rednecks and ignorant
• 45:45
  Speaker 4: people and foolish people.
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: It's not that way at all, especially Austin.
• 45:49
  Speaker 4: Austin is like one of the most liberal, easygoing, progressive cities,
• 45:52
  Speaker 4: but even the progressives here, they're like more reasonable.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: What do you think of that?
• 45:56
  Speaker 6: I think he's right that balance is key here. I've
• 46:00
  Speaker 6: said that my party talks about turning Texas blue. The
• 46:04
  Speaker 6: Republicans talk about turning Texas red. I honestly think the
• 46:08
  Speaker 6: best color for Texas is purple. And what I mean
• 46:10
  Speaker 6: by that is competition is good for policymaking. So when
• 46:16
  Speaker 6: I first got elected in Williamson County, I was part
• 46:19
  Speaker 6: of a group of legislators who flipped districts. There were
• 46:22
  Speaker 6: 12 of us who flipped Republican districts to blue in
• 46:25
  Speaker 6: that election. And after that shock, after Beto got within
• 46:30
  Speaker 6: two and a half points, in the very next legislative session,
• 46:33
  Speaker 6: a few months later in 2019, suddenly the Republican majority,
• 46:37
  Speaker 6: they were still in charge, although it was closer, suddenly
• 46:40
  Speaker 6: they were all about funding public schools and expanding healthcare.
• 46:46
  Speaker 6: And suddenly they weren't going after marginalized groups and they
• 46:51
  Speaker 6: weren't doing the culture war stuff. They were on their
• 46:53
  Speaker 6: best behavior because there was a competitive election, right? Competition
• 46:59
  Speaker 6: keeps politicians on their toes in both parties. Because let's
• 47:03
  Speaker 6: be very honest, I don't mean to draw a false equivalence,
• 47:06
  Speaker 6: but you've seen the Democratic Party get very complacent. and
• 47:09
  Speaker 6: not fight for people in the way that we should.
• 47:12
  Speaker 6: And that's often because there's not enough competition. I just
• 47:15
  Speaker 6: think competition is good for sports, it's good for business,
• 47:17
  Speaker 6: and it's good for politics.
• 47:19
  Speaker 3: It depends on the policies.
• 47:21
  Speaker 7: I think I would have agreed with you in 2005,
• 47:24
  Speaker 7: maybe even 2012. But 2013, there was a significant change
• 47:30
  Speaker 7: in our country's politics. Shelby versus Holder, that's where the
• 47:33
  Speaker 7: attack on voting rights, which was traditionally a bipartisan vote.
• 47:36
  Speaker 3: In the House and the Senate, like overwhelmingly bipartisan.
• 47:40
  Speaker 7: Now, the type of Republican politics that we're seeing are
• 47:44
  Speaker 7: mirroring fascism and authoritarianism and no checks and balances for
• 47:47
  Speaker 7: the executive branch, allowing this president to violate the emoluments clause.
• 47:53
  Speaker 7: So what type of competition are we talking about here?
• 47:56
  Speaker 7: I think we're talking about two different kinds of Republicans, maybe.
• 47:58
  Speaker 6: And I would say that that extremism is a direct
• 48:01
  Speaker 6: result of a lack of competition, because these these extremists
• 48:06
  Speaker 6: in their districts, they don't feel any need to moderate.
• 48:09
  Speaker 6: They don't feel any need to appeal to folks in
• 48:12
  Speaker 6: the middle or folks in the Democratic Party. All they
• 48:14
  Speaker 6: have to do is please their farthest right flank. All
• 48:18
  Speaker 6: they got to do is please the folks on Fox
• 48:20
  Speaker 6: News or.
• 48:21
  Speaker 3: I'm going to push back on you even more.
• 48:23
  Speaker 7: So once Donald Trump came into office... there was this, again,
• 48:28
  Speaker 7: all-out assault on DEI. Democrats, largely, especially establishment Democrats' response
• 48:33
  Speaker 7: to that, even some in the socialist side who haven't
• 48:35
  Speaker 7: dealt with their racism, said, we agree with you, there
• 48:38
  Speaker 7: shouldn't be DEI. So much so that we can look
• 48:41
  Speaker 7: at the spending from the autopsy report in campaigns, which
• 48:45
  Speaker 7: has been a problem for a very long time. I
• 48:47
  Speaker 7: don't know how you're doing with spending with black outlets,
• 48:49
  Speaker 7: black staff, black vendors, but it's something to look at.
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: Definitely.
• 48:53
  Speaker 7: At some point, you have to acknowledge the competition has
• 48:56
  Speaker 7: made them go against any idea of a rainbow coalition
• 49:00
  Speaker 7: and against any idea of diversity.
• 49:02
  Speaker 3: So that type of competition actually isn't helpful at all.
• 49:06
  Speaker 6: Well, I think in Texas, I mean, if we're going
• 49:08
  Speaker 6: to win a statewide race, then we've got to have
• 49:11
  Speaker 6: the entire coalition with us. And so alienating parts of
• 49:16
  Speaker 6: that coalition actually make us less competitive. And so I
• 49:20
  Speaker 6: can't speak to other states or their districts what their
• 49:22
  Speaker 6: politics are like, but I know in Texas that if
• 49:25
  Speaker 6: we had a real competitive landscape statewide, then you would have,
• 49:29
  Speaker 6: you wouldn't, Ken Paxton has spent his career waging war
• 49:32
  Speaker 6: against black Texans on a whole host of issues from
• 49:35
  Speaker 6: healthcare to voting rights. If he was actually worried about
• 49:40
  Speaker 6: whether or not he could win a statewide election in Texas,
• 49:42
  Speaker 6: I think you wouldn't see those kind of attacks. And
• 49:44
  Speaker 6: in fact, I think I'm being proven right just this
• 49:47
  Speaker 6: week because these polls that we were talking about earlier
• 49:49
  Speaker 6: showing Ken Paxton behind in this race to me, suddenly
• 49:52
  Speaker 6: he's talking about affordability. Suddenly he's talking about healthcare. And
• 49:56
  Speaker 6: it's kind of funny to watch him. It looks like
• 49:58
  Speaker 6: he's speaking French or something. It doesn't come naturally. But
• 50:02
  Speaker 6: he is trying to speak to people outside of his
• 50:06
  Speaker 6: base because he feels the heat of that competition. And obviously,
• 50:10
  Speaker 6: Texas is different as a state because you can't gerrymander
• 50:13
  Speaker 6: the state lines like you can a congressional district. But
• 50:16
  Speaker 6: in my experience, when politicians feel that heat, when they
• 50:20
  Speaker 6: feel the need to actually compete for every vote, that
• 50:23
  Speaker 6: leads to better policymaking and less craziness. Now, it's not
• 50:26
  Speaker 6: always true, but that has been a trend I've observed
• 50:31
  Speaker 6: in the legislature. And I do think it would be
• 50:34
  Speaker 6: so good for Texas, good at every level too, not
• 50:36
  Speaker 6: just the Senate race, but the state legislature, local government,
• 50:39
  Speaker 6: school boards, if there's now a competitive environment where every
• 50:43
  Speaker 6: politician is having to compete to win an election, to
• 50:46
  Speaker 6: appeal to, you know, the broad swath of the electorate,
• 50:49
  Speaker 6: I think that's going to lead to better public policy outcomes.
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: You've become one of the few Democrats, right, who's comfortable
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: quoting scripture. Yeah. Right. Do you think Democrats.
• 50:58
  Speaker 4: Abandoned faith or did Republicans just become better marketers?
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: Both.
• 51:03
  Speaker 6: And this happened about 50 years ago. I think what
• 51:08
  Speaker 6: happened is that Democrats, they confused two things. One is
• 51:13
  Speaker 6: the separation of church and state, which is in our
• 51:15
  Speaker 6: first amendment. I'm the fiercest champion for the separation of
• 51:18
  Speaker 6: church and state in the Texas legislature. I'm a Christian,
• 51:23
  Speaker 6: and I know that the most dangerous form of government
• 51:25
  Speaker 6: is theocracy. The only thing worse than a tyrant is
• 51:28
  Speaker 6: a tyrant who thinks they're on a mission from God.
• 51:31
  Speaker 6: They've confused that separation of church and state with a
• 51:34
  Speaker 6: separation of faith and politics. We should have the first.
• 51:38
  Speaker 6: We don't need the second. We should bring our faith traditions,
• 51:42
  Speaker 6: our moralities, our philosophies, our ethics, our worldviews to our politics.
• 51:48
  Speaker 6: And if you don't, then your politics becomes kind of
• 51:51
  Speaker 6: spiritually impoverished. You think about the civil rights movement. You
• 51:55
  Speaker 6: think about the farm workers movement. You think about the
• 51:57
  Speaker 6: labor movement. These were movements that were rooted in spirituality,
• 52:02
  Speaker 6: in religion. I mean, the civil rights movement was an
• 52:04
  Speaker 6: explicitly Christian movement. in the American South. And that did
• 52:09
  Speaker 6: a few things. One, it allowed the people in those
• 52:12
  Speaker 6: movements to sustain the work over time. Because if you're
• 52:15
  Speaker 6: just worried about the next election or the current news
• 52:18
  Speaker 6: cycle and you lose, then you get burnt out. But
• 52:24
  Speaker 6: if you're playing a long game, if you're kind of
• 52:26
  Speaker 6: on an eternal timeline, if you're working for something greater
• 52:32
  Speaker 6: than what we see right in front of us, then
• 52:34
  Speaker 6: that pushes you forward. And then it also allows people
• 52:39
  Speaker 6: to connect with your movement at a deeper level. Because
• 52:43
  Speaker 6: these traditions, they're things that we share, right? Like I
• 52:47
  Speaker 6: think about all the people I went to high school
• 52:49
  Speaker 6: with who are pretty conservative Republicans, like we went to
• 52:52
  Speaker 6: the same churches and we share the same Bible stories,
• 52:56
  Speaker 6: the same teachings, the same values. And if I can
• 52:58
  Speaker 6: connect with my neighbors at that level, not on a
• 53:01
  Speaker 6: R versus D level or a blue versus red level,
• 53:04
  Speaker 6: or even a policy level, but at that, that values level,
• 53:08
  Speaker 6: to me, that's so much more powerful. It's much more
• 53:10
  Speaker 6: sustainable than if you're just running a partisan race. And
• 53:16
  Speaker 6: so I think Democrats made a huge mistake in ceding
• 53:19
  Speaker 6: religion to the other side, and we've seen the disastrous
• 53:23
  Speaker 6: consequences of it. I mean, so it's so apparent, like
• 53:25
  Speaker 6: when people hear me talking about Jesus or quoting scripture,
• 53:29
  Speaker 6: they assume I'm a Republican, which is kind of wild.
• 53:32
  Speaker 6: I mean, in the 20th century, you had Dr. King
• 53:35
  Speaker 6: and And Dolores Huerta and Mr. Rogers, you had people
• 53:41
  Speaker 6: who were using their faith, Jimmy Carter, using their faith
• 53:46
  Speaker 6: to love their neighbors. And it's just been so long
• 53:48
  Speaker 6: since we've had that kind of Christianity in our politics.
• 53:53
  Speaker 6: I think people are really hungry for that. And I'll
• 53:57
  Speaker 6: just say, no party has a monopoly on faith. Faith
• 54:00
  Speaker 6: is deeper than any political party.
• 54:02
  Speaker 7: But there is, I was just going to say on
• 54:04
  Speaker 7: this point, there is a a white nationalist movement happening
• 54:08
  Speaker 7: in the church.
• 54:09
  Speaker 3: And so you're talking about shared values.
• 54:11
  Speaker 7: Are those values really shared or have they manipulated them
• 54:14
  Speaker 7: just like they did with the transatlantic slave trade?
• 54:17
  Speaker 3: I don't know that the values are actually shared.
• 54:19
  Speaker 6: It's both, I think. There are some teachings that I
• 54:25
  Speaker 6: think still resonate with a lot of people, even people
• 54:27
  Speaker 6: who have been conned by this white Christian nationalist movement.
• 54:33
  Speaker 6: And I've been the most vocal critic of theocracy in
• 54:38
  Speaker 6: the state legislature. And I fought against the bills that
• 54:40
  Speaker 6: would have forced every teacher to post the 10 commandments,
• 54:43
  Speaker 6: would have taught Christian Bible stories exclusively to our youngest
• 54:48
  Speaker 6: school children as absolute truth. I fought against those, even
• 54:53
  Speaker 6: though my faith is central in my life. My granddad
• 54:56
  Speaker 6: was a Baptist preacher, even though I'm in seminary studying
• 54:58
  Speaker 6: to become a minister myself one day. I am called
• 55:02
  Speaker 6: to love all of my neighbors, not just my neighbors
• 55:04
  Speaker 6: who look like me not just my neighbors who pray
• 55:07
  Speaker 6: like me, not just my neighbors who vote like me.
• 55:09
  Speaker 6: I'm called to love all of my neighbors because all
• 55:12
  Speaker 6: of my neighbors bear that divine image. We don't always
• 55:17
  Speaker 6: live up to that divine image, me included, but we
• 55:20
  Speaker 6: all do bear that image. And if we can get
• 55:24
  Speaker 6: back to a place where we can see that in
• 55:26
  Speaker 6: each other, even see it in our enemies, that's how
• 55:29
  Speaker 6: we save this this experiment in democracy in this country.
• 55:33
  Speaker 7: Can you do that without calling out the ways in
• 55:35
  Speaker 7: which they're manipulating faith? Like there are pastors that are like, oh,
• 55:38
  Speaker 7: there should be votes by household. A woman shouldn't vote.
• 55:40
  Speaker 6: You've got to call it out. And we've been calling it.
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: Out.
• 55:44
  Speaker 6: Love is not shrinking from a fight or shrinking from confrontation.
• 55:50
  Speaker 6: In my view, that's the opposite of love. If you
• 55:53
  Speaker 6: truly love someone or if you love this state or
• 55:56
  Speaker 6: this country, then you have to look bullies in the eye.
• 56:01
  Speaker 6: And you've got to speak truth to power. I mean,
• 56:03
  Speaker 6: that's what Jesus showed us Christians how to do. I mean,
• 56:07
  Speaker 6: we always think of Jesus as being this gentle, kind guy,
• 56:10
  Speaker 6: but he flipped over the tables in the temple. He
• 56:15
  Speaker 6: walked into the seat of power and flipped over those
• 56:17
  Speaker 6: tables of injustice. And I started this campaign with that
• 56:21
  Speaker 6: Bible story because I wanted to remind us that sometimes
• 56:25
  Speaker 6: love calls us to speak truth to power. It sometimes
• 56:29
  Speaker 6: calls for confrontation. You have to force conflict in order
• 56:33
  Speaker 6: to heal conflict. And so it's why I've been so
• 56:36
  Speaker 6: outspoken in my criticism on theological grounds of this Christian
• 56:41
  Speaker 6: nationalist movement. And I think we need a senator who
• 56:46
  Speaker 6: has experience in this fight and who can call out
• 56:49
  Speaker 6: this theocratic movement, not just on constitutional grounds, not just
• 56:53
  Speaker 6: on political grounds, but on those theological grounds.
• 56:56
  Speaker 4: I just got a couple more questions about that, right?
• 56:57
  Speaker 4: Because you have been outspoken against Christian nationalism. Where's the
• 57:01
  Speaker 4: line between expressing your faith publicly and using faith as
• 57:05
  Speaker 4: a political weapon?
• 57:06
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it's such an important line to be aware of.
• 57:09
  Speaker 6: And it's back to that point about the institutional separation
• 57:12
  Speaker 6: of church and state. I am never going to force
• 57:15
  Speaker 6: my religion, my faith down the throats of my neighbors,
• 57:19
  Speaker 6: my Muslim and Jewish and Hindu and Buddhist and atheist neighbors,
• 57:23
  Speaker 6: because that's not love. I don't want anyone doing that
• 57:26
  Speaker 6: to me. So why would I do that to my neighbors? Um,
• 57:29
  Speaker 6: we have, if you're interested in learning about my faith tradition,
• 57:31
  Speaker 6: we got churches on every corner in Texas and we'd
• 57:34
  Speaker 6: love to have you, um, on any Sunday. Um, but
• 57:38
  Speaker 6: the schoolhouse, the courthouse, the state house is not the
• 57:40
  Speaker 6: place to do that. Um, and, but I will talk
• 57:45
  Speaker 6: about how my faith influences my views. I will talk
• 57:48
  Speaker 6: about how my faith motivates my public service because I
• 57:51
  Speaker 6: want to be honest about that. I can only show
• 57:53
  Speaker 6: up as me. I can't pretend to be somebody else. Um,
• 57:57
  Speaker 6: And my faith is at the core of my life
• 58:00
  Speaker 6: and of my public service. And I want to be
• 58:02
  Speaker 6: honest about that with people. And I hope I can
• 58:05
  Speaker 6: do it in a way that is sensitive to the
• 58:10
  Speaker 6: religious trauma that a lot of people have. A lot
• 58:12
  Speaker 6: of people have been hurt by organized religion, and we
• 58:14
  Speaker 6: should be upfront about that. So I'm trying to be
• 58:17
  Speaker 6: as sensitive and as responsible as I can be, while
• 58:21
  Speaker 6: still being as honest as I need to be about
• 58:23
  Speaker 6: what motivates me in this work.
• 58:25
  Speaker 4: I wouldn't have a problem with people bringing their spirituality
• 58:29
  Speaker 4: or religion into politics if they actually lived like that,
• 58:33
  Speaker 4: for real.
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: If you're going to say, what would Jesus do? Really
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: think about that.
• 58:37
  Speaker 4: When you're denying some of these kids food or money
• 58:41
  Speaker 4: to pour in disenfranchised areas. I wouldn't have no problem
• 58:44
  Speaker 4: if they actually lived up to Jesus' teaching.
• 58:48
  Speaker 6: And if they were honest about where they fall short,
• 58:51
  Speaker 6: because we all fall short, right? We're all imperfect people. Christians.
• 58:56
  Speaker 6: We're all imperfect people. And we should be very honest
• 58:59
  Speaker 6: about that. It's why do not judge is such a
• 59:02
  Speaker 6: common commandment in the Christian scriptures, because humility is necessary
• 59:07
  Speaker 6: in order to do this work.
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: But I agree with you.
• 59:09
  Speaker 6: I mean, I would ask your listeners, your viewers, even
• 59:12
  Speaker 6: those who aren't religious, to go back and read Matthew 25,
• 59:16
  Speaker 6: the parable of the sheep and the goats. I know
• 59:20
  Speaker 6: it sounds like a strange name for a story, but
• 59:23
  Speaker 6: it's a fascinating story because at the end of the world,
• 59:26
  Speaker 6: Jesus gathers a all of us as people and all
• 59:29
  Speaker 6: of us as nations, as communities. There's a lot of
• 59:31
  Speaker 6: folks who will say, well, those are only commandments for
• 59:34
  Speaker 6: individual people, right? Charity, but we don't need to guarantee
• 59:37
  Speaker 6: healthcare because that's not true. But you go back and
• 59:40
  Speaker 6: read the story. He's gathering the people and the nations,
• 59:43
  Speaker 6: us as individuals, us as communities. And he's going to
• 59:48
  Speaker 6: say to some of us, depart from me for I
• 59:52
  Speaker 6: was hungry and you didn't give me something to eat.
• 59:55
  Speaker 6: I was sick. and you didn't heal me. I was
• 59:58
  Speaker 6: a stranger, and you didn't welcome me. And those of
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 6: us who get that stern talking to are going to say, Christ,
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 6: when did we see you hungry? When did we see
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 6: you sick? When did we see you as a stranger?
• 1:00:12
  Speaker 6: And then he's going to tell us, what you did
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 6: for the least of these is what you did for me.
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 6: And that story, to me, should speak to us in
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 6: this moment. Because what would Jesus say if he walked
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 6: onto the floor of the U.S.
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: Senate?
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 6: I think he would say, I was hungry and you
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 6: kicked me off food stamps. I was sick and you
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 6: kicked me off Medicaid. I was a stranger and you
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 6: deported me and my family. So these teachings from 2000
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 6: years ago should wake us up in this moment. And
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 6: if we claim to follow Jesus, if we claim to
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 6: be Christians, then we need to love our neighbors, not
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 6: just through our words, but through our actions, through our
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 6: public policy. And that's what I'm trying to do by
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 6: running for the seat, and I hope I can do
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 6: it in the U.S. Senate.
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: Strong.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: There you have it, ladies and gentlemen.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 6: I appreciate y'all.
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: Thank you for.
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 2: Joining us this morning.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 4: Amen.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 6: Thank you.
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: You good, Ms. Rod?
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 3: Yes, I said amen.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: If James Tallarico.
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 5: Any business to do?
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 6: If people want to join us, they can go to
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 6: our website, jamestallarico.com, sign up to volunteer. We're going to
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 6: need door knockers. We're going to need folks on phone banks.
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 6: We're going to need folks sending text messages. Even if
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 6: you've never volunteered before, We will teach you how to
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 6: do it. And if you're feeling a little hopeless, if
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 6: you're doom scrolling, action is the best antidote to that despair.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 6: There was an organizer friend who told me, you can't
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 6: wring your hands when you're rolling up your sleeves. So
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 6: let's all get to work. Let's do that work in
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 6: Texas and across the country. And it's an honor to
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 6: do that work with everybody.
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: Can I ask you one question? Yeah, please.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 4: If Jesus came back today, which political party do you
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 4: think would be most uncomfortable with him?
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 6: I think both political parties would be deeply uncomfortable. I
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 6: think Jesus is far more radical than any political party.
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 6: And when I say radical, I don't mean extreme. The
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 6: word radical comes from the Latin word for root. So
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 6: Jesus goes to the root of our problems and he
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 6: calls us to a deeper love, a deeper justice, a
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 6: deeper peace. And so I think he would challenge both
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 6: political parties to keep working toward a more radical vision
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 6: for democracy, more rights, more opportunities for more of our neighbors.
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 2: All right. Well, James Tallarico, thank you for joining us.
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 6: Thank you.
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: Breakfast Club, good morning.