Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ep. 33 (Audio): Olivia Julianna on Faith, the Texas Primary, and the Key to Flipping Texas
34 Plays5 days ago
Olivia Julianna, a Gen Z activist, strategist, and content creator based in Texas. Her work has reached millions online, and she's become one of the most recognizable young Democratic voices in the country.
This week, Kate and Alex sit down with Olivia to talk about building a political movement in Texas, and why community is the foundation everything else gets built on.
Olivia traces her origin story from a conservative Christian household in rural Fort Bend County to going viral during the 2020 election, taking on Matt Gaetz at 19, and raising $2.3 million for abortion funds in the aftermath of Dobbs. She shares what it was like to be thrust into a national spotlight before she'd even finished her freshman year of college, and why she didn't feel the weight of it until she was standing in the Oval Office with Joe Biden four years later.
Plus: Olivia is moving to Austin, Alex is crashing a teenager's D&D birthday quest, and Kate is taking her four-year-old to ACL for the very first time.
*Note: this was recorded before Trump's Texas Primary endorsement announcement.
- Why Olivia started making TikToks in 2020, and how she reached a million views before she could even vote
- Getting attacked by a sitting member of Congress at 19, and turning it into $2.3 million for fifty abortion funds
- Being pushed out of her ministry for abortion advocacy, and how James Talarico helped her find her way back to her faith
- The "villager" theory of organizing: show up for your community before you need something from it
- Why the Democratic big tent in Texas has to be bigger than most party insiders are comfortable with
- Olivia's prediction on the Cornyn-Paxton runoff and what it means for Talarico in November
- How Texas congressional seats could determine the House majority
- The 18-to-29 neighbor stat: down from 51% to 25% since 2012, and what Democrats need to do about it
Where to find Olivia:
All platforms: @OliviaJulianna
Substack: oliviajulianna.co
Support the show:
Love what we're doing? Become a member at patreon.com/missiontexaspodcast — just a few dollars a month keeps independent Texas media alive. And if you can't spare the cash, a five-star review goes just as far. God bless Texas. 🤠
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of Olivia Juliana
00:00:00
Speaker
Howdy. This is Mission Texas. Howdy and welcome back to Mission Texas. Altix increasingly happens through phones instead of podiums.
00:00:12
Speaker
And very few people understand that shift better than today's guest. Olivia Juliana is one of the most recognizable Gen Z political voices in the country, a Texas-based activist and strategist whose content has reached millions of people online and helped redefine how younger Americans engage with politics.
00:00:31
Speaker
Welcome to the pod, Olivia. What introduction. but so That's got to be like easily top 10 of the intros I've ever gotten. Yes, excellent. We made a top 10 list.
00:00:43
Speaker
Well, thank you. I appreciate Well, can we start
Olivia's Background and Political Awakening
00:00:46
Speaker
at the beginning? One of my favorite things to do is to learn about people's origin stories. I'm a big Marvel nerd and I love to hear all the how did Peter get bit by the spider?
00:00:57
Speaker
How did Steve go through Vita rays and the super soldier serum? How did you become Olivia Juliana? Oh, my gosh. Well, you know, honestly, it depends on what what day you ask me, um what kind of mood I'm in I think the truest answer is, you know, I'm a born and raised Texan.
00:01:19
Speaker
ah you know I was born in Houston. I was raised in rural Texas. I grew up in Fort Bend County. And everything that encompasses that kind of life is what really shaped my political values, my political ah beliefs. You know, i grew up in a very conservative Christian household. Both my parents were, ah you know, lifelong Republicans.
00:01:42
Speaker
And we were very engaged in the church, you know, all through junior high and high school. I was very active in ministry. was on the board of directors of the ministry here in Texas.
00:01:53
Speaker
And consider myself to be pretty conservative. Until my freshman year of high school, i I joined the debate team and I had to do research around a number of political topics. But I was ah i was a Lincoln Douglas debate kid.
00:02:07
Speaker
So I never knew if I was going to be arguing in the affirmative or the negative when I was going into any given debate round. So I had to prepare arguments for both cases. So often I found myself having to prepare arguments to justify conservatively conservative viewpoints and to justify more liberal viewpoints. And I realized that, ah you know, one set of viewpoints was a ah lot easier to justify than the other through science and research.
2020: A Year of Political Engagement via TikTok
00:02:33
Speaker
But I think my my kind of large, my largest origin was, you know, 2020, I was a junior in high school during the COVID lockdowns. And
00:02:43
Speaker
I was just stuck in this rural farmhouse in the middle of Texas, just me and my dad. And I saw everything that was going on in the world through my phone, through this new app that people were talking about called TikTok, which was not super popular at the time. Like when I started TikTok, it was the kind of app where if your friends at school find out that you were on it, they would make fun of you. And yeah, this was like a real thing. like, no I remember. Yeah. in the air I would make fun people in the Air Force when they told me that they had it. I'm a late adopter. Kayton, you are great on TikTok. I am just awful.
00:03:18
Speaker
But i understand what you're talking about. I got on board early and, you know, I saw the moment for me that really pushed me into political being politically involved was...
00:03:28
Speaker
when when Trump gassed protesters outside of the church in Washington, D.C. That was just a, you know, I'm ah i'm a devout Christian at the time. i was the vice president of my school's chapter, Fellowship of Christian Athletes. And I just felt so strongly that that was against everything I stood for. So I started using TikTok to tell young people why they should vote for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. And I thought that I was just going to reach, you know, maybe a couple hundred people here and there. But, you know, by election day 2020, I had reached, I think, well over a million people through this account in an election I myself wasn't even old enough to vote in.
Advocacy Against SB8 and Fundraising Success
00:04:08
Speaker
And, know, From there, it just kind of took off and I started getting more and more involved around issues that were important to me as a woman, as a young woman living in rural Texas. I started talking a lot more about abortion access around the time that SB8 was being debated in the legislature.
00:04:26
Speaker
And I found myself at this kind of crossroads of, okay, you know, a Democrat's in the White House, but I still live in Texas and I wasn't involved, and as involved as i should have been. And so I started getting more plugged in and doing advocacy around SB8. We took down a whistleblower tip line that was put up by Texas Right to Life. We did that using TikTok of people submitting fake tips.
00:04:49
Speaker
You know, after that, ah i I started talking about raising money for abortion funds in a post-Dobbs world. And Congressman Matt Gaetz, the story I think most people would know me for is, you know, Congressman Matt Gaetz decided it was appropriate to make comments about myself and my parents at the time. i was 19 And I just said I wasn't going to take it. I wasn't I wasn't going to deal with it. So I just started punching back at him really hard at a time when, you know, it really wasn't common for Democratic figures and people on the left to be very abrasive and antagonistic online, especially
00:05:30
Speaker
It really took off. And within a couple of days, we raised two point three million dollars for 50 abortion funds across the country just two months after Roe v. Wade had been overturned.
00:05:41
Speaker
And, you know, ever since then, I've just been involved in politics here in Texas. I worked on the 2024 Senate campaign. I was the youth
Political Aspirations and Texas's Landscape
00:05:49
Speaker
co-chair. I spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. I've stumped for different candidates all over this country. And I feel the most passionately about flipping this damn state and taking it back from the 30 years of Republican tyranny that it's been under.
00:06:08
Speaker
Quick thing for our listeners, Matt Gaetz, who he she was just referencing, you may have already forgotten because it feels like years ago, but he was Donald Trump's first choice for attorney general.
00:06:20
Speaker
This guy who... Matt Gaetz? Matt Gaetz, do you remember that? I don't remember that. was who he was nominated. I forgot.
00:06:31
Speaker
I remember that day. That was one of those days where I felt it in my soul as an American. Wow, this is really what our country has come to. you know, I have been a teenager who was attacked by a sitting member
Handling Public Scrutiny and Viral Fame
00:06:46
Speaker
of Congress. Not only was he, you know, he got to remain a member of Congress, he was, to your point, he was going to be nominated to be the Attorney General of the United States. Not just, you know, insulting me, but this is a man who was credibly accused of sex trafficking a minor.
00:07:02
Speaker
That's what I was just about to bring up. When you see everything that has come out in the Epstein files so far, starts to make a lot of sense why he was Trump's top choice. But enough about that.
00:07:13
Speaker
Yeah, there's so much to unpack about your story. And but i keep thinking about just 18 year old Olivia and the trauma that you know just to be thrust into that spotlight as an 18 year old. And that's not too far away.
00:07:26
Speaker
Just kudos to you to bridge that world into activism and bringing positivity to it. But I can't imagine you look back and think like, yeah, an 18 year old should be going through that. what happened and also congratulating people like Matt Gaetz for doing it. Luckily, he's no longer in office and I'm even wondering what the heck he's doing. ah um And look like how far you've come versus his fall from grace. Be careful. Donald Trump still needs a new AG. So yeah on exactly clip I think I think he's on either Newsmax or OAN these days. But I mean, yeah, it was very difficult. I think that at the time, i i don't think I really internalized just how
00:08:06
Speaker
severe and just how like high level the attention was at that point because I was so new to being a content creator I didn't realize just how severe a viral moment it was versus now i think I've been doing this for six years now I really internalized just how much attention there was at the time of like this was you know Within a couple of days, this kid who I just moved to Houston, I just graduated high school, moved into my first apartment, freshman year of college, this post happens on Twitter. And within two days, it's being addressed by the Washington Post, the New York Times, Fox News. I'm on multiple MSNBC shows. Hillary Clinton is talking about it. I had put out a letter, you know, saying it's great that people are engaged in this, but I need you to be engaged in our elections too. And I had a list of all these candidates across the country who were running in really critical swing seats and they started posting about it. And it just, it really blew up.
00:09:09
Speaker
You know, I didn't really start to feel
Mentorship and Constructive Criticism
00:09:11
Speaker
the after effects of that until probably many years later, because truthfully, like At the time, it really didn't bother me. it really didn't get to me. i was just so focused on trying to help as many people as possible. the ages It never really crossed my mind to feel bad for myself. But it is part of the reason why now I try really hard to mentor younger people who are in the space so that they can understand, like, it's not okay that you are having to deal with this.
00:09:42
Speaker
But it is okay for you to use it to make things better for other people. And I think that's the attitude that I really try to keep true to as we progress on through this insanity that we're living in. Well, you know, that that's a message I think even us older people could benefit from too, Olivia. so So thank you for that. Yeah, you can mentor us. Yeah, honestly. To almost take, you know, on its own merits is pathetic, right? Like a grown man, let alone a member of Congress, making fun of a freshman in college for their appearance is just so low. But like to go and take it and make something good out of it, to use the attention, to use your platform as a tool on behalf of things you care about is is so inspiring, honestly. To not say, oh, what was me? Which you would have absolutely had the right to do, to really kind of Be like, thank you for this unexpected spotlight. Even more people are going listening to me now.
00:10:34
Speaker
But yeah before all that happened, going back to 2020, there was time between the the tear gassing in Lafayette Square and Joe Biden becoming elected where you must have been like, wait a minute.
00:10:47
Speaker
Everybody is like actually listening to me. What's going on?
Meeting with Joe Biden and Imposter Syndrome
00:10:51
Speaker
Was there like ah ah so you know, talking about Spider-Man earlier, was there like a, what is this power? Like with great power comes great responsibility kind of moment.
00:11:01
Speaker
Alex and his metaphors. I wish I could say yes, but i i I don't think that there is. I think even now I have a really hard time like digesting the reality of the reach that I have, the you know the network that I have. And I think that that is just because had a very deeply working class relationship.
00:11:26
Speaker
childhood you know my parents divorced when 14 we weren't very we were pretty low income like my parents you know we moved around a lot and so my frame of reference for everything always was the type of childhood that I had even now you know like I said been doing this for six years in my head i'm like I'm still just the 17 year old making TikToks in my bedroom Like, to me think that's that's still who I am.
00:11:54
Speaker
and even then, i just felt like I was just talking to my friends on social media. i know I think the only moment where I like, really felt it physically in my body of like, oh, my God, this it is insane to me that this is happening right now was in December of 2024, when I was standing in the Oval Office with Joe Biden.
00:12:18
Speaker
mom I think that was the first time that I was, oh my God, like this is this is real. This is my life. Well, the office is designed to make you feel that way, right? It's supposed to be overwhelming.
00:12:29
Speaker
It is. It was so overwhelming. And, you know, getting to tell the you know the president of the United States. as You're welcome. Well, yeah, well, yeah, good luck. um but i was from Needville, Texas. Like, who the hell in history has ever been able to do that? 2,000 people that live there. And that's where i grew up.
00:12:48
Speaker
No, I guess I have this, ah this is a very Gen Z thing of what is the imposter syndrome. oh It doesn't matter how successful you are. Like, you'll always think, oh, it's fine. It's either that or it's just humility to a
Faith, Activism, and Unexpected Support
00:13:00
Speaker
fault. But it still doesn't occur to me.
00:13:02
Speaker
I mean, Kate, tell me if you disagree, but I think that that applies right now for yeah everybody, for and even in big law, maybe especially in big law, where Kate and I are used to both practice these big law firms. Everyone at in those jobs is like resumes are on point, like... You would think objectively, they've got to feel like they've earned that job and they deserve to be there.
00:13:26
Speaker
But I would tell you, like, maybe a sociopath here and there feels that way. But almost everyone has like a level of imposter syndrome. It's like, how is this happening? Well, and I think a lot of I see people saying this on the internet, like, look who's in office and look who's in charge. So don't ever have imposter syndrome anymore. mean, just the bar is low, man, it is low. But I wanted to go back and ask you a little bit about, because this is very resonant with me growing up in a conservative Christian household and using your platform to talk about that, because
00:14:00
Speaker
I, in a smaller way, talked about it it in an op-ed and with our local paper, just to say, like look, you're not alone. and if you it's okay, like maybe giving people a permission structure of saying, like you don't have to assume that everyone's conservative, Catholic, or Christian, and everyone around you, i assumed when I was growing up, was conservative and Christian and everybody was a Republican, And I'm trying to show people like that's not necessarily the case. And our big tent can be with people who grew up in those environments, too. And so I'm wondering, like, what is your thoughts like in being able to provide that kind of platform and also how that connects to what we're hearing now with more outspoken Christians like a James Tallarico?
00:14:41
Speaker
I adore James Tallarico to my core. Yeah, um I mentioned the the tip line that we took down. That was back in 2021. And that led to me speaking at the Women's March in Austin in October of that year, which is where I met James Tallarico for the first time. And he was actually the first member of the Texas legislature that I ever met.
00:15:03
Speaker
And he came up to me because he had known me from Twitter. Even since back then, you know, he He was someone who I always was really inspired by when it came to my faith, because that was at a point when I still struggled with it myself.
00:15:18
Speaker
Am I allowed to be an abortion rights activist and to be a Christian? Because, you know, I mentioned this earlier, i had been on the board of directors of the ministry. i was I was pretty much kicked out. I was told not to come back after I started doing abortion advocacy work. I was...
00:15:36
Speaker
kind of cast as this bad influence and that I was going to lead people astray. and that was ah that was an organization I had been involved in in for four years. And I was told not to come back.
00:15:48
Speaker
I actually, for a really ah long period of time there, left the church. i I stopped calling myself a Christian. i stopped reading the Bible. i stopped telling people that I was a Christian. And it just, for a very long time, I had this very strong and conflicting belief about it um until I started talking to James. And I befriended my good friend, James Tallarico, who I'm so excited to vote for this November. But as far as it comes to talking to other people,
00:16:17
Speaker
I've become a lot more public about it in the last about a year and a half than I was previously, talking about being a Christian and growing up in a conservative home. And I have been surprised because I would say the people who have been the most receptive to me talking about that has not been Democrats. It has been Republicans.
00:16:39
Speaker
I would go as far as to say i found myself in this really interesting position now where I get approached to public more by Republicans than I get approached by Democrats, who who reference me talking about my faith and me talking about, you know, growing up with conservative parents or maybe things I may disagree with ah that, you know, certain Democrats are doing. And I know that's not really the typical answer that you would expect from a Democratic influencer, but I think it's just...
00:17:09
Speaker
Me in particular of I have a very unique voice and very specific convictions that relate to all of this. and I think that that might just be a Texas Democrat thing.
00:17:20
Speaker
Yeah, they're in the Texas Democrat conversion pipeline. Yeah, exactly. I mean... I wouldn't say I grew up in a Republican household. I grew up a kind of in like an apolitical household in Sherman, Texas, which is, it's not as small as some parts of Texas. People assume all small towns are the same, but Sherman is the biggest city in Grayson County.
00:17:41
Speaker
People came to us for our Walmart and our, and our movie theater. y'all have Walmart? Wow. We even have that. Look at know, I'm telling you. and And when I was in college, we got a Chipotle. It was very exciting. You would have thought it was the 2008 election all over again.
00:17:54
Speaker
We can't have an episode without Alex mentioning Sherman, Texas. hot He has to give a plug. I appreciate that. So it was Sherman High School and Austin College in Sherman. So the Shermanites, right? But I bring it up because i was in ministry as well. I was, I came to faith through Young Life in high school. And then I became a Young Life volunteer whenever I got to college.
00:18:15
Speaker
Eventually became the area director for my last two years of college because it was either someone takes that job or Sherman Young Life stops existing. And when I was in college, I was really involved with college Democrats. And one of the things I did was the CDA, College Democrats of America Faith Caucus.
00:18:31
Speaker
And we put together a little video with like everybody's like explanations for why they're a Democrat. And because I was the faith caucus guy, i said, I'm a Democrat because of my faith, not in spite of it.
00:18:45
Speaker
And I remember getting roasted online by all these grown adults who they wanted to talk to me about how my faith was inauthentic and how I didn't understand theology and all that. And so, yes, similarly, i don't think is anyone surprised to hear that I also have resonated with James Tallarico over the years for being able to talk specifically to those issues.
00:19:07
Speaker
Listen, this is I'll tell people, you know, and I think everyone thinks it's like, of course, Texas Democrats say this every election cycle. But I have never had more people in my personal life that I knew through my childhood and ministry specifically reach out to tell me that they were interested in the candidate who was opposing party to their own.
00:19:27
Speaker
Just the way that James makes me feel about my faith, I feel like there are probably so many people out there who feel the same way. and just like you said, you know, i am a Democrat because I am a Christian.
00:19:40
Speaker
I was raised to plead the widow's cause and to feed the hungry and to... love thy neighbor and do all of these things, even if it meant there was nothing in it for me, even if it was difficult. You know, I was raised in the kind of household school where my dad would literally give someone the shirt off of his back.
00:20:00
Speaker
And I don't understand how you can be so enmeshed in community like that. Be so comfortable declining money for free and reduced school lunch programs and willing to cut healthcare care for people who have cancer. it' It's just so conflicting to me. I don't understand it.
Role of Churches and Community Support
00:20:22
Speaker
And it would be one thing if i if we had a robust...
00:20:28
Speaker
organizing of churches across this country to actually meet the charitable needs of people. But there are a lot of churches in this country that are far more focused on the paychecks of their preachers than actually helping the people in their pulpit.
00:20:41
Speaker
And I don't think you can claim to have it both ways. you either Either the government has to help people or the churches have to do it. And at this current moment, it seems like neither one is willing to. So combining what you just said and and your background TikTok real quick, have you seen the viral kind of test phone calls on TikTok of like reaching out to churches and seeing like how they would respond to a crying baby who needed formula?
00:21:05
Speaker
I only bring it up because the church across the street from mine downtown failed that test spectacularly. As soon as I saw that video come out, I like reached out to my church and was like, if we ever fail this test, like it's going to be terrible PR and we'll deserve it. And I'm i'm out.
00:21:21
Speaker
i'm not I'm not surprised. I mean, I, you know, I used to, when I was younger, i would get really, really mad when I would hear people say negative things about Christians and Christianity.
00:21:32
Speaker
And it kind of fed into that thing we're taught of, you know, like Christians are persecuted. And the and as I got older, i had to have this understanding. and i And I liken it to maybe an older conservative man getting mad when a black or brown person says they're afraid of white people.
00:21:50
Speaker
I used to get mad at people who were critical of Christians, and now I'm upset at the Christians who have given them the impression that that's what Christianity looks like. And I used to be upset at the people who would say things like, I don't trust white people or I'm fearful of white people.
00:22:05
Speaker
And I'm mad now at the people who have given the impression that being white is so intrinsically tied to being hateful and racist. And I think that more Christians feel the way that I feel, I'm sure that you feel, that are hesitant to speak up.
00:22:23
Speaker
But, you know, that is what the Bible calls us to do. and we have not just, ah you know, an American obligation to to speak against that. We have a Christian obligation to speak against that.
00:22:36
Speaker
And i think that's a big part of the reason why I do what I do. i have a couple comments and a question on that. I mean, one of the worries I have is how do we get into the communities that are so faith driven as Democrats? Like we can't be at the pulpit, but how do we speak to those people? Because I know just personally, and I'm sure you feel the same way, a lot of people They build their community around the church. They build their identity around a church. They have a social network around their church. So how do we get into those spaces? Maybe it is through a TikTok or having a candidate like a James Tallarico. But I mean, getting to our thesis of the podcast, which is about flipping Texas, one of our earlier episodes, we were talking about this whole thing. I mean, the whole episode was about Christianity in Texas and what's going on. But over 60% of Texans identify as Christian, right? So how do we tie these,
00:23:27
Speaker
ideas together. And has that informed your theory on how to flip the state and like what, what messaging works? Cause I know there was a debate between like James Salarico. And I think a lot of people are thinking like, we got to like ah go to the persuadables or people that are not voting. And you've got people like Jasmine Crockett, or maybe I'm just stereotyping her theory, which was, or summarizing her theory, which is we have to turn out our base. We have to excite our base and we have to have more Democrats, you know, who might be sending this out to come out.
00:23:55
Speaker
Does this inform your theory of how to flip the state?
Engaging Communities Beyond Elections
00:24:00
Speaker
Oh, yeah. I mean, and I think, you know, the Latino community in particular, I think, is such a ah great example of like what it's going to take, which is, you know, Democrats, we're constantly coming at things from how do Democrats organize in these space? How do Democrats get involved in these conversations?
00:24:19
Speaker
And I think the question we have to ask is, how do you get involved in your community? I wrote a sub stack forever ago, i think maybe for the contrarian, where I said, when a hurricane hits or when when something tragic happens in someone's life, they're not going to remember the person that knocked on their door and asked them to vote for a candidate. They're going to remember the person that brought them dinner.
00:24:44
Speaker
And I think that we have to start thinking about it as a type of exposure therapy. Organizing around the church, especially for Christians, is happening throughout this state on a number of levels. Like, it is happening through the church, but it's also happening through parent Teacher alliances, ah Little League games, Girl Scouts, you know, dance club, high school football games.
00:25:09
Speaker
Are you as a Democrat being involved in your community as a Democrat or you actually being involved in your community? You have to be a villager. When you're trying to build a village, you can't just expect a village to be there for you when you need it. We need election time. But that means we have to show up for our community even when we're not asking them for something specific. We need to be engaged. We need to be involved. You know, I think the reason why James Tallarico has performed up until this point so phenomenally with Latino voters is because
00:25:43
Speaker
the Latino community is so family and faith oriented. It's not a partisan community. It is very rooted in, do I feel like you are the type of person that I can invite to sit down and have dinner with my family?
00:25:59
Speaker
And if the answer is no, I'm never going to trust you with my vote. We as Democrats need to start thinking about things in that frame of less about, am I going to be able to secure your vote? And more about, am I going to be able to secure your trust?
00:26:13
Speaker
And that comes through being involved in the community and being engaged on social media in a number of different places, different platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, commenting, you know, being in different parents groups on you know Facebook, just seeing and listening and hearing to what it is people have to say and being a good villager, I think is what it's going to take for us to flip the stage.
00:26:37
Speaker
I like that idea, the the villager idea, because what I see too often in Democratic politics here in Texas specifically, and maybe more so here than any other state in the country, unfortunately, this kind of aversion to letting anybody in who's not already part of the team.
00:26:57
Speaker
problem is our team statewide hasn't won longer than everybody else. And so by definition, we got to grow the team. And there are different people we can bring onto the team, but whether they're someone who we think should be a Democrat and they're unengaged or whether they're persuadable or whatever, however you want to slice them and dice it up, members of the village.
00:27:17
Speaker
How many people aren't plugged in just because no one's asked them don't do it welcome, yeah. They haven't been welcomed in. You know, I had a friend say to me recently, he phrased it in a way that it really stuck with me, is he's someone who, yeah he's a Democrat, he's in the party, but he tends to be a little bit more independent with his thinking. he has some opinions that are a little bit more conservative.
00:27:41
Speaker
He said to me, the fastest way for me to become a Republican is for somebody to constantly tell me that I'm not a Democrat. And I think that that's another that's another part of the problem that we have here in Texas is, you know, we're so used to operating with this in this frame set of there's X amount of Democratic voters and X amount of Republican voters.
00:28:04
Speaker
And this assumption that if we turn out more, it's going to benefit us. And we don't we know that the opposite is actually true from the data we have. I think we need to be more accepting of people and more understanding of the fact that there is no such thing as a cookie cutter Democrat. There is no such thing as, um you know, there's one right way to be a Democrat. We are a big tent. Texas is in a very unique position of we don't have a choice but to be a big tent state because there are so many different people here.
00:28:35
Speaker
And there's just so many people in general that if we start telling people, you know, you're not welcome in the coalition or it's not worth it for us to invest in talking to you.
00:28:47
Speaker
We are doing ourselves a disservice. And I feel like after 30 years, I don't quite understand why we haven't learned that lesson yet. well, maybe we should be more comfortable being around people who we disagree with, you know, 20% of the time, if it means that we get to get rid of Cruz or John Cornyn 100% the time.
00:29:09
Speaker
Right. I mean, also the stakes, you have to think about what's happening now with Supreme Court and voting rights, which is something that we talked about in our last episode. But it just seems to me like we have, like recently the Democratic Party of Texas were having our convention this summer. They were announcing who our keynote speakers are and people are upset with that. I mean, and, you know, Kendall, who's a friend of the podcast, who's the current chair and he's running for reelection, you know, he understands that like not everybody's going to be happy.
00:29:36
Speaker
But I think he appreciates that we are this big tent and, you know, hey, like you don't have to like everything to be welcome here. um but I'm curious your thoughts, Olivia. you you mentioned going to the White House. You seem to have are more plugged in maybe nationally.
Texas's Significance in National Politics
00:29:51
Speaker
And I'm wondering, like, how do you perceive What's going on with national politics with Texas? I mean for example, this week, we saw Obama came to Austin to help Gina and Yosa and James Delarico, and they went to a taco joint.
00:30:06
Speaker
Are we getting national help? are Are people finally waking up to the idea that Texas is up for grabs? Because it also seems to me that people are also perceiving us as expensive and big. I'll just be blunt.
00:30:16
Speaker
This cycle, I highly doubt it. Highly doubt it. I think that ah the insider people are looking at the map and thinking to themselves, Texas, Iowa, Alaska, probably the same, ah you know, the same terrain.
00:30:35
Speaker
Two of them are a lot cheaper and a lot smaller than the other one. I look at it a little differently. I look at it as, you know, when I'm having conversations with national people, I'll consistently tell them, i don't think it's fair to measure success in Texas by the results of our statewide elections.
00:30:55
Speaker
and I'd be truthful in saying this, I think that James Tallarico being our Senate candidate in a midterm election year where Donald Trump is not on the ballot, we have a very dejected and demoralized Republican Party is probably the best chance we'll have at flipping this state in a very long time. If I was a billionaire, I'd write the biggest check that I could because I think it'd be a good bet um on a state that's been a white whale for a long time.
00:31:20
Speaker
But I think the much- where they could send it. Yeah, exactly. But but i think the I think the much more realistic understanding is, you know, Texas is much more important nationally than people give it credit for. Because it's not just this powerhouse of a c Senate candidate we have in James Tallarico.
00:31:39
Speaker
We have three very competitive candidates. US house races that we need to win. We have Texas 34, we have Texas 28, we have Texas 15, Texas 35 is on the map now. i think in a really good environment, we can take Texas nine.
00:31:55
Speaker
We have the potential just here in the state of Texas to determine the house majority. And I don't think that that should be undercut or taken out of the equation when we're deciding where we're going to spend money to make sure that we're taking back, ah you know, the House or the Senate going into next year. And we also have, like, such a large number of these down-ballot races that are going to be so important to building the infrastructure that we need for the next set of statewide elections. You know, I'm thinking about the Tarrant County judge race.
00:32:28
Speaker
Thinking about some of these state house seats in South Texas, these are very critical races that we're gonna have to win. And we only win those down ballot races, those pivotal house seats, if we're investing in our Senate candidate.
00:32:42
Speaker
And so, you know, I don't control the purse strings. But I think that that has to be included in the conversation around national spending. And I think that more and more people are waking up to that.
00:32:55
Speaker
And I would not be surprised if we continue to see more attention on James Tallarico. But I think the majority of the energy is going to come from grassroots people who are excited about who he is as a candidate, and we're excited at the prospect of flipping Texas. And there's a reason why he's consistently one of the top fundraisers on ActBlue every single week. It's because people are excited about him. That's what it's going to take. And they're not excited about John Cornyn or Ken Paxton. You know, um we're still waiting on that Trump endorsement. It hasn't come yet.
00:33:26
Speaker
I know we don't often talk about Republican races on this podcast for a reason, but it is fascinating. We're gearing up for the runoff. I think it's going to be starting around the time this episode airs. But yeah, like what is going on in that race? I know you did a sub stack recently and it was recently Mother's Day and I was looking at what John Cornyn was putting out against... Paxton. And it's like, is this working? Like, do people care in the runoff about this? Like, it doesn't seem like it is. What I'm referring to is Corny. You can look at his social media if you want. But it's like he's making fun of Paxton's obviously his affairs and how he has to write like a Mother's Day card to everybody.
00:34:01
Speaker
but What's going on? And what do you predict is going to happen? Who's going to be the person Tallarico is going to beat? Before you answer, Olivia, I just want to say i think it's incredible that Donald Trump went against his original reported plan to endorse John Cornyn. And I would just give credit to there are some people out there who funded polling ah that showed that Kim Paxton was more popular within the Republican Party and that they would dislike Trump endorsing Cornyn.
00:34:32
Speaker
I'm not going to say who funded those polls, but I think that that was money well spent. and Wink, wink. Okay. Yeah. i'm I'm glad you said that because there's another layer here that I don't hear referenced in this conversation very much, which was Ken Paxton showed a level of political intelligence that was very surprising to
Republican Strategies and Vulnerabilities
00:34:55
Speaker
me.
00:34:55
Speaker
And it was that the the big contention point in the in the Senate right now amongst the Republican caucus is the topic of the filibuster. The reason why, in my opinion, is because there are a lot of what I call closet Republicans who don't want Trump to know they're- Was that a Lindsey Graham joke?
00:35:17
Speaker
No, well, you know, if the shoe fits. Sorry. Go on. We don't want Trump to know that they disagree with his policy proposals.
00:35:28
Speaker
But they also know that those bills are subject to the filibuster. So they vote yes, knowing that those bills are going to fail because the filibuster exists. But they understand if they get rid of the filibuster and all those bills are subject to a simple majority, that either they're going to have to rubber stamp the things he wants to do, or they're going to have to publicly object in a way that they are not going to like. So that's why yeah I think you see a lot of pressure on John Thune, who was elected majority leader, but the promise he would not get rid of the filibuster from those Republicans. Not a chance in hell you should get rid of this.
00:36:10
Speaker
And Ken Paxton came out and said, we need to get rid of the filibuster and pass the Save America Act, which is the voter suppression bill that Trump is looking for. The only way to pass that is to get rid of the filibuster.
00:36:24
Speaker
Ken Paxton's maneuver there put a lot of pressure on Republicans in Washington because what you have you have that happen at the same time, and I'm sure this is a coincidence, you had dozens of Republican influencers on Twitter talking about how incredible it was that Ken Paxton was advocating for the Save America Act.
00:36:52
Speaker
And I'm willing to bet that this very highly responsive to social media pressure administration, very hyper online administration, saw all of those things happening at once and realized if Trump endorsed in this race, it would make him look weak.
00:37:11
Speaker
And it would put John Thune in a position where he might have to make a choice that would make his caucus very unhappy. yeah And so that's that's that. I think Ken Paxson showed a level of hutsbride. Well, he clearly called it because John Cornyn now has done a complete 180 and says he wants to get rid of the filibuster, which that's something he has never been in favor of his entire career. But he is so desperate because how often does a U.S. senator not win their primary.
00:37:42
Speaker
If I was a national Republican donor right now, I would be livid. I would be livid at the spending we've seen here. And like just- $100 million, dollars right? From John Cornyn alone. $100 million dollars in a primary in Texas where you had lower Republican turnout.
00:38:02
Speaker
and so And another thing I don't see people talk about in this conversation enough, we had- I think over six, like between six or eight Republican congressional primaries with brand new Republican com congressional candidates, even with all of their spending, we still saw deflated turnout in the Republican primary.
00:38:23
Speaker
And when they're in the position where they're going to have to defend Georgia, North Carolina, or they're going to have to spend in Georgia, they're to have to spend North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, I'm sorry, Michigan. Like, i would be livid that they spent so much money in Texas. And I'm sure that there are donors who are feeling like that.
00:38:44
Speaker
As to what I think will actually happen, I think Paxton will win because John Cornyn is not particularly exciting. I think that, you know, he spent so much money in the first half of this primary. I think he had a ceiling.
00:38:58
Speaker
i think a lot of Wesley Hunt's voters are going to go to Ken Paxton because I think they're people who didn't like Cornyn and wanted an alternative, but thought they were to hold their nose up and vote for someone else.
00:39:08
Speaker
So I think Ken Paxton will win. But frankly, don't think it really matters which one of them it is. Because they both have very strong strategic weaknesses that are going to be really beneficial for James Talariko, which either one of them it is. They're going to cross a bridge they can't come back from. And it's going to be a hard, hard fought battle to win that election in November.
00:39:33
Speaker
I'm looking forward to it. it just I think we've talked a lot about this on the podcast and also offline that Tallarico is in a better position than Beto was this time in 2018. He's raised more money. He's got more name id And also he's so like he's just being himself and campaigning while this bruising runoff is happening. And he gets to just stay positive and also campaign with the former president. ah So I'm looking forward to the fall.
00:40:02
Speaker
Ending on a higher note, Alex. Yes. So I'm so glad you talked about, you kind of teed it up earlier,
Personal Experiences and Community Engagement
00:40:10
Speaker
Olivia. Something we have to do as a party is get better at sharing our good news, our own gospel, our own values. We are shy about it.
00:40:19
Speaker
We hear the word evangelize and we get kind of uncomfortable. It's like it feels icky to Democrats, but... it's It's a muscle we got to flex, so we got to get some reps. And so our new segment is called Good News.
00:40:31
Speaker
um What is something from your personal life, from your professional life? doesn't have to be political at all. It can be. But it's just so good you got to share it. Yeah. Yeah, actually, I do have some. um You know, i i've lived the Houston area my entire life.
00:40:49
Speaker
I 23. I turned 24 this year. And I'm actually moving to Austin in August. Oh, yay. It's a big move for me. I've never lived in an area that's so liberal. I've always been represented by conservatives. But I'm particularly excited about it outside of the fact that Austin such a beautiful city.
00:41:09
Speaker
ah Because I plan on being... very involved in the next legislative session. am looking at housing that is literally less than two miles from the Capitol. I think that's the good news for me is like, I plan on being an absolute pain in the ass for whatever Republicans are trying to do tomfoolery. God willing, ah you know, maybe I'm there to help pass the legislative agenda of Governor Gina Hinojosa. Yes. But I'm so, I'm so beyond excited to Dawson.
00:41:41
Speaker
That's great. Good news. i love that. I'm actually going to make my good news. Austin centric as well. So for the weekend that this episode comes out, I am going to be going down to Austin with my family and we're going to be part of a surprise birthday.
00:41:57
Speaker
going to say a party. It's a birthday quest. So let me explain. When I was in Austin, my wife and I attended a group called Wanderings. Sunday nights, we'd get together, we'd share a meal, we'd share wine, and the hosts would lead us through a book of the Bible orally. No books, no books.
00:42:18
Speaker
And then we would have to retell what happened in the story that week. And then we could talk about it. But the rules were you could only respond to what you had heard and you couldn't bring in outside knowledge. And it was really cool because ah the host's ah wife, Kate, had all these friends from Texas Monthly. She was a journalist.
00:42:37
Speaker
So they came at it with this really interesting perspective of what ah what a details is the narrator, including what's being left out. What is the the narrative arc here?
00:42:47
Speaker
And being in that community was really cool. And the hosts, Mike and Kate, they had three boys. And one of those boys is turning 15. And he's really into D&D.
00:42:59
Speaker
And I'm going to be a surprise guest on his quest for his birthday. Yeah, I love that. Apparently, he's going to have to beat me in a foot race, and like a local track or something. Apparently, he's pretty quick. So he he might beat me on the first try, but we'll see.
00:43:16
Speaker
Listen, maybe your good news in another episode can be that you won the race. Yes. How many laps could I hold him off? We'll see. Yeah, guess he's 15 years old. Well, it's funny, my husband's a big D&D guy, and you can see like his D&D books behind me if you are looking at the video.
00:43:29
Speaker
Yeah, he does like, he can be a dungeon, whatever, a master, whatever those things are. Stranger Things made it very popular now. Yes, exactly. But interestingly enough, I have a good news from Austin.
00:43:40
Speaker
We just bought a one-day ticket to ACL. and for the first weekend and we're going to bring my four-year-old so it's her first like her first concert is going to be down there in Austin I get to go see my cousins and we've got some really good friends that are down there so we're very excited because the tickets just came out and like the three-day I don't know Olivia are you gonna go or are you I'm being peer pressured I'm being peer pressured and potentially going and my my best friend My best friend Jared lives in Austin and he's very big into concerts and music. So he's like, he's like, I'm not going to pressure you, but also I am going to bring this up very frequently. So we'll, we'll see if i end up going.
00:44:20
Speaker
Yeah. Well, my husband and I talk about how we both went separately when we were single and didn't know each other and how we've never gone together. And, um so now we're going to bring my four-year-old and see how good she does with all the drunken you know music goers. So it'll be great. um yeah.
00:44:34
Speaker
Okay. Do you mind if I do a twist on the last word this time? Yeah, go for it. I want to ask specifically about the 18 to 29 year old demographic, because in my Axios AM m newsletter this morning, something jumped out.
00:44:48
Speaker
It said that the share of Americans who speak with their neighbors at least a few times a week has dropped across all age groups. but none as far and as fast as the 18 to 29-year-olds.
00:45:01
Speaker
In 2012, when I graduated from college, 51% of young Americans regularly engaged with their neighbors. Today, that number is 25%.
00:45:13
Speaker
Literally, as we were on this podcast, I got a signal chat from my Dallas County Young Democrats group that showed that the generic ballot poll has Democrats getting 86% Republicans, these are people.
00:45:27
Speaker
among eighteen to twenty nine year olds these are our people These are our people. and These are our people, but they're not talking to their neighbors. We always ask in the last word segment, give us our marching orders. What do we need to do between now and 2030 to move the needle in this state?
00:45:45
Speaker
I want you to address, because that's a big question. I want you to address specifically 18 to 29 year old crowd. I think I'm going to reiterate what I said earlier of if you be a villager before you need a village, make an effort to really plant yourself in your community, in your city, in your neighborhood.
00:46:06
Speaker
get to know your neighbors. I moved into my apartment. i put little goodie bags on. on the door of all of my neighboring apartments and saying like, here's my number. If you need anything, like I'm happy to live here, like making a point to get to know the people around you and don't be so glued into your phone, which is so ironic for me to say, because I am a social media. and what But I do want you to get off your phone and go out and experience life and experience your humanity and really, really make an effort to understand people and to learn that humans are inherently imperfect and life is messy and you're not always going to be right and you're not always going to have it figured out. That's okay as long as you keep trying.
00:46:55
Speaker
That's very, i think that's resonant of every age group. um My parents listen to this podcast and sometimes I want them to get off of their phones if they're listening and go, you know, my dad's on YouTube or at home and find their community as
Flipping Texas for Democrats and Social Media Presence
00:47:08
Speaker
well. I'm curious though, I know that you've been preaching to the choir about the thesis that we have on the podcast, but in your words, like why do we need to flip this state? Like why is this such an existential crisis for us?
00:47:20
Speaker
Do people want to win a presidential election ever again? Like, I mean, so we we have we have population shifts that are happening. ah you know, reapportionment is going to happen. Electoral college votes are to shift. And, you know, Chuck Schumer himself has said,
00:47:38
Speaker
If we want to win long term, we're going to have to start winning in places where it's difficult to win. And that means fighting to win in places like Texas. I think Texas has the most it's the most expensive, but I think Texas the most bang for its buck when you take everything into consideration.
00:47:54
Speaker
and so, you know, if you want to win the presidential election, you want to win the Senate, you want to win the House, you need to start investing in Texas infrastructure and Texas candidates because that's the way you're going to do it. Now, you said we you might win the U.S. House back just from the seat we could pick up here.
00:48:11
Speaker
But, I mean, come 2030, we get another five seats. Yeah. Could we even have a majority if we don't do better in Texas? Oh, 100%. Listen, listen, as goes Texas, so goes the nation, as the old saying says.
00:48:26
Speaker
Amen. Amen. Well, thank you, Olivia. um we really appreciate you. People probably are following you already, but what would you like people to follow or where can we find your work? Like what can we do to to support you? ah It's Olivia Juliana, every social media platform. And if you would like to follow my sub stack, you can go to Olivia Juliana dot CEO.
00:48:49
Speaker
Amazing. Well, ah that is us this week. ah We will see our listeners next week. And I want to put a plug in for our Patreon if anybody wants to support independent media or give us a five-star review or share our social media that we'll be sharing with Olivia. And I'll say God bless Texas.
00:49:06
Speaker
You can follow us on all socials at Mission Texas Podcast. Email us at missiontexaspodcast at gmail.com. This episode is edited by Juan Jose Flores.
00:49:17
Speaker
Our music bumper is by Adam Pickerel, and our cover art is by Tino So.