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Ep. 30: Fighting for the RGV - Julio Salinas on Flipping South Texas
76 Plays13 days ago
If you want to flip Texas, you have to win the Rio Grande Valley. This week on Mission: Texas, we're sitting down with Julio Salinas — 26 years old, son of a migrant farm worker, former Texas House legislative director, and the candidate who just shocked the entire RGV political establishment by finishing first in a three-way primary for Texas House District 41. He's heading into a runoff against a candidate who only voted in a Democratic primary for the first time in 2024.
We also get into el dedazo, the kingmaker problem in RGV politics, why immigration and the economy are two sides of the same coin in a region that runs on cross-border tourism, and what it means when your aunt gets detained by ICE on the same night you find out you won your primary.
Plus: Julio reveals he took up fencing in college because of a girl, Kate shares a personal milestone in her journey toward federal criminal defense work, and Alex is heading to a very important banquet tonight.
In this episode:
- Julio's origin story: from knocking doors at 15 to the Texas House floor
- Why being called a "career staffer" by a millionaire banker might be the best attack line a candidate could hope for
- The data infrastructure gap that has left the Valley behind — and how Julio's campaign is fixing it
- HD-41's 24-point Trump swing: what happened and who Democrats need to win back
- Why immigration IS an economic issue in South Texas — and why downtown McAllen is now empty
- El dedazo: the kingmaker machine Julio is running to disrupt
- Leaders We Deserve, Greg Casar's endorsement, and the new generation of Texas Democratic infrastructure
- The runoff: May 26th, early voting starts May 18th
Follow & Connect:
- Julio Salinas: @Julio4RGV on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook | julio4rgv.com — donate if you can, this is one of the most important runoffs in the state
- Leaders We Deserve: leaderswedeserve.com
- Mission: Texas on social: @missiontexaspodcast
Support the show: Independent Texas media needs your support. Become a member at patreon.com/missiontexaspodcast for just a few dollars a month, or leave us a five-star review wherever you listen. God bless Texas. 🤠
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Transcript
Introducing 'Mission Texas'
00:00:00
Speaker
Howdy. This is Mission Texas. A political podcast about winning Texas by 2032 or else we may lose the White House for a generation. I'm one of your hosts, Alex Clark.
00:00:13
Speaker
And I am Kate Rumsey. Other podcasts may focus on the day-to-day the next election. But we are keeping the eyes of Texas on the bigger prize. What happens after the next census?
00:00:27
Speaker
Welcome back to Mission
Julio Salinas: A New Political Contender
00:00:28
Speaker
Texas. Today's guest is 26 years old, the son of a migrant farm worker and a former Texas House legislative director. And he's running for Texas House District 41, a Trump district in the Rio Grande Valley. Welcome to the podcast, Julio Salinas.
00:00:42
Speaker
I really appreciate the opportunity to be here like speak about the issues of South Texas. I'm so glad you're you're on Julio. We always want to lift up young candidates as a longtime member of the young Democrats. I think it's so important to see people get stepped up and and into their arena, as ah Teddy Roosevelt used to say.
00:01:02
Speaker
um Now that you're in the arena, you're in a runoff with a former Republican. ah yes instance Very recently, former Republican, very recently, former Republican. um I always like to start off every podcast with getting the origin story of our guests.
Julio's Political Genesis
00:01:17
Speaker
I've noticed ah in this race, ah he has made it something of a a slur, an attack on you that you're a, what a, called it a career staffer? A career staffer, which I've never been, I've never heard being used as a pejorative, but you know what? Here we are.
00:01:33
Speaker
ah so so So tell us about that. How did you get involved in in Texas politics and in the legislature? Tell us all about it. Well, look, I went i went to UTRGV down here ah before everything. I went to UTRGV. After that, I went to the University of Texas where, you know, a lot of those opportunities opened up. So I started organizing when I was 15 years old. So I have a decade doing this despite being the youngest one in the race. You know, I've been i knocked on my first door when I was 15.
00:02:03
Speaker
And after that, we started. kept on We kept on going. I went to college and there, you know a lot of these opportunities, they open up to you is if for everybody to see. And you know one of the biggest things that we that we did is that you know when I was working in the legislature, i I started off at research at the JJ Pickle Fellowship over there and at the University of Texas. And from there, ah you know, really fell in love with with what was going on. And after after that, I kept on going and I worked, you know, campaigns. I worked at an immigration law firm and people invited me over to the legislature to, you know, work and do all the things that I thought was going to be very good for the state of Texas. And i was really happy to be here. and I really do enjoy my work. So. You know, it's not much of a it's not much of an attack when you say a career staffer. It's like, you know, right now I'm running against a millionaire Republican banking executive. Now, it's like these are not necessarily things that are very popular right now.
00:02:59
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. a career career ah public servant versus a career banker. i mean, that's the fight you want to pick. There's nothing wrong with being a banker, but to make an issue out of you being a public servant and staffer is really bizarre to me. If you can, just for a moment, before we move on from the origin story, i want to take it back even further because I know on your website, you mentioned your family. your Your father was, just these are your words, not mine. Sure.
00:03:22
Speaker
The second youngest in a pack of nine siblings. Wow. That's a lot of folks. And they traveled as migrant farm workers from New York to California before settling in the Rio Grande Valley.
00:03:33
Speaker
That's right. just wanted to pause there for a moment because like that is very like Americana folk song stuff. Like from sea to shining sea, from New York to California. Like we've been right in the middle. We settled right here in Texas. yeah You picked Texas after being in New York and
A Family's Migrant Journey
00:03:51
Speaker
California.
00:03:51
Speaker
Well, you know, we, I mean, Look, the fact of the matter is we were my family is very was very much concentrated within that South Texas region. And then they scattered out throughout there for looking for opportunities. Right.
00:04:05
Speaker
And, you know, once once there was a little bit of a step there where people had, you know, a little bit of economic footing, they settled down here to build a life. They started in South Texas, then they branched out and then they came back to South Texas. So they they they settled down here and you know, I really do enjoy my time here. So I do think that there was some C to signing C here, but, you
Challenges in South Texas
00:04:28
Speaker
know, it was in search of opportunity, right? Once that we had the footing set, the Valley offered two things that I think right now are kind of diminished, a low cost of living and a good sense of community.
00:04:41
Speaker
And a lot of those opportunities that allowed my dad to get an education, get a job in local journalism, and from there work and, you know buy a home, basically build a better life for my family and I,
00:04:52
Speaker
A lot of those same opportunities that were allowed to my father are probably not allowed to a lot of people today. the The fact of the matter is the cost of living is too high. The sense of community has been greatly diminished from what I remember growing up. and we just need to make sure that we have a better South Texas. And fact of matter is that's what we need to build.
00:05:11
Speaker
And within South Texas, you told us you have a special connection to the name Mission Texas because.
Connecting with Mission Texas
00:05:17
Speaker
Because I was born in Mission Texas. So, yeah, I was born. i was born down here in Mission, Texas, which is, by the way, another tack line for my opponent saying, oh, he's not actually from here. He worked in Austin. I'm like, yeah, i worked in Austin. I worked in the legislature.
00:05:32
Speaker
So. Right. Oh, man. So going to the staffer piece, I mean, i there are some really successful state house members who were former staffers, right? Like our good friend, Mahala Plisa up here in North Texas. So there's several people who have done that. So how how do you perceive the differences now being on the other side?
The Role of Legislative Staff
00:05:53
Speaker
And you're not people are staffing you.
00:05:56
Speaker
I can tell you the importance of staff has been, you know, incredibly ah ah big, a big thing in this campaign for no other reason the fact that they've been attacked ah time and time again. the fact of the matter is, you know, 80% of the work that goes through the legislature goes through the staff.
00:06:14
Speaker
ah you know, filing bills, you know, building up those things, you know, building up legislative agendas and and talking about ah getting things through committee. Those things have been have been greatly done through staff. And there is an appreciation for it on my end that I want to ensure that goes into the legislature. You know, not only Representative Playsa, but also the chair of the House Democratic Caucus right now, Gene Wu, was a staffer.
00:06:40
Speaker
of Christian Manuel, Christian Manuel, lot of these people were former staffers that I think have been incredible legislators because they came in there first on day one saying. Knowing how to pass a bill. yup and And knowing how to pass a bill saying.
00:06:56
Speaker
Hey, and of course the staff need guidance at the same time, right? So being able to say, this is how you pass a bill through committee and this is how, this is how, you know, we want it done. And that shows a great deal of, you know, readiness on day one that I don't think, you know, most people running for a legislative office have.
00:07:15
Speaker
No, look, be honest. Like most people's first day is where's the bathroom? That's right. Where are the pencils? How do I get this office open? Yeah. How do I find my office? I've walked around at the Capitol to see like trying to find somebody for the first time. It's like, it's a maze. It's a labyrinth over there, but I'm sure you know it at back of your hand, right? There's been a saying that you shouldn't run for the state house if you have no idea where the bathrooms are. So we aren't, look, I think we're in good shape in that case. I mean, but how do you make that leap? How do you go from so like being in the legislative staff to saying i can fill a need here in the Rio Grande Valley?
00:07:58
Speaker
Right. And it it is sort of ah a little bit of a combination of two things. I think that right now, politics in the Rio Grande Valley has sort of seen a little bit of less guidance. ah So there's there's been a sort of need and an appetite for something different in the Rio Grande Valley for a very long time. But it seems as though they're, you know, the people running are running the same old type of campaigns that really don't work. So it's sort of Fighting for that sort of new generation of leadership and how I make that leap is the fact that I worked in the legislature.
00:08:32
Speaker
I've got the most amount of experience in the legislature. The people here respect me. You know, I i have 16 house endorsements up to this point because people have seen my work and people have seen what ah what I can build. And the other thing, there's two sides of the coin. There's both, you know, the policy side of things that I know very well, but there's also the advocacy and the organizing part of things that I also know very well.
00:08:55
Speaker
Being that I, you know, started when I was, you know, just 15 years old, worked in, you know, major campaigns. I worked for Michelle Valleco's campaign for Congress. I worked for finance team.
00:09:06
Speaker
So this is nothing that I'm doing here, whether it's on the policy side or on the politics side, is different from what it is. You might say this is not your first rodeo. Yeah, this is not my first rodeo. Yeah. despite being Despite being really young, you know, the youngest. I'm being humble. i not In addition to these 16 House endorsements, I saw Greg Kassar, Congressman Greg Kassar endorsed you recently. That's a huge gift.
00:09:34
Speaker
Congratulations. I'm really proud of him. i worked with him in the the first time that he ran for Congress. yeah He's always been a fellow friend and i think a really good advocate for these spaces of aggressive policy and how we can move forward as as as everything. And you know this was one of the first things when when I first got into the runoff that he said that I got caught up saying, hey, look, we want to support you in this race. so i'm really I'm really happy about that.
00:09:58
Speaker
The only difference that I see from my advocacy in the campaign world right now is sort of this cutthroat dying embers of the old school politics in the rgb and uh really what that shows is like sort of like i think politics in the rgv was sort of defined by hey how many road signs do you have and you know those are the things that show momentum and and votes and and you know the relational organizing between people out here and Really what I think what caused us to be so successful in this first round, you know, going first place and going to a runoff was a the fact that, you know, the Valley really hasn't seen a modern day campaign for the statehouse.
00:10:40
Speaker
You know, voter infrastructure here is shot. Voter engagement is really bad. And, you know, I think there is an appetite for something different, you know, and that's what I'm here fighting for.
Political Organization: North vs South Texas
00:10:51
Speaker
It's good that we have a 26 year old to do it. i mean, and that's not too young. I'll just say because friend, friend of the pod, we just had Junior Isanu on. That's right. I think he just turned 27 like a month ago or something. So we need some more young blood. I wanted to jump in because you're kind of answering or getting to a question i had, which is Alex and I know a lot about North Texas politics. I ran for office and I'm really pleased to see that you're endorsed by my opponent and friend, Cassandra Hernandez. And I am curious, though, I can tell you the clubs and the organizations and kind of the activists in this area, but what is it like there? And how is it? What is it moving towards maybe with your race? Like, what who are the big, the big players that we need to be knowing about in the Rio Grande Valley? And I think about I'm a girl of the 80s and 90s. And I think of like high school movies where you've got
00:11:40
Speaker
the The new kid and the ah the person taking them down the hallway and saying, okay, this is this group and this is that group and here are the people you need to be aware of. Hello, Michael Echman.
00:11:53
Speaker
I'm supposed to show you around. Oh, hi. Thank God. Normally they send down one of those audio visual geeks. No, I do. I know what you mean. Hey, Michael, where should put the slides? Michael.
00:12:04
Speaker
You got like 10 things I hate about you sort of like movie. That's a bank. Yeah, Heath Ledger, they're you know, they're taking you down that hallway. So tell us. Or Mean Girls. She doesn't even go here.
00:12:16
Speaker
do you even go to this school? No. Yeah. like what Who are the people that we need to be aware of? I'm the new kid in the Rio Grande Valley. You see, that's the that's the thing about the valley. The valley is sort of the voter infrastructure and all these Democratic clubs have sort of been a little bit of more of a disjointed, ah disjointed way of doing things.
00:12:39
Speaker
I can tell you this the end of the people who I really do enjoy in this, that I really do enjoy their company and companionship in a of these things. A lot of the young Dems have been very helpful with what we're doing for what we're building. So you have the Adalto County young Dems, but they're also built in and integrated into the general Adalto County Democratic Party. So a lot of those things are very difficult for them to get involved directly in these kinds of scenes. What I would like to do is very different from North Texas in my experience or my experience over there in Austin, where you have like Democratic clubs in each neighborhood and you know each neighborhood has these things. And you know from there, you know you have people knocking on doors or you know these endorsements kind of things.
00:13:24
Speaker
You know, you even have newspapers that endorse in these kinds of races. And the fact the matter is you don't have that here in the Valley. What you have here is sort of like a little bit of a disjointed effort ah that I think that people need to coalesce and people need to unite.
00:13:39
Speaker
there are There are certain clubs and membership out there, you know, seeking a sort of support from their legislators and representatives that don't think has been up to this point given.
00:13:50
Speaker
And, you know, I can tell you this when I was working at with the University Democrats at UT, you have all these people vying for your support, you know, talking to people. There's a meeting every two weeks or every week. There's a meeting whether and while they're at school during the semester. There's always a meeting and they get a headliner out there, somebody who was a a sheriff, a judge, a congressman, or a representative speaking to them. And, you know, that sort of drives engagement, you know, in the off years.
00:14:22
Speaker
And the fact of the matter is here in the Valley, it's just representatives don't really do that. So that's something that I would like to rebuild, make these democratic clubs sort of have an ally and somebody that they can rely on and help build up and build up momentum and infrastructure with all with all of these people. And that would be one of my goals in the legislature, to be active and to be present and to be representative of what's happening here. I think i do think that we need higher energy and turnout and more of these club infrastructures that I just don't think has been seen after this one.
00:15:01
Speaker
Thanks for giving flowers to the the U-Dems at University of Texas and kind of the Young Democratic and college Democratic organizations in general. Yeah, hook up. Absolutely. Hook up.
00:15:11
Speaker
I would say like ah Austin, Texas and Travis County generally has whatever they're doing is working. i mean Kate and I had ah an episode where we talked about kind of the...
00:15:23
Speaker
percentage of precinct chairs in the in the major cities here in Texas and and Austin just blows everybody away. So I think they have some structural advantages. um But what I'd like to see is for us to take the best practices from everywhere, not just Austin.
00:15:40
Speaker
But if something is working in the valley, that we think could be replicated somewhere else. I want us doing it up here. And if something in Dallas could be exported down there or to el Paso or wherever, we all got to be working together and and really streamlining and optimizing. I think what you're saying about the Valley not having experienced a modern campaign is worth really digging in on, like, do you see that as underinvestment, both in terms of funding, but also attention, kind of taking South Texas for granted?
Building a Modern Campaign
00:16:16
Speaker
Or how do you diagnose the problem there? like The fact of the matter is, you know, we shocked the entire system in the ah RGV by getting first place going into this runoff. this was ah This was a seat that was sort of predestined to go one way from 2024, which is coincidentally the the first year that my opponent voted in a Democratic primary, right?
00:16:39
Speaker
That kind of infrastructure that you're talking about, I think what what it lent itself to the Hey, there's an appetite for change. There's an appetite for, you know, younger voices and yeah and younger people with different ideas and new vision for the ah RGV that hasn't been seen up to this point.
00:16:58
Speaker
And really what it came down to, and I can tell you this, that we built this ourselves. We built a lot of the data infrastructure that I believe wasn't put in for a lot of these races.
00:17:09
Speaker
A lot of these data infrastructures that we haven't been seeing a lot of people use the data out here to the advantage of growing a movement, right? So it's really impressive what we were able to do with the data here going forward. So we are shifting away. There is a concept in Mexico. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the concept of el dedazo.
00:17:29
Speaker
Tell about it. So in Mexico, it's actually a thing where the previous president basically points the finger at the next person and says, you're next. That's el dedazo. Dedo meaning a finger,
Political Succession and Challenges
00:17:41
Speaker
right? So it's you think it's the finger point. You're the next person. The kingmaker, right? So the previous president says to the next president, you're the next president.
00:17:49
Speaker
And usually that's the case. And that's how I believe that this campaign from the political machine thought that this was going to go. I was running in this race, again, against a longtime rep Republican president.
00:18:01
Speaker
banking executive who's responsible for and in charge of loans and mortgages worth over $3 billion dollars in one of the largest financial institutions in the entire ah region. you know He's the chief loan officer. He's got ties with you know the massive hospital district there.
00:18:18
Speaker
and you know He's got control over all these sectors of industry and all the support of the local government sort of rehabilitate his image. And the fact of the matter is that's not what people wanted.
00:18:30
Speaker
That's not what people want. People want a change. People want somebody out there who's gonna be a fighter for something. you know I've been accused of over promising lot of these things by telling people what I'm gonna be fighting for.
00:18:42
Speaker
People that are like, you're you're only making promises. you're You're not actually doing any actions. And the fact of the matter is I've worked in the legislature to actually get those bills passed through the legislature. And I've worked those things and i'm very, I'm very happy and proud to have built up the momentum to do that. And the the trust and confidence of over 16 House representatives and a congressman to to believe in me in that race.
00:19:04
Speaker
That shows that people are paying attention to South Texas and that South Texas is the true threat for, I think, the epicenter of what Hispanic advocacy and organizing and how we lost in 2024 really shows this district specifically.
Engaging Young Hispanic Men
00:19:20
Speaker
Flipped 24 points towards Donald Trump from 2016 to Donald Trump in 2024. That's more than any other region in the entire state in the entire country.
00:19:31
Speaker
So what were those reasons? So what are those? I mean, you're getting into an area I wanted to dive into, which is, it seems to me you're talking a couple things of things that follow ups that had. I'd heard there was sort of a concentration of power in the RGV.
00:19:43
Speaker
And then you're kind of breaking that up so that we're not having these Kingmaker episodes. But going to the infrastructure and the lack of it, do you think that that was in play for Republicans to come in and take over? um And how, like, where do you see it going?
00:20:00
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And that was the biggest thing that that this campaign had worried about. When you're looking at generally the infrastructure of the valley, this has been a Democratic seat for the longest time, for since at least I was born, you know, before that.
00:20:15
Speaker
I don't think that they voted for it. Aldo County hasn't voted for Republican for president since Nixon. This is one of the historically democratic seats. And really what it is that we did not speak to them about the true economic issues of
Economic Concerns and Medicaid
00:20:30
Speaker
the day. and And the fact of the matter is we didn't speak to young people. We also didn't speak to a lot of people who look like me. but but The demographic that we lost most in 2024 out of any other demographic in the entire country is young Hispanic men, people who look like me.
00:20:49
Speaker
what it was that we need to bring people back into the fore. Say, we do care about these particular issues and we're going to be fighting for $15,000 raise for at teachers, Medicaid expansion, you know caps on prescription drug costs. We are having a massive crisis in terms of diabetes down here. Diabetes affects not only my family, but you know everybody knows somebody who's diabetic. And the fact is that we're having exorbitant costs for insulin and life-saving drugs and medication is something that we need to be fighting against in the state legislature.
00:21:23
Speaker
And no one's really offered up a vision for what the future of the valley should look like. We want to make that change. We want to make that change for people to basically say that the valley, a place where people think is a small town, but really is a massive growing metroplex that will see a growth of about double in the next 10 years in the fastest growing region in the entire state of Texas really does need like new change, new vision, new infrastructure, talking about how we need transportation, talking about how we need you know to connect people with a high speed rail program. Those are those are things that I really think have been hitting here for what
00:22:03
Speaker
the valley looks like. And also talking about how the Republicans have been antithetical to that vision of low cost of care or raises in education. The fact the matter is the Republicans in the legislature have killed public education or at least attempted to.
00:22:18
Speaker
And we need to fight back against it. And that's what I have experienced in the legislature. And I think people notice that. 6,000 people came out, 15,000 that ended up voting total in my district when this this is an area that usually only had around 6,000 or 7,000 primary voters. It really shows there is an appetite for a change. They tried something new with Donald Trump, but they are not having it anymore.
00:22:43
Speaker
there There needs to be change. What I'm hearing you say is that Mission Texas, the mission to flip the state, will require places like Mission Texas.
00:22:54
Speaker
Exactly like that. And ah look, as a former Air Force intelligence guy, we kind of... Unherently understand that young, disaffected men who don't see opportunity are the most dangerous people for insurgency and and around the world, right? That they are more susceptible to being recruited to join terrorist organizations, to be taken advantage of by bad actors, um to do rash and foolish things.
00:23:24
Speaker
I would say voting for Donald Trump In 2024 was a rash and foolish thing. But to be fair, Democrats need to do a better job of talking to them.
00:23:34
Speaker
And you're talking about a message that speaks to their material needs and does not take them for granted and makes them a key piece of their electoral strategy.
Appealing to Disaffected Young Men
00:23:44
Speaker
That's going to important not only for winning politically, but also for the country's future.
00:23:48
Speaker
That's right. I saw I saw an article in the New York Times recently. It says that people here in South Texas do not consider themselves poor. They consider themselves broke. That's right. Look, I think what are people really wanting down here in the valley, especially, you know, sort of young men is sort of.
00:24:05
Speaker
this This was actually the funny thing that that somebody mentioned. Like this was sort of like, hey, South Texas and and Hispanic voters, you know, they want to sort of like have that status of we made it. You know, we came to this country and and we made it. Right. So there are certain there's certain materialism involved in that.
00:24:23
Speaker
But, you know, it's also sort of like. hey, look, materialism for me, you know, is providing for my family, right? And if i if I can see that I've made it in in this area so that I can provide for my family and maybe get a nice truck and maybe get a nice... I was just about to say that, at least in Arizona, Senator Guido is getting a big-ass truck.
00:24:48
Speaker
Yeah, I did see that. Is that that true in South Texas? i feel like it's true in every part of Texas. Yeah. It's definitely true. You get a nice new truck. Everybody says that as a status symbol and says, you know, you made it in in this world. You know, that's what I think a lot of people here ah need need to understand. Right. There is a sort of appreciation patriotism, I would say.
00:25:13
Speaker
It's sort of like. The people down here see there that the United States, you know, for all of its worries, for all of its woes and and struggles and tribulations and a lot of people backstabbing people and for all of that.
00:25:31
Speaker
This is a place that gave them the opportunity to grow, to have family, to to basically have that upward mobility that they wouldn't have had in their home countries, right? Which is why I think a lot of the people down here in South Texas that are immigrants or sons of immigrants said, we want people who can understand us Us being, we came to this country looking for opportunity, right? And we're highly appreciative of the opportunities that were given to us.
00:26:01
Speaker
And those are the people that voted in this last election that said, hey, maybe things need to change. And I know the people who served like y'all also see that.
00:26:11
Speaker
they They also say, hey, you know, this, you know, we serve, we we saw a lot of things and we said we have to be appreciative of of of what we have here. Now, that's not to say that things can't change, right?
00:26:24
Speaker
People want a change. People need a change. You know, we're rapidly headed in this region towards what I would consider an oligarchy. So when you talk about these particular issues, you have to you have to put it in the context of this is a great country.
00:26:42
Speaker
And there are powers that currently want to make it not the way that it was. And you can see that in the sort of process, especially when it comes to immigration issues that we're facing right now. ICE detention. We just had a doctor here who was in prison. My aunt was, you know, in under detention ah for 20 days. So I'll tell you this story, you know, as results were rolling in on March 3rd, you know, saying, hey, I, you know, we won, you or we won the majority of the votes here.
00:27:13
Speaker
You know, my dad, you know, leaned into me in my ear said, hey, by the way, you know, just want to let you know your aunt was detained by ICE. She's 75 years old. You know, she's got she's got a lot of health problems, a lot of back problems. And, you know, she was taken to Raymondville.
00:27:30
Speaker
She spent 20 days there, you know, in pain from her medication or surgery from our back surgery that she had. You know, that was something that me and my family had to deal with for near nearly a month that happened so this is not just happening in a vacuum it's happening people all around people are seeing and experiencing it and seeing how it's hurting our not only our morals but also our economy breaking up our families uh our economy that used to be driven by tourism is now sort of driven by fear and this is a this is a project of i think the republican party and and
00:28:08
Speaker
that project of Donald Trump at the federal level to basically say, we're going to inject fear as much as we can over here, and maybe they won't otherwise turn out or do anything. So we have shown and demonstrated, at least in this primary, that that's not true, that we are here, we are going to fight, and we're going to be present.
00:28:27
Speaker
And now with good representatives, they're going to be people who are going to be organizing them to make a big difference down here in South Texas. Well, may i follow up on that? I was curious, like, how do you speak to the issues of economy and affordability, but also what's going on with ICE and immigration? Like, is which one is more prevalent or important to the voter in your area? or are you seeing both are equal in their incentivized to vote?
00:28:57
Speaker
Look, I studied economics at UT. So I know that no policy action, no matter how social or economic, doesn't affect the economy. So the answer to that question is the immigration thing affects the economy here in South Texas. Our economy was driven by the tourism of mexican of Mexican nationals coming over here and saying, hey, we want to invest. We want to do this. We want to we want to buy things from the area. I mean, you look at downtown McAllen right now in my district.
00:29:26
Speaker
It's completely empty eight year and the way that it wasn't before. And it desperately needs a revitalization ah in order to be even competitive with any of the downtown areas. We are seeing right now Donald Trump's and the federal government's immigration raids all across the country and specifically in South Texas are creating a chilly effect in the economy. Sure. It is creating basically a lack of investment from a lot of people. It is bringing less people down here to actually see the beauty of the Rio Grande Valley for what it is and how they want to come over here. But the fact of the matter is right now, an economy that's driven on fear is not an economy that's going to thrive or work. that's That's what I think are two sides of the same coin.
Impact of Immigration Policies
00:30:09
Speaker
The immigration issue is an economic issue. In an area like mine that is 85% Hispanic, that shows us there are people here.
00:30:21
Speaker
There are people here who you know had jobs, who are now under great deal of fear that ICE is going to roll down into their job and take them away.
00:30:33
Speaker
So why would somebody come over here and and do those jobs? ah when you know that that's going to be a big issue going forward. So the fact of the matter is the economy is the top issue of the day.
00:30:45
Speaker
Economy, affordability, jobs, infrastructure growth, all of it is tied in together with things like immigration. I just wrote an article, I saw on social media, that there was some reporting from South Texas of farmers or business people who regret their Trump vote because of the immigration policies and how it's affecting their business. And I even saw your former opponent, Eric Holgein, he was saying, I'm so tired of this reporting. Can we move on? like We got to talk about other things. But just curious, like how...
00:31:15
Speaker
How you perceive that? like What is the messaging that you're wanting to get across, especially in these like news articles and who's reporting on the Rio Grande? And, you know, is it always about i think it's catnip sometimes does Democrats that we've got these Trump voters who regret that their vote and now it's really impacting them in a way that they didn't realize. But I think it's reality. Right. And yeah. Going back to the Ruben Gallego position, his interview was like, look, everyone has an American dream. And I don't begrudge anyone who wants to be a millionaire or own that truck. It's it's what it is, what it is. And let me help you accomplish that. And i think that goes in line with your messaging, which is a Rio Grande for all and not just the oligarchs and the concentration of power.
00:31:55
Speaker
Yeah, and that's that's what it is. you know you're You're absolutely right. But the fact of the matter is politics is about addition.
Inclusivity in Politics
00:32:04
Speaker
It is about bringing people into the fold, but typically don't vote with us or typically don't see the same way, the same structure or get to the same conclusions in the same way that we do. I'm looking at the immigration issue as a sort of like a moral issue of the day.
00:32:19
Speaker
But it's also ah a highly economic issue that affects a lot of people through and through. ah So I won't begrudge anybody for having supported Trump and saying, oh, now I'm seeing that it's affecting my pocketbook and you know I'm not going to vote against those things.
00:32:33
Speaker
I can see that. And like all I can say is, OK, well, let's bring you into the fold because clearly something is not working within this current Republican Party at all. We need to bring people into the fold to do that. As long as you're genuine and you actually have like an actual structure and you and you want to like make a big change in that regard. I think that we need to bring people together and ensure that that the people have a say in what what is happening.
00:32:59
Speaker
Now, there have been activists down here in South Texas who have been in this fight for a very long time. And those people, I think, should be getting more attention that have been in this fight against immigration raids or these things. Even when everybody turned against them during the 2024 election where they said, you know, you know the the issue of the day we've got to shut down the border and all those kind of things. They have been still in these fights.
00:33:24
Speaker
And that was because... They truly do believe in that system. And I think that they should be getting more attention and more support. And that's what I'm hoping to bring in as representative from this region in South Texas.
00:33:38
Speaker
Well, May, on that note, similarly, it i noticed that you are being supported by Leaders We Deserve with David Hogue's organization. it seems like their ethos and thesis is to support young people like you bringing in younger folks to be able to be more representative of areas and not just have, i mean, we just had another congressman die in office, right? And, you know, I don't want to make light of that, but it seems like we have an older generation of people who are in office these days. And so I'm curious, how did you get connected to that group? How are they involved in your race? I mean, how does one just get on the radar screen of David Hogue? It was like this huge ah person on social media and his background with gun advocacy.
00:34:21
Speaker
Well, you know, they've been incredible partners in this race. When they first endorsed us and be before that, they had mentioned like, this is not sort of like, ah hey, here's the check, here's an endorsement and and leave it to Bieber kind of kind of way. It's sort of like they were in there supporting and and saying, how can we help? how can How can we build that infrastructure? And they've helped gotten people like ah folks like Christian Congressman Menifee up to this point, Christian Menifee. You know, and I think he's going to they're going to help get My dearest friend, ah Christian Carranza, elected into the legislature. These are the people that are endorsed right now in the state of Texas.
00:34:53
Speaker
Former podcast guest, Christian Carranza. This is our second one. Yeah, exactly. You know that she and I were campus organizers together in 2014? Really? I did not know that. For Wendy Davis?
00:35:04
Speaker
Wow, I did not know that at all. Alex likes to flex his Democratic bona fides on this podcast. They have to be worth something, Kate. Look, Alex, alex you were a young dem, same as I was. And we we have a lot in common in that regard. But yeah, no, to to answer your question was um these people that came in in this race, you know, they've been incredible partners. You know, they they really wanted to see young people ah willing to, as James Tallarico put it, flipping the tables of what I think that sort of political machine wanted to see.
00:35:37
Speaker
And we have really shown when we first started off those things, people were referring us to them and they were, and they saw that they were very impressed with what we were doing. They said, Hey, here's what you need to do in order to win.
00:35:51
Speaker
a B, C, D, you need a, knock on doors, fundraise, be at events. you need to basically be everywhere and do everything. And that has shown us that we can actually build up that momentum. Young people can actually have a say in what their politics and policy looks like and a new generation of leadership, not only in the RGV, but in the entire state of Texas.
00:36:15
Speaker
That we can build that up from the ground up. And, you know, it starts right here. They got him they got in ah folks like Senator Molly Cook elected as well. Oh, I love that. Yeah. So, you know, they have shown great bona fides to this regard. And I'm I'm real excited they're in our corner and we're going to continue on that work.
00:36:35
Speaker
Well, love the fact that they're investing in Texas where few national organizations are investing. and we have to show them and hopefully we're convincing all of them that we're worth investing in And it seems like they are similar to other groups. I was a part of the New Politics alumni, another group for service members and people who have a service background. And they were similar in the fact that they were kind of a free consultant who just gave me weekly advice and just checked in. They gave me a lot of support.
00:37:04
Speaker
And I think it also goes to the point of a lack of infrastructure that we kind of have here in Texas. Like there's not a lot of people running races. There's not a lot of people who, and it's hard to keep people who are running races because it's such a cyclical job. So it's nice to have folks, even though they're kind of outsiders, but they still know Texas and, They're running races in Texas. I really, I'm so glad that they're helping you. But so you have a runoff. And before we get into our last segments, I just want to, before we lose the thought on that, you have a runoff coming up. So that's coming up in a few weeks.
00:37:33
Speaker
And then you're going to be gearing up for the general where it's a competitive district. like How do you perceive that? Well, it's... It's definitely work. It's work, work, working work. you know, people were asking us the question, how do we get the most amount of votes in this primary when it was told that it was going to be a foregone conclusion? And the fact of the matter is we outworked everybody and I won't be outworked as a Texas state representative, but in my experience, having worked there already. When it comes to this runoff that's going to be happening May 26th with early voting starting May 18th the 22nd, it really is a turnout campaign. It's bringing the massive amount of people that came out to vote this first time and saying they need to come back again. And we need to we you make sure that they come back and and they vote in these areas.
00:38:16
Speaker
I'm really excited. I'm really happy to have gotten you know such support across the state and across the region, the 6,000 voters that voted for me in this election. I can tell you this, when this race was last put up into that was non-competitive, uncontested,
00:38:31
Speaker
in the primary. Bobby Guerra received 6,900 votes. I received 6,000 and I only got 39% of the vote. So that's how we're building up the momentum here. We shocked a lot of people with how we managed to win so many votes. And the fact of the matter is we had a new strategy, a new way of campaigning and a modern day campaign for what I think the valleys didn't look like going forward.
00:38:56
Speaker
You offer that vision not only at the primary and runoff, but also at the general level where you say, hey, things need to change. The way things are going are not are not correct. We've been 20 years under Republican legislature, 30 years without our Democratic governor.
00:39:11
Speaker
So we have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to be built and to build up not only the infrastructure, but people and organizations and just make that happen for a new
Campaign Success and Future Strategies
00:39:24
Speaker
future. So I'm i'm really excited to be in this race. And, you know, running right now against the lifelong Republican.
00:39:31
Speaker
In your runoff, right? as it In a Democratic runoff. In my Democratic runoff is something that I can tell you is one of the hardest things I've ever done. Now I'm still young, so there's probably more things that i that I'll be facing soon. Well, i think your vote shares good news if I ever heard it. So thank you for that. That's incredible. Speaking good news, that's a perfect little segue there, Kate. Thanks for the setup.
00:39:52
Speaker
Something we like to do here on the podcast is ah we like to flex our evangelical muscles. ah Republicans are really good about getting their muscles, their their ah their message out. And they're also... Muscles and their message. Also, they have, i guess, Whether it's earned or not, they have a reputation for being more fit, but I don't buy that at all.
00:40:15
Speaker
We got to reclaim that as a separate point. Yes. Yeah. Separate point. We're going have muscle segment. Yeah. yeah oh what on alex you gotta give me the workout routine man well what we need is get the reps in spreading our good news our own gospel if it will so just to get in the practice of sharing good news what is something for your from your life either personally or professionally just something you've seen out there there's such good news you just gotta share it will you what do you what do you want to tell us about oh man i i gotta tell you a little bit about the i the whole the whole space uh thing that space kick that i'm in yeah artemis 2 and you know project tale mary oh i've heard such good things about that movie i want to see it i want to see it i gotta tell you the inner child in me that looks through the stars and you know the cosmos wondering our place on the earth you know my my little that little child in me is is is popping up again basically wearing a spaghetti strainer on my head thinking about space themed birthday parties right first trip around the Sun to the moon you know absolutely so that's one I mean that's one of the things that I think has been like I've been taking up a lot of my mind saying like hey I'm what I'm wondering what my place on the earth is right when when you're looking up to this things another thing that I would say that is really important to me is that I'm getting back into fencing I was a fencer back at UT
00:41:46
Speaker
And yeah, okay right across the street from where I lived, where I live right here in Mission, they opened up a new fencing academy. And I said, well, let me pop in there and see what's up. And I still have all my old gear and I have all my things. So that was that that was actually a really fun experience to be able to reconnect ah with the sport that I loved in college.
00:42:07
Speaker
This is just curiosity because they there was a place that opened up or but what inspired you to want to do fencing? I saw it and was like, ah I gotta check it out. In college or right now?
00:42:19
Speaker
Originally. Originally. My friend, why does anybody, why does anybody do anything? It's a really cool sport. And a pretty girl told me I should join in. I should join. And I said, look, I was 20. I was 19 at the time. Okay. Things. Pretty d girl. It was a pretty girl.
00:42:35
Speaker
Yeah. So that was, ah that was. The worst reasons to do things. But that's that was how things were. So I'm really happy to get reconnected with the sport that i love there. Awesome.
00:42:46
Speaker
Yeah, I went to Notre Dame and we have a really great, randomly, like a female fencing group and a lot of like Olympians came from Notre Dame's fencing. ah So it's kind of a random connection there. You think we're all about football, but we actually have Olympian fencing people.
00:43:00
Speaker
But my good news, if I may share, is that kind of randomly and coincidentally with this podcast, i got certified as in Spanish for legal professionals this week. So I took a class at SMU. I'm trying to transition into a different practice eventually. So I'm kind of in the midst of transitioning, though big announcement like Alex's is not coming now. But Eventually, I would like to take on more appointments in the federal criminal space and also immigration works. I worked a lot with that, those sort of subject matters when I was in the DOJ. And I really want to represent folks.
00:43:33
Speaker
And I know that the people that this DOJ is targeting are Spanish-speaking people. So I'd like to represent them and help them out in this space. And so I just got certified. not fully fluent, but i I know enough to be able to help. And I'm looking forward to using and getting better with my Spanish. so That's great. I'm so proud of you. That's what an impressive credential and very practical, ah probably a lot more useful for you than ah my 770 day streak on Duolingo. my My Duolingo streak can sometimes be continued with some really bare effort minimums. Hey, you know what? 75% of my district speak Spanish, so maybe you should come down here and have a little bit more. can i
00:44:16
Speaker
I would love to come knock doors and speak Spanish. Speaking of Duolingo, I think a lot of the Spanish we grew up with is mostly going to a restaurant or traveling or you know the grocery store. Even the hotteca. Yeah, the things around your house. So learning the vocabulary of a legal professional. And then I think also maybe segueing into like election vocabulary would be very interesting that I don't really know or appreciate. And so I think I would i would definitely love to learn in order to be able to speak to Spanish voters in 3O can. So I'd love that.
00:44:46
Speaker
We'll give you ah a turf and a canvas list and we'll get you down here. Yes, cut that My great regrets was like not continuing my Spanish education. I i took that' took Spanish all four years of high school.
00:44:57
Speaker
ah played public high school soccer and learned a lot of stuff I wasn't supposed to on the field, on the on the pitch. and ah And then at Austin College, I ah tested out of a couple semesters and took my last one that was required.
00:45:10
Speaker
And just kind of stopped. And I wish I hadn't done that. I'm just kicking myself. But congrats. Never too late. I got my Duolingo going. My daughter, she's through almost four and she looks forward to doing Duolingo with me at night sometimes. and So that's little bonding ritual for us. My good news.
00:45:29
Speaker
is that I am going to meet ah one of my my clients in person for the first time tonight. um Tonight is the 10-year banquet for the Texas Law Veterans Association.
00:45:42
Speaker
And it's going to be sponsored by Veterans from loaders earn for for All Voters, okay. Yeah, and so Veterans for All Voters is an organization i have volunteered with. They are not partisan. They are a good governance group that advocates for things like ranked choice voting, and in general, making the process fairer and more representative for everybody.
00:46:05
Speaker
And so depending on which state they're in ah the Republicans might not like them or the Democrats might not like them because they're ruffling feathers. We're going to meet in person at this banquet and we're going to go over a draft of an amicus brief I've been working on to file in the Republican Party of Texas's lawsuit to close their primaries.
00:46:25
Speaker
And the reason why it's relevant to Veterans for All Voters is because, for some of you may know, Texas has the largest veteran population in the country. There's about one and a half million veterans in the state of Texas, and over half of them identify as independent.
00:46:41
Speaker
And so if the Republican Party closes its primary, those independents will not be able to participate. We don't think that's right, especially whenever these elections are being funded by the public, by taxpayers. And so I'm very excited, and very much looking forward to this banquet and and and talking with Veterans for All Voters. That's my good news.
00:47:02
Speaker
It's great news. Yeah. Well, thank you both for that. and Before we get into our last segment, I want to put a plug in for our Patreon. So if you'd like to support us as independent media, we don't got a lot of that. Help us defray the costs of our podcast. You can become a member of our Patreon for a few dollars a month, or you can support us by giving us a five-star review wherever you get your podcasts and share us on social media. We're at Mission Texas Podcast everywhere.
00:47:24
Speaker
All right, Julio, last segment, you're up. Give us what you got. Like, what are we going to do to flip Texas?
Vision for the Rio Grande Valley
00:47:30
Speaker
How is the RGV involved in that? What's your perspective as a former staffer, now a new candidate, on what we need to do to actually build infrastructure in the state and get, as you said, a governor elected flip the legislature, control the redistricting that's coming up?
00:47:46
Speaker
Absolutely. I think that the valley is going to be the epicenter of the fight for a blue Texas. If we're going to actually flip the state of Texas, it has to come through the valley. If we lose the valley, there's no way of of winning Texas at all. Hispanic voters and you know Hispanic families can't need to be prioritized to ensure that we can have them turning out and it's lot more juice that can go into that. We need organizational efforts. We need to know talk about the issues of the day, especially when it comes to economics and just bring that forward.
00:48:19
Speaker
The Valley being one of the regions that is becoming one of the fastest growing regions, not only in the entire state, but in the entire country, is going to be in play in future elections.
00:48:31
Speaker
It's in play in this election. And if we lose the Valley this time around, I think that we are in big trouble going forward. I think that in order to win Texas back, we you need to win Hispanic voters. You need to talk about the the particular issues and people who look like me, again, young Hispanic men who we lost in 2024, bring them into the fold and say, you are part of this. You are part of this struggle. You have been betrayed by federal government and and the Republicans in the legislature. into believing that they were going to do some things for the economy when really at the end of the day, all they're doing is creating that same oligarchy that has been putting us down as a community. We're really looking forward, and I'm really looking forward to running this race for an RGV that works for all.
00:49:17
Speaker
talking about the issues of the day, healthcare, infrastructure, education, $15,000 raised for teachers, Medicaid expansion, caps and prescription drug costs, bringing high speed rail, ah just offering a new vision for people for people to actually believe in something and then fight for in the legislature, not just not just talk about it.
00:49:39
Speaker
this is This is something that I think specifically our people down here in South Texas, Hispanic voters, have basically said, Politics is not for me because no one has ever spoken to me. And if they have, it doesn't feel like they're fighting for us. We need to flip that script completely.
00:49:59
Speaker
and We need a fight for something new, fight for a new generation of RGV leadership that will bring forward people. And then on top of all that, say that people need to organize.
00:50:13
Speaker
and help them organize, guide them. I will say this, this was this is another thing for the feel good segment, but I had a couple of ah high school seniors of high school juniors from my alma mater, Sherylane Pioneer High School, knocking on doors for me in the rain on Sunday,
00:50:31
Speaker
oh in the cold rain that we never get down here in the valley and knocking on doors. And they thought it was a very great experience. And that's the new generation that I think is going to be helping us build that momentum ah for not only 2026, but the years going forward. And while there's some pessimism right now in what the federal government and the state government is doing, I feel a great sense of optimism in what the future holds, not only for people in the legislature, but also for the people that are fighting on the ground.
00:51:05
Speaker
And I'm really happy to be them in this fight with them. And we are going to get James Tallarico and Gina Hinojosa elected into the... Yes, are. into the, you know, governorship and the Senate because that's what it takes to win.
00:51:20
Speaker
It takes 30 years of work sometimes. since before Longer than you are alive. Longer than I've been alive, right? it takes 30 years of work, but I came into this late. Well, thank you so much, Julio. I mean, we are very concentrated on the races in order to maintain the legislature and actually flip it. And we have to maintain your seat. So thank
Call to Action: Support Julio's Campaign
00:51:42
Speaker
you so much. How can we follow you? How can we support you?
00:51:45
Speaker
Absolutely. I am at Julio4RGV on anything. TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. Julio4RGV is... Julio, F-O-R-R-G-V.
00:51:55
Speaker
And you can find me anywhere like that. Or you can find my website, Julio4RGV.com. Donate if you can. It's going to be a really important race. Yes. Especially especially since we're one of the most important runoffs going forward.
00:52:07
Speaker
Yep. Well, thank you so much. ah We will see our listeners next week and God bless Texas. You can follow us on all socials at Mission Texas Podcast.
00:52:17
Speaker
Email us at missiontexaspodcast at gmail.com. This episode is edited by Juan Jose Flores. Our music bumper is by Adam Pickerel, and our cover art is by Tino Sohn.