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Ep. 38: From Political Rivals to Friends (Rep. Cassandra Hernandez)
49 Plays4 days ago
Kate's primary rival turned good friend joins the podcast. State Rep. Cassandra Garcia Hernandez (HD-115) beat Kate in the March 2024 Democratic primary, and this episode is the full story of that race, how they built a real friendship out of it, and what it means heading into the general election season. With Texas Democrats gathering in Corpus Christi this week for the state convention, this conversation is a reminder of what it looks like when Democrats come together after a hard primary to fight for the bigger goal: flipping the state.
Plus: Alex is about to become board president of a 75-year-old Dallas preschool, Cassandra's district office officially opens this month, and Kate makes summer plans.
We discuss:
- How Cassandra went from losing her first race to becoming a state rep — and the piece of advice from a sitting appellate justice that changed how she handled the loss
- The "olive branch" pact she and Kate made before the primary even started — and what it actually looked like behind the scenes
- Inside the quorum break: what it was like meeting governors in New York and organizers in Chicago, and why she says "Texas Democrats have fight — we just need help"
- The DLCC's new push to target 12 Texas House seats, and why Cassandra says the resources need to come "yesterday"
- Why the GOP's mid-decade redistricting fight is now baked into every future legislative session
- Her block-walking philosophy: why door-knocking beats everything else, and how her team is using off-cycle elections to build long-term voter relationships
- The honor of serving alongside state-wide candidates Vikki Goodwin, James Talarico, Gina Hinojosa, and Jon Rosenthal — and what she learned watching them fight up close
Follow Cassandra: @CasForTX | cassandrafortexas.com
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. 🤠
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Transcript
Introduction and Rivalry Becomes Friendship
00:00:07
Speaker
This is Mission Texas. All right, welcome back to Mission Texas podcast. I'm so excited about this one Our next guest, she beat me in the March 2024 primaries.
00:00:21
Speaker
That's right, ladies and gentlemen. She was my political rival and now my friend. We're going to get into our race and so much more, including future of redistricting, her quorum break break last fall, and how we're going to turn out blue voters in her district.
00:00:35
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast, my friend and state representative, Cassandra Hernandez.
Cassandra's Political Journey
00:00:41
Speaker
Hey, everybody. Great to be with you, Kate. We're so excited to have you. And Alex. I'm here too, everybody.
00:00:50
Speaker
Well, what's fun about this episode is that we had someone on the podcast that knew Alex's like kind of origin story. And so now I get the chance to bring on somebody who's been a part of my story in politics and who I know a lot about because I had the opportunity to ah what we were in in the same campaign for what, eight or nine months together. And I got to hear your stump speech probably a million times. At some point, I think I wanted to give it for you. i was like, I could do such a good job for you. So Alex, I don't think he's had the benefit and our listeners have not had the benefit of hearing a little bit about how you got into politics and like, what is your why? Like, how did you get here?
00:01:32
Speaker
Sure. I think probably like so many other candidates, it was just the way I was raised, right? And everything that I experienced from the time I was born until present day So I'm actually not originally here from the North Texas area. I'm born and raised and from the Panhandle area in a small little town called Hereford, Texas, ah which unfortunately is at the forefront right now of the screw worm.
00:02:00
Speaker
situation because it happens to be the beef capital of Texas, but we also say the world as well. but It was a wonderful growing experience. My grandmother and my grandfather raised me as well as my mother. um But unfortunately, I didn't have a father growing up. And the reason why was because I lost him very young at like and very young when I was basically a baby to gun violence. um And so my mother and my grandparents raised me from a very young age together. Like so many others in the rural areas, my mother decided that moving us to the big metropolitan area, Dallas,
00:02:43
Speaker
would allow her to give me opportunities that she wasn't able to have whenever she was younger. And so she moved me here to North Texas and was one of the best decisions that she could have ever made, um set me up for life because I had the opportunity to be part of a great school district here in North Texas that really um allowed me to see the difference in education from, you know, being in the panhandle to North Texas and how
00:03:13
Speaker
Being in a different zip code or a different area of Texas could mean a different education. And so, um you know, a lot of those things really pushed me to obviously work really hard to move up through education, ultimately going to University of Houston to get my business degree, and then ultimately to South Texas College of Law to get my law degree.
00:03:37
Speaker
But during that whole process, I just remembered how I grew up. and a lot of the obstacles that I faced as growing up. And so it just really emboldened me to want to do a lot for my community, to learn more, to work harder, to do things, to
Transition from Law to Politics
00:03:54
Speaker
give back. And so that just kind of snowballed into becoming a lawyer, you know loving law, wanting to help people through the practice of law And then ultimately pushed me into nonprofits whenever I was appointed to the Ethics Commission for the city of Dallas. And after that opportunity, um i just started.
00:04:19
Speaker
started realizing that maybe there was another place for me a little bit higher than what I was doing in practicing law, but maybe in making laws. And so that's where it all started. It's amazing. And as I understood, it you now work with your lawyer, working with your dad, working on behalf of the little guy going up against big bad companies. tell us a little bit
Passion for Immigration Law
00:04:43
Speaker
about that.
00:04:43
Speaker
When I was younger, I met my adopted father, who later adopted me later in life. But now we own our law firm together and we practice both in civil as well as immigration law. And so I actually am the reason why we practice in immigration law.
00:05:00
Speaker
was because it was just a passion of mine that grew during law school. And I decided after I graduated, it was an area that I wanted to continue to keep working in. And so we ended up creating a immigration division of our office, which i created and have been heading up ever since. Well, you know, I also grew up north of Dallas and Kate's to roll her eyes because says have mention it every episode. I grew up in Sherman. No, not nearly as as far north as the panhandle. But I wanted to ask, because Kate mentioned at the at the jump that she she knew your stump speech backwards and forwards, and she she heard it. I'm going to put you both on the spot.
00:05:41
Speaker
What was your favorite part of each other's stump speeches during that primary race? Yeah. So, you know, good question.
Mutual Respect Despite Rivalry
00:05:49
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I, I don't even have to wait that long because quite frankly, I could say Kate's stump speech as well. I just had a deep respect for what you did, obviously with being a veteran, but not only just that also what she has done in the practice of law as well.
00:06:06
Speaker
And so I've just always had a dis distinct admiration for people who decide to go into law. I really do feel like we have a calling. And at least I feel like most people that I have met who practice law do it because they genuinely care about the community and they really want to be the chain. And so I naturally, obviously, respected, deeply respected Kate for having that background, which was also obviously a part of her being a veteran as well. Thank you for that. Yeah, i I think I was always touched and moved by your experience, unfortunately, with gun violence, having it really touched you and your family with your father and how that really motivated you and how much you've been involved with gun safety organizations. And that was just so moving every time i heard about it because it really comes from a deep personal place. And I'm very sorry that you had to go through that, but I think it shows like your resolve, you know, the thing that you really want to accomplish.
00:07:06
Speaker
in our communities and how much public school meant to you. Like you really talked about that from the heart. And also you had such a great team. Like you are, you very much were talking about them. And I love that about your campaign. Like you often were crediting them and talking about them and how much you were so ah grateful for their support. And I really think that that,
00:07:25
Speaker
makes a big difference in a lot of these races and how much you were not just
Resilience After Electoral Loss
00:07:29
Speaker
talking about yourself, but the other people that were around you. And I really appreciated that. I look back on some of our endorsements and even in the Dallas Morning News, even though they endorsed me, unfortunately, you got everything else. But they said, like, i we wish we had two great people like these two folks. But what I wanted to ask is that you and I can put myself in your shoes, is that you ran before I did. and you also had a race with now your colleague, Mihaela Plisa. And you know then you decided to run again. like Tell us about that. like Did you think, I want to run again immediately?
00:08:04
Speaker
Or was that a process? Yeah, that was definitely not not a hill I wanted to die on again. But quite frankly, I think I've just always kind of lived with the mindset that you know things always come to you when it's the right time.
00:08:21
Speaker
And so after that loss, it was a tough one. so which is why i tried to give as much grace as possible the UK. Cause I remember what it feels like to literally put yourself out there and just run, you know, your hardest and put your whole heart out there. And, and it just, you know, not, not necessarily walking away with a victory. And so it was definitely tough. It took me a little while. I didn't know of whether I was ready to feel that sting again. My predecessor, Congresswoman Julie Johnson, was the one who actually asked if if I would be interested in potentially running for her seat just because she had known me so long. And of course, she had supported me um during my first campaign as well.
00:09:10
Speaker
But that was one of the things that, quite frankly, I think is really important for any candidate that runs for office. One of the most important nuggets of advice that I got after I lost in my first election was having a current sitting justice for our Court of Appeals, our fifth Court of Appeals, called me the next morning.
00:09:33
Speaker
And of course, I was so upset, crying. And she told me, you know, it's really easy to win, but really people watch you by how you act after you lose. And That really just stuck with me where she impressed on me how important it was that, you know, she asked me, i know you ran. i know why you ran. You ran because you love the community. You want to do good things for the community. Do you still feel like that? And I told her that that's exactly why I did it. And she said, well, then go forth.
00:10:09
Speaker
with that same passion in your heart, because you can still do those things. You don't have to be an elected official to do that. You can do it through organizational work. You can continue to keep helping with pro bono stuff. You can keep doing nonprofit stuff.
00:10:24
Speaker
Anybody who cares about the community and wants to give back, there is always a place for you. And I've always just hold on to that. And I also have always impressed that on other people as well.
00:10:36
Speaker
who have maybe ran for office and and not necessarily been successful in being able to get elected. i mean, gosh, how many of people that we know of in this day and age, you know, big names of people who did not win their first election? I mean, there's Barack Obama, there's George H.W., LBJ.
00:11:01
Speaker
There are so many people locally and also, you know, president, former presidents and Congress people who didn't win their first or second or even their third.
00:11:15
Speaker
But, you know, what's most important is just making sure that you keep that passion and you keep moving forward for what you really believe in, which is taking care of your community. Well, it's
Post-Campaign Relationship Building
00:11:25
Speaker
so refreshing to see y'all talk to each other the way that you talk to and you you continue to have this positive working relationship because unfortunately it is uncommon. And so pointedly, I want to ask, like, what advice do you have to help people do it? Like to actually mend the fences? I think people in general find forgiveness great in theory and hard in practice. So how do you, how do they do it?
00:11:52
Speaker
I think one of the most important things was was something that me and Kate did, which was when I even heard that Kate was considering running, I reached out to her like ASAP.
00:12:05
Speaker
And me and her went and grabbed coffee together. we exchanged phone numbers with one another. um And I even shared with her my experience of my first race um with Mahala, you know letting her know that I would hope that if anything, encounter anything popped up or we encountered anything on the election trail, that we could reach out to one another, whether it was a rumor that was being spread or a potential staff member, um, doing something that they shouldn't be doing or, you know, uh, anything like that, that we should be able to just reach out to one another. And more importantly,
00:12:45
Speaker
the agreement that we not do what so many other candidates unfortunately do, which is bring in family, um things like that. We wanted to make sure that we, and I know that Kate was like this too, because I had already known that she was obviously a good person.
00:13:03
Speaker
And we both agreed. We just wanted to run our best campaigns authentically be ourselves. and just ultimately let the voters decide who they believed was going to be the right choice for them. And, um, you know, what Kate said earlier was so true.
00:13:20
Speaker
i encountered so many times on the campaign trail, people say, oh my gosh, I wish I could elect both of you. And I think that just spoke multitudes of not just us individually as people who we are as a person,
00:13:36
Speaker
but more importantly, in what we were willing to sit down and agree on, on what would be our path forward in writing and running our own individual campaigns. But, you know, ultimately being two, well, there was three Democrats, but there were Democrats that were running against each other.
00:13:55
Speaker
But, but I think, you know, first and foremost, I think us setting that ground, um, was really important in the actual campaign season between us to begin with.
Managing Campaign Tensions
00:14:08
Speaker
But I think also whenever, you know, whenever ultimately it was over, we both reached out to one another. Of course, I sent her a message right away, just thanking her for her willingness to step up and run for office. I mean, literally there out of the whole United States, only 2% of the population ever step up to run for office.
00:14:35
Speaker
And I think anybody who steps up, who's willing to put their name out there for the right reasons, you know, genuinely running because they care about their community, they want to be the change. I think that is courageous.
00:14:48
Speaker
And that's honorable. And I certainly believe that Kate is one of those that falls but falls under that categoryes those categories. And so I wanted to make sure to to give her her flowers and make sure she knew that I really appreciated her stepping up and that I hoped that once she had the opportunity and what she was filling up to it, you know, I think it's important in acknowledging it's tough. You put yourself out there, emotions are high, it hurts, right? And so candidates also can expect the opponent to just very quickly be like, oh yeah, let me, you know, we also need to give people grace and we need to give them that opportunity to, you know, sit in their feelings and be ready for that opportunity.
00:15:36
Speaker
But what's most important is for whomever it is that comes out of it very quickly acknowledges any hurts and makes sure to right any wrongs that may have happened.
00:15:47
Speaker
And what's most important is for all of us to collectively remember that the goal is us moving forward to see progress for our communities, to make sure that we elect people who are gonna take care of our people, to fight for the ideals that we all believe in. And we can't do that if we're not willing to as at least as the one who's won, to extend that olive branch and to at least make sure that the other person knows that when they're ready, we want to be able to, in a team effort, go forward together. Well, I want to give some behind the scenes though, because we were not friends. I mean, we had gotten together. There's tension, I think, in competing against somebody and you both want to win. You got people on your side. And so we
00:16:39
Speaker
And I'm so grateful you gave me grace because there was a period of time after the race where we didn't get together, but we did. we had coffee and kind of talked about our feelings. and And I think we both were like, I'm sorry about this thing or that thing or… if there were hard feelings about that or whatever. And i think it's a great way for me to look back on, you know, what were the highs and lows. And I think you and I realized that we had a lot more in common than we thought. For example, y'all, we have the same birthday, which is insane. How did we have that? I don't understand.
00:17:12
Speaker
We both are married to Davids and we are
Lessons from Campaign Experiences
00:17:15
Speaker
lawyers. And I think we also realized that a lot of the tension maybe wasn't generated from you or I. There's just inherent tension in these democratic primaries and people have past histories with each other. and And I'm new to all this and you had been relatively new as well, but it just felt like, okay, this might not be about us. This might be about like these other things.
00:17:35
Speaker
And and i think we're trying to extrapolate this to what's going on now. And How do you perceive that? Because i think there's a lot of hard feelings with the Texas primary that went on We should be giving people grace. like People have feelings. You put yourself on the line. Your name is on the ballot. like It is natural to feel hurt by some things that happen in those races. How do we go off and say, like hey, this is what we should all be doing? Because it wasn't just James versus Jasmine. It was also some of the other contested primaries. I know the AG's race got very contested. It's not one size fits all, right? Every election, every campaign, every place on the ballot is different, including the candidates as well. And so I certainly don't want to, you know, minimize any hurts or things that happen in other people's elections, because I certainly know that it can happen and I've seen it happen and we've felt our own right.
00:18:32
Speaker
But I do think it is so important just as a person in general that whenever those things do happen, you have to take responsibility. You have to step up. You have to acknowledge any of those type of issues that may have happened. And more importantly, not just outwardly, but to the person themselves. I don't know of what any conversations have been had between any of the candidates that were very obviously...
00:19:02
Speaker
ah high stress, high contested races on the state level. I think what's important is that people just have to acknowledge and recognize that hurts, hurts were had and things may have been said and things may have been done.
00:19:19
Speaker
um And those need to be acknowledged directly to that person. And there does need to be an olive branch, you know, extended and further than that.
00:19:30
Speaker
there needs to be an inclusion of those people or an addressing of certain concerns that maybe might have potentially been raised during a campaign, you know, involving whatever particular candidate.
00:19:44
Speaker
And so I think what's and really important is that us as individuals, whether you win or you don't win, it's important that we all work together in trying to figure out what's the path forward. And hopefully it's a united path forward where we can all pull each other in and support one another. We don't necessarily have to be best friends. Right. But the hope is, is that maybe we can work together right now and maybe, be we can be friends later, just like me and you have found ourselves since being able to do, right, Kate?
00:20:17
Speaker
Yeah, well, knocked doors for you, and you've also supported me in everything that I've been doing, so including being on my podcast. so I find it so interesting, right, because the old adage is that Democrats fall in love and Republicans fall in line.
00:20:33
Speaker
And I find that to be so true. I mean, when you compare the primaries between the Republican statewide nominees, they were vicious, vicious, vicious, vicious in the primary. And then like immediately after it's like, I'm so proud to support this person I said was horrible. Just a minute ago. found all my social media now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah And yeah all the DSCC, Ken Paxton ads. and I was even thinking of the attorney general's race on their side. was pretty intense.
00:21:06
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, on our side, look Joe Jaworski is great. I met him. He's been on the pod. But man, that was the first time I'd ever seen an attack yard sign in my life. I didn't know they made those. Oh, I didn't realize that he did that. Okay. i was I was in Austin to take pictures for my my law firm's website.
00:21:27
Speaker
And on the way to the the photography studio, I saw a Joe Jaworski yard sign, like a normal yard sign, like his name. or in general. And right next to it, it had like Nathan Johnson, MAGA's favorite Democrat. And it was like very scary looking. And I didn't know that was a move you could do. Innovative, I'll give them that. Well, before we switch into politics and redistricting and all that, I wanted to ask just And before we end the segment about our race, my daughter and my stepson and I at dinner, we usually try to do like a high point and a low point. Like, hey, what was a rose and what was a thorn during your day? Just to kind of get them in the habit of talking about their feelings. And oh so, yeah. And somebody else taught me that. I think the Obamas do that too. I wanted to ask you, like, was there, besides winning, you know, what was the high, what was the low point that you remember in the 2024 race?
00:22:17
Speaker
Because that was the one you ultimately won. Like what, and has set you up now to be the state rep. You mean during the actual campaign? Yeah. Like anytime you knocked a door and, cause I remember just, I don't know about you. There's so many moments where I would knock on someone's door and it just became like such a profound moment. And also like some of the low points, at least for me,
00:22:37
Speaker
was during the endorsement season. I remember the Stonewall race, like we had that Stonewall endorsement and how it was so contentious. I think that might be Milo. I think um just like you were saying, I mean, that sometimes it wasn't even necessarily us, right? yeah um It was just so much tension on the outside of us.
00:23:00
Speaker
And I think that was probably one of the, I think one of my low points was probably the the Stonewall endorsement process, mostly just because, um and you know this, you know, through obviously my my whole session, I have always loved and tried my hardest to fight for LGBTQ plus community. And so to to actually overhear people saying that I would not do that and i hadn't did and I hadn't did that up to that point, I think really, really just like hit me in a place where i just like, I don't think I've felt like a hurt like that in a very long time. And so that was definitely my low. I can yeah i remember that one for sure.
00:23:47
Speaker
um But I agree. I mean, I, I just have so many different stories. I mean, ones where like literally we're like crying on the front doorstep, talking about a story and so many of in particular ones involving a lot of mental health stuff.
00:24:06
Speaker
at during, during the election was probably the stuff that hit the hardest because of course my, my loss of my father and all being so important to me. And so,
00:24:19
Speaker
I certainly would say that was probably one of my highest to just those conversations with people connecting to people like that. And very often when I felt like I had my low points, um it was not unheard of to my staff for me to be like, Hey guys, like I'm just going out into the turf because I just can't, I can't deal with it right now. And it was like, I feel like when I was out there walking, knocking on doors, talking to people, I felt like, okay,
00:24:49
Speaker
I felt centered. I felt like this is where I need to be And whenever anything popped up that felt like made me shaky or anything. I was like, you know what? I'm going to lace up my shoes. I'm going go knock some doors. Yeah. love that. So ah we're alluding to the fact that in the Stonewall endorsement season, who we love, and i'm we're both very pro-LGBTQ, it was very contentious. And there were like many re-votes. And ultimately, ours was the only race that was pulled out of the whole state to be re-voted on
00:25:24
Speaker
in the whole entire membership of Stonewall. And so we had to give our stump speech again. We had to take, you know, have surrogates again. We had to do all these things. And i have a friend who ran for office and he calls the Stonewall process the Thunderdome. Like just going through it once is hard because you get these really hard questions. You have a lot of people, you know, saying things about you during the screening. And I also think somebody said something about me, but we had to go through it twice. So like we did the Thunderdome twice, Cassandra, and we came out of it. You ultimately won and took away the endorsement. But I think as you're saying,
00:26:00
Speaker
It was really grounding for me also to go to those doors. And people will tell me even to this day, like, hey, I you know i remember your dad because he came and knocked on your their door or whatever. And it's just such a it's so gratifying to be centered in your community. I also got several people who were like, oh, I met Kate's dad. So you're right.
00:26:22
Speaker
I love that. I know people will be like, I just talked to Cassandra's people. And I'm like, well, I'm here too. so Yes, Okay, so let's switch gears a little bit. And I want to talk a little bit about your experience after that. So you won in the fall. It's a seat that leans blue. So how do you turn out voters in a blue district? and Because I remember having a hard time raising money and getting attention. And Colin Allred was running his Senate race at the time. And I remember donors being like, Kate, you're great, but you know we're not focusing on your race. youre gonna There's going to be a Democrat in that race probably. So how do we do that? How are you gearing up for 2026?
00:27:00
Speaker
For sure. You're right. So this is a leaning blue seat, but it's not a a true blue
Engaging Voters in Blue Districts
00:27:07
Speaker
seat. Right. um But I always tell people, and this is honestly something that I learned from my last race. So Mahala Plesa taught me this. And that is there is no substitution for getting out early and knocking on doors. It really is a game changer and engaging your people and getting them motivated and having conversations and checking in on them. And so that's exactly what we're doing right now. That's what we did last election cycle. That's what we do every election cycle. So we have been even while I've been in Austin, when I would come back, me and my team would
00:27:49
Speaker
very often be going out either to educate people about the constitutional amendments that were coming up. What better opportunity to say, Hey, i know there's a whole bunch of these constitutional amendments. Let's talk about them. Then somebody who was actually working on them during the whole session. And so we took advantage and went and, you know, did a town hall for them. We also went and walked just to let them know what was on.
00:28:15
Speaker
We shared sheets with them. Also, a lot of our interns, our amazing interns that we have, but we you know we empowered them to get to know their candidates that were running for local school board elections and to go support them. And then went and block walked and let people within our district know that a school board election was going on. So we have continued to keep block walking for other elections that quite frankly, i wasn't on the ballot, but it was important for us for multiple reasons. One, to make sure that I was reconnecting with my people, checking in on them, making sure everything was good with them, making sure that they knew what our office was available to help them with, but also making sure that they knew what was going to be on their ballot.
00:29:07
Speaker
who their candidates were, and why it was important for them to get out and vote. And so for that reason, we will continue to keep going into our district.
00:29:18
Speaker
And my hope, and we haven't quite checked this yet, but my hope is that with that, we have continued to allow people to be more informed on the fact that there is an election going on and that they should get out and and be engaged in it.
00:29:36
Speaker
And so that those type of things, by doing things like that, we encourage people to be more in the know of how particular offices touch their daily lives and also reminding them that election is here so that they can get out and vote. um We've been trying to tie that to whatever we do on the state level. So educating them about how a lot of our schools are closing right now and school boards are making tough decisions.
00:30:04
Speaker
And we work very closely with our school boards because on the state level with school funding that flows from the state. And that's why it's important that they get out and know who their school board members are get out and vote. Same with city council and mayors, letting them know what kind of work that we're doing on the state and local level for them too. So we're trying to inform voters while we're getting out.
00:30:27
Speaker
um And it more than anything, it's just building a relationship. Us as duly elected officials, we have a responsibility not only to make sure that we are taking care of our constituents in whatever position that we're in but that we're also making sure that they're getting out to vote for the candidates that are going to take care of them on the other levels as well. And these are a lot of folks that, quite frankly, I'm going to be working with, whether it's the school boards, whether it's our mayor, whether it's our city council member of any of our cities.
00:31:03
Speaker
And so making sure that we also are electing good people that collectively want to work together to really move our community forward is really important. And so um as far as you know turning out and helping the statewide races, this is how we build that infrastructure, build that power, and help people on the statewide to also be successful as well. But that also translates, I know we're all lawyers on here. We also have judicial races that are on the ballot as well. And so because we built this relationship with so many of our voters in the district, very often we will get constituents that reach out and they're like, hey, you're a lawyer. you know Can you tell me a little bit about some of these judicial races?
00:31:57
Speaker
And having the ability to to have those frank conversations and be able to guide them to resources to help them make those decisions on races that very often maybe lack the funds or the ability to get in front of them is really important and very powerful in our collective, seeing us succeed on multiple levels of government.
00:32:20
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think it's interesting to see that because I obviously follow your stuff and try to go to as much as I can, ah that you're coordinating with so many different candidates to do those block walks because there are so much overlap. And also you guys are creating a blue HQ to do a coordinated ah office for people and to help other state house races or people that are running statewide. And I think a phrase that we say a lot on this podcast is that you can't gerrymander a statewide race. So every blue dot matters.
00:32:51
Speaker
And so even if you have a race where there's no one on the other side of the ballot or you lean blue and people might think, okay, Cassandra's going to be my rep. I don't need to necessarily turn out and do much. It's still helpful because we're turning out the blue base to help other people and also a coordinated fashion. So I think that that's
Support for Texas Legislative Races
00:33:12
Speaker
really important. I mean, can you, speaking of other races, i think what we heard recently is that there's a group called the DLCC, which I don't, maybe you know a little bit about, maybe tell us a little bit about that, but they're starting to focus on our state and our ledge races. So how did that occur? And do you know, was there some lobbying being done or did it come out of the blue?
00:33:35
Speaker
Well, I mean, I think a lot of this really kind of stems from a lot of having to do with the quorum break, right? I think what we were able to accomplish as state house Democrats was to really shine the light on Texas.
00:33:53
Speaker
And in particular, the fact that Texas Democrats, they've got fight in them, right? I think one of the most eye-opening experiences during the quorum break was being in other states because at one point I had went to New York to go meet the governor in New York. And then, you know, at some point I ended up going and meeting everybody in Chicago after we had finished that trip.
00:34:17
Speaker
And so having people actually say, you know, how inspiring it was to see Texas Democrats, like almost like Texas Democrats have that fight. That was, that was what really encompassed and what we kept encountering across the country. And it was at a great particular time and moment, right? Because so many of us were scared of what was happening. i mean, so many of us
00:34:48
Speaker
literally left everything. we didn't necessarily know what was going to be happening. We were being threatened, and but we knew that we needed to do something, right? And so there was conversations.
00:35:02
Speaker
And quite frankly, one of the things that I think is really important to highlight is that you know folks like like a Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and Congresswoman Julie Johnson and Congressman Mark Vesey and all of these folks who were very much helping us in the House, you know, navigate what was going on during quorum break and what the plan was. We're also having conversations and making sure that people recognize that Texas Democrats, we've got fight, but we need help.
00:35:37
Speaker
And so... One of the things that was really important that so many of us wanted to make sure that was being relayed or shared was that we, you know, we are fighting and we fight all the time, right? The fact that the world was literally being like, yeah these fighting Texas Democrats, these democracy defenders, right, is great. But we have been fighting and we have been fighting for a very long time and we need help, right? And so that was really kind of one of the things that so many of us wanted to make sure
00:36:16
Speaker
flowed And by that, I mean, we were ready to make the sacrifice, but we wanted to make sure that Texas was no longer ignored and that they were going to take it seriously, what the sacrifice that we were making here in Texas, and that they would seriously look at and consider us come the next election cycle because we just really needed help. Was there any promises or like tit for tat or like, we're not leaving unless you sign this contract?
00:36:48
Speaker
No, there was nothing like that. But there was certainly a lot of conversations being had that Texas Democrats had that fight. We just needed the extra help, right? And so I was excited and so many of us were happy to see that the DLCC had announced that they were going to be targeting 12 seats, right? Very similar to what we were able to pick up in 2018.
00:37:16
Speaker
um But we want to make sure that that actually fully pans out. There's got to be action behind words. And what we all know, certainly all of us who follow elections, all of us election nerds, right?
00:37:32
Speaker
That's us. Yep. that us right um What we know is that we can't wait too late for resources. And so we, we absolutely need to make sure that everybody who is promising to help in any way for us to, um you know, flip the Senate seat, flip Texas, flip the house, all of these things, we need the resources yesterday. And I think, like i said, I'm very excited and happy to see that the DLCC is making sure that they you know acknowledge the sacrifice and the fight that we have here in Texas. and we're going to continue to keep bringing that fight, but I hope that they will bring those resources if they haven't already.
00:38:21
Speaker
Because of course, we've got an an amazing HDCC chairwoman Chairwoman Morales, who's heading everything up. I don't know. I haven't talked. I didn't talk to her today. I don't know if, you know, anything is necessarily flowing right now or things are happening on the ground right now in that regards. But what I do know is that they need, it the resources have to come quick, right? We need to start. We need to have started yesterday.
00:38:47
Speaker
So that's my hope in us making sure that, that actions are, follow the words and that we get the resources we need so that we can be successful. successful Yeah. So the DLCC, as I understand that, as you're saying, is is helping. It's a national group that is helping people in state legislatures, and they've targeted 12 in our state. Remind us, how many do we need to take back the House to have a majority?
00:39:14
Speaker
So in order to have a majority, we would need 14. Okay. okay So, in and some of them are in our North Texas backyard, Katie O'Brien-Dewson, Zach Herbert. who's a veteran, Allison Mitchell. So a lot of those races. And I think it's interesting to see because, i mean, we harp on this all the time. 2018, we've tried to interview every person who's flipped those seats and we have, and a lot of them are running for statewide races, but we need to, we have to flip the ledge and the because of the redistricting issues. And can you speak to that because in how we
00:39:49
Speaker
And you're a lawyer bringing that into context of the latest SCOTUS decision. I think are people anticipating a redistricting fight like every ledge session? um Yes. and Yes. Unfortunately, that's the predicament that we're in
Redistricting Battles in Texas Legislature
00:40:04
Speaker
right now. And I know, you know, Kate, you and Alex follow the Texas politics so closely.
00:40:10
Speaker
Um, we've already got, I've already got two colleagues who are already saying, you know, come this next session that we are going after Senate and house seats. Right.
00:40:23
Speaker
um and so this is clearly what has happened and is the, um, the after effect of what has happened in the Texas, not the Texas Supreme court, the U S Supreme court. Um,
00:40:37
Speaker
Essentially, the U.S. s Supreme Court has given the green light for state legislatures to go ahead and start doing this. And so we can certainly expect to see some of this stuff happen next session. But just like you said, that is why this November election is so incredibly important. and why resources like the ones that are being promised by DLCC and other organizations are of the utmost importance is because, um like I said, HDCC is doing everything it can to give the tools and prepare all of our candidates, which, you know, thankfully we have a candidate, a Democratic candidate for every House seat. But we got to make sure that all of those resources come in and they come in quick.
00:41:28
Speaker
Because like I said, we need to have started yesterday. What I really like what you said earlier is, you know, we need help and we need help from not just inside the state. We need all hands on deck because what happens here is going to affect the rest of the country.
00:41:43
Speaker
And so that's true on the macro level. And you go all the way back down to the beginning of the episode with you and Kate, right? We got to come together and individual primaries and state house races all the way up to statewide elections.
00:41:57
Speaker
We also need to come together as a country, as a Democratic Party here, but across the South and and even ah to the other parts of the the coastal elites. like We all got to get on the same page because the stakes are too high.
00:42:11
Speaker
Right. Yes. So help us understand... between now and November, obviously resources in terms of money, but what else?
00:42:27
Speaker
Like you have people who want to do what they can. They've identified these these house races and go and volunteer for them. But as a former candidate, as a current candidate, as an elected official, what are the highest value contributions you see from everyday people?
Grassroots Efforts and Strong Messaging
00:42:47
Speaker
ah Well, obviously it varies depending on what you are, right? Whether you're an elected official, whether your name is on the ballot and you're a candidate, whether you're somebody willing to volunteer, whether you have mobility issues, there there are so many different things that you can do and contribute in the ultimate goal of seeing as much progress as we can make on the state level, the local level. on the courts, all of those things. And so it's really what you're willing to put into it.
00:43:21
Speaker
What's the most valuable and the most important is block walking. And and um and I know Kate can know attest to that as well. It's the cheapest, you get the most bang for your buck, and it's really where the relationships are built and where the vote is obtained.
00:43:40
Speaker
You know, and so it's it's so important whether you're a volunteer and you can give two hours or you can do 45 doors or 25 doors is so important. But there are other things, too. There are doing postcards. There are great organizations you can join to do postcards as well.
00:43:59
Speaker
I've got some folks who do that. I've got amazing precinct chairs who will take their whole list. and send postcards to all the people in in ah within their precinct. um you know Everybody has some level of how they can contribute to the November election.
00:44:17
Speaker
And the real question is, is just, are you willing to do it? um And there is a different amount of time and commitment that you can give to it.
00:44:28
Speaker
But what's most important is just making sure that you engage people, that you meet people where they're at, that you think outside the box. And more importantly, what's so important is making sure that we are talking about the right issues, whether we're talking on the phone, whether we're text messaging, whether we're sending literature, whether we're knocking at the doors. It's so important that we are on point on the messaging because I think, you know, certainly
00:44:59
Speaker
what we saw last election cycle, right? We saw Republicans have victories all over. and And I feel like we really should have honed in a lot more on the meat and potato issues, right? And we certainly know that those are the most important issues right now because that is exactly where people are hurting right now. And so making sure that we are on point on messaging is important. But when I say on point with messaging, I mean, tailored specifically to the city you're in, to the community you're talking to, to the neighborhood that you're in.
00:45:39
Speaker
But that comes down to a candidate or a particular person from that area, understanding their area. So there's, there's so much, obviously that goes into being successful and no matter what office you're running for,
00:45:54
Speaker
But certainly there is a place for everyone to be part of that. And when you say meat and potato issues, you're not talking about whether Tallarico is a vegan or not.
00:46:06
Speaker
I can tell you for sure that Tallarico is not a vegan. I can too. We had we had barcue barbecue for him whenever he came to our my backyard. you've been to but You've been to my backyard. We've had a fundraiser for him back when he was yeah a mere mortal and and could of could fit an event in my little backyard.
00:46:24
Speaker
But yeah, no, um he he definitely ate barbecue that day as well. Yeah, well, he definite definitely ate meat during quorum break. Oh.
00:46:33
Speaker
It's such a silly thing. Yeah. Is that really what people are motivated by? But Cassandra, like you so many of your colleagues who you like intimately know, you are there like burning the midnight oil in the statehouse. You did broke quorum. A lot of them are running for statewide races. Are there Any other tidbits? You shared a little bit with us with about John Rosenthal. at As Alex is saying, we did a fundraiser for him. But anything else we should know about
Pride in Colleagues' Statewide Race Pursuits
00:46:59
Speaker
these people? Gina, Vicky, James, John. like There's so many people who are running
00:47:05
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, you know what? I think it speaks multitudes of who they are as people. I can't tell you how many people that we encountered during quorum break and after quorum break who were like, I don't know about you, but if I had to go through something like that, I wouldn't run for office again. yeah And that, that, that it, that was a real sentiment. It's, you know, shared with so many of us and it it was, it was tough. You know, it was, it was not an enjoyable experience. Yeah.
00:47:34
Speaker
But Gina, Vicki, James, John, i mean, look what they did. They came back and not only did they not say, I'm not going to do this anymore and throw up their hands.
00:47:48
Speaker
They decided to double down and step up to run for the state level. And I think that that is so courageous. I'm so proud of them.
00:48:00
Speaker
It was an absolute honor as a freshman member to be so close to them. Aside from Vicky, Vicky was a, so Linda Garcia had the privilege of being able to be Vicky's deskmate. But for me, you know, Gina was my deskmate. And then next to her was, was James. And then right in front of me was John. And so I had the best. Wow. You were surrounded by all these people. yeah wow I was surrounded by all of them. I got to see them firsthand during all of their different fights, you know, between Gina fighting for our public schools and James fighting for our public schools. and John fighting for the LGBTQ plus community and all of those different things. I was just so in awe and inspired by being able to see it firsthand, you know, and be part collectively of just, you know, them mentoring me, me being able to see how the sausage is made, you know, I'm just so excited for them. And so, you know, um I was honored to serve with them.
00:49:09
Speaker
I'm honored to call them my colleagues and I sure as hell am honored to support them. Well, I think that is a great positive note for us to talk a little bit about what's going on in our lives. Alex?
00:49:22
Speaker
Yeah. So one of the things I've really loved this podcast has started doing is we have a ah section called good news. And this is where we get to share something in our personal lives, professional lives, something that is just so good.
00:49:35
Speaker
Gotta share it. I think Republicans are way better than us at sharing their version of the gospel, their good news. We got to get some reps. We got to get used to to sharing that stuff out. So what is something going on in your life that you would like everybody to know about?
00:49:53
Speaker
Oh my gosh. I thought i was going to share good news about my state office. You can. You can. You do that too. Well, I just wanted to do a quick plug because i I'm so excited. That's part of your life. You can tell us. i'm mean it Well, it basically is my life.
00:50:11
Speaker
But y'all, I'm so excited because one of the things that I really wanted to be able to accomplish was bringing a district office here into our district so that way we could be you know better servants for all of the constituents here.
00:50:27
Speaker
And so on the 29th of this month, we're going to be opening officially our district office. And so we've been working on it for a while. It's literally been one thing after another when we were supposed to open it like literally about six months ago and then the elevators went down and then all of these other things and so it's been a real feat to finally get to this point but I promised everybody that by the time we got to the thick of summer that we would do our official grand opening and so I'm so excited and I hope that everybody will come including both of you
00:51:04
Speaker
are welcome to come. Would love y'all to be there. And so we're going to put all of the information on all of our socials. Everybody is welcome to come, even those outside of our district. We're just so proud and so excited. And I'm so honored to obviously serve House District 115. And we're just so glad that we can, that we'll have more of an opportunity to be better servants for the district.
00:51:31
Speaker
and I know. just give you a plug there. i I'm good friends with one of your campaign staffers, Mariah. Shout out to her. And she was saying how hard y'all are working, including having to like run up and down the stairs because the elevator was broken. And just like the dedication you guys have to this is so heartwarming. I love it for our district, which is my district, so obviously. So I'm really grateful for that and further in your hard work. And I will be there. You you let us know.
00:51:58
Speaker
Good. Yes, please. think we're too little baby. i know. my daughter was one when I ran for office, and now she's going to turn this summer in a few weeks. Can you believe that? She's so big. I know. i guess that's my good news. It's just, you know, spending time with family over the summer. My daughter turns four in July. My stepson is here. We just... got back from the beach and just seeing my daughter who I remember block walking with her in her little stroller. And now she's just like all over the beach, just kicking up sand and having a great time. And it was a blast. So we had a great time and it's just so fun to, I get these like alerts of memories from her and during my campaign days. And so it's just, I can't believe that time has flown that much. It feels like yesterday.
00:52:45
Speaker
What about you? Yes, a blessing. yes very much a blessing Alex, what do you got going on? So by the time this episode airs, I'm almost positive I will be the new board president of the Children's Center, which is a preschool, 75-year-old preschool here in Dallas and that both my children will be attending in the fall and my wife works at as a teaching assistant.
00:53:11
Speaker
Oh, that's a wonderful congratulations. Thank you. That's awesome. Thank you for your work on that and all the effort that going be doing. so i i I feel very strongly about early childhood education because I taught third grade. And it was really kind of jarring to realize that by the time a child stepped into my classroom, so much had already been decided about but their what their reading level was going to be, what their capacity to understand the material was going to be.
00:53:41
Speaker
um Because by the time you get to third grade, they're not teaching you how to read anymore. You're reading to learn. They're assuming you know, and you can start making inferences and conclusions and talking about theme and and tone and all that. And like those critical those early years are critical.
00:54:00
Speaker
And these these people are the best. They are very, very good professionals. Yeah. That's so awesome. Thank you so much for doing that. Like public education or just education in general is so important.
00:54:13
Speaker
I just wish people in the legislature would treat it you know, with the respect that it deserves. Well, now I'm thrilled. I mean, we would already booked in for this next coming school year, but I'm thrilled to know that Dallas ISD is offering free early childhood education. i think just starting at three and four year olds.
00:54:31
Speaker
Yes. It's so exciting. And I just wish we we could see that statewide. Yeah. yeah Yeah. I spoke to one of our one of our trustees and they they really, really want it for CFBISD as well.
00:54:49
Speaker
Yeah. so I know so many of the school districts want to be able to do that. It's just, it's so tough. And I hope i hope this next session will continue to keep chipping away at more and more that we can do for our public schools because we just, we obviously did not do enough. So. Well, you guys fought hard for and the voucher scheme and i think it's reverberating. I think it's, there's definitely coming back around, like the pendulum has swung and I think that they're going to rue the day.
00:55:19
Speaker
a lot of people, as you're saying, have gotten organized, stayed organized, as you said, and some of the parents are now who are in school board fights or staying involved in the state and local elections. So I really think that We're going to, that's a big messaging piece. So I'm glad we brought that up, but we are heading into our last segment and because you're very important and you have things you got to do. Cassandra, thank you so much for your time, but we're going to give you the last word of the
Encouraging Political Change in Texas
00:55:45
Speaker
day.
00:55:45
Speaker
ah you are our general. We're your soldiers. Send us off into battle. What do we got to do to flip the state before the next census? As we're saying, we got to get back the ledge so that we can take charge of the redistricting because we are going to, our population's growing. We're going adding seats here. it is an existential crisis for us to flip the state. So what do we got to Anything else you want to leave us with?
00:56:09
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I, I obviously what we had talked about already. So making sure that we really work hard and turnout, we got to work on persuasion. We got to make sure we got good candidates. We got to build loyalty within our communities. We got to create infrastructure with people that the community trusts. We got to go into spaces.
00:56:31
Speaker
We usually lack the time or resources to go into, and we got to start early. And that's no matter whether it's this November, whether it's the next election cycle, no matter what election it is.
00:56:44
Speaker
Amazing. Exactly. and I think that's in line with what other people have said too, is that we can't just show up during an election season. We have to be there. We have to be villagers for everybody. Um, Okay. How can we support you? How can we follow you, Cassandra?
00:56:59
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Well, if you're not already, please follow me on all of social media. You can find me at Cass, C-A-S-1-S-F-O-R-T-X.
00:57:11
Speaker
Or you can head to my website, www.cassandrafortexas.com.
00:57:19
Speaker
All right. Well, thank you so much for your time, Cassandra, my friend, my birthday twin. oh And we will see our listeners next week. And God bless Texas.