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Ep. 19: Taylor Rehmet's win, the Texas Primaries, and What's Next (Rep. Rafael Anchia)
60 Plays4 days ago
Texas primary season is underway, and Democrats just got a major win with the Senate District 9 special election.
In this episode of Mission: Texas, we’re joined by State Rep. Rafael Anchia, a multi-decade elected official, for a clear-eyed breakdown of the Texas Democratic Primaries and what the SD-9 result tells us about the road ahead. Rep. Anchia has served with many of the people running for office in this primary season, including Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico.
We discuss:
- Why the SD-9 win mattered — and why it wasn’t a fluke
- What worked: candidate fit, working-class messaging, and turnout
- How primary dynamics shape the general election
- Which statewide and down-ballot races Democrats should be watching
- Why public education, local organizing, and voting still matter most
- And yes, the Texas Senate race.
This episode is a practical guide to understanding where Texas Democrats are right now and what this moment could mean as early voting begins.
Follow us on on all social media platforms: @missiontexaspodcast.
Email us: missiontexaspodcast@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Mission Texas Podcast
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
All right. Welcome back to Mission, Texas. Today we're joined by Rafael Anchia, Chairman Anchia, Representative Anchia, a longtime Dallas area state representative, someone who's worked shoulder to shoulder with many of the Democrats that are now running statewide.
00:00:41
Speaker
He brings a perspective that few people have. He doesn't just watch these races from the outside. He's served with these candidates in the House where he's been for over two decades now, a debated policy with them and seen firsthand how they lead when the cameras are off.
00:00:57
Speaker
So I'm very excited to get into the and to our conversation today. Raphael and I, if if you sort of feels a little weird to call you Raphael, but- You can call me Raphael if it feels better. Rapha, okay. ah I'm very excited to be on with him. um He's actually one of the first people I met when I moved to Dallas because of our connection to the the law firm, Haynes & Boone.
00:01:18
Speaker
um Welcome to the pod. Thank you. Thanks for inviting me, Alex. This is a really exciting. I'm Kate. Great to see you. I'm really interested in sharing some ideas and and experiences with y'all. And congratulations on the pod. We need more of these. Thank you. how of the The ecosystem and as an independent media organization here.
Rafael Anchia's Journey into Politics
00:01:39
Speaker
um yeah Before we jump into the election and and we want to get all of your insights, take us back a moment because I'm always very interested in people's origin stories. How did you become...
00:01:51
Speaker
representative on you? How did you get into politics in the first place? And what what drove you to that? Almost accidentally, I, you know, explained to people that I never thought i would be in politics, never ran for anything, really in high school, now you know, never on the student council. I guess i I did run for young Democrats. There were four of us in in my high school. And I think I came in third or something. on But i did run for anything in fraternity and college or um and it wasn't until 2000 rolled around and um I had been involved in in launching a leadership program in south of I-30 in North Oak Cliff that included Adamson and Sunset High Schools. i I coached the Sunset mock trial team. I was a terrible coach. it was no good.
00:02:41
Speaker
ah Worked with the debate team down there. Um, because, uh, well, and I can take a step further. I w I was principal. I went through leadership Dallas in 1998, 1999 before y'all were born.
00:02:53
Speaker
And, um, I was walking, I was walking with barely, barely, I was walking with the principal and I, and I asked him, know, saw the demographics of sunset high school were really similar to the high school. I went to, you know, 90 plus percent Hispanic. And I asked him, I said, Hey, you know, can I meet with some your mock trial students or can I meet with some of your debate students?
00:03:14
Speaker
He was like, no, we don't have that. i was like, what? What do you mean you don't have those things? They made such a big difference to me. I, you know, my neighborhood, I didn't know any lawyers and it wasn't until lawyers came from a big firm and volunteered for mock trial, you know, that I got to touch one, you know, and see them in a suit. And i thought that looked really interesting so i wanted to be James Bond. And that looked like James, the closest thing in my neighborhood that looked like James Bond. Right.
00:03:37
Speaker
And, um, And so I asked the principal, no, we don't have that. So I volunteered. said, now you do. And I volunteered and I got my my prior firm ah to kind of adopt Sunset High School. And, you know, we we we were just, i was I didn't know what I was doing as a mock trial coach. But the most important thing is i was bringing lawyers to the campus and for the women, especially for the young Hispanic women at sunset to see female lawyers um ah was a game changer. And I've run into ah ah a bunch of, you know, the people who were in, in the mock trial program back then that was so successful that we then launched this leadership program between with, with the sort of the
00:04:24
Speaker
student council kids from Adamson and Sunset, and they would we would bring them together in a leadership Dallas style program. And then they would there they had an annual project that they needed to work on as to improve community.
00:04:38
Speaker
And we wanted them to see each other as kind of the same, as not rivals, but rather you know collaborators and and and get them to think about solving problems together. Well, that that lasted for a little while. And then I went to ah a leadership Dallas breakfast I was sitting next to friend of mine, John DeLandre, whom I saw last night. he still He's still at DISD. He was then, I think, like the head of communications.
00:05:02
Speaker
And Ron Kirk was the speaker, Mayor Ron Kirk. And and and Ron um had a really pointed speech. He was like... You leadership Dallas people, you you all are just resume builders. You really don't do anything. You know, I'm challenging all of you to up.
00:05:20
Speaker
Dallas ISD at the time, there were bills in the legislature to break up Dallas ISD into four different districts, right? Too big. It's about to fail. We had had five superintendents in five years. Things were really, really bad. And he said, you all need to step up.
00:05:35
Speaker
And John tugged on my sleeve and he said, you need to run. was like, pfft. I'm partnership track, bro. What are you talking about? You know? yeah And, you know, there there had been just, there had been tapings, you know, there had been FBI investigations. One of the the superintendents embezzled $19,000 of tacky bedroom furniture, you know, and went to jail and, you know,
00:05:59
Speaker
It was just a mess. But my my predecessor in office, Jose Plata, was stepping aside. Mayor Kirk called me in ah to his office. And, you know, yeah um you're just a young man sort of disconnected from the mayor calls you and wants have a meeting. I hear you've been doing some good stuff down there.
00:06:17
Speaker
um i ah You need to run for the seat. a couple there were couple people were rumored to run and he's like you need to run for the seat you're young you're a trained lawyer you know you have good skills and and and you need to do i was like super yeah ron kirk he's a legend look explaining to me i'm actually a ron kirk super fan and have been for a really long time and it's yeah my people might not believe that but it's because i went to austin college Oh, you're fighting you group in the room. And then I went to UT Law.
00:06:48
Speaker
He went to UT Law. I'm like, Ron Kirk is like the coolest guy. He was the mayor at Dallas. He was Obama's trade representative. Alex was like, I'm running for mayor now. You can't make me do that. Yeah, I thought you all were friends. What happened?
00:07:02
Speaker
um so so So Ron says, listen, I'm going to call the managing partner. whos the managing partner of the Dallas office of your firm? I gave him the name. He saw I'm going to call him. And um and they and he did. He called him. He said, We want this guy to run for office. at At the time, my city council person was Laura Miller, with with whom I was was friend friendly. My my state rep was Steve Wollins, her husband, with whom I was friendly.
00:07:29
Speaker
And ah before you knew it, you know, i had Laura Miller and and Ron Kirk, who didn't like each other, endorsing me and and Steve Wollins endorsing me and and John Wiley Price, who had um protested in front of Laura Miller's and Ron Kirk's homes endorsing me. So, i you know, the the momentum just started and started and started. And then my predecessor in office, Jose Plata.
00:07:55
Speaker
endorsed me And that's, it was so
Early Political Career Challenges
00:07:58
Speaker
accidental. I tell the young people all the time, i said, you know, it's find an issue you're passionate about and do it. Like, you know, and and in this case, it was me.
00:08:08
Speaker
um as the son of a public school teacher wanting to be involved in public schools in the only way I knew how to do it and not do it well, but mock trial coach. and And that sort of snowballed.
00:08:20
Speaker
And then um three years later, had been on the ballot twice. There was a a funky little law that said all nine trustees at DISD needed to run again after redistricting. So I had a I served for a one year term.
00:08:33
Speaker
We did redistricting. I ran again. We re staggered the terms. So I served two abbreviated terms, three years. And then Steve Willans calls me and he says, listen, I'm i'm on my way to WFAA. I'm not going to call anybody else. You and I have worked together as my school board member. I you know i like you. we We had collaborated even more by that time.
00:08:53
Speaker
And he said, you you're going to run for state rep. Yeah, I looked over and, you know, my then wife was pregnant and I was like, oh my gosh, I had already taken a beating financially, you know, ah for for running for office because my my my law firm said, hey, absolutely. You know, we got a call from mayor. We think it'd be great for you to run. We're going to give you a we're going to put you on a lower billable hour track. like We're going to you a 25 percent a cut and we'll only cut your pay by like 40 percent.
00:09:24
Speaker
And i was like,
00:09:28
Speaker
nothing yeah i so didn't a ah so after mathing there so So I was like, okay, now I'm going to, you know, be gone for 140 days every two years if I win in this race. um How's that going to work? Well, they kept me on that, you know, ultimately.
00:09:45
Speaker
No regrets. But as as you know, Kate, it is not good financially, you know, big law and running for office is rough. Um, so he calls me, you're going to run. i and, and I was like, Steve, you know, Steve Wollins, your state rep has been there for 24 years. It's like, you're going to run to support you.
00:10:05
Speaker
was like, okay. And, um, And I'm glad I did it. So I ran Domingo Garcia was the other candidate in the race.
00:10:17
Speaker
You know that he had represented a district wholly outside of District 103. Ultimately, he was rejected from. filing because he didn't live in the in in the district.
00:10:30
Speaker
And he was the only other one who filed. So there began the happy state rep career of a violent Chia without an opponent in the, in the you know, with her, with an opponent who had been kicked off the ballot and no no general election. Right. And remind us, what year was that?
00:10:47
Speaker
This is before God's parents were born 2004. I was elected and two is a long time ago. so between the school board service, which began in May of and now my state house service, it's been been twenty five years Yeah. Well, I have two follow-up questions on that before we dive into the primaries, because I think it helps us explain like what's going on which is, can you help us understand where your district is now? Because I know it's evolved. and
00:11:20
Speaker
two, a lot of your colleagues, especially the ones from 2018 who flipped seats, are now running for statewide. So I'm wondering, do you got any like FOMO here? like you know Should I throw my hat into any of these races or you wish you were weighing into these big primaries?
00:11:37
Speaker
You know, no. ah And and and for a couple of different reasons, I'm in the most beautiful relationship of my life. And so on a on a personal basis, it's been, you know, really, really fulfilling to be able to dedicate time ah to Rebecca and.
00:11:56
Speaker
And our daughters are doing great. So that's been fantastic. I don't think, you know, in in another elected capacity, that would have been achievable.
00:12:06
Speaker
And then I've been able to have a successful law career and at the same time found a a real estate investment firm that's now 15 years old. We have 40 employees. and And I would have never done that.
00:12:18
Speaker
you know, been able to do that in another capacity. It's this is a city of being in a citizen legislature does give you the ability to be an entrepreneur and and do these kinds of things. So really no regrets. People say, hey why why don't you run for Congress?
00:12:33
Speaker
You know, when they when they created the 33rd congressional district, Mark Vesey and I really, really close friends in the legislature. And, you know, we we had those discussions. Gosh, you know, Congress does not sound exciting. It sounds awful.
00:12:49
Speaker
and And it was less awful back then. It's imagine. But I still thought it was awful back then. and And then, you know, ah the the other one that has come up repeatedly as mayor, that's come up since 2007. That's just a hard job.
00:13:04
Speaker
yeah Yeah. And it requires, you know, it's treated like a part-time job, but it's time and a half. Yeah. And they all have full time jobs or jobs they maintain as well. But I understand your district it covers a lot, even part of my hometown of Carrollton now. So um where ah else is your district these days?
00:13:26
Speaker
So I live in North Oak Cliff and I've represented different parts of Oak Cliff. Right now, the dividing line is Davis Avenue. So if you're like at Norma's, you know, on Davis, you're at the Southern pole of the district. The district has gone farther down to 12th Street before. So i've I've represented the Bishop Arts District for a long time, although it's not in the district currently. And then it goes, and I have always represented parts of Irving right now, just ah a sliver of Irving that includes a little bit of Las Colinas and the University of Dallas, the old Texas stadium site the Cowboys used to play. Oh, yeah. ah that That I represented. ah And then it goes out east. I've always represented Oak Lawn Cedar Springs.
00:14:06
Speaker
Always, always, always, always represented a North Park Elm Thicket, which is a traditional African-American neighborhood that is kind of boxed between Inwood, Lovers, Mockingbird, and Love Field Airport.
00:14:20
Speaker
Right. ah I've been very, um very close to that community, always like represented Love Field Airport. Then you go up north, northwest Dallas, densely packed, multifamily, new immigrant communities, always represented that Korea town and the and the Korean entrepreneurs in northwest Dallas. And then on, you know, depending on which decade, and which redistricting, lots of farmers branch and Carrollton.
00:14:46
Speaker
Well, I'm really glad that you picked up Ron Kirk's gauntlet that he threw down at that, at that speech. And you've kept showing up. I mean, it would have been easy to bow out at some point, but you keep showing up and you keep serving. And I think that's great.
00:14:59
Speaker
I would like to ah switch gears now, though. um We've had some great recent news as Texas Democrats. What a what a win in Senate District nine. Yeah.
Democratic Wins and Strategies in Texas
00:15:11
Speaker
Incredible. Incredible. And, you know, I had met Taylor on a couple of different occasions when I had my Texas. So you fundraise. He showed up just to meet me. I was like, wow, this guy's cool.
00:15:21
Speaker
And then but I wasn't connected with the with the campaign necessarily. After he got through the first round, everybody's. eyes opened up and said, okay, this, this could be real, but we always thought it was going a squeaker. You know we always thought, Ooh, this is, you know, this picks up some pretty radical parts of Tarrant County where, you know, there's Patriot mobile and, you know, and, and, and, uh, Tim Dunn and, and his, and his crew have invested a lot of money and, and and turned school districts around, you know, this is Tim O'Hare,
00:15:56
Speaker
um what what are we, you know, what are we really going to achieve here? But, um, so I went to, I went to walk with him, um, right before the election in, in heavy Hispanic areas, took my whole team. Um, and, uh,
00:16:13
Speaker
And I got to be honest with you, was right after the freeze. I did not expect for him to win. I mean, um the Hispanic hitting Hispanic doors is is hard because you're there in the middle of the day. It gets dark at five. Right. so you're walking two to five.
00:16:30
Speaker
Nobody's home. Everybody's looking, you know, they get some jobs. Yeah, they're just working like either their first or the second job. Right. And then, you know, and and if if you've been to parts of the district I represent, like Ledbetter Eagle Ford, there are iron fences in front of the houses and there's usually at least one or two very large dogs. Right. So you're trying to get to the to the door and it's hard. The freeze had just happened. um You know, so people were still there were still ice on the ground when we were walking. And I said, oh, this is
00:17:04
Speaker
writtenten yeah this is going to be tough. This is going to be tough. A lot of early vote got cannibalized um by the freeze. So that was rough. I said, ma'am. And then, and then to see on election night, um forget a squeaker, a 30 point swing yeah in that district and a 13 point win outright. ah Somebody told me one of the old heads in lu legislature told me that, you know,
00:17:31
Speaker
A five-point win electorally is an ass-kicking. Anything north of that is a wipeout. Yeah. yeah I mean, this was a wipeout. Yes. For him to go plus 13, I mean, he went plus 30, but for him to win by 13...
00:17:47
Speaker
Yeah. Destroyed. i mean, absolutely and I was just on a call earlier today with some folks out of Washington. And I mean, like alarm bells are going off. They're freaking the hell out.
00:18:02
Speaker
And, you know, and talking about how that impacts how you know how it impacts the Republican strategy in the in the senatorial, um you know, what it what it looks like for expenditure of funds, what what it means for places like Maine and Alaska, you know, and the allocation of dollars. It's it's incredible what's happening.
00:18:23
Speaker
Yeah, in an interview i saw after he was elected, Senator-elect Remitt attributed to his message of unity and not running against Republicans, but running on working class issues. Mm-hmm.
00:18:39
Speaker
That seems pretty compelling to me. But do you have any other insights into what do you think was behind all this? Like what what was different to make a plus 17 Trump district turn into a plus 13, 14, you know, Taylor Romet district? I always say starts with the candidate.
00:18:57
Speaker
Right. Is does this candidate fit the district? And he's out of central casting. Right. yeah he's He's he's the head of the machinist union. Right.
00:19:07
Speaker
Works over there by Lockheed, right? You know, the the economic engine of Tarrant County. um And Air Force veteran. He's a veteran. He's a veteran. So he can speak with with gravitas and clarity about these working class issues.
00:19:26
Speaker
And then, you know, you yeah on all the lit that we were dropping, he has this cowboy hat on. He looks it's just like sent out of Central Cassidy. He looks great. you know, like all the text on the lit, which was a little bit dense for my taste, but but the text was about working class issues. It wasn't race, it wasn't ethnicity, you know, he was he was smart enough to be able to navigate the, you know, the stickiness of folks, you know, demanding a dismantling of ICE and and having ah a responsible answer that, hey, we'll always need interior immigration enforcement. That's just...
00:20:05
Speaker
That's non-negotiable because people want to hurt us. You know, they want to hurt. And so we love America and we we need to stop the bad guys. But at the same time, talk about reform of what has become a rogue agency.
00:20:17
Speaker
um And so he didn't fall for any of the traps that sometimes our candidates fall for. And each and and and he stayed on message, message, discipline, candidates straight out of central casting. You know, that's where it all starts. And then and then you kind of figure out where the temperature of that district or the state or the country is come election time, you know, starting after Labor Day of 2026.
00:20:45
Speaker
One of the things, ah it's so funny, you were talking about lit because everybody has different lit. I've been knocking on doors. I knocked doors for my own race. Literature for the non-lingo. Literature, yeah. It's what you're putting on the doors and handing out at at events. And you're like, okay, what three bullet points am I going to put on there? And what I'm going to say about my bio that's summed up in 43 years. But i I had heard that also part of it was that a lot of people, because of Patriot Mobile, what you're talking about, which is what um like Whamscans, however you say her name, that was one of her companies and they created a pack and it was pretty MAGA and a lot of school board races and
00:21:20
Speaker
We heard a lot about how parents had really gotten organized, especially in Keller ISD, Garry Vine, Southlake, and they stayed organized. And I think some people were frustrated that the national discourse was like, oh, this is a referendum on Trump. And it was really like, no, this is a celebration of working class messaging and also the people who have gotten off their sofas and said, I'm going to do something about these public schools and who can do something about it. It's my so my state and Senate representatives. So I ah just my hat is tipped off to the people who did the hard work.
00:21:53
Speaker
And I also want to give a shout out to a lot of the other candidates that are running in contested primaries and also just the general because they all came out during their own primary season to knock doors for him And I had heard that it take took away from their own volunteer hours for their own doorknocks. So I just it's it's a big testament to us all coming together as Democrats, which I think we need to hear.
00:22:17
Speaker
ah yeah sort ah Rafa is giving a brain explosion emoji. And and it's. so important because as we'll talk about later about the senate race like we should be celebrating these come together moments and showing how we as democrats can do that and people should be with us and get off the couch um put the blue jersey on as we've said and that it's a it's a warm tent you're welcome uh especially in tarrant county which is where even stephen bannon is saying that like this is ground zero for uh the country so We are ah definitely proponents of Tarrant County. We are supporters of Allison Campolo and all those candidates out there. So um anyways, i just wanted to give that shout out. But can I offer? Sorry, not to get you off. I'd like to offer for a couple more shout outs. You know, shout out to Beau French. Shout out to Tim O'Hare.
00:23:06
Speaker
shout out Shout out to Greg Abbott and Mike Morath. yeah All politics are local. When they announced the Fort Worth ISD takeover during election season. Yeah. i mean, you talk about a gift. yeah The reason those families stayed um engaged is that they wanted to split, you know, that.
00:23:27
Speaker
All the MAGA guys wanted to split Keller. They're like, hey, we live here for a reason. We love our public schools. yeah Then Marath and Abbott say, hey, we're going to we're goingnna take over Fort Worth ISD. And people are like what the hell?
00:23:40
Speaker
I mean, so so it's like preparation meets opportunity, right? All the things you talked about. But but I mean, they really did give us a couple of significant public school gifts. And you layer on top of that, this being a referendum on on on vouchers as well.
00:23:59
Speaker
And you can just see how all the pieces came together. and i think that's an important piece of nuance that these people were voting for Taylor Rimet. They weren't voting for the Democratic Party. Right. Like the exit polls show like.
00:24:13
Speaker
the people who are voting when you break it down by people who typically vote in the democratic primary the republican primary maybe they're infrequent voters or maybe they're new voters like taylor outperformed across like just mathematically he had to have win that big right yeah and so i think it's important to remember in the the broader context that we're actually at a banner year for people who are like independent like Something like 45% of the country now identifies as independent and 27% each identify as Democrat or Republican.
00:24:49
Speaker
So I think it's really important that we keep that in mind. And yes, we want to we want to build that. We want to build that tent. 100 percent. Dan Patrick's messaging was, all Republicans didn't come out. Well, that's not true.
00:25:00
Speaker
Republicans came out and voted for Taylor. Yes. Independence came out overwhelmingly and voted for Taylor. You know, that's the fundamentals of the race. Do you have a candidate that will allow those people to come on over and vote for them?
00:25:14
Speaker
Well, so that's the Senate race. I'm wondering, Rep. Benchia, as we gear up for your colleagues in the state house, like how are you thinking about it as we head in? Because we flipped 12 seats
Regaining Control: Strategies for Texas House
00:25:27
Speaker
in 2018. We've talked to a lot of them.
00:25:29
Speaker
How many do we need to take back over the legislature? How are you thinking about it as we head into the general? We're at 62 currently, you know, 88, 62. I think we're going to win a bunch of seats this cycle. um The question is, you know, how many do we do we win four or do we win 12? Right. And I and I've seen the big swings. I when I was in the first start in the legislature, we're at 62. Then we won six seats, you know, in the Craddock years running against Tom Craddock. And then we got to 68.
00:25:58
Speaker
You know, and then we got to 76, 74, and there was one seat in Irving that we lost by 15 votes. We would have been at parity, at actual parity, 75, 75. And you know what the mechanism is for breaking a 75, 75 tie in the legislature?
00:26:17
Speaker
um No idea. Flipping a coin. um Are you kidding me? ah Are you joking? If a candidate cannot get to 76 votes outright, like, you know, where you'd have one Democrat flipping this way or or one Republican flipping that way, you flip a coin.
00:26:38
Speaker
Wow. Yep. Yep. So we were on almost in in coin flip territory, although we we did have a Democratic candidate that I think would have been able to get at least one Republican to to have the majority. We're so close. And then the 2010 election happened and we went from 74 to 48.
00:26:55
Speaker
to forty eight We went from virtual parody. We went from really controlling. I mean, we we we were winning vote after vote after vote in the House with only 74. and then And then Republicans got a super majority in 2011. And was brutal. All she wrote.
00:27:13
Speaker
All she wrote. and We've been trying to claw our way back. So I think... Well, the hopeful note on that is 2010 was ah a midterm for a Democratic president. And 2026 is a midterm for a Republican president.
00:27:25
Speaker
so and And a second term, right? a second girl really a no no, no. That was first term. Sorry, that was first term. You're right. Yeah. So I think the fundamentals look good for us. And then, you know, if we we have a really good year, pick up 12, gosh, you know, we're going to be a force to be reckoned with. Even if we get to 80, 70. Yeah.
00:27:46
Speaker
yeah We're going to be a force to be reckoned with. Well, wanted to just shout out to our friend, Christian Carranza, who came on. She was our second guest. And she, I'm hearing it has one of the most flippable seats in um the state near San Antonio in Bexar County. So or we're definitely putting our eyes on that race. um Any other close flips that you think might happen or any other races we should be thinking about on primary day?
00:28:10
Speaker
Well, it just it just depends on the tide. I mean, one of the most talented members of the the legislature I ever served with is guy named Patrick Rose, represented a Dripping Springs, had a documentary made about him, Last Man Standing. but Paul Steckler made it really good.
00:28:24
Speaker
yeah And he was... prolific fundraiser. He was a, you know, so connected to community. I called him the day before the 2010 election. I said, Hey, man, how are you feeling? He's like, Look, everything that I can control feels so good. We've got the biggest lit program, the biggest door program, the biggest phone banking program, we've raised twice the amount of money that I've ever raised before. We feel great. What I cannot control is what happens nationally. And he's like, if the tide gets too high, we'll drown.
00:28:55
Speaker
Yeah. So it's tough to tell. um But there are districts that are very thin. There's there's some districts in South Texas that look really ah within, you know, a high tide. Corpus Christi.
00:29:10
Speaker
um You've got you've got Bexar County. There are a lot of districts that where where you see a high tide that that a high tide would flip them. And then, you know, you've got districts locally. and And this is despite you know a map that was supposed to give Republicans, you know, a virtually permanent majority that that that were that have been viewed as intentionally discriminatory in the legislature. I think we're going to have a big year and the tide's going to be really high.
00:29:42
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, if we can do a 30 point swing in every district, we're going to clean up. Yeah. Yeah. Gosh, if if we if we if we just do a 10 point swing, Yeah. You know, that's going to be huge.
00:29:53
Speaker
Do you want to move on to any other down ballot races? Because I'm really curious how you think about how the party has performed. And being able to staff like every single race across the country or across the state.
00:30:04
Speaker
And that just includes county judge ah judge races, county commissioner, precinct, or ah justice of the peace. ah There's all sorts of county level positions that have been ah filled for races and judges. And i they don't get as much love as our other top ballot ah races. But how are you perceiving that?
Suburban Shifts and Down-ballot Races
00:30:24
Speaker
I mean, i think, you know, county commissioner seats in suburban counties are there are a couple that are that will flip if if the tide gets high enough. You know, you're going to see and usually start seeing with commissioner because they're so big. You know, when those start falling and the stuff underneath the commissioner's seat falls um districts that you never expect.
00:30:46
Speaker
um You're seeing colin a lot of movement in Collin County. we We spent a lot of time talking about Tarrant, seeing a lot of movement in Collin County. The Collin County GOP endorsed candidates in the in the city council races got schmeckled. They lost.
00:31:00
Speaker
right I had a friend in Frisco who was telling me, hey, I get Taylor Remitt. I'm glad, but pay attention to Frisco and like everything that's happening in there. and Anyway, so i had to I'm affirming what you just said. so Yeah, yeah no for sure. and and so Colin, you know watch Denton County.
00:31:17
Speaker
Um, that stuff, that stuff may, may move. Um, and then I'm always optimistic that on, on the statewide, and not Senate, not, not U S Senate, but on the state side, we're going to break through somewhere, you know, and it's, it's going to be in a place where we didn't expect it. I remember in 2006, shortly after I was you know elected, every countywide position was held by a Republican.
00:31:42
Speaker
All of them. And here in Dallas, yeah. And Dallas County. Sorry, I didn't leave that context. yeah All of it. Dallas County. In fact, Margaret Kelleher was the uber popular county judge. She was great on clean air and environmental issues, you know. And then...
00:31:58
Speaker
And then the guy who ran against her was Foster Foster walked up to me on filing night at the Democratic Party filing. Obviously he said, Raphael, I think I just may have made a big mistake. But, you know, they were looking around and needed somebody to file for to file for for county judge. I just filed. You know, I mean, he's he's got had a thick accent and and lo and behold, he was the county judge. yeah right and And so when you're not going to see where it's coming. So a guy like John Rosenthal running for the Railroad Commission, where you've got this crazy primary happening where where they're going to topple potentially an incumbent railroad commissioner.
00:32:36
Speaker
And then you have a subject matter expert like my desk mate, John Rosenthal, is a petroleum engineer, and everybody likes John. I mean, he's such an affable guy. yeah yeah He's running a terrific campaign, a low a low resource campaign.
00:32:50
Speaker
um And somebody like that's going to break through where you have a division on one side. It's how the Republicans broke through with John Tower, you know, back in the day and and broke that that stranglehold that that Southern Democrats had on Texas. You're going to see something like that potentially this this cycle.
00:33:08
Speaker
Well, so can I and sorry if I'm jumping in, Alex, but ah please tell me if you want to jump in as well. But just on that, we talked to John Rosenthal and his episode will come out soon.
00:33:18
Speaker
But ah in that conversation, we were reminded, as you're saying, that the flip of this of our state after we had about 100 years of Southern Democrats. and the Republicans started taking over, was not at a top of the ticket race. It was on a down ballot race.
00:33:33
Speaker
And that I'm wondering, just as we get into talking about these statewide races, which is a good segue, just how much the oxygen just gets sucked up by these bigger races and whether we should instead...
00:33:46
Speaker
as we're trying to advocate on this podcast, like really paying attention to the down ballot ones, where there is less of this like mudslinging and the culture wars. And it's just talking about like, let's keep the lights on, you know, like, let's do that. um So I'm wondering how you think of that, and especially as we're talking about these down ballot races. We talked to John Rosenthal, we are having Clayton Tucker on, who's for ag commissioner.
00:34:08
Speaker
You know, it's going to happen in one of those. I'm i'm old enough to remember races where, you know, if everybody talks about three points with with Beto in 2018. there There have been closer races.
00:34:19
Speaker
you had a race called the Willits Moody race, you know, um ah Joe Moody, state representative, Joe Moody's dad ran for a Supreme court and came really, really close. There was a Moody Wainwright race, which are I think two points. So there have been examples. I tell people, you know um it's going to happen in Texas. We're just never, we're not going to see it. Like,
00:34:43
Speaker
every every state every republican state around us has had a democratic governor you know since i've been in politics yeah and some very recently youve louisiana had a democratic governor just recently arkansas had a democratic governor just recently can't mean kansas is not next to us but they had a democratic governor two democratic governors uh you know and uh and then oklahoma had brad henry Yeah, right. like You're singing my song like every Republican Party has elected a Democrat more recently statewide somewhere, maybe not the governor or the Senate, but somewhere more recently than we have elected a Democrat.
00:35:21
Speaker
and or agra california yeah And every other Democratic Party has elected somebody statewide more recently than we have. So there's really no good reason for that because those states aren't like.
00:35:32
Speaker
less conservative. yeah more they're They're more conservative. I was like, Kentucky has like a 30-point Trump state. And as a Democratic governor, right now. And when when, you know, I remind people that, yes, it was a ah rough cycle last cycle, but when when Joe Biden beat um Donald Trump in 2020, my wife ran the Biden campaign in the state of Texas. And it was 5.5. 5.5%.
00:35:55
Speaker
point five five point five percent if If a Republican came within five points of winning California, do you know how excited the Republican Party would be and how many resources they would pour in to take California?
00:36:09
Speaker
No question. where Where was the cavalry after Biden came within five points of Texas? And and and Rebecca did it with like a $2 million dollar budget or something like, you know, obscene.
00:36:20
Speaker
Like sheep she, it was, you know, it was it was an interesting cocktail, but something like that's going to hit. Like the timing, comptroller, right? You know, Sarah Eckhart can break through down there. The comptroller, it's a really important position. They are having a bloody primary right now.
00:36:39
Speaker
Don Huffines wins the comptroller's race? What? If that happens, it's on. Yeah. Like, it is so on. Well, yeah let's let's let's talk about the statewide. We can just march from the from the bottom of the ballot up, at least just for the contested ones. Obviously, if you're uncontested like a Clayton Tucker or John Rosenthal, we wish you well. You're the nominee.
00:36:58
Speaker
yeah But um I just have a sample ballot up in front of me. it looks like ah Justice Supreme Court place seven. We have a we have a fight between Kristen Hawkins and Gordon Goodman.
00:37:11
Speaker
Any thoughts there? ah No. No. OK, moving out so Just go through a minute. I have thoughts. I'll try. Chief Justice Supreme Court, Corey Carlisle, Maggie Ellis. All right.
00:37:23
Speaker
the Commissioner of the General Land Office, Jose Loya and Benjamin Flores. I don't i don't know anything about Benjamin Flores, but I know Jose Loya is getting a lot of attention because of his his union credentials. He's kind of great basically running on a slate with um um Marcos Velez for lieutenant governor.
00:37:41
Speaker
um But that's all I really know about him so far. so Right. Right. yeah a comp Comptroller, public accounts, Savant Moore, Sarah Eckhart, who you mentioned, and Michael Lang.
00:37:51
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Sarah, I just know Sarah from being county judge, you know. ah Down in Travis County, right? ah Yeah, yeah. And and she she was a very competent, you know, if if county judge, you have to be less political and just more competent. You have to inspire confidence among among the the population that you're a good administrator. And she did that and she easily won the Senate seat. And, i you know, she's going to have a lot of votes that come out of Travis County.
Political Roles and Campaigns in Texas
00:38:21
Speaker
She's beloved. this is something really People don't really understand is that if you are a Texas state senator, you represent more people than a congressman or congresswoman do because there's like 15 seats.
00:38:33
Speaker
Period. Right. 31. 31 total. Oh, how our founders. How our founders came up with 31. I have no idea. But 31 is the number in the state Senate. So, yeah, you represent you know actually a lot more than one. Jose, we're going to edit this whole part out where I said 15. Yeah. No, we're not. la jose We're keeping it in.
00:38:54
Speaker
Okay, so people don't understand this. There are 31 seats in the Texas Senate. Right. Precisely. You nailed it. i heard You must follow this very closely. You're a student of the chamber, aren't We were just talking about county judge ah with Sarah.
00:39:09
Speaker
um But can i ask you, someone had told me on that topic that The entree into bigger offices these days, if you're wanting to do one, like as you like climb the ladder of experience, maybe is not necessarily as through like school board or city council. Maybe it's through the county judges and the county commissioners and to think about running in those seats before you take over or try to do a bigger office to, ah to your point, just the sheer size of it.
00:39:38
Speaker
Have you heard that or is that anything that resonates with you? It does. It does. i mean, um first of all, you represent a boatload of people. I mean, Elba Garcia's commissioner district, by way of example, could be a congressional district. And in fact, I've submitted a map many times to create a Hispanic majority congressional district based off of her commissioner district. It's they're very, very large.
00:40:02
Speaker
They have budgets. Right. um They have road and bridge districts, so they're building infrastructure. And so it's a it's a big job. And then it is not considered um a full time job. So you could have your law practice, for example. You could have your your dentist practices. Elba does here in Dallas County and at the same time be a commissioner.
00:40:25
Speaker
And so it is very, very good. And I'll put a finer point on it. If you're if you the the best place to be to run for something else, if you want to run for something else is anything with a six year term or a four year term.
00:40:38
Speaker
Right. That's that's and so commissioner, county judge, state senate. Yeah. So you can run in between. Yeah. Railroad commissioner, you get a free shot because you get a six year term. That's why Christy Craddock is running in the Republican primary or comptroller.
00:40:55
Speaker
but she she She just gets to sit there for six years and sit and you know kind of see how things are playing out. Let's say we've covered everything ah ah the bottom of the the statewide ballot. Now we've reached the top three that most people think about as like the state leaders, right? you Governor, Lieutenant Governor.
00:41:09
Speaker
Attorney General. Those are the big three in the Republican Party right now. You got your Governor Abbott, you got your Lieutenant Governor Patrick, you got your Attorney General Kent Paxton. I get kind of annoyed as an attorney whenever ah the Supreme Court comes out with an an opinion.
00:41:24
Speaker
And then one of those three guys will put out a press release and then the Texas Supreme Court be like, Oh, actually, we've, we've reconsidered our position now that the bosses have said so. So let's get into it. Attorney General, what do we know about ah Joe Jaworski, Nathan Johnson, and Tony Box?
00:41:41
Speaker
We have interviewed all three of them. They've all had their episodes published. But if you have any additional insights into that race, i think it's an important one. I mean, yeah very important. I'm biased here. Nathan and i have known each other. i practiced law for a while with his his former wife. Our kids grew up together to like preschool together. So I've just known that, you know, him for a long, long time. um And he beat Don Huffines to win his seat, you know, um which was which was a big that was kind of big breakthrough moment because that was that seat had been held by Republicans for a long time, John Corona and others.
00:42:17
Speaker
And so i'm ah I'm a big Nathan Johnson fan, just on a personal on a personal level. Joe Jaworski seems nice enough you know that the race has been ah a little bit snippy, maybe. Maybe, but it's so low volume. It never, you know, you never you never pick up on it.
00:42:35
Speaker
And, and I don't know, i don't know the third candidate. Yeah. Tony Box, uh, really impressive late entrance into the race. I, I, again, I think all three of them are great. Uh, Tony is a veteran, former prosecutor, um, really compelling life story. That's a stout resume. Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:53
Speaker
And ah I think we'd be well served with any any of them as the next attorney general of Texas, especially coming out of the Paxton era. I'm actually very concerned with the primary that's going on on the the other side. I went to to law school with Aaron Wright, who Ken Paxton has endorsed. And he is he's a MAGA true believer. He has said some ridiculous, extreme... Yeah, not even dog whistles. Like he is out there saying it with his whole chest. Yeah, or horrible, horrible stuff.
00:43:22
Speaker
All right, well, let's move up then. ah Who's going to take down Dan Patrick? Is it going to Vicky Goodwin, Courtney Head, or Marcos Velez? I've not really been following this race.
00:43:34
Speaker
um You know, I know that Velez has been getting at least some, what feels like grassroots traction, um but i i don't I don't have an opinion. but or the other But, you know, Vicki, from your time in the house, though, I do was one of our seat flippers in 2018. Was she was she she she did a red to blue seat. um I just don't have a feel for I've not followed her campaign. just Yeah, perfectly honest. Well, maybe I can get you to gossip with me about Mike Collier because I'm still burned up about it.
00:44:06
Speaker
But yeah, I don't have no idea. How many times are we going mention this one? I I'm not letting it go. It just makes no sense. It's dumb. And you know, I don't, I don't understand his path.
00:44:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. All right. Then let's get into it. Uh, the top of the statewide ticket, um, truly on the state ah elections, not, not federal yet. Every, no one wants to talk about it. We're going to get there. Listener, listen.
00:44:31
Speaker
Um, but for governor, got it. We got a technically a very large ballot for governor. There's like, one, two, three, four, five. There's like almost 10 names on there. I know one of them has since dropped out, but his name still appears on at least the sample ballot. Andrew White, I know has endorsed Gina Hinojosa, but yeah there are some other names people might know. Bobby Cole has been running for a long time. He's got a social media following. And then Chris Bell had previously been a a nominee for governor. he is
00:45:02
Speaker
running as well. So if you want to speak to that race, I know Chris, he has, he, he ran so long ago. I don't think anybody remembers, right. Uh, his, his first race, he wasn't able to raise a lot of money. Um, I think that was the, the race that had Carol Keaton Rylander stray horn,
00:45:21
Speaker
John Cooper, Mellon Camp ah ah in the race, or was it the Kinky Friedman race? I think it might have been the Kinky Friedman race where there was four big nominees all at the same time, such that I think Rick Perry won outright with like 38% of the vote. 38%. Yeah. What an absurd result. It was like 39 if you round it up. can't ring choice voting at the very least. Almighty. Yeah.
00:45:44
Speaker
so So but but that is so long ago that I don't think um I don't think anybody remembers Chris and then he had an unsuccessful you know race for state Senate. um And so I, you know, Gina, Gina um is very savvy.
00:46:00
Speaker
Yep. Jeannie Nohosa, very sav savvy on social media. She's a good speaker. She really is um a charismatic speaker. I suspect she'll definitely be in ah a if there is a runoff, she'll definitely be in it as the top vote getter. Right. And and we'll see if she doesn't win outright. I just see I see hers as the campaign with the most momentum and she's talented. This is there's no way, you know,
00:46:27
Speaker
Can't say anything other than she's very, very talented and and really a really good retail politician. People like her. One of the things that I i got to talk to her when I was running in my state house race and um when I was being prepped over her, everyone said she's the biggest pro public person probably in the house. um She also just, I mean, everything having to do that.
00:46:50
Speaker
i heard that she was, um I don't know if she's really talking about it in this race, like anti-charter, obviously anti-voucher, like that is like her tirade. And that's one of the things that I'd heard so much about her. And it seems to be true. And and it's resonating, I think, with voters as well.
00:47:04
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. She, you know, I don't know about the most Alma Allen's big, you know, public ed champion, James Tallarico's big public ed champion, but she is among, among the leaders on public.
00:47:15
Speaker
Well, how, how is this for a transition? Gina Hinojosa is endorsed by both James Tallarico and Jasmine Crockett. Well, are there any before we get a Senate?
00:47:26
Speaker
Who are they? Sorry. Have you heard of that? Yeah. So know there's some congressional races. We haven't really talked about that before the Senate. And it kind of is relevant because the biggest congressional race in this area is the one between that was a part of the redistricting, Mark Veazey's district, 33. It got redistricted and then he stepped down.
00:47:47
Speaker
He was going to run for county judge, but then Alyssa Simmons against him, Mohair, who's a commissioner and she's beloved. So he stepped down and then There's been this musical chairs and then Julie Johnson had to figure out, is she running in her own district, which was 32?
00:48:01
Speaker
then she decided she was going to run in 33 because it overlapped so much in her own district. And I will say, dear listener, that I, because I ran to fill her state seat, I have a relationship with Julie. So I feel awkward talking about this race objectively, but we try to be objective as a disclaimer on this podcast. But now because of the Senate race, Colin Allred stepped down and he is running against Julie.
00:48:26
Speaker
then we've got this like three and four ah people running with Zeeshan Haviz, who's got a lot of momentum as like a very progressive candidate. So there's a lot going on with that congressional race. I know you probably have a history with Julie having, and it's interesting because both Julie and Colin flipped red to blue seats and Colin He flipped like decades long congressional seat with Pete Sessions here in Dallas. And um so i I feel like he doesn't get the credit that he's due because of that flip. But any thoughts on that race? if you
00:48:59
Speaker
If you mind sharing or just the like musical chair number of this redistricting? yeah I've known Julie for, you know, for a long time. i've known Colin for a long time, too. Just never served with him um in in the Texas House. So Julie and I just have a relationship. I hosted a, you know, again, I can't endorse or contribute, but i did host a meet and greet so that people in my neck of the woods could get to know her. um And I will say that, you know,
00:49:27
Speaker
ah much of that district is anchored in Oak Cliff and Oak Lawn Cedar Springs. you know Those are big boating pockets. And i I will just offer this anecdotally, Julie Johnson signs all over North Oak Cliff.
00:49:42
Speaker
You cannot drive in North Oak Cliff without seeing a saturation of her signs. I have not seen one call an all red sign that I have no idea if he's even putting them out. He may not be. He may. Some people just say, I'm not going to do, you know, the the the the door stuff. I'm just going to come in, you know, on TV. Right. Because he does have a brand. So signs are probably less relevant for him. But what I am seeing is, you know, the LGBT community heavy for Julie. And as she's getting I see Julie Johnson signs in prominent Hispanic households um in North Oak Cliff. So I see her getting some traction.
00:50:21
Speaker
I think it's going to be tight. Anecdotally, I can just tell you I've received at least like 12 pieces of mail from Julie Johnson. She's a pretty fundraiser. Oh, my gosh. She can raise money.
00:50:32
Speaker
You cannot count her out. I mean, she just will out hustle you. I remember I told her on this our podcast episode with her that when I knocked doors in our district on Carrollton, um they would say the last person who knocked my door was Julie Johnson. And if you are knocking on my door too, I'm voting for you. So... Uh, so was just like, she herself will be out there pounding the pavement so you can't rule her out. But I think it's interesting that we have this very progressive candidate in the mix and he's got a lot of support for a lot of progressive, um, people. And we've been in communication with him to try to get him on the podcast. We've just scheduling wise, we're trying to figure that out. But, um, Anyway, so that's ah that's a big congressional race that we're all kind of following. In addition to the Christian Menifee race that happened down in Houston, shout out to him. finally Yeah, he finally have a representative. He's sworn in and then he's got to gear up for this primary, which is crazy. And then the you know general race, so the poor guy has so many races.
00:51:24
Speaker
But okay. At long last, shall we get into the Senate race before we wrap up our podcast? Not that not that I want to rush you, but is is there any other race you want to talk about before we get to the... I think we've covered the landscape. i think we've covered the landscape, folks. Let's just do it.
00:51:40
Speaker
All right, rip it off the band-aid. Fun fact, there are three candidates for U.S. Senate. There is a guy named Ahmad... son who fun fact ran in the senate primary in minnesota last cycle interesting interesting yeah he might get one person of the vote but maybe we'll see all right so really jasmine crockett and james talarico uh you have served with both of them in the the texas house right i have i have now jasmine was there just for one session so i served a lot longer with james um and know them uh pretty well
00:52:14
Speaker
know James a lot better, you know, and and it's funny, I got a text the other day, said, hey, yeah from outside of the state said, hey, I really like this Tallarico guy. And what is it real?
00:52:26
Speaker
Right? Is it is is he? Is he like that? i was like, yeah he's actually like that he is that he is completely authentic you know on the stump so for any listeners regardless of who you're you're leaning towards are going to vote to for i mean that really is who he is he is authentically religious he's a a believer but he You know, he is ah very much into the the two very important New Testament commandments, you know, um from Jesus. This is love your neighbor.
00:53:06
Speaker
Right. And love me, you know, or love me and love your neighbor. I mean, like James is is more Beatitudes than Old Testament. Right. That's that's where his head is at. And he he just believes it with all his heart.
00:53:21
Speaker
And oftentimes. you know, both he and i during this last session, especially in response to some of the anti LGBT bills, we, we you know, we would take the floor and talk about, you know, how our faith causes us to be against these bills.
00:53:42
Speaker
And in one case, you know, I i go to worship of the Cathedral of Hope every once in a while. Really love that's an open and affirming ah congregation in the district I represent.
00:53:53
Speaker
So I'll go there and and the pastor there often talks about Jesus's radical inclusivity. Radical, like an inclusivity that was not seen in the time.
00:54:05
Speaker
Right. He went out of his way to embrace people who were marginalized. And, and, and I said, it's still radical. And I said, that's the Jesus I walk with.
00:54:15
Speaker
Yeah. Right. like That's that's the one. That's the one who gets me excited and fires me up and causes me to have faith. Well, James is the same kind of way. And I can't tell you how many I literally was called a wolf in sheep's clothing and told I was going to go to hell. that I was not going to get into heaven.
00:54:31
Speaker
I may have gone. you know, maybe they were saying I was going to go purgatory. There you And i made go i made to go to yeah I may not go to heaven, but it won't be for this reason. okay yeah It will not be because you know i i was against the anti-LGBT bills.
00:54:45
Speaker
um But but it is and it's it's so refreshing to see somebody... on our side to be able to speak with authority and you know, on, you know on matters of faith in a way that we all know in our hearts to be true.
00:55:03
Speaker
And gosh, I, I, you know, I was told by a nonbeliever one time, so like, you know, Hey, I, you know, I, I am not one of the faithful, but gosh, uh, Jesus is is a someone I'd want to model my life after, right?
Transcending Political Divides
00:55:17
Speaker
I think i think that that messaging of of loving one's neighbor and caring about one's neighbor and and really wanting to uplift people is is powerful. and And, you know, trans it it is it is so on our hard drives that it just transcends.
00:55:31
Speaker
It actually transcends faith traditions. You know, it transcends party affiliation, transcends socioeconomic class. Very, very powerful. Well, lot has happened in the last couple of weeks with that race. We can't obviously go without talking a little bit about it. And um there's been some negativity and there's been some things that have been said that Tallarico said. And it's it saddens me that we're talking about that right now in this race. and wonder how you feel about it, because as we went kind of at the top of this segment about Taylor Remed and his race, i I wish we were talking about that. Like, I wish we were talking about that. And it saddens me that we are kind of down in the the mudslinging. But to be fair to, I think, some of these, the people that it were putting out this content, you know, a lot of them probably feel very strongly about Black representation and having people represent the Black vote that they feel like they haven't been heard.
00:56:26
Speaker
and that this is this is such an incredibly important year that they need to be saying this. I just was wondering about like timing of all of this and you know why it's coming out now, and I guess you know ahead of early vote so people can make decisions. But I have to say, I was proud of Colin Allred, at least for saying something in his defense. like I thought it was like, oh, there's the Colin who flipped a seat. you know like That's the guy. and Because I think he's getting a lot of licks for his Senate campaign. So...
00:56:56
Speaker
Anyways, those are my two cents. I don't begrudge the content creators for what they put out. And I know that Jasmine Crockett has a lot of surrogates and I'm a big fan of hers. I'm a big fan of James's. And I've had great interactions, as you said, Rep and Chia. I've had very authentic conversations with both of them.
00:57:12
Speaker
And my dad even got to meet ah Jasmine Crockett once because he really wanted to meet her at the Stonewall Democrats like endorsement forum. And I just have to give it her her a shout out because a guy at Stonewall was like, hey, Jasmine, like this guy wants to come meet you because his daughter's running.
00:57:27
Speaker
And she was like, yeah. like And so just met my dad in like the parking lot of the Stonewall Democrats forum. so um That's just like so her. And I love that about her. um And also as being like a female lawyer in this area. So but anyways, I just wish that we were i hope that we can have a kumbaya moment after all of this and we can kind of like come together and say like we are a cause that people should rally behind like we did SD9.
00:57:50
Speaker
Josh, I hope so. I hope so. I actually think so. um You know, we're all high information insiders, right? So we follow this stuff on social media. I promise you the population at large, those November voters, an overwhelming majority of them will not have...
00:58:09
Speaker
will not even be aware. And if they were ah aware, they they're going to forget it in like a month. Right. I mean, even the the, you know, the quorum break, we had people that were wringing their hands and gnashing their teeth about strategy. I said, we're going to be, it was like August. I said, by Labor Day, people are going to forget about
Short-lived Public Memory and Controversies
00:58:28
Speaker
us. They're not not even going to remember that this happened. And I think that's, that's,
00:58:33
Speaker
what's gonna happen vis-a-vis the center. I think this hurts Colin. And I mean, this is, I think back to to the backlash that I've seen, again, this is anecdotal. So i e it's not tested in numbers.
00:58:47
Speaker
Used to be that if you thought somebody disrespected you, you know, and you played in the same sandbox, you just pick up the phone if it bothered much. And you'd call them and say, Hey, what what what did you say? And, and, and, you know, I think James would have said something like, Hey, I called you your campaign mediocre, man. I'm super sorry about that. But that's how I feel. And, and and for two years, by the way, that's what I've heard from every Democrat that I've run into. and And I always defend Colin, because I'm like, you know what the worst campaign is?
00:59:14
Speaker
The Democrat who just lost statewide in Texas. That's always the worst campaign. They're always going to get the, yeah, beat up, right? I always defend Colin on that because it is, you know, first of all, I've never put my name on a statewide campaign.
00:59:27
Speaker
So respect for doing it. yeah um Number two, you know, and I texted him right after. I said, i know you're catching a lot of heat. but thank you for having done it. He raised a historic amount, but nobody in the democratic ecosystem, you know, thinks anything, but that, that it was a suboptimal campaign. I happen to think it was just a bad year. Yeah.
00:59:48
Speaker
It was just a a bad year and he overperformed in, in certain places, but I, I, what, what I think is going to hurt him and people are going in the ecosystem are just going to remember him for what felt a little petulant yeah as as a response. Yeah.
01:00:04
Speaker
know, pick up the phone, call him. It felt petulant and it felt weird because I also know Colin and that didn't feel like him. Oh, maybe the reaction you had that he got fiery yeah is is also the reaction I had that this doesn't seem like him.
01:00:19
Speaker
Right. Right. I don't know him as personally as you do, but I just remember. but he seems like a chill guy. Yeah. He's always been a cool, chill guy, always smiling, you know, and and so for that. the language that he used was, it's just weird. And, and, and I, and so I, I, I feel like there's been some backlash, um, over that. And, um,
01:00:41
Speaker
Remains to be seen what his political future is like. He still may win that seat. It is hard to overcome that much name ID, you know one hundred million dollars of name ID that you have that you've garnered in a in a sort senatorial campaign and the name ID that he had beforehand, you know, from flipping that seat. So he still may win that seat. But um I thought it was a suboptimal response.
01:01:04
Speaker
ah out By the way, I also didn't like James's response. you know He took he totally took the high run. I'm like, oh, boy, this is a Senate campaign. Right. Oh, you know, he should have like hit back kind of a thing. Yes. That's what I think, you know, but he took the freaking James high road. Oh my gosh. This is, city you know, would and I would not have, I would have been like, Hey, you you know, you have my cell phone number.
01:01:29
Speaker
You know, the last text I had from you was two weeks ago. You can pick up the phone. Yeah. You know, come on. The last point I'll make about it is, you know, content creators do not have any editorial standards.
01:01:42
Speaker
Right.
Content Creators and Podcast Goals
01:01:43
Speaker
zero and if you're a k and if you have ah if you're a content creator that has already already come out and said, hey, I'm supporting ah particular candidate and then you attack the opposite candidate, i Are we in an age where we're giving that credence and legitimacy as, as, as the mainstream media, by the way, did. Yeah. And you had stories pick it up and, you know, I had a content creator say something about me and I was like, you know what, that's just flat out wrong. And you clearly don't know what you're talking about. Didn't even respond because I thought it was so dumb, but they don't, they do not have to fact check.
01:02:25
Speaker
e he They just don't. and And so you really need to take it with a grain of salt. And the last thing I'd say about it is, hey, Twitter and Instagram are not real life.
01:02:38
Speaker
We are operating in this in this ecosystem where we only care. yeah Yeah. And free tip to all candidates and future candidates who are listening.
01:02:49
Speaker
if If a content creator says they want to have an off the record conversation, it's not. ah yeah ah Well, I mean, and to be fair, we're like we're content creators sort of on this podcast. So, uh, you know, we're sort of media and, but we want to be, if we say something wrong, please check us. Like, please email us mission, Texas podcast at gmail.com DM us. We, you know, I think it's important to have a dialogue at least because this is where people are at. Like they're on Tik TOK, they're on Instagram, they're on threads, but it was interesting. I sent an article to Alex this morning from the Texas Tribune talking about this and the the role of influencers and content creators and
01:03:26
Speaker
And that's a large part why we created this podcast so that we can lend a voice to this space. And, know, we both come from different backgrounds within the party and um and we both are veterans. And i have a I have a security clearance still. I'm still in the military. So, you know, we have standards of trying to be, ah you know, try to be neutral and try to be an open space and have a dialogue and If any of these content creators are listening to this, like I hope to have you on. I've asked one of them to be on or have a coffee and let's talk about these things because we we're all in this together. We're all like we have a common enemy and we got to like rally behind that come November.
01:04:04
Speaker
um If I tried to hire you guys to be my content creators, would you take money from me? No, no, right no. And so a lot of that is happening online and not just in campaigns like the the grift, you know, among the magas on on content is incredible. It's totally corrupt.
01:04:25
Speaker
And i think on our side to content creators are taking money. yeah Candidly, we've lost money on this endeavor. Congratulations. That's how it should be. We have not raised money on this. We have paid our way on this with our blood and money. um the Elbow grease. Time, talent, and treasure. yeah Whatever we have.
01:04:44
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I guess that's it for the... um Thank you for those words and your candor, Rep. Chia. um Should we do our good news as ah as a way to go back up instead of down?
01:04:57
Speaker
Yeah, palate cleanser. what's What's something good that's going on in your life?
Positive Reflections and Wrap-up
01:05:00
Speaker
We all got to get better as Democrats about sharing the good news. So let's let's just hear something something good out there. You know, so a good friend of mine, Judge Eric Moyet here in Dallas County, when you ask him how he's doing, he always says, ain't nobody doing better than me. And he says a lot better than I can deliver it. but Literally, if you all are doing exceedingly well, we may be tied because I in my personal life, I'm super duper happy.
01:05:24
Speaker
um You know, on this check in, I would just say I'm so proud of of both our daughters. They're doing great. One's about to graduate from college. She's, you know, interviewing. She's up she's at.
01:05:36
Speaker
an engineering university that's 70% men, 30% women. And she has grinded through that. It's going to get her computer science, computer engineering degree with a focus on AI. And I'm really proud of her. And my youngest daughter at A&M and she loves animals more than human beings. And she's going to be a vet and is going to go and and live at an elephant sanctuary this is the summer. So I'm super proud of her. And my wife, Rebecca, I mean, my better three quarters. That's the stuff that makes me happy in my life.
01:06:06
Speaker
Great. thanks Thanks for that. Yeah, I um similarly with my family doing great this week. So my husband and I are both dual military. So he's in the Army. I'm in the Air Force. We don't speak on behalf of it the Department of Defense.
01:06:19
Speaker
Department of War. Yeah, Department of War. ah But um he was supposed to be gone all week ah with some training. But because of the lapse in funding and the funding issues with the administration, he got to stay home and do it all on Zoom. And so I was going to be a single parent like all week with my three and a half year old who's just, you know, she can vacillate between a total terror and like the most adorable thing you've ever seen.
01:06:45
Speaker
So ah that's been great. So he's been home all week and evan it's been good. that we've been able to balance like both of our like, he has a family law career and he's a reservist. I'm in a big law firm. I'm a reservist. I'm doing this podcast. Like we've been able to sort of balance that this week with our three and a half year old. And that's been better this week, as opposed to what I thought it was going to be, which was just me like an hair on fire trying to like do everything.
01:07:09
Speaker
And my good news, um this past Wednesday, I was invited to come and speak to a ah small group at my church. um but A little over a year ago, I launched the modern worship service at First United Methodist Dallas downtown.
01:07:26
Speaker
And they have a small group that gets together on Wednesday nights and they asked me to come and teach. And I was just so honored by that because I haven't been in that kind of a role for a very long time. um i I was on Young Life staff back in college and um would teach regularly, but to like high school students. was the first time ah i can remember. I don't think it's ever happened where a group of adults was interested in what I had to say as far as that's concerned.
01:07:54
Speaker
um So I think it went really well and it was very gratifying. I talked about the topic was enough, being enough, um You are enough.
01:08:07
Speaker
A man who has God and everything else has no more than someone who has God. Right. That's C.S. Lewis quote. And then also just having enough. Like what does it mean to have enough? Like the constant search for more striving, more validation, more clicks, more money, more everything. Like when will it ever be enough? um Yeah.
01:08:27
Speaker
And I thought that was ah such a fun experience to to get to share on that. Yeah. Thank you, Alex. And thank you, Rep and Chia. So Rep and Chia, we got the last word.
01:08:38
Speaker
We didn't talk about this really over the podcast in the last few minutes, but what do you think it's going to take to really flip Texas? Is it messaging? Is it infrastructure? Is it the right candidate? Like you said earlier, like what do you think it's going to take?
01:08:50
Speaker
How do you think people can get involved the best way? Hey everybody, early voting starts right around the corner, right? Check your registration.
01:09:00
Speaker
mean, there people people are like going crazy right now in this era of Trump. What can I do? There's very something very simple. You can start by voting. regularly So check your registration to make sure it's it's up to date. Make sure that you know where your polling location is here in Dallas County. We have, you know, vote centers that you can go to February 17th.
01:09:21
Speaker
Early voting starts and it continues until the 27th. So we've got 10 days where you can do it. Make a plan today. and if you say, hey, I'm hell bent vote on Election Day, that's going to be March 3rd.
01:09:33
Speaker
Block it off on your calendar. Know exactly when you're going to go do it. My wife and I know exactly where we're going to be on the first day of early vote. You know, at 9 a.m. m We're going to go to breakfast together and then we're going to go vote.
01:09:46
Speaker
It's going to be a date. and Do that now. Breakfast. are romantic Those are our favorite dates. Yeah. So so like that's what it's going to take. That's what it's going to take everybody.
01:09:58
Speaker
We have personal responsibility here. It's our civic duty. Yes. And you can do something about what's happening in our country. And then of course, all the other things we discussed, good candidates, you know, um, donate to candidates that, that gets you excited, that touch your heart, that, um, that you believe in, you think you're sincere, do that too, but, uh, start with voting and it's right around the corner.
01:10:22
Speaker
Yep. Well, we're of low voter turnout state, so that resonates with me, and we've got to get more voters out. So, well, ah Representative Enchia, thank you so much. um If people want to follow you or support you, where can they find you?
01:10:36
Speaker
I come in spicy on Twitter. um And Instagram is more curated by by my my team, although my wife is really urging me to do less and less and less and less spiciness on Twitter, which...
01:10:51
Speaker
Which I'm, ah you know, but if if you look at my drafts of my unsent messages, oh, my gosh. um You know, it's it's yeah. Yeah. So sometimes, you know, the Holy Spirit's inside of me and I want to pop off a tweet. And she's like, I'm like, babe, read this. And she's like, no, do not do this. tin to um Yeah. You know, i right my Instagram is much more beautifully creep curated by by my my team. They're much more visual than I am.
01:11:18
Speaker
But those are those are two really good places to follow me. And then it's, you know, Rafael on Chia dot com. I'm the only Rafael in the Texas legislature. Reach out to me. Very easy to find me. I'm one of two Rafales in Texas politics that goes by Rafael. The other one goes by Ted. um So it's easy to find me.
01:11:39
Speaker
Really easy to find me. I'm glad that joke still lands. Thanks. yeah I got it.
01:11:45
Speaker
Canadian citizen Cruz. Rafael Edward Cruz. Yes. Yes. Well, thank you so much. That wraps up our ah special primary episode. We'll see our listeners next week and God bless Texas.
01:11:58
Speaker
God bless Texas. You can follow us on all socials at Mission Texas Podcast. Email us at missiontexaspodcast at gmail.com. This episode is edited by Juan Jose Flores.
01:12:11
Speaker
Our music bumper is by Adam Pickerel, and our cover art is by Tino Sohn.