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Ep. 40: Convention, Texas Democratic Leadership, and Proud Patriots (Nic Nickens)
68 Plays19 days ago
We're kicking off a series of episodes with leaders within the Texas Democratic Party infrastructure, hearing what's going on within the party from the inside.
Recorded coming off the Texas Democratic Convention in Corpus Christi and heading straight into the Fourth of July weekend, this first installment is about reclaiming patriotism as Democratic territory.
Kate and Alex sit down with Frederick "Nic" Nickens, chair of the Texas Democratic Veterans Caucus and a leader within the Black Caucus, a 23-year Army veteran who retired as a First Sergeant and Tank Master Gunner. He makes the case that veterans, and the party that champions them, are the ones who actually define what patriotism means, and that Democrats have let the other side write that narrative for too long.
Plus: the hosts celebrate 40 episodes of Mission: Texas, Alex heads to Rockwall for a July 4th cookout with his Air Force veteran law school best friend, and Nic shouts out his daughter's birthday and the Texas Democratic Veterans' 24th anniversary as an organization, all landing the same holiday weekend.
What we cover:
- Convention recap from Corpus Christi: the mood in the room, the water concerns that never materialized, and a party lineup built for the big tent
- How the caucus system works inside the Texas Democratic Party, and what the State Democratic Executive Committee (SDEC) actually does
- The military oath to the Constitution, not to a party or a person, and why that distinction matters right now
- Why 72 of 100 veterans in Congress are Republicans
- Nic's path from Army private to tank master gunner to first sergeant, and how military leadership training translates directly to political organizing
- Why Democrats need to define patriotism on their own terms going into 2026 and beyond
Guest: Nic Nickens, Chair, Texas Democratic Veterans Caucus
Websites: txdemvets.org | txblackdems.org
Also mentioned: Texas Black Politics, Texas in Color
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
Welcome to Mission Texas
00:00:07
Speaker
This is Mission Texas.
00:00:12
Speaker
Welcome back to Mission
Texas Democrats' Convention Insights
00:00:13
Speaker
Texas. So Texas Democrats just wrapped their convention in Corpus Christi. And if you want to understand where this party is actually building infrastructure, you talk to the people running different parts of this party.
Guest Introduction: Nick Nickens
00:00:24
Speaker
So we are so excited to have somebody within the party leadership who is the chair of what I would like to say my favorite caucus within the party, the Texas Democratic Veterans Group, and he's a leader within the Black Caucus. So welcome to the podcast.
00:00:40
Speaker
fellow a veteran Nick Nickens. Thank you for having me. Kate and Alexander or Alex, sorry. hey Yeah, Alex is fine. But I will say
Role of Caucus Groups in the Democratic Party
00:00:50
Speaker
this. ah They did not make a musical about Alex Hamilton. So I got put Alexander on everything official, right? Well, I wanted to ask and maybe introduce why the listeners should care about this episode before we get into your background, which we want to do for everybody. But like, why should a listener care about the different caucus groups within the party?
00:01:10
Speaker
the Democratic Party is not one size fits all. And it's funny, sometimes we disagree because everyone has their competing you know ideals and their competing things. But at the end of the day, we all can come together and believe that we just want a better America because I don't belong to certain caucuses and certain groups and demographics and so forth. um It allows me to hear them and understand them and understand where they're coming from. And it's better because we don't feel like we're alone.
00:01:36
Speaker
You know, sometimes if you're... you're When you're fighting, you think you're fighting your fight. It's alone. But when you say it out loud and other people hear it, or even better, when you have an idea.
Candidate Forum by Caucus Groups
00:01:47
Speaker
a few weeks ago, we put on, it was the Muslim Caucus, the Veterans Caucus, Hispanic, Indigenous People, Environmental,
00:01:55
Speaker
um We put on a and excuse me, an Asian a API. We put on a candidate form for the people that were running for chair. And behind the scenes, it was a lot of back and forth, um but we could always, at the end of the day, the common goal was to get the best person elected so people could hear all three candidates that weren that were running, right? We could get them in in a setting. We put out a great product for the delegates to watch these candidates in in an interview format so they could make the best informed decision. And that was a collaboration of many different groups because we are the big umbrella party. Well, i understand and tell us more about it that you these caucuses have a voting right
00:02:36
Speaker
within the party in a group called the SDEC. We haven't really talked about that much within this podcast, but can you tell our listeners a little bit more
Understanding SDEC's Role
00:02:44
Speaker
about that? So the SDEC, the State Democratic Executive Committee, right? They're a governing body of the Texas Democratic Party, sets the rules, and I'll say it in military terms, rules, policies, and procedures for how the party is going to operate.
00:02:58
Speaker
And that's important. that's a big that's that's's's That's a big lift at times. We have committees within that. So last cycle, I served on the resolutions and the convention committee. um I've served on those committees for the last fact four years. um The conventions committee is important because it helps with getting the conventions, led some of the logistical stuff of the convention done. But the resolutions committee is really I've learned so much being on that when people bring resolutions forward to you and you have to listen to these resolutions. And I'll and i'll proudly say that I was a part of the group that it took us a long time to do it to a couple of hours.
Israel-Palestine Resolution in Texas
00:03:35
Speaker
The Israel-Palestine resolution, we were the only state to pass one.
00:03:40
Speaker
And it was it wasn't easy. And I'll tell you, was not easy. But at the end of the day, once again, you had all these caucuses come together and people with ideas and what should be in it, what should not be in it. And we came up with a product that the state of Texas was what Democrats in the state of Texas were proud of.
00:03:58
Speaker
And I'll tell you that all the people on there right now, none of none of them take it lightly. They all take it very. It's very spirited and passionate conversations at times in the meetings. So it sounds like the SDEC is basically like the Board of Trustees for the Texas Democratic Party. It is. Yeah, that's a great way to put it. yeah How does one get themselves on the SDEC? So there are two types of people on SDEC. There's statutory and there's non-statutory.
00:04:23
Speaker
So statutory are all the congressional districts, one through 38, the chair, the vice chair and so forth. Right. Those are the people that the DNC says that we have to have. So you you run, so we have a committee, we do a gender balance.
00:04:36
Speaker
So we have a committee man, committee woman, and in some case instances, non-binary, right? that that's That's a whole nother topic, category. So you have, most most of them most most are, and then we do have some non-binary people on and in in the SDEC.
00:04:53
Speaker
Most are committee man and committee woman. So each CD congressional district one through 38 gets to elect two
Nick Nickens' Political Journey
00:05:00
Speaker
people. And that happens at the state convention. So you run a campaign, right?
00:05:05
Speaker
You run a campaign and the people within your congressional district vote for you. um For the previous four years to this, I was representing congressional district three. For four years, I did that. And I stepped aside um because I kind of believe in term limits. That's just my personal.
00:05:21
Speaker
Democrats, man. think I think getting new ideas and and and new faces and new voices is important in the process. So I stepped aside from that. And then there are the non-statutory people.
00:05:34
Speaker
Those are the clubs, right? Or the caucuses, as we call them, right? Hispanic caucus, indigenous, Black, all these caucuses together make up non-statutory. So they they comprise of the same concept of gender-balanced male, female, non-binary. Same concept. But that the unique things about those, that all of those caucuses don't do their elections at the convention.
00:05:58
Speaker
Some of them do them off convention. we're like We're allowed to do them whenever we kind of want to do them. It's up to us. Now, the CDs do them during the conventions because that's, like say, statutory. We're not.
00:06:10
Speaker
We had our friend Kendall Scudder on the podcast, the chair. he was reelected, as I understand. And so you have that part of the the party and then he has his staff. And then what I'm hearing is, as Alex analogized, this is the board of trustees. These are the people who advise the party, but also vote on things like the resolutions, what our party stands for to the community. And so um i understand then that veterans have a seat at that table as much as anybody else, which I love as a part of this state
00:06:42
Speaker
in particular, where we have so many military members. So can you tell us more? The most military members. The In the country. I didn't realize that. have the most. Well, you know. One and a half million veterans in this state. Now that we've set the table as to why this important, Nick, can you tell us your long history in politics? As I understand, you've had just about every role within the party, which I want to get into. add on what Alex said, not only the most veterans, the most active duty military too, and the most military families.
00:07:12
Speaker
So yeah keep that in mind. that's that's And I'll get back to that later because that's very important that we we we do that. And the biggest military bases, right? Clearly. And the most.
00:07:23
Speaker
So my career. host So in the army, i was I was in the army, retired as a first sergeant. Started out as a private, right? Started out started out with nothing, right?
00:07:34
Speaker
Same way my political journey started. I started out at the bottom and it wasn't, I didn't start it as a precinct chair. I actually started out as the ah co-chair of events and outreach for my county party.
00:07:49
Speaker
Which is Collin Collin County. Yeah, Collin County. Shout out. Yeah, North Texas. Collin County's in the house, right? And I started out as literally and co-chair of events and outreach. I worked on that for a couple months, became a precinct chair.
00:08:03
Speaker
And then the vice chair was leaving. She was moving to another state. And she said, hey, I think you should take my position. i was like, as vice chair of the county party? And she was like, yeah.
00:08:15
Speaker
And I was like, okay. And then I was the vice chair for a few months and then I ran for county chair. Lost, by the way. I was... I was third on the ballot. I was the literally the last person on the ballot because county chair is always at the bottom. The only thing I joke and tell people, but the only thing after my name was white space on the paper, which is important when when we vote. Right. We vote all the way down the ballot. So as a candidate, I understand because I had to convince people to go all the way to the bottom, bottom, bottom of the ballot to see my name.
00:08:45
Speaker
um That's consistent with what you're just saying. Like you started from the bottom. Yeah, it was always the bottom. um I lost that race. And then I decided God had it in the plans. The person that had the SDEC seat from my area moved away. He moved to El Paso. So I ran the race and I won.
00:09:03
Speaker
um Then I ran for reelection, won again. How I got into the Veterans Caucus, the deputy chair at that time of the Veterans Caucus lives in my area. And he said, hey, we need a communications person. And I was like, OK. I was like, I'll do it.
00:09:18
Speaker
So I was the communications guy. He moved up the chair and they nominated me to be the vice chair. And then he had to step down and I finished the rest of his term and then I won a full term as chair.
00:09:31
Speaker
I want to know more about your time in the service. I want to know like, what what did you do in the army? why would how How did it like affect the way you think about politics?
Military Influence on Politics
00:09:38
Speaker
I was a tanker. So I was on tanks for 23 years. Like I said, started at the bottom. I was a tank master gunner, retired as the first sergeant. And I'll say this, and we were joking off camera earlier, Kate and I, about having good leaders and bad leaders in the military.
00:09:50
Speaker
and And being the military is funny. Most military people, a lot of military people normally vote Republican. it's funny because one, at the time, even when I was serving, Republicans gave the biggest raises. Right. So it's self-preservation, right? Who's going to make, put more money in my pocket. So I'm vote for you. um and And traditionally Democrats downsize the military. So if you want to keep your job, you vote for the other side. If you want to deploy, you kind of vote for the other side, which with what is deployments do, put more money in your pocket, right? No one likes to deploy, but at the end of the day, soldiers don't make soldiers, sailors, airmen, they don't make a lot of money.
00:10:26
Speaker
So anytime that they can make more money and, you know, We do it, right? Because we're our profession is the profession of arms. And career opportunities, if we're being honest. Deployments are a big part of that.
00:10:37
Speaker
yeah oh So I would say this, how it shaped my military and political. um The hardest thing for me was understanding that everyone wasn't in the military, being in this political civilian space, right?
00:10:51
Speaker
And everyone doesn't understand that structure at times and and and chain of command. Now, I'm not saying that there's not cutthroat in the military, because there are, it's it's a cutthroat world, especially when you're talking about assignments, especially if you're looking at the pyramid when you get toward the top, assignments get less, you got to kind of stand out. A lot of the Democratic Party, and and and i'll and then I'll add something on, has not invested enough in veterans as candidates. And as the leader of the Veterans Caucus, I took some blame for that I said, well, I got to do more.
00:11:26
Speaker
So I went i went to Kendall and we had a nice conversation. we had a very And he understood and he was like, wow. And I gave him some stats. So right now in this current legislative session in in the U.S. Congress, right? or It's U.S. Congress and U.S. Senate combined. There are 100 members who are former military. 100. 72 of those belong to the GOP. They figured it out.
00:11:48
Speaker
They figured something out, right? And of those 72, seven of them are special operators, former special operators, special forces kind of people, right? They figured out how to navigate, how to promote and merchandise these people to make them sellable to the electorate. We got to do the same thing. and And I tell people this, the very thing you want to become, you can emulate their methods, just not their message. How they do it, and I've watched how they did it, and I'm like, got it.
00:12:15
Speaker
That's how they did it. That's how we need to do it. We need to promote our veterans up and we need to get them in spaces where they can run. And then I promise you they can win. And then, cause everyone talks about, well, taking back the the narrative of patriotism and those types of things. Well, that's one way to do it. And only, if only we had an example in a special election in Fort Worth,
00:12:36
Speaker
Yeah. Of a veteran running. wonder how he did. Yeah. Maybe he swung 30 points. Look at that. Yeah. How about that? And we got invest in places down in like Bell County where Fort Hood is, you know, or for classeses whatever you want to call it.
00:12:54
Speaker
Those every mostly everyone running down there is literally a veteran. Like literally you can't throw a rock and not hit a veteran in Killeen, Texas. the Same thing in Military City USA and San Antonio, same thing in El Paso, right? Those are the places where we should be going in and grabbing them and going, hey, you should run and here's why. But when we do that, we got to train them. As veterans, we understand what training means and what happens when you don't get properly trained.
00:13:20
Speaker
We live in a world, we we come from a world where if you're not trained, you die. My military career, I started out, my drill sergeants were Vietnam vets. They were very blunt and straightforward.
00:13:30
Speaker
They were like, don't go over there, you'll die. they They didn't say a lot. They didn't say a lot. But what they said was powerful. As somebody who's taken a campaign school and one that was associated with veterans, I was a part of a group called New Politics. So if any veterans are out there thinking about that, I would definitely put a shout out to them because sometimes there's a disconnect between what we're expecting out of candidates and what candidates actually can do. We want working class people. We want veterans. But yet veterans and working class people tend to have full-time jobs. They've got kids. And it's really hard to run these races and do that at the same time, I know, because I tried doing it and I didn't win. So it does seem like we do need that kind of training. I love the fact that we have groups like VoteVets. So I know we connected over at a group and and these other groups that are trying to elect service members.
00:14:15
Speaker
And because I do agree with you, I think a veteran who jumps in is like, well what do I do? I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to... run for office and we're trying to get those resources for them to do that. But I wanted to go back to your bio a little bit. Sorry to keep harping on that. please. Because i I'm a big fan. My husband and I, we love Band of Brothers. We watch that show every year. You you said you're a history nerd.
00:14:38
Speaker
And I just wanted to talk about how you were a first sergeant. If you compared to what we know in Band of Brothers, people might have watched it. That's First Sergeant Lipton. He's the guy who's in charge of the unit.
00:14:48
Speaker
He's trying to make sure everybody's okay. and is sort of the de facto leader amongst the enlisted, right? And, or not de facto, but is the leader. And I just think it's such a perfect role to symbolize you as a person within this party because you are taking care of us and you're taking veterans and making sure that they're heard and you're an advocate on their behalf. So, i mean, do you see that as an interplay, like as a connection or an analogy?
00:15:12
Speaker
Of course. um So as a first sergeant, you're the commander's right hand man. Commander's right hand is the first sergeant. Commander's left is the executive officer. And if that relationship is not a marriage, and I'll and i'll say that because i've I had a commander who we didn't get along at first, because we came from two different branches.
00:15:32
Speaker
My first my first first sergeant position was in Korea of an infantry company, and I was a tanker. We figured out a common ground, and that common ground was winning at gunnery. And I said, look, I don't know anything about people that walk around and shoot people when they walk around. I don't know anything about that.
00:15:49
Speaker
But I know about mechanized vehicles. I know about this. Let me deal with the Bradleys, and you deal with the dismounts. And once we figured that out, we were we were golden. We had the worst troop when we got there, and we turned it into the best.
00:16:02
Speaker
and And that's not by me, that was from Squadron Commander. He's like, you guys have turned this into the best and everybody wants to get in it, right? And that's because him and I, we disagreed behind closed doors, but when we came out of that office, we were one.
00:16:18
Speaker
Being in the political space, caring never stops. once you Once you're a leader, like I gotta tell people, I'm institutionally trained to be a leader, right?
00:16:29
Speaker
I was honor grad at First Science course. I'm a brag on myself. right the First Science Academy, I was the honor grad. In ANOP, I was commandant's list. So you know I'm trained how to lead people. right I don't think civilians fully appreciate what you just said, but like that's a big deal.
00:16:46
Speaker
yeah um You're a leader among leaders. You're the cream of the crop. And it was it was it you know it was it was fun. you know It was challenging at times. I went to master gunner school as a tanker, right? And the tank master gunner school is, and our and in our profession, the attrition rate per class is 50%.
00:17:04
Speaker
So I walked in with 22 people in my class and they looked at us and said, half of you won't be here at the end of the 11 weeks. And I lost 13 pounds in that course and there's nothing physically demanding about it. It is all mental. and and And the course is basically how to make the tank shoot straight all the time.
00:17:21
Speaker
Right. And how to build a range and all these things. Right. And I was one of, you know, 22 people, I was 11 that graduated from that course. Right. and that was. That was 11 weeks of purity heck.
00:17:34
Speaker
um But you know what? I made it. And that that puts you at the top of your job when you walk in and they call you Mike Goff, right? that's That's a big, that was a big deal. It took a while for it to sink in. Like the first time I was on a range and everyone's looking at me for all the answers. And I was like, I just graduated last week.
00:17:51
Speaker
Why are you asking me? And then like, you know, but you have to step into that. And that's what veterans bring, right? We're already day one to lead because of the institutional training. Even if you've never been to those courses, you went to basic training.
00:18:05
Speaker
Yeah. That mindset and those skills are so transferable. They are, and people don't realize that. s civil Civilians don't realize that. um And and and there is a there's going to be a push in the next couple of months, and I'll say this, we from some places outside of Texas that are going to start to push veterans um into positions. I've got some kind of assurances, um and and we're working through those right now, I believe the people that told me. And and we're going to get this done.
00:18:32
Speaker
We're going to start to see us Be in spaces where we have not been in the past because we've always been shunned from those spaces because there's always that soldiers and politics should not mix. Yeah, maybe while you're serving, but when you're out, you know, you should probably be there, be at the table, especially when we're talking about. And there's no that there are veterans issues, but a lot of veterans issues are just everyday social issues, inflation, health care, those kind of things. i think what you were saying about things behind closed doors and coming out as a united front with your commander is so analogous to what I believe we saw in the convention. And I wanted to ask you a little bit about the your experience there. And unfortunately, because of my new job, I couldn't go, but I had been to one before.
00:19:19
Speaker
and as I understood it, and I was in El Paso, another military city that I know and love. But ah there's like a day of caucusing and then there's a lot of elections and big speeches. And so can you tell us about your experience there? and it was in Corpus, which I know a lot of people were concerned about water and the resources. And so can you give us a sense of like, what what was it like? Vibes, were they high? Do we feel good going into November?
00:19:43
Speaker
It was awesome. I'll say this. Let's go with the water first. because i was um i'm in I'm in the party, had I not known about the water issue, I would have not known that there was a water issue because we didn't see it.
00:19:54
Speaker
we didn't We did not see it. we didn't You didn't feel it. You didn't understand it. I felt safe. In fact, I walked in the morning from my hotel to the convention center because it was so early i and it was nice watching because watching the the sun rise and the water. it was It was beautiful. I didn't feel unsafe. There was a couple of nights I had a couple of late events. I was walking around, didn't feel unsafe.
00:20:22
Speaker
there were some There was a GOP gop protest outside, which you know was going to happen, but the convention itself was ran very well. I think the speeches were good. The the lineup that the the party got together, and it was I think, in my personal opinion, it was a good balance of gender, race, background, ethnicity, you know regional. like It was a good background of everyone speaking. I think they did a really, really, really good job of trying to satisfy the big tent. I did go, we went, me and my family went to the USS Lexington, which is docked there.
00:20:53
Speaker
So we did go do that. And we had it we had a really good time learning about a lot of the things on Lexington. So we did get to go hang out and do that for a little bit. And I think everyone's going to be pumped up going into November, or they should be. and i' And I'll shout out like here in my county here, Collins, CD3, we have a veteran running for Congress, right? They're veterans. Evan Hutton, right? Running for Congress, right? Shout out to Evan.
00:21:15
Speaker
And he's he's he's doing a great job and he's running against, on the GOP side, guess what? A veteran. so and and And this is key. This is why having veterans in some races is very key.
00:21:27
Speaker
So the the the incumbent, and going call him the incumbent, not going to say his name. Retired Lieutenant Colonel from the Army. Evan, a retired Lieutenant Colonel from the Air Force.
00:21:38
Speaker
And this is, that's, so we take, we take that military service part out, right? Wash. They're both white males. Take that out. It's wash. So now guess what we're on?
00:21:48
Speaker
We're on policy. We're on, we're on, one we're on kitchen table issues now. Who's going to improve your life? Who's going to help you out and at your table? We've taken all of that nonsense out. Yep. Because we found a veteran to go against a veteran, white male against a white male, right? So you took all those, you took all the biases out, all that stuff out, right?
00:22:07
Speaker
Now you're just not going vote for him because you don't think he's going to help you. If you tell me he's not going improve your daily life, I can respect that. Something you said earlier about getting involved once you've become a veteran, once you've finished your time in the service really resonated with me.
00:22:21
Speaker
and It reminded me of a quote from and Dwight D. Eisenhower, you know former former general, former commander, former president United States. said, politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free people and who would preserve what is good and fruitful in our national heritage.
00:22:41
Speaker
I find that very inspiring. And so I want to know for you, What is it that took you from, because obviously you cared. as and As a soldier, you had to swear to uphold and defend the the Constitution.
00:22:54
Speaker
What took you from being politically interested in the service to being politically active out of the service? what was What was that process like for you? You know, it's funny. In the service, I wasn't politically interested. I'm not a lie.
00:23:06
Speaker
I joined Army when i was 17. I was this kid from Brooklyn. who was gonna do four years and get out.
Nick's Military Background Shaping Politics
00:23:12
Speaker
And then I realized was easy. I was having fun and they were paying me and I was traveling the world and i didn't want to go back to New York at the time. i'm Kid from Brooklyn who joins the army. What is, are you Captain America? Yeah, there you go.
00:23:24
Speaker
And i I didn't want to go to college. I, you know, I had scholarships to play college basketball. Didn't want to do it. Just wanted to get away. And I love the fact that I had an opportunity and I always tell people this, you know, so I taught ROTC for three years in Valley Forge Military Academy, where they filmed the movie Taps, by the way.
00:23:46
Speaker
And when I was there, it still looked like George C. Scott was going to walk through the halls. Nothing had changed. Being there, I would you know i lived in with the civilian populace, and I would go get my hair cut. And I had a kid come to me one day and go he told me, he said, how do you serve?
00:24:00
Speaker
And I was like, what do you mean? I was like, what do you mean? I knew what he meant, but I always like people to elaborate. What do you mean? And I said, let me tell you something, son. I said, this kid from Brooklyn has seen the world three times over and hasn't had to spend a dime.
00:24:13
Speaker
I've had so experiences. He said, but you went to Iraq. And I was like, yeah, I went to Iraq. It's how you say it to him, right? like I went to Iraq and I met a lot of wonderful people, but there were a lot of nice people that I met that I found out wanted the same things I wanted in life.
00:24:30
Speaker
My kids to go to school, health care, clean drinking water, just to live without being murdered. Right. And they wanted the same things. And I and I was like, wow. And that put put it all in perspective for me. Like, OK, I get it now. These people really want help. And I think at times Americans, we want help.
00:24:51
Speaker
We just don't know. We're too ashamed to ask. And we don't know how to ask for it. you know And I'm one of these people who believe Veterans Day should be every day because absolutely you know most of the populace, what, three quarters of the populace have never served, right?
00:25:05
Speaker
More than that, yeah. They never will serve, right? so I know I saw you at an event where we were speaking at the Richardson Area Democrats and I gave a speech about how the Constitution, it was around Memorial Day, and how We as officers and enlisted say an oath to the Constitution and we don't say it to a party. And as officers, we don't say it to a person. We say it to the Constitution. And isn't that crazy that we say that as veterans? Like that's so important to us and and it stays with us. It's not an oath that just leaves us.
00:25:37
Speaker
once we leave the service, it's something that continues with us. And I was making the argument that that's why we elect veterans and especially within the Democratic Party. and I'm wondering your thoughts, because it does seem like as Democrats, we're painted as the anti-patriotic party or we're anti-military. And I think as Democrats, part of the thesis of our podcast is to show otherwise, right? Like we are both, we're both veterans. We both are have families. We both are very patriotic. We're heading into the ju July 4th weekend. I've got flags everywhere. I'm going to go to my daughter's parade. So how as we as Democrats can do better to, with that messaging? And I, and Alex is pointing out to us offline that only 6% of our population of adults have served or are veterans. So And for people currently in uniform, even when you combine all the active duty reserve, still less than 1%. That kind of is the definition of special.
00:26:31
Speaker
Yeah. So to answer your question, first, to go back to the to the Richardson event, when you did the oath, you had all those people in there in tears. That was, because they'd never heard People were bawling in there because they never understood the gravity of the words. Also, as background, we I said, I had everyone say the oath with me because I said that we're heading into Memorial Day. People have died for this constitution. These are the words that we have tied ourselves to, we swear to before we do anything, before we go see our drill sergeants before we go to MEPS, before we do anything, this is what we do. And so anyway, so thank you for mentioning that. I yeah didn't mean to bring people to tears, but I thought it was so important.
00:27:13
Speaker
Yeah. It was important. I mean, think about the first lines of the non-commissioned officers' creed. No one is more professional than I, right? That is... That's we take that. We take that seriously. That is our litmus. Right. No one is more professional than I than meets those those words.
00:27:30
Speaker
They're not just words. They are and what we live by. They're not words. People who just they're not words on a page. Right. They're serious because, you know, when we when we raise our right hand, we're not we're not signed like the Marines say. Right. They don't take.
00:27:44
Speaker
They don't take contracts. They take commitments. Okay. That just reminds me. I don't know how much y'all had to learn this in officer school, but in basic training on the illicit side, we learned the airman's creed. from back course. Yeah. My favorite part of that one was the, I am an American airman, guardian of freedom and justice, my nation's sword and shield.
00:28:04
Speaker
It's century and Avenger. I defend my country with my life. Yeah. Like you said. I'm also a big nerd. So at anytime I get to use the word Avenger, I'm like, yeah, no Notice that nowhere in there does it say, nowhere way in there does it say to a party, to a person, it's to the country.
00:28:23
Speaker
yeah Right? yeah it's It's like people, people you know, it's funny in America, we give more, and and this is not taken away from any Olympian, because they work hard to get to where they are, but people put more stock in the Olympics than they do soldiers and their veterans and their military sometimes. The question was about,
00:28:42
Speaker
Why do we, how do we, the Democratic Party take control of it? I was in a meeting with Representative Barbara Gervin Hawkins a little while ago, a couple at the convention, and she said something really unique.
00:28:56
Speaker
We talked about the word accountability, and she said, first, we have to define what accountability means. So I think as veterans, or the Democratic Party, we need to define what patriotism means. I think we've allowed others to take the narrative.
00:29:10
Speaker
I think we have allowed people to take the narrative and run with it, and we have not defined what a patriot is. And I think once we define what a patriot is, then we can go forward. But until then, we're going to allow the other side to keep taking that word and running with it and and create the narrative.
00:29:27
Speaker
We have to take the bull by the horns, right? We literally have to do that. i think this goes in line with a broader topic that we tend to talk about, which is that our party's brand sometimes is not doing too well. In some polls, it's less than ice. And in some ways, I think there should be a study done of how we have not defined ourselves well and we've allowed the other side to define us well.
00:29:50
Speaker
for us. And so that is part of the problem. And maybe also that's our failing too. But I think that you're right. And being able to talk about patriotism in our own way, like, what does that mean? And I can be proud of my country and our history, but also be sad and angry about our history and what has happened. I can be for our military, but not agree with what what our military is doing. i can want to support veterans, but also disagree with some of the wars. It's okay for me to have a flag. It's okay for me to celebrate the World Cup. I'm so proud that people are here in Texas and celebrating and seeing Buc-ee's and all these other places. So, and barbecue, like welcome to our state. Have you seen the the Japanese citizen who is experiencing Tex-Mex for the first time? Yes. So good. It's like, how do I get free chips? Yeah. Yeah.
00:30:43
Speaker
It's like, you you trust me that I will pay before I've proven I can here enjoy the chips. Or the Buc-ee's one where they're like, this is a gas station. And a wall of candy.
00:30:55
Speaker
Part gas station, part amusement park. But I'm wondering, Nick, how do we improve our brand? And like, what is our brand? And how do we improve it? And especially within the, you're a part of the party leadership. And I'm some i'm hoping that this is a conversation that's being had of like, what do we stand for? i mean we have resolutions, right? Like a list of things that we want to stand for, as you're mentioning Palestine, Israel, but like, what is it that we want people to hear about or feel when we say we are part of the Texas Democratic Party? I think the first thing we have to do is, because we are a big tent, it's not an easy job. I think sometimes we have to tell people,
00:31:27
Speaker
we can't include you this go round. And that's a tough one. That's a tough pill to swallow, right? What do you mean my ideals are not gonna be front and center? That's a tough one, right?
00:31:38
Speaker
and Second, I think we need to stop letting, and not you guys, but the mainstream media tell our story. And we are very not mainstream. No, no, I know. We could do it with being a little more mainstream. yeah but That would be great. Follow us on Mission Texas Podcast. We have to stop that. I did an interview with a reporter out of D.C. and she wanted to talk about something. I was like, why do you want to keep talking about that? We we don't care about that here.
00:32:03
Speaker
Like literally you guys care about that. If we want people to know who we are, we we have to tell them who we are because by our silence, our lack of just marketing ourselves in the way that we should, we're allowing others to define us. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy. Sometimes you fulfill that prophecy. It's like, you know, if you, you know if you tell a kid that they're stupid enough, they start to believe they're stupid. Right. if You tell me I'm this, this is what I'm going to believe. Like right now when you have, you know, I'm watching the news and these elections, these primaries going on and they're like, oh, the socialist progressives are taking over the Democratic Party. Right. But if you ask most Democrats within any party, that's not the things that they talk about.
00:32:44
Speaker
That's a national media selling point. that to to grow division between us. We should find the things that bring us together. you If you call yourself a moderate Democrat, a socialist Democrat, a progressive Democrat, there's one word in there that brings us together, the Democrat part.
00:33:00
Speaker
You allow other people to label you and that becomes the problem. I'm hoping that Kendall and also you and others are talking, as you've mentioned, what is happening in your home? How can i help improve your life?
00:33:12
Speaker
Public schools, affordability. And I think that's a big issue for veterans, right? Like we don't have tons of money as veterans. We get benefits, but that's a huge issue that's even happening here in the state of Texas. Can you talk more about that? Let's talk about the VA. You know, my wife's retired and we don't hide the fact my wife's retired. Four years ago on our anniversary, they took her left eye. She had it damaged in an IED in Afghanistan in 04.
00:33:36
Speaker
oh four oh My wife is my shero, right? She's like that that woman, right?
Challenges in VA Healthcare System
00:33:42
Speaker
That she is, yeah, sorry. So i I hurt my knee couple weeks ago. Like, hey, I need an MRI. So they they make you go get an x-ray first. So I got i went to an urgent kid and got an x-ray. was like, I'm gonna get an x-ray around the corner from my house. So I go in there get an urgent. They go, oh, we need x-ray. got the x-ray, sent the x-ray. So I was like, hey, when? So they call radiology and radiology goes, well, we can't get you in until August. This was the beginning of June. And I was like, what do you mean you can't get me in until June? I mean, until August. when
00:34:09
Speaker
My knee hurts. Come, let me take the picture. So then they outsourced you to community care. That took 10 days. them to give me an appointment. This is where it's sad and funny in the same light. I check my email. I get an email from this imaging place saying, hey, call us. You've been referred for an appointment. Okay. So I call them. They're like, hey, can you come in on Wednesday? It was Monday. And I was like, sure. and they're like, well, well wait, we we we can get you in today. Okay. I'll come today. So I get an MRI done that night. They give me my disc and then they go, well, it takes three to five days for it to go to your doctor. And I'm like, why?
00:34:42
Speaker
I'm like, but you're giving me the disc right now. Can't you just hit send and it goes to them, this whole email thing? And they're like, oh, that's not how it works I go and I call the doctor, but I don't call a doctor. you have to email them. you have to log into your portal, email you your primary care person, email. I'm emailing the nurse and she's very helpful, very wonderful woman.
00:35:01
Speaker
And she's like, hey, so we need you to go down to the Dallas VA and give them your disc and let them upload it into the system. Yesterday, I get a letter in the mail. Yesterday was July 1st saying that I had an appointment on June 15th to get an MRI.
00:35:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah. The American healthcare system, ladies and gentlemen. I mean, yeah. Two weeks after the appointment, I went to the appointment, thank God. I said, what if I had Cancer.
00:35:32
Speaker
Could I wait two weeks? Could I wait a month? And bless everyone that works at the VA, they are the most, they are the salt of the earth. They are some of the most wonderful, kind people you will ever meet who are being crapped on and they're overworked because of what happened when this administration did all those cuts to the VA a system. That is shameful. A person that was willing to give their life of their country in defense of their country may die waiting for an appointment and a contract and a social contract that we made. That's a social contract in a way that If I give you honorable and faithful service, you will take care of me when I'm done with all the oohs and ahs and boo-boos that I received while I was with you. And that social contract is not being honored. This happens to everybody, right? Like even people get disability ratings and the Secretary of War saying things like, let's take away people's disability benefits. So somebody has a lot of, we call it wear and tear, but it's just, they went, they're jumping out of airplanes, they're jumping out helicopters, out of tanks, and they're downrange, they injuries, some of them catastrophic. And now you're trying to take away their benefits that they earned. And then you've also got within our legislature, you hear every session, they're trying to take away our educational benefits. So they're trying to It's called the Hazelwood Act.
00:36:47
Speaker
And they're trying to take away educational benefits every cycle. Like what? it How can you be the party that has elected, to your point, more veterans and then also try to take away more benefits from veterans? But I guess I wanted to go back to maybe a more hopeful message, which is that I see a lot more veterans running and especially within the Democratic
Veterans Entering Texas Politics
00:37:06
Speaker
Party. And you mentioned Evan Hunt. We have a lot of others. Zach Herbert here in the North Texas area. yeah Also, kids of veterans. We just talked to Zach Dunn. have a lot more veterans within the party that are stepping up and creating noise and attention. And and I'm wondering, is there a race that you're looking at or anyone that you should you want us to spotlight?
00:37:25
Speaker
So I'll start with my owner, Evan Hunt, in my county, Collin County, running for CD3. There's another gentleman down in Bell County called just Justin Early. His story is really unique. He's running for U.S. Congress, and his son is running for Texas House.
00:37:39
Speaker
His poor wife. You need to bring her on. How's she doing it, right? like okay you you were is This is eerie. You would not believe me if I told you. But she actually reached out to me because in 2014, when I was working on the Wendy Davis campaign,
00:37:53
Speaker
I stayed with them as an organizer. oh really And she reached out to me and told me exactly that, that her husband was running for Congress, that her son was running for House. And I said, we gotta get all of y'all on the podcast. And so we are actually working on getting them on the podcast. So I'm glad that you and I have the same idea. Like that is crazy. Like to think, like that's a wonderful, beautiful thing that this veteran, his son is so inspired by his dad running that he decides to run that doesn't And apparently their daughter is like doing social media on the campaign. So it it really is like a full team effort. This is like the Brady Bunch, the the political Brady Bunch. Or is it more like one man the partridge family? Yes, partridge family. like that a lot better. I mean, those, they go back to the Hazelwood. So this is what I equate the Hazelwood to.
00:38:42
Speaker
I equate the Hazelwood to, if you go back, and like i said, I'm a history nerd, to the Pullman Porters, right, of the nineteen forty s right, and thirty s Um, those, those, those men and women worked so their kids could be the first African-Americans to go to college. Right. Because they earned enough to become the middle-class.
00:39:01
Speaker
Let's, like let's put that the Hazelwood for veterans. Right. That's a means for veterans who like me, when I, you were an officer Kate and and me and Alex were enlisted. Right. We went in with no college education and all those kind of things. And we went in and the Hazelwood would allow our kids' kids to go to school. So if you do that, think about how if the Pullman Porters were not allowed to be who they were and earn the way that they earned, where African-Americans would be today. If we take away the Hazelwood, veterans will be in the same boat.
00:39:36
Speaker
We'll be so far behind. the The family members of veterans will be so far behind. My husband is also in the military and we talk a lot about how we use the GI Bill Hazelwood for our family and how it's a way for people that have no money come from a background.
00:39:52
Speaker
Doesn't matter. You can get in and you can and with your family get and college education. And it's a way for within one generation to pull you and your family out of any situation, whether it's abusive or poverty, or even we have immigrants who have a fast track, or I hope we still have this fast track to naturalization. But it is such a great way for people to get into our to to a better way of life and to serve.
00:40:20
Speaker
And look, hey, I was an I was a reservist. So and and I didn't actually qualify for the Hazelwood Act. But I'll tell you, I had 100 days of active orders right off the the bat, and that qualified me for the first rung of the GI Bill. So that's 40%.
00:40:34
Speaker
And going to UT Law, which is a public school, that meant I had 40% of tuition, 40% of a book stipend, 40% of a housing stipend. And unlike a lot of my classmates, between that and scholarships and summer clerkships and then doing some Uber Eats,
00:40:49
Speaker
By the time I left Austin to come up to Dallas, I had actually paid off all my student loans. It makes tremendous difference in my life. From Sherman, Texas to no loans. Look, I never mentioned Sherman this other time. thought were going to mention it. was very close to saying that Dwight Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas, which is right next to Sherman.
00:41:05
Speaker
yeah But I was going to make it a whole episode without bringing it up, Kate. No, we got to do it. It's not thing. The only part is his presidential library is in Kansas. Well, that makes more sense. He spent a lot more time in Kansas. yeah He was on the family. Denison loves that Dwight Eisenhower was born there, but he, like, spent, like, zero time there. Like, he was literally born there, and then he was out of there. like and Yeah, his library's in Salina, Kansas, so it's hilarious. My first moved here, and I was like, this is the birth rate from Eisenhower, and I was like,
00:41:36
Speaker
It's really reaching. His childhood home is in Salina, Kansas. Yeah, exactly. Because it's still literally still standing. There's giant bust of his face yeah on the highway in Denison. And I just like 75.
00:41:50
Speaker
Yep. 75. That's it. right day All right. I want us to switch gears to my favorite segment, which is good news. I think Republicans are really good at being evangelical and sharing what they believe and and what what everybody ought to hear.
00:42:04
Speaker
And Democrats, I think, can be shy. i think we don't want to be pushy. We don't want to make people feel uncomfortable. But I think we have to get better at flexing that muscle. We've got to get those reps in. So, Nick, what is something so good in your life, but either personally or professionally or or or otherwise, that is just so good you've got to share it? Well, I'm a man of faith. So I'm a God, of course, and my family.
Hope for the Future and Family Motivation
00:42:26
Speaker
I guess about my wife. um Just her love and support and knowing that what she goes through every day, because she served, you know, she took medical retirement. So I know some days the migraines and the pains that she goes through and watching her just get up and do normal, what we call normal stuff every day is an inspiration. I have hope for the future.
00:42:47
Speaker
I really do. And I don't do, and I tell people, I don't do what I do for me. I do it for my kids and my grandkids. I do do it for them. You know, there's an old saying that says, we're put on this earth to help others.
00:43:00
Speaker
And if we can't help them, we shouldn't hurt them. Right. That's I live by it. Like we should really, we should really do that. I'm a cool guy, you know, you know, Colin Powell, and i'm paraphrasing his great speech that leaders create other leaders.
00:43:14
Speaker
You know, that's the other part of what I do, right? I think you should always, and like in the military, when I was a first sergeant, I was looking for my replacement. When I was a platoon sergeant, I was looking for my replacement because that's what you're supposed to do.
00:43:26
Speaker
We're supposed to look for our replacement. And in this setting, in this venue that I'm in, I'm always looking for my replacement. And that's what you should be doing. That's how we grow this. That's how we keep it going. In the beginning, I said, I believe in term limits, right? Fresh ideas are not a bad thing. We shouldn't hold a position hostage. Truman, I believe it was Truman, right? Truman talked about how politics wasn't supposed to be a job, right? was supposed to be a thing. It's like, just do for a little bit, right? The George Washington model, right? Yeah. I'm going to do my two and then I'm going go. I'm going hang out underneath my tree. There's no kings, right? And this is what we are, right? We need to get back to the word statesman at times. Like I said, I'm a nerd and I read the Nixon whole saga, right? Watergate. And when the Republican Party found out what he did, these statesmen were in the hallway, in the halls of Congress, throwing up in trash cans because they realized what the president of the United States had done was so egregious.
00:44:25
Speaker
that there was no way they could even stomach it. They were grown men crying because they thought democracy had died because of his actions. And this was his own party. And and and I think we've gone so far away from that statesman, right? that That statesman, stateswoman, right? Where you're doing this for the good. You're not trying to get rich. You're trying to do this for the people, right? You know, but there were some document that talked about for people, by people, of people. If we read it, you know, daily, then people would understand that, man, why am I really doing this? I'm not doing this for the right reasons. I should be doing this for this what that document says. Fast forward to 2026, J.D. Vance says that Watergate wouldn't survive a 12-hour news cycle. Yeah.
00:45:09
Speaker
it wouldn't he's he's not lying he's He's not lying. I mean, easy. This supposed to be a good news segment. Kate, what's your good The good news is can be have home we hope. And hope is our future. Our future is looking bright. I think we have competent leadership in place in the state of Texas now um that's going to lead us in the right direction.
00:45:29
Speaker
I mean, for the first time in forever, we've got a Democrat running in every single seat. And that yeah that's big, right? Because now we can get data. We can do all those wonderful things that we always say we're going to do.
00:45:40
Speaker
Now we can do it because now we have a starting And that's going to be a wonderful thing. If they all win, that's that's super great. They all win, right? I'm a realist. We need 15 House seats. That would change the lives of people in this state overnight. If I say anything good news, vote to the bottom of the ballot.
00:45:57
Speaker
Yes, you're precinct chair and up. Sorry if I may segue to my good news, but I wanted to just piggyback off of that, that I saw a former candidate, now current candidate in Denton County, Candace Valenzuela. She said, like, if you felt like you don't believe in trickle down economics anymore, then start looking at things from the bottom up, including in politics. And You should be looking at things bottom up with these campaigns because we will be the surrogates for the people at the top. And if you want to, I'll go knock doors for my local electeds and also James Tallarico and the statewide. So to me, I hope that people... If you're listening, please, obviously, I'm not telling you not to donate to the top of the ticket, but please go to the bottom. If your 50 bucks will go a lot farther with your state house race, where they have only raised $10,000 for one mailer, then it would be and on the top of the ticket where they raised $100 million. so But anyways, my good news, um i just briefly want to say that we are celebrating our 40th episode here, Nick, with you. Yeah.
00:46:57
Speaker
So we this is around the corner of July 4th. So I think it's a great time to. to stretch and emphasize our the thesis of our podcast, but we are proud patriots and we have 40 episodes in. We didn't know that we were going to make it this far, Alex, and here we are. But I'm proud to have said that we're here once a week and we're continuing. Well, you laid the perfect segue to my good news, which is to timestamp, we're talking on July 2nd. And my good news is on the 4th of July, I'm going to go to Rockwall.
00:47:25
Speaker
i I'm going to see my best friend from law school, Miguel Ortiz and his beautiful family. And we're going to be at the pool or we're going hot dogs and hamburgers and ceviche and guacamole and watermelon and Just have a good time. And i love to see him because he's another Air Force veteran. We met right before law school started in 2016.
00:47:44
Speaker
And we founded the Texas Law Veterans Association, which has now been around for 10 years. Wow. Makes me feel very old. But, you know, I'm very, I'm very glad that it's still alive and kicking. And, you know, it's it's always a good, good time to to spend time with my my friends. I guess i think sometimes as an adult, you don't make the time for your friends like you used to. And it's always good to to get together.
00:48:06
Speaker
I guess I need to give one more shout out. So shout out to my oldest child on the 4th of July. She is having her, and I'm going to say her age. She'll probably kill me. on She'll be 35. no you're not old enough to have a 35 year old yeah she'll be 34th my oldest shout out she lives in georgia she lives near fort stewart love you love nick i 36 and if you and i were to walk around a crowd and ask people who who's younger or older i would it would probably hurt my feelings yeah she'll be 35 this couple days man thats congrats to her in in texas dem vets on june 24th we celebrated our 24th anniversary
00:48:43
Speaker
Our last segment
Call for Unity in the Democratic Party
00:48:45
Speaker
is the last word. Yes. oh You have, imagine, even bigger than what happened in Corpus Christi, imagine you have every Texas Democrat assembled in one room and you are speaking to them all at once.
00:48:56
Speaker
what is What are your marching orders? How are we going to get from here to where we need to be by the end of 2030 when we have the redistricting and we have all these new seats coming from all this new population? How do we make sure we are in charge when flip the state in 2030? I get more than one word?
00:49:14
Speaker
Yeah, the last word. I don't mean literally one word. Give us give us your marching orders. I would tell them we have to be unified. The road will be rough. Never give up.
00:49:27
Speaker
Never quit. Keep the fight. Stay blessed and see you on the high ground. Amen. Well, Nick, thank you so much for being on our podcast. Tell us where we can follow you and all the groups that you're a part of. Text TXDEM, D-E-M, vets.org. That's a big one. TXBlackDems.org. Those are the two big ones. you Please follow those. If you're Afro, if you, anybody, follow Texas Black Politics. They're like you guys here. They're grassroots group of guys that put out a lot of good information on social medias. I love those guys. Texas Black Politics. They're really good. And Texas in Color.
00:50:06
Speaker
They do a really good job there and out of the San, sex and color out of San Antonio, Texas black politics out of Dallas and yours, of course. Thank you. for Thank you for this and 40 and I hope you have 40 more and your your platform grows because it's needed. We need common sense people putting out the truth because there's enough liars out here putting out lies. Thank you for that. Well, we're independent media, so you can support us for free by following us on social media and give us a five-star review. Thank you, Nick.
00:50:32
Speaker
And I'll sign off by saying God bless Texas.
00:50:41
Speaker
you