And, This Is The Texas Democratic Legislative Delegation

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Speaker 13 Thank you, Governor. Thank you, Governor.

Speaker 13 Governor, how are you? It's good to see you. Glad to see the ties on.
I didn't know who you guys were.

Speaker 13 Governor. Nice to see you.
So nice to see you.

Speaker 13 Thank you. You guys just literally just got in, huh? Yes.
Yes. Thank you.

Speaker 13 Amazing. And I'm grateful for everything you're doing, and I'm grateful this opportunity to have a chance to dialogue about it and talk about, you know, what exactly is going on at this moment.

Speaker 13 Where do you see things going? But in order to paint the picture of this moment, I want to just formally welcome you to Ronald Reagan's old.

Speaker 13 mansion, the place that Nancy Reagan infamously said was a fire trap before they moved out. It's been since remodeled, so you should feel more confident and comfortable here.

Speaker 13 But it's nice to be here, and I say that mindful of our history in the state of California and mindful in many ways how

Speaker 13 far we've gone

Speaker 13 and how far we have traveled away from some of the core principles that defined the best of the Republican Party.

Speaker 13 And so without getting nostalgia for that, I just want to acknowledge the journey that you guys are on and

Speaker 13 express gratitude that you're not just here in California,

Speaker 13 but you've been all across your colleagues, all across this country. But first, if I could, I just want to briefly contextualize because yesterday I experienced in a modest way a little bit about

Speaker 13 all that you've experienced in Texas coming from July 4th. A very close friend of my wife's family passed away, away, Mark,

Speaker 13 and his wife, Sarah, and his son, Johnny. Mark Walker, the Walker family, passed in the floods in Texas.

Speaker 13 My wife had the privilege of speaking a little bit at the memorial yesterday, and it was beyond intense.

Speaker 13 Johnny's 14 years old, the age of my son. They live in the neighborhood.
And it really brought me back to what this is all about, this special session, what this special session should be about.

Speaker 13 I think, what, it was 137 people

Speaker 13 lost their life, 35 children, kids.

Speaker 13 And that's what a special session as a governor should be all about.

Speaker 13 And I haven't heard a lot talked about.

Speaker 13 Those families torn asunder, those lives lost, people that are still healing.

Speaker 13 What a dry dry eye in the church history.

Speaker 13 It says everything you need to know about this moment.

Speaker 13 So,

Speaker 13 if I may, I'd love, as we go around, and I want to make this as easy and casual as it possibly can be, just jump in. If you could introduce yourself so people that are listening know who you are.

Speaker 13 But what you just said just strikes the core of what this is all about.

Speaker 13 So

Speaker 13 you have been threatened to be hunted down by the Attorney General of Texas, Paxson.

Speaker 13 You are being fined $500 a day in a job where you don't make a lot of money.

Speaker 21 $7,200 a year.

Speaker 13 $7,200 a year. A year, guys.

Speaker 13 And you mean $500 a day.

Speaker 13 You've got a guy named Cornyn. who's running for re-election, senator.

Speaker 13 I say that because it's pretty obvious that it needs to be said, running for re-election, needed to get in on this.

Speaker 13 Now threatening to send the FBI to find you, even though you're hiding in plain sight.

Speaker 21 What's interesting about it is I kind of feel like we're in the perfect storm because you've got Cornyn running against Paxton and they're trying to outdo the other on who's going to apprehend us first.

Speaker 21 Right? Then you have the governor who's also working on it and I think may be a little embarrassed, he and the speaker both, because we still haven't gotten back to the state.

Speaker 13 So your attorney general is running for the united states senate against incumbent senator corny and they're trying to one-up each other exactly and attacking you rhetorically and substantively well and in the courts breaking news they just filed to remove me and 12 other of my colleagues in the texas house and the voice we're listening to is

Speaker 13 gina inejosa gina so you have been picked with 12 of your colleagues not all of your colleagues but 12 what's that about i have no idea we're all wondering the same thing, but yes,

Speaker 20 myself and

Speaker 20 it was just filed by our Attorney General in the Texas Supreme Court.

Speaker 13 It's called a

Speaker 20 quo warranto proceeding to remove us from office.

Speaker 13 So you've got a governor himself claiming some authority on that basis as well for simply, quote unquote, breaking a quorum.

Speaker 20 Which has been done for 150 years by Texas legislators, to be clear.

Speaker 13 As American as dare I say, apple pie. Yes.
Breaking quorum. To protect the minority against the whims of the majority.

Speaker 19 Yes.

Speaker 22 Because if you don't have some rule in place for the minority, then the majority just completely runs you over.

Speaker 22 And this is an extraordinary step. It is not something that we take lightly.
It is an exceptional and extraordinary act to break quorum. And so my name's Ann Johnson, and I'm from Houston.

Speaker 22 I'm proud to sit with these other Democratic colleagues.

Speaker 22 And for some of us, this is now the second time we have had to do this in the last few years and it really is an act it is the last tool that the founding fathers gave to us and the minority to have available when you know that the majority has gone off the rails and so we have been threatened with financial ruin with arrest but we are undeterred and i think it highlights how important it is that if they will come at us this hard and we actually are in positions of power look at how easily they run over those that are most vulnerable and don't have a voice.

Speaker 22 And so I think that's why we are really resolute and are resolved that this is the right thing to do.

Speaker 13 And you said this is not the first time, it was 2021. 2021, right? And that was for different reasons.
Remind me what those reasons were in 2021.

Speaker 20 It was an anti-voter bill.

Speaker 13 Go ahead.

Speaker 20 Well, it was a bill that made it much harder to vote. Two provisions in that bill that were

Speaker 20 the most egregious was one that banned Sunday morning voting, which was a target on African-American churches that have a long-standing tradition of going after service as a faith community to vote together.

Speaker 13 Souls to the polls.

Speaker 13 Souls to the polls, we know it well. That's right.
That's right.

Speaker 20 The other provision would have given elected judges the ability to overturn election results, to overturn the will of the voters. And

Speaker 20 when those provisions were added in the middle, literally in the middle of the night, with no record of how they got into the bill,

Speaker 21 we left.

Speaker 13 Right.

Speaker 13 But you didn't have the level, or did you, of threats? You didn't have the $500 fine that was being a threat. You didn't have senators calling for the FBI and calling

Speaker 13 the head of the FBI to sort of track you down. Right.
Well, it seems to me, and my name is Ray Lopez. I'm from San Antonio.

Speaker 13 you know, been in the House for a few years, a few sessions.

Speaker 13 And it seems the difference between where we were were a few years ago when we broke warm and where we are today is that while we have a lot of evildoers, and we've talked about who those people are, whether it's the governor, the attorney general, all the political gamesmanship that's being played, we also recognize that they are dancing to another evildoer.

Speaker 13 And we did not have that kind of engagement before. And that's the President of the United States is encouraging them, giving them the path forward, giving them the tools like the FBI and others.

Speaker 13 We didn't battle that that last time. We are battling it now.
But it is layers of evildoers that are out there.

Speaker 13 And I mean at some point we all need to understand who it is that we're up against. And it isn't just that one front that's attacking us.

Speaker 13 It's all those individuals that are behind them, providing them that level of support.

Speaker 13 And it happens, it grows every day. It grows every day.
What, I mean, so that's important to remind everybody, just, you know, people that are not tracking this hour by hour, day to day.

Speaker 13 They're not watching cable news, which is one has to confess the vast majority of people.

Speaker 13 The President of the United States,

Speaker 13 the origin story on this is the president called your governor, Greg Abbott, and the president asked him to do what?

Speaker 19 So I'm Retta Bowers, Retta Andrews-Bowers from Dallas, and thank you for having us today. But it's really about what's at stake, and I think that's what Ray was leading us into.

Speaker 19 So many people out there don't understand that this Texas special session is not an isolated incident and it truly has implications that will carry across the United States.

Speaker 19 You know, if this goes through with Texas, it can happen in so many other states. And you look at North Carolina, they already had something like this happen.

Speaker 19 So we're so glad to be here having this opportunity to chat with you today.

Speaker 13 I appreciate it. And it happened because Donald Trump made a call and said, find me five seats.
Yep.

Speaker 13 He's made those kinds of calls before, as we well know. Called into Georgia, I need 11,000, 12,000, whatever it was.
Right.

Speaker 13 Because he thinks he is above the law. He thinks he's the one that can interpret all action and that everybody has

Speaker 13 a loyalty to him. And they do, but it's a loyalty to the devil to do his bidding so that they can get in a position of power.
And the difference in Georgia. He's done it before.

Speaker 13 The difference in Georgia, of course, was, Ray, that. He was told no.
He was told no, but in your state, your governor said yes. Bend a knee.

Speaker 13 And the only way you can get five additional seats in Texas is if you aggressively discriminate against the Hispanic and black populations.

Speaker 13 You know, something's happening in Texas that's that's unique. For the first time, the Latino population is actually going to exceed that of California on a percentage basis.
On a percentage basis.

Speaker 13 So we have over 40% now Latinos in Texas. It is one of the most diverse states in the nation.
But under this proposal, we have 11 million white residents, 11 million Latino residents.

Speaker 13 26 out of the 38 seats will be under white-controlled districts, while Latinos are only being relegated to eight.

Speaker 13 That means that the value of a Latino resident in Texas is one-third the value of a white resident.

Speaker 13 So that, I mean, and am I right to have learned or read accurately that four out of the five seats they're talking about taking are majority Hispanic districts?

Speaker 13 Well,

Speaker 13 sure.

Speaker 19 Three out of the four were African American.

Speaker 13 Three out of the four were African American, but minority districts on the black.

Speaker 13 Yeah, all minority districts.

Speaker 13 So voting rights acts issues here, I mean, just self-evident.

Speaker 19 Yes.

Speaker 13 They were previously held by heroes in Texas. Heroes that have gone out and fought that fight for generations, and they're changing the demographics to be able to put someone else in there.

Speaker 13 That's just a nice. Like Barbara Jordan.

Speaker 22 Congressional District 18. You know, she was the first African-American woman of color from the South elected to the Congress.
She was part of the impeachment trials against President Nixon.

Speaker 13 Legend.

Speaker 22 That district is a historic African-American community of which now that seat sits open

Speaker 22 because Governor Abbott, after the death of Congressman Turner, refused to allow a special election in that seat.

Speaker 22 And so when you look at the big, ugly bill that has passed by one vote, you know how important the voices of that community are.

Speaker 22 And so yes, it is shameful that being at 60 years of the Civil Rights Act signed by President Johnson from Texas, that we now face discrimination by Governor Abbott bending the knee to Trump and wanting to steal five seats before the next election cycle.

Speaker 22 And so that's what we know is on the line, not just for Texas. This sweeps across the nation.

Speaker 13 And that's a point

Speaker 13 a number of you have made. This is not, again, just about Texas.
And we're already reading about, we saw yesterday J.D.

Speaker 13 Vance himself, the Vice President of the United States, made his way to Indiana to try to convince the folks there to do the same.

Speaker 13 We've already heard the Speaker of the House and the governor of Florida talk about their efforts or their desire to do their efforts.

Speaker 13 We know Ohio is already moving in this direction, Missouri, other states that likely will follow suit. So to your point,

Speaker 13 this is about rigging the election before a vote is cast, before 2026.

Speaker 13 And that's, is that, so is that fundamentally why you guys not only are breaking quorum, not only for yourself and standing tall and firm on behalf of the people that you represent and your own values and your own conscience, I imagine.

Speaker 13 We'll get to that in a moment. But also to raise the alarm bells across the country.
This is not about your state, it's about our country.

Speaker 13 Exactly.

Speaker 21 I didn't see how we couldn't not break quorum because it wasn't just about us. It was about saving democracy for the entire United States.

Speaker 21 Once this trick will effect, if everyone can do that, why do we have laws? You know, to me, it was so serious

Speaker 21 because of the future of the United States.

Speaker 13 And what district do you represent in Texas?

Speaker 21 I'm in Houston. I represent House District 144.

Speaker 13 And are your constituents, are they behind you? Are people applauding you? Are they cautious and concerned and concerned for you, concerned for their country, don't know if this is appropriate?

Speaker 13 What's been the reaction?

Speaker 21 Well, I'm probably the only one here who has a swing district.

Speaker 21 I'm like a 50-50 district.

Speaker 21 So it's

Speaker 21 on, I guess, on social media I get certain comments, but I have enough friends that they will correct them and try to enlighten them on what's really going on.

Speaker 21 Some of them are obviously bots, and you just kind of don't pay attention to those. But, you know,

Speaker 21 I've had a lot of support, which I think is great, even from the other side, which I think is wonderful.

Speaker 13 Are you finding that as well, most of you?

Speaker 19 I mean, I think it's relevant to mention that I had a swing district the last time we broke quorum in 2021. Things changed for me after the

Speaker 19 maps were drawn that they thought were okay.

Speaker 19 And so I came back with a more democratic district, and now my constituency is spot on, like, yes, please do this. We appreciate what you're doing.
And I wasn't getting that last time.

Speaker 19 Last time it was like, you better get

Speaker 13 back.

Speaker 13 Yes. And how long, by the way, let's go back to 2021.
How long did that last?

Speaker 13 How long was quorum broken? About six weeks?

Speaker 21 Six weeks? 35 days?

Speaker 19 Yeah, six weeks. It was over.

Speaker 22 I mean, a quorum break, as a member one,

Speaker 22 this is the ultimate act of public service. We all wanted these jobs.
We all put ourselves in the position that if we ever had to do it, we would.

Speaker 22 And we recognize this is bigger than any seat, any job, any individual. And we have left everything behind.
We have left our families, we have left our businesses, we have left our homes.

Speaker 22 It means our neighbors are checking on our houses. Our families are picking up all the things that are left behind.
People are asking how they can pitch in.

Speaker 22 But we all recognized the unfortunate circumstance of being in a state right now that is run by an almost super majority of Republicans, where when they rammed through this attempt to steal five seats, and 99% of the thousands of people that came to testify against this bill said, don't do it.

Speaker 22 We don't want this. This is not for Texas.
This is purely for Trump. Within a couple of days, they put it down, got a vote, threw it on the calendar, and tried to get it on the floor.

Speaker 22 We all recognized the only way we could uphold the voice of our voters was to physically have our body leave the state. And that is a sad comment on where we are right now.

Speaker 22 And at a time where you talk about every state and the domino effect of just trying to make it purely red or purely blue, at a time when voters desperately want us to find common ground, find a way to talk with each other, find a way to cross the aisle, when our colleagues just refused to participate in that and again bent the knee to Trump.

Speaker 22 We have had to take this extraordinary act. And so, yeah, a couple extra days.

Speaker 22 It does mean a lot because you have more than 50 members held up together in unison together, desperately trying to do the right thing against the vitriol of attacks that are so much worse than four years ago.

Speaker 22 We weren't experiencing the threats. that we are now getting that is being,

Speaker 22 I mean, I'm your former chief human trafficking prosecutor in houston i've had criminals threaten my life before i never thought it would be coming from the governor the attorney general or others in elected offices

Speaker 13 like hunting people down that's right that's very i mean come on what you were didn't you write an op-ed showing a little bit of i mean

Speaker 13 potential

Speaker 13 residence i mean just you weren't necessarily i mean you just you didn't come to this lightly oh no yeah i mean you were no no no you struggled with this decision we all did i mean we all did we all have been hearing the rumors that this might happen.

Speaker 22 I think we all

Speaker 22 had a hope and an expectation because we know nobody really wants to do this.

Speaker 22 I think we all had a hope and an expectation that maybe our colleagues would come to their senses and not attempt this because it is going to be a domino effect and it is going to hurt democracy nationwide.

Speaker 22 This is not just about Texas.

Speaker 22 But when they filed the bill and then when they effectively put up sham hearings, We didn't even have a bill at the time that they went to Houston or Dallas and asked the voters to comment.

Speaker 22 They didn't even have the lines. They held the lines in secrecy.
They didn't have a map. No map.
And they dropped it at the last minute.

Speaker 22 At that point, you not only realized that this was rigging the election, this was a sham of a process of transparency.

Speaker 22 So at the time that government is supposed to work, at a time where at least 137 people died in central Texas.

Speaker 13 I'm going to get my arms around that. Again, where the hell are your priorities?

Speaker 22 And we've been there for two weeks. We've been there for two weeks.
There are 18 items on the call. Not one bill had been put forth except for redistricting.
Only one.

Speaker 22 And that does show their priorities.

Speaker 21 That's the first thing we did the first two weeks that we were there.

Speaker 13 Not just anyone listening. I don't care, Democrat or Republican, as a human being, just consider, pause, and reflect on that for a moment.

Speaker 13 There's your values and your priorities, the things you lay claim to, particularly as we bring people to the, you know, I think about Sunday service. Yes.
I think about the good book. Yes.

Speaker 13 Try to square that with their priorities as it relates to this. But are there colleagues of yours that are quietly saying, you know,

Speaker 13 just got to do this one for the team? You know, Trump called.

Speaker 13 I've got to wear my red cape.

Speaker 13 You know,

Speaker 13 I don't see a single Republican defending the actual details of the bill.

Speaker 13 And I think part of the issue is this bill was so rushed, I don't think anybody has really fully looked at the level of discrimination that exists in this map.

Speaker 13 If this passes, Texas Hispanics will be the most underrepresented group in America,

Speaker 13 exceeding the levels of discrimination that still exist in many parts of the deep south with black residents in the state.

Speaker 13 The level of underrepresentation is something that will take Texas Hispanics back to the 1960s.

Speaker 13 But because Donald Trump wants it, he wants this temporary gain of power. He's going to sacrifice Hispanics, blacks, to get it.

Speaker 13 And I think that Republicans know that this is illegal.

Speaker 13 But the problem is they want to deliver those five votes at all costs to Donald Trump, but it's going to deliver a temporary gain in power because they're leaving it up to the courts to clean up this mess.

Speaker 13 So it's going to have an impact on California. It's going to have an impact in New York that they're proposing an overtly racist map to try to get two years of political power for Donald Trump.

Speaker 13 We've seen this in North Carolina and we've seen this in Louisiana. North Carolina, perfect example.

Speaker 19 And that's a, I'm sorry, that's a word. Thank you, Vince, for saying that.
That's a word that we're not even allowed to say on the House floor. What word? Racist.
Racist.

Speaker 13 What do you you mean you can't say that on the House floor?

Speaker 19 We're not allowed to say

Speaker 19 racist or call it what it is.

Speaker 22 We're not allowed to call it what it is.

Speaker 19 And so we are encouraged to not call it a power grab, to definitely say that this is racial gerrymandering. And

Speaker 19 it really is. You know,

Speaker 19 Vince talked about the reduction of power for Latinos, but for black people, it means that it will take four black votes to equal one white vote. So,

Speaker 19 you know, and I and I have to

Speaker 19 talk about some of what it means to me. And you talked about the 18th Congressional District that I grew up in.
You know, one of those members, Barbara Jordan was my sorority sister.

Speaker 19 But Mickey Leland, I held his hand as he announced his bid in my home for Congress when he left the state house.

Speaker 19 And the fact that the 18th has no representation right now, though I represent in Dallas, it still matters to me. You know, that's my family that is not represented right now.

Speaker 21 And just let me add, and it's been vacant, Sylvester died March 5th, and so that's how long it's been. And he set the hear the election for November

Speaker 21 just so that they could have the votes the way they have it in Congress.

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Speaker 13 You mentioned earlier just threats, and you know, we talked about language.

Speaker 13 We talked about some of

Speaker 13 the threats we know about. But we also, you had a notable bomb threat

Speaker 13 in Illinois just a day or so ago. I mean, back to your families and someone checking, and you said, just checking in on your home.

Speaker 13 I still go back to the financial pressure, but this is a part-time job, and you're going to to end up paying fines that are greater than your entire gross salary.

Speaker 13 They even made it more difficult to even get paid, I'm told.

Speaker 13 But no longer direct deposits forcing you to pay

Speaker 13 for your meager check in person.

Speaker 13 Pick it up in person. Yeah, well, petty doesn't even describe some of this.
But back to just your personal,

Speaker 13 your family, your safety. I mean, I don't want to be mild about it, but I mean, that's got to be a real concern, no? Well, on the the flight over here I got a text message from the daughter of my

Speaker 13 90-year-old neighbor and there were six police units that showed up to the neighborhood today. They got down, they tried to get into the backyard and they looked around.

Speaker 13 It stretched the length of the entire street.

Speaker 13 It was clearly an excessive show of force, an expensive use of tax dollars that is just clearly designed to intimidate and just cause anxiety.

Speaker 13 And that's all it did, is just cause anxiety within my neighbors and my neighborhood.

Speaker 13 But that was just this morning morning on the way over here, and other members had similar experiences

Speaker 13 where there's been this level of intimidation.

Speaker 20 Well, it's a lawlessness that comes from the top, right? It's not surprising that vigilantes will engage in lawlessness when our president

Speaker 20 turns on its head the idea of elections by saying we're going to have, we're going to predetermine the election by manipulating these maps so as to segregate racial minorities so that we get five more members of Congress.

Speaker 20 We have our senator acting outside the bounds of the law to ask the FBI to surveil political opponents in the United States of America. Our governor backing that plan.

Speaker 20 So I have a son at home who is in middle school. And yes, it's hard to leave my family behind, but we went to Philadelphia this summer for a vacation, family vacation.

Speaker 20 And it hit different this time around to be at Independence Hall to remember

Speaker 20 this is why we exist. Representation is why we exist.
And so, yes,

Speaker 20 the pull away from family, being apart from them, is hard, but I do it because of my son.

Speaker 13 Yeah, I love that.

Speaker 13 And we're about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the principles of the founding fathers, the best of Greek democracy, the Roman Republic, co-equal branches of government, popular sovereignty, rule of law.

Speaker 13 It's not exaggerated, all of it at risk. And this is, I mean,

Speaker 13 I really applaud you because you've given us, I mean, it's, you know, it's like we talk about in psychology. We're, you know, so often those old enough to remember record players.

Speaker 13 But we're, you know, there's sort of a predictability until you scratch the record. There has to be a pattern interrupt.

Speaker 13 And I think for me, this quorum has done that, and it's forced a national conversation, as uncomfortable as it is. But behind that is your son.
Behind that are your families.

Speaker 13 Behind that is your reputation.

Speaker 13 I mean, you know, you're putting all out on the line, financial and otherwise. And, you know, politics is

Speaker 13 tough. And

Speaker 13 to your point, my question to you, in a swing district that could go either way,

Speaker 13 this doesn't necessarily aid in a bet in advancing your prospects necessarily. So just, you know, just once again, why are you doing it? What's the why? What's the burning why?

Speaker 21 I think it's the big picture democracy. Yeah.
That's really why we're doing it, right? To save the rest of the country.

Speaker 21 I believe my colleague here said it best the other day. She said, we get to keep our seats, but the entire country will lose their voice.

Speaker 21 And I just, that really hit home with me when Ann said that. And that's the truth, right?

Speaker 13 um speaking of losing just they walked in I guess Ken Paxson's just declared 13 seats vacant just

Speaker 13 seconds ago

Speaker 13 the United States of Ken Paxson

Speaker 13 dictator-in-chief

Speaker 13 just with this kind of declaration I mean guys we're at a point when nothing surprises you no no I love it I say that and you're all just non-plus

Speaker 22 you know and it is frightening because you bring up Ken Paxson you know I was also on the impeachment team where he was put before the Senate The Senate had an opportunity to try to do the right thing.

Speaker 22 It was their Republican colleagues that were saying, hey, this guy

Speaker 22 is corrupt.

Speaker 13 Yeah, it was two years ago.

Speaker 22 But, you know, it's a challenge because we have two split courts, the Texas Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals.

Speaker 22 When the Court of Criminal Appeals, all Republicans, when three of them took a stand and gave a ruling opposed to Paxton on constitutional grounds, He went after them politically.

Speaker 22 And unfortunately, he won. And that's what we talk about right right now.
The guardrails are missing. The guardrails within the Republican Party are missing.

Speaker 22 When you have them taking these steps, these extraordinary steps, this didn't happen four years ago.

Speaker 22 This is at a rapid fire that they think they can go to the courts, they can manipulate the courts, that the courts will not be there to be a backstop.

Speaker 22 It is part of the reason that we are trying to get catch fire with the people, with the people.

Speaker 22 They are the last line of defense. The folks within the Republican Party will not say no to this.
It is up to the voters.

Speaker 22 And that's why they are so desperately trying to cheat and change the lines because it is up to the voters.

Speaker 22 And that's why we are desperately trying to have everybody stand up, as California is doing, and saying, you cannot let these dominoes start to fall because we will completely lose our way.

Speaker 20 Because Republicans aren't free.

Speaker 20 The elected Republicans, I had a Republican member of Congress from Texas say, I don't want this. None of my colleagues want this, but none none of us will say no to Trump, so it will happen.

Speaker 20 And time and time again, we hear this refrain from our Republican colleagues. They don't agree with what's happening, but they won't stand up against it.

Speaker 20 We had Donald Trump weigh in the day of the vote, this regular session, on

Speaker 20 vouchers. We had a big fight that lasted years on taking money out of our neighborhood public schools and putting it into private schools for kids who already attend.
Texas is through and through,

Speaker 20 public schools are through and through part of our identity as Texans, right?

Speaker 20 And many Republicans were against vouchers, but Donald Trump called on the day of the vote and talked to all of the Republicans, and they supported it, even though their constituents were against it.

Speaker 20 They will not say no.

Speaker 21 And in return, they were all endorsed by Trump.

Speaker 13 Of course. All of them have their little letters.
letters. Yeah, they all have their little letters.

Speaker 21 And they post them proudly.

Speaker 13 Yeah, and you know, the other, I think, if you start to kind of think about the far-reaching implications of what these shenanigans are going to create, you know, the world is looking at us.

Speaker 13 They're looking at the American democracy that we've been trying to nurture for the last 250 years and saying, gee, we wish we could get to where you are. What they're going to see is that

Speaker 13 it's being eroded. They're going to see that the value of the American system is not what it used to be and it puts us in a completely different position knowing that uh world politics are very uh

Speaker 13 you know

Speaker 13 right now very fragile and they need someone with the strength that we've had in the past to be able to firmly say what we need to do and how we're going to lead democracy forward That hand is gone, is going, it's fading.

Speaker 13 And now what are we going to do?

Speaker 13 There are a lot of of countries that look to the United States, to the democracy, to the way of life that we've established over 250 years and saying, what the world, what are we going to do now?

Speaker 13 That's important. And that is what's going to go in the history books.
If they allow those history books to be printed, of course, but that's what's going to go down in those history books.

Speaker 13 That's what people are going to remember. That's what my 14 grandchildren are going to remember.
When they say, grandpa, what did you do during that time? I can tell them exactly what I did.

Speaker 13 But we've got to be able to tell that story to generations coming up so that we don't repeat the mistakes that we're creating right now.

Speaker 13 You're sitting there.

Speaker 13 There's a big

Speaker 13 stake in this.

Speaker 13 I love everything you said. I love the spirit, which

Speaker 13 brought you to say it. And it's just for what it's worth.
You're in a library with a lot of books. that have been banned as they're rewriting history, censoring historical facts.

Speaker 13 You're seeing that in real time. So what you said was,

Speaker 13 I hope people paused and reflected on what you said. It wasn't just a throwaway line.
It's quite literal and real at this moment. So, begs the question, you know, held out 37 days, 2021.

Speaker 13 How come didn't necessarily go your way ultimately there?

Speaker 13 Governor, I'm intimately familiar with this, forgive me, has the ability to call another special session and then another special session. I heard your governor yesterday say he'll call another,

Speaker 13 you know,

Speaker 13 until the end of time, or at least the end of his time as his tenure as governor. So where does that leave you? In the private conversations, I don't need to get into tactics or any of that.
But

Speaker 13 we're all asking, how long are you willing to hold out?

Speaker 13 When's the end date of this special election?

Speaker 13 When are you going to be back, seeing your grandkids? When are you going to see the family? When are you going to

Speaker 13 reconcile the books and figure out how to pay these fines?

Speaker 20 So that is the question we always get. Everyone wants to know how does this end? It's human nature.
Our lesson from the 21 quorum break was we stood up to fight to win for the day.

Speaker 20 We could win for the day and the next day we took it as it came.

Speaker 20 Because of our bold act of defiance last time, we shamed Republicans into taking out those two egregious provisions that I described at the beginning of this program. They couldn't defend them.

Speaker 20 So they took them out of the bill ultimately, the most egregious parts.

Speaker 20 And so essentially, we save free and fair elections in Texas with our quorum break. The bill passed, but it wasn't the same bill.
You just can't know what tomorrow brings.

Speaker 20 We can only fight to win today.

Speaker 13 Yes. Like that.
So day by day.

Speaker 19 Surely.

Speaker 13 I have to go back to the financial stress, though.

Speaker 13 I mean, you now have threats that anyone who aids and abets, quote unquote, you seeking some support related to these fines

Speaker 13 will somehow be charged for bribery.

Speaker 13 They've quite literally threatened that on multiple occasions. Your elected leaders in your state.

Speaker 13 So, people that are, I mean, I imagine I'll be on that list shortly

Speaker 13 if we're not already being surveilled by the FBI

Speaker 13 with

Speaker 13 this visit.

Speaker 13 I mean,

Speaker 13 how do you talk to your kids about that? Say, don't worry, honey. We're good.
You're husband or wife,

Speaker 13 home saying, you know, you're already, I mean, this, again, you're not getting rich.

Speaker 13 We're working in this.

Speaker 19 I definitely, thank you for bringing that up. I want to speak to that because I am one of the only or maybe very few that are full-time legislators in a part-time legislature.

Speaker 19 I don't have another job.

Speaker 13 Wow.

Speaker 19 So I don't think any of us are in it for the money though.

Speaker 13 I want you to clearly. No,

Speaker 13 I don't think we are.

Speaker 19 I don't think we are. And I honestly think, you know, my husband has given up on, you know, that she's not about public service.

Speaker 19 And so it really is about us serving the people and the constituents that we have, listening to them, representing them in a way that they know that we're their voice.

Speaker 19 You know, when they go to that ballot box, we want them to know that their voice really does count and their vote counts

Speaker 19 and that we're going to speak in their best interests and on their behalf. And I think nobody can buy that.
You just really can't buy that.

Speaker 19 And I think in a district that in 2018, with the help of my community, I was able to flip, I think they know that that's the person they have sitting there.

Speaker 19 And I can't be bought, and I'm going to always stick up for them.

Speaker 13 So.

Speaker 13 Nice.

Speaker 22 And it does show how desperate they are. I mean, they have threatened our leadership positions.
They've threatened our job. They're now trying to vacate.
They're threatened direct deposit.

Speaker 22 I mean, they literally are throwing anything and everything at the wall. These allegations of bribery.
They're throwing all this stuff that they can at the wall.

Speaker 22 And I think it shows how desperate they are that they have to perform for Donald Trump. And they're going to look embarrassed if they don't get it done this time.

Speaker 22 I will say it's a little rich for these guys to make an allegation of bribery, given the fact that Dan Patrick took $3 million on the eve of the trial before he presided in Paxton from one of Paxton's biggest donor.

Speaker 22 It's a little rich for the governor when he took $12 million from an individual out of Pennsylvania who had an interest in getting the vouchers passed.

Speaker 22 And so we know that what they are is just throwing up desperate allegations because they're doing anything and everything that they can to try to force us back.

Speaker 22 But again, it just strengthens our resolve because it shows us how desperate they are to not serve the interests of the people, but to serve the interests of Donald Trump. And that's not who we serve.

Speaker 20 And it has not slowed down contributions. Yeah.

Speaker 13 I can imagine maybe the opposite. I imagine it's only accelerated that.
And it is.

Speaker 22 We, like anybody else, it's also ironic that Governor Abbott sent out an email talking about us and had a donate link at the bottom.

Speaker 13 Of course.

Speaker 22 Yes, we are elected officials who campaign and people can send us contributions.

Speaker 22 And that is, you know, what keeps us having the ability to lift our voice and be able to campaign and be able to put out an opposing position to these guys that are out there.

Speaker 13 And look, the damage that's going to be done to generations of Texas kids who are going to grow up in a society where if you're Hispanic or black, the government's not going to feel they're accountable to you.

Speaker 13 The way these lines are drawn, the government's only going to be accountable to one particular group. I mean, what kind of society are they going to grow up in?

Speaker 13 It is going to take us generations if we go back to the 1960s and have our own version of the civil rights struggle all over again here in 2025.

Speaker 13 So the damage that's going to be done to future generations of Texans honestly pales in comparison to whatever it is they're going to do to any of us. And I think a lot of members feel that way.

Speaker 13 And that's why I think they're just so determined in their result. I love it.

Speaker 13 And I appreciate it. I mean, just a reflection, California has about 39% of its population is Hispanic, 27% of its population foreign-born, a majority-minority state.

Speaker 13 It's a point of deep pride that we don't tolerate. We celebrate that diversity.
At our best, we celebrate that diversity. Texas is right there and now looking to exceed.

Speaker 13 It's an extraordinary state, isn't it? And so this notion of representation, of representing everybody having a voice, seeing themselves as well,

Speaker 13 is so critical. And so I really appreciate you highlighting that.
What do we need to highlight, though? What's the message? Look, you're here in California. I'm grateful.

Speaker 13 We're about to have a press conference with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, other congressional representatives. You're going to be here with my pro tem and speaker of our legislature.

Speaker 13 We're We're moving forward very aggressively to neutralize neuter, to elimin the five seats. We'll do the same here in California.
So all of this is for not,

Speaker 13 Donald Trump. All of this is for not.
It's show.

Speaker 13 And we will fight fire with fire. And we will punch above our weight.
California is the size of 21 state populations combined. We're not here for a press conference.

Speaker 13 We're here to take action and we're here to deliver results. And we're going to do it in a transparent way, a temporary way, because we believe in independent redistricting.

Speaker 13 We'll do it on the basis of a vote of the people as well, respecting and, as you said, the people. And in democracy, the most important office, Brandeis said, is the office of citizens.

Speaker 13 So this notion of transparent maps and active non-inert citizenship is foundational. But what more do we need to do? What do other states need to do?

Speaker 22 You know, it's... I think folks, when they talk about redistricting and they say, oh, those guys are just redistricting, I don't think they understand this is not normal.

Speaker 22 We don't redistrict mid-decade. And even if we think about the last time we redistricted, states like yours, where you have an independent commission, you allowed the people to draw the lines.

Speaker 22 Many of us have offered legislation in Texas to have an independent commission, to have the people draw the lines.

Speaker 22 I think people forget Republicans in those states started the game last decade already carving up districts to give them a heavy advantage.

Speaker 22 And even with that cheat, when other folks are letting their people do it, here we are four years in. They know they're about to to lose and so they want to redraw it again

Speaker 22 we appreciate greatly the courage that California is stepping showing the fact that you have stepped up and immediately said Texas what's good for the goose is good for the gander but what we hope to do is lift a conversation in which wouldn't it be great wouldn't it be great if the nation said you know what we should all let the people draw the lines we should all do an independent commission and get politicians out of drawing our lines and so we are grateful that you are willing to as you say fight fire with fire because when one group is playing by one set of rules and not allowing the others to play by an equal set of rules, it violates the fundamental fairness of who we are as people and a nation.

Speaker 13 Appreciate that.

Speaker 13 And one of the things that we intend to do with the consent of the legislature and ultimately present to the voters in a special election the first week in November, so in a very short period of time, is also a commitment

Speaker 13 to support a national independent redistricting commission. So we want to reinforce that principle and that paradigm.

Speaker 13 And that's why we're looking at this as an emergency response to this outrageous act in this mid-decade redistricting. But again, it's not just rhetorical.

Speaker 13 And I think, look, one of the big frustrations I have often with my party, with our party, the Democratic Party, is fire and fury oftentimes signifying little or nothing.

Speaker 13 Sometimes we just sit there and we're on the side. We feel there's a weakness sometimes because we sort of we push back, but we're not delivering on the counter.

Speaker 13 And that's why it's, I think, really critical that we're successful here in California. We have to deliver an equal reaction that actually produces a real result.

Speaker 13 What more can we do in our state, but other states as well, to actually deliver, not just in moral support, not talk about sort of the better angels,

Speaker 13 and not just have your back rhetorically, but to get back on the offensive, not just constantly being shapeshift by these folks on the receiving end.

Speaker 13 24-7, I joke all the time, it's not a joke, but everything with three letters, ESG, DEI,

Speaker 13 CRT, IRS, FBI, except when they need to weaponize them,

Speaker 13 EPA, we're constantly on the receiving end on this redistricting.

Speaker 13 at least we feel like we have a tool, and that's the people themselves, we the people that can exercise their moral and formal formal authority

Speaker 13 to neutralize what's happening in Texas and to get back.

Speaker 13 But what else do you want to see across this country in a more meaningful and substantive way?

Speaker 20 I think Americans and Texans for sure want to see how these things impact their daily lives.

Speaker 20 For me, part of why, yes, there is the big picture

Speaker 20 representation democracy goals, but ultimately, this is about higher prices at the grocery stores and how these

Speaker 20 pay-to-play tariffs that Donald Trump is implementing are hurting everyday Americans, everyday Texans. It's about a hit to financial aid and

Speaker 2 ability for

Speaker 20 Latino communities in Texas to attend college, but all communities, right, they rely on that kind of aid and what Donald Trump is doing to that, hit to health care, hit to neighborhood schools.

Speaker 20 The list goes on, and those are real threats to Americans that will continue to get worse if this goes unchecked.

Speaker 20 And so I think ideas for how ideas and examples of how this big picture conversation is impacting their everyday lives.

Speaker 20 And will protect, that's why we have representation, to protect the people against harm and abuse from the politicians, to hold them accountable. That's what Donald Trump is taking away.

Speaker 20 And the more we can speak to

Speaker 20 people's daily lives and the way what we do impacts them, I think the better. Love that.

Speaker 13 It's not just about drawing lines, it's sort of holding the line, having a line of accountability, oversight, back to this notion of co-equal branches of government

Speaker 13 and this fundamental notion of what underneath all of it it's about, which is about

Speaker 13 having the aspirations in mind of the American people, having them masters of not just your district, your state, but our nation and addressing all of these profound issues.

Speaker 13 And as you you say, on the tariffs and everything else. I mean, that's to, at the end of the day, it is about all of those issues.
So that's important.

Speaker 13 What else do we need to sort of raise in terms of consciousness around, again, the why this is so important?

Speaker 13 Well, I can tell you, what I tell all my folks is that, listen, as elected officials, we do this day in and day out. We're always having the dialogue.

Speaker 13 We have an in-depth understanding, and sometimes we overcomplicate the process.

Speaker 13 What we need to do is to get those moms and dads to get up early in the morning, dress their kids, take them to school, drop them off, pick them up in the afternoon, take them to daycare, go to the grocery store, pay for the eggs and the milk, to have that conversation of how, what this economy is doing to them at the town square, have that discussion among themselves and understand what the impact is to America.

Speaker 13 Because as elected officials, we say it all the time. And sometimes they don't have time to listen to what we're telling them.
It's important. They get it.
They just don't have time.

Speaker 13 They're taking care of their lives. They're trying to cook the dinner.
They're trying to get their kids off to school.

Speaker 13 So, what I tell everyone, get with your neighbors, whatever that town square is for you, whether it's your homeowner's association or some event that you happen to go to, take the discussion there and raise the issues, how it's affecting you directly.

Speaker 13 I think if we do that, I think the entire country will understand and understand we've got to do something different.

Speaker 13 And that's, I think, the only way we're going to really be successful. I love it.

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Speaker 22 We need folks who are sick and tired of being sick and tired to get up and vote the next election day.

Speaker 13 Amen.

Speaker 19 That's what I was going to say. I mean, to Gina's point, the loss of access to health care, and especially when we look at taking food out of children's mouths and the stat benefits that are gone.

Speaker 13 But

Speaker 19 we just want that message to resonate so much with people that they don't forget come November.

Speaker 19 So to Ann's point, that really brings it home for me that they don't forget when they go to that ballot box.

Speaker 21 People tend to have very short memories.

Speaker 21 And that's really sad because, and I think this is why the governor gets elected on the off years,

Speaker 21 right because people are like there's an election

Speaker 13 so

Speaker 13 but I think educating the voters on the big picture whatever that big picture is to them is probably the best thing to do yeah and I would say in this moment I think the more Americans who learn about the details of the map I think more Americans should be outraged at what's being proposed.

Speaker 13 I don't care if you're Republican or Democrat, if you're white, black, Latino, what are the implications of a government that feels like it is not going to be accountable to a large segment of its population?

Speaker 13 It's going to be held accountable to a small segment that it's going to hand-pick.

Speaker 13 In order for democracy to work, we need our government to be accountable to all people, regardless of race, regardless of where they live. And that's not what's happening here.

Speaker 13 So whether you're Republican or Democrat,

Speaker 13 you want a government that's going to be held accountable to everybody, not their just hand-picked constituents. And I would say, too, look, clearly what happens in Texas affects California.

Speaker 13 And we have years, 30 years of Republican rule where they have systematically designed and drawn these lines to ensure that black and Hispanic residents don't vote.

Speaker 13 The overwhelming number of Latinos and blacks in Texas are stuck in districts that are uncompetitive.

Speaker 13 And they're there where there's a 90, 80, 90, 95% Latino population because that's the best way for Republicans to throw away votes.

Speaker 13 And so how do we activate these large segments of Texas that have been active for so long?

Speaker 13 I think it's going to take a national effort from the Democratic Party, but I think people from all states, because there are just large segments of our population who just don't see any reason to vote, but that's the way the government has created it.

Speaker 20 Don't give up on Texas. Also, Texas really, without all this

Speaker 20 grift, the grift, like we could do a whole segment on just the grift, but without all the grift and the manipulation, Texas is a purple state.

Speaker 20 We have not, we say Texas Democrats were the ATM for the rest of the nation. We need investment in Texas.
We export, our Republicans to Texas export all the worst ideas to the national level.

Speaker 20 You want us to flip. It's over when we flip, right?

Speaker 20 So

Speaker 20 that's what I would encourage. People think Texas is crazy.
Yes.

Speaker 20 Crazy things come out of Texas, but we see in our communities that Texans are open. Texans are open to being persuaded.
They care about what you're going to do to help them in their own lives.

Speaker 20 And I would say,

Speaker 20 please take a chance on Texas, invest in Texas.

Speaker 13 Spectacular state and spectacular representatives from the state. And I really appreciate, Mara.
And just for folks listening, watching, you guys flew in. You're going to fly right out.

Speaker 13 And that means the world to all of us that are trying to raise awareness, raise the alarm bells of this moment where we we get so easily distracted by sugar and Coca-Cola or whatever the new distraction in Alcatraz may be,

Speaker 13 what's really happening to this country. It is code red.
It is code red. And this only highlights, this punctuates what's at stake.

Speaker 13 The Trump presidency de facto ends in less than 18 months if we get Speaker Jeffries back into office. Donald Trump knows that.
They're on the run.

Speaker 13 They know they will lose the midterms if they do do not rig them. And that's what this is all about.

Speaker 13 And the fact that you are willing to sacrifice so much your personal as well as professional reputation to be here and to be everywhere you've been.

Speaker 13 Everybody listening should owe you and do, I think, owe you a debt of gratitude, regardless of party.

Speaker 13 This is about fundamental, enduring principles that have served the world, not just our country, for 249 years.

Speaker 13 So I'm deeply grateful, and I'm proud as well to have this opportunity in a transparent way to have this conversation, this private conversation, more publicly. So people understand

Speaker 13 why you're out here and the opportunity now to share that more publicly with this press conference, with Speaker Amerita Nancy Pelosi and talk more about the stakes. Thank you all very much.

Speaker 13 Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for having us. Thank you.

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Speaker 27 Avocado, dream of better.

Speaker 1 This is an iHeart podcast.