Speaker 1: Governor.
Speaker 2: How are you.
Speaker 3: It's good to see you, glad to see the ties on.
Speaker 3: I didn't know who you guys were. Thank you, guys
Speaker 3: just literally just got in Yes, thank you amazing, And
Speaker 3: I'm grateful for everything you're doing. And I'm grateful of
Speaker 3: this opportunity to have a chance to dialogue about it
Speaker 3: and talk about you know, what exactly is going on
Speaker 3: at this moment, where do you see things going? But
Speaker 3: in order to paint the picture of this moment, I
Speaker 3: want to just formally welcome you to Ronald Reagan's old mansion,
Speaker 3: the place that Nancy Reagan infamously said was a fire
Speaker 3: trap before they moved out. It's been since remodeled, so
Speaker 3: you should feel more confident and comfortable here. But it's
Speaker 3: nice to be here. And I say that mindful of
Speaker 3: our history in the state of California, and mindful in
Speaker 3: many ways how far we've gone, uh and how far
Speaker 3: we have traveled away from some of the core principles
Speaker 3: that defined the best of the Republican Party. And so
Speaker 3: without getting nostalgia for that, I just want to acknowledge
Speaker 3: the journey that you guys are on and express gratitude
Speaker 3: that you're not just here in California, but you've been
Speaker 3: all across your colleagues, all across this country. But first,
Speaker 3: if I could, I just want to briefly contextualized, because
Speaker 3: yesterday I experienced, in a modest way, a little bit
Speaker 3: about all that you've experienced in Texas. Coming from July fourth,
Speaker 3: a very close friend of my wife's family passed away,
Speaker 3: Mark and his wife Sarah, and his son Johnny Mark Walker,
Speaker 3: the Walker family passed in the floods in Texas. My
Speaker 3: wife had the privilege of speaking a little bit at
Speaker 3: the memorial yesterday, and it was beyond intense. Johnny's fourteen
Speaker 3: years old, the age of my son. They live in
Speaker 3: the neighborhood, and it really brought me back to what
Speaker 3: this is all about, this special session, what the special
Speaker 3: session should be about. Yes, I think what it was
Speaker 3: one hundred and thirty seven people lost their life, thirty
Speaker 3: five children kids, And that's what a special session as
Speaker 3: a governor should be all about, exactly. And I haven't
Speaker 3: heard a lot talked about those families torn as under,
Speaker 3: those lives lost, people that are still healing. What in
Speaker 3: a dry eye in the church for.
Speaker 4: Rest are for redistricting, not for flood relief legislation for
Speaker 4: redistricting legislation.
Speaker 3: Says everything you need to know at this moment. So
Speaker 3: if I may, I'd love as we go around, and
Speaker 3: I want to make this as easy and casual as
Speaker 3: it possibly can be. Just jump in if you could
Speaker 3: introduce yourself so people that are listening know who you are.
Speaker 3: But what you just said just strikes the core of
Speaker 3: what this is all about. So you you have been
Speaker 3: threatened to be hunted down by the Attorney General of Texas, Paxston.
Speaker 3: You are being fined five hundred dollars a day in
Speaker 3: a job where you don't make a lot of money
Speaker 3: dollars a year, seven two hundred dollars a year a year,
Speaker 3: and you mean five five hundred dollars a day. You've
Speaker 3: got a guy named Cornyn who's running for reelection Senator.
Speaker 3: I say that because it's pretty obvious that it needs
Speaker 3: to be said. Running for reelection needed to get in
Speaker 3: on this now, threatening to send the FBI to find
Speaker 3: you even though you're hiding in playing sight.
Speaker 5: What's interesting that better is I kind of feel like
Speaker 5: we're in the perfect storm because you've got corn and
Speaker 5: running against Paxton, and they're trying to outdo the other
Speaker 5: who's gonna apprehend us for right. Then you have the
Speaker 5: governor who's also working on it, and I think maybe
Speaker 5: a little embarrassed he and the speaker both because we
Speaker 5: still haven't gotten gotten.
Speaker 3: So your attorney general is running for the United States
Speaker 3: Senate against incumbent Senator Cornyn, and they're trying to one
Speaker 3: up each other exactly and attacking you rhetorically and substances.
Speaker 4: And in the courts, breaking news, they just filed to
Speaker 4: remove me and twelve other of my colleagues in the
Speaker 4: Texas House.
Speaker 3: And the voice we're listening to.
Speaker 6: Is Gina Josse Gina.
Speaker 3: So that you have been picked with twelve of your colleagues,
Speaker 3: not all of your colleagues, but twelve. What's set about?
Speaker 6: I have no idea.
Speaker 4: We're all wondering the same thing, but yes, myself, and
Speaker 4: it was just filed by our attorney general in the
Speaker 4: Texas Supreme Court. It's called a quot what is it
Speaker 4: quote warrnte proceeding to remove us from office.
Speaker 3: So you've got a governor himself claiming some forty on
Speaker 3: that basis as well for simply quote unquote breaking a quorum.
Speaker 4: Which has been done for one hundred and fifty years
Speaker 4: by Texas legislators.
Speaker 3: To be clear, because American is Dare I say, apple
Speaker 3: pie breaking quorum to protect the minority against the whims
Speaker 3: of the majority.
Speaker 7: Yes, because if you don't have some rule in place
Speaker 7: for the minority, then the majority just completely runs you over.
Speaker 7: And this is an extraordinary step. It is not something
Speaker 7: that we take lightly. It is an exceptional and extraordinary
Speaker 7: act to write quorum. And so my name's Anne Johnson
Speaker 7: and I'm from Houston. I'm proud to sit with these
Speaker 7: other Democratic colleagues, and for some of us, this is
Speaker 7: now the second time we have had to do this
Speaker 7: in the last few years, and it really is an act.
Speaker 7: It is the last tool that the founding fathers gave
Speaker 7: to us in the minority to have available when you
Speaker 7: know that the majority has gone off the rails. And
Speaker 7: so we have been threatened with financial ruin, with arrest,
Speaker 7: but we are undeterred. And I think it highlights how
Speaker 7: important it is that if they will come at us
Speaker 7: this hard and we actually are in positions of power,
Speaker 7: look at how easily they run over those that are
Speaker 7: most vulnerable and don't have a voice. And so I
Speaker 7: think that's why we are really resolute or resolved that
Speaker 7: this is the right thing to do.
Speaker 3: And you said, this is not the first time. It
Speaker 3: was twenty twenty one, and that was for different reasons.
Speaker 3: Remind me what those reasons were. In twenty twenty one,
Speaker 3: it was.
Speaker 6: An anti voter bill.
Speaker 4: Go ahead, Well, it was a bill that made it
Speaker 4: much harder to vote. Two provisions in that bill that work.
Speaker 4: The most egregious was one that banned Sunday morning voting,
Speaker 4: which was a target on African American churches that have
Speaker 4: a long standing tradition of going after service as a
Speaker 4: faith community to vote together.
Speaker 6: The others.
Speaker 3: We know, well, that's right.
Speaker 4: The other provision would have given elected judges the ability
Speaker 4: to overturn election results, to overturn the will of the voters.
Speaker 4: And when those provisions were added in the middle, literally
Speaker 4: in the middle of the night, with no record of
Speaker 4: how they got into the bill, we left right.
Speaker 3: But you didn't have the level, or did you, of threats.
Speaker 3: You didn't have the five hundred dollars fine that was
Speaker 3: being a US. You didn't have senators calling for the
Speaker 3: FBI and calling the head of the FBI to sort
Speaker 3: of track you down right, Well.
Speaker 2: It seems to me and my name's right Lopus from
Speaker 2: San Antonio and up you know, in the House for
Speaker 2: a few years afew sessions, and it seems a difference
Speaker 2: between where we were a few years ago when we
Speaker 2: broke horm and where we were today is that while
Speaker 2: we have a lot of evil doers, and we've talked
Speaker 2: about who those people are, where it's the governor, the
Speaker 2: Attorney general, all the political gainsmanship that's being played, we
Speaker 2: also recognize that they are dancing to another evil doer
Speaker 2: and we did not have that kind of engagement before.
Speaker 2: And that's a president of the United States is encouraging them,
Speaker 2: giving them the path forward, giving them the tools like
Speaker 2: the FBI and others. We didn't battle that last time.
Speaker 2: We are battling it now. But it is layers of
Speaker 2: evildoers that are out there, and I mean, at some
Speaker 2: point we all need to understand, you know, who it
Speaker 2: is that we're up against. And it isn't just that
Speaker 2: one front that's attacking us. It's all those individuals that
Speaker 2: are behind them providing them that level of support. And
Speaker 2: it happens, it grows every day.
Speaker 3: It grows every day what I mean. So that's important
Speaker 3: to remind everybody just you know, people that are not
Speaker 3: tracking this hour by hour day to day, they're not
Speaker 3: watching cable news, which is one because that's that's the
Speaker 3: vast majority of people. The President of the United States.
Speaker 3: The origin story on this is the President called your governor,
Speaker 3: Greg Abbott, and the President asked him.
Speaker 1: To do what So I'm read of Boers read to Andrews.
Speaker 1: Bowers from Dallas and thank you for having today. But
Speaker 1: it's really about what's at stake, and I think that's
Speaker 1: what Ray was leading us into. So many people out
Speaker 1: there don't understand that this Texas special Session is not
Speaker 1: an isolated incident, and it truly has implications that will
Speaker 1: carry across the United States. You know, if this goes
Speaker 1: through with Texas, it can happen in so many other states.
Speaker 1: And you look at North Carolina, they already had something
Speaker 1: like this happened. So we're so glad to be here
Speaker 1: having this opportunity to chat with you today.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. And it happened because Donald Trump made
Speaker 3: a call and said find me five seats. Yep.
Speaker 2: He's made those kinds of calls before, as we well know.
Speaker 2: Called into Georgia, I need eleven thy twelve thousand, whatever.
Speaker 2: It was right good because he thinks he is above
Speaker 2: the law. He thinks he's the one that can interpret
Speaker 2: all action, and that everybody has a loyalty to him,
Speaker 2: and they do, but it's a loyalty to the devil
Speaker 2: to do his bidding so that they can get in
Speaker 2: a position of power.
Speaker 3: And the difference in four difference in Georgia, of course
Speaker 3: was right that he was told. Now he was told no.
Speaker 3: But in your state, your governor said yes, Ben Denis.
Speaker 8: And the only way you can get five additional seats
Speaker 8: in Texas is if you aggressively discriminate against the Hispanic
Speaker 8: and Black populations. You know, something's happening in Texas. That's
Speaker 8: that's unique. For the first time, the Latino population is
Speaker 8: actually going to exceed that of California on a percentage,
Speaker 8: based on a percentage, so we have over forty percent
Speaker 8: now Latinos in Texas. It is one of the most
Speaker 8: diverse states in the nation. But under this proposal, we
Speaker 8: have eleven million of white residents, eleven million Latino residents.
Speaker 8: Twenty six out of the thirty eight seats will be
Speaker 8: under white controlled districts. Well, Latinos are only being relegated
Speaker 8: to eight. That means that the Latin the value of
Speaker 8: a Latino resident in Texas is one third the value
Speaker 8: of a white resident.
Speaker 3: So that I mean there's a and am I right
Speaker 3: to have learned or read accurately that four out of
Speaker 3: the five seats they're talking about taking a majority of
Speaker 3: Hispanic districts, well three.
Speaker 1: Three for sure, three out of the four were African
Speaker 1: American three to the four right of America.
Speaker 3: But minority districts districts, so voting rice acts issues here,
Speaker 3: I mean just self evident.
Speaker 2: They were previously held by heroes in Texas, heroes that
Speaker 2: have gone out and fought that tight for generations, and
Speaker 2: they're changing the demographics to be able to put someone
Speaker 2: else in there. That's just like.
Speaker 7: Marbara Jordan Congressional District eighteen. You know, she was the
Speaker 7: first African American woman of color from the South elected
Speaker 7: to the Congress. She was part of the impeachment tronals
Speaker 7: against President legend. That district is a historic African American community,
Speaker 7: of which now that seat sits open because Governor Abbott
Speaker 7: after the death of Congressman Turner refused to allow a
Speaker 7: special election in that seat. And so when you look
Speaker 7: at the big, ugly bill that has passed by one vote,
Speaker 7: you know how important the voices of that community are.
Speaker 7: And so yes, it is shameful that being at sixty
Speaker 7: years of the Civil Rights Act signed by President Johnson
Speaker 7: from Texas, that we now face discrimination by Governor Abbott
Speaker 7: bending the need to Trump and wanting to steal five
Speaker 7: seats before the next election cycle. And so that's what
Speaker 7: we know is on the line. Not just for Texas,
Speaker 7: this sweeps across the nation.
Speaker 3: And that's the point now, number of you have made.
Speaker 3: This is not again just about Texas, and we're already
Speaker 3: reading about we saw yesterday j d Vance himself, the
Speaker 3: Vice President the United States, made his way to Indiana
Speaker 3: to try to convince the folks there to do the same.
Speaker 3: We've already heard the Speaker of the House and the
Speaker 3: governor of Florida talk about their efforts or their desire
Speaker 3: to do their efforts. We know Ohio is already moving
Speaker 3: in this direction, Missouri other states that likely will follow suits.
Speaker 3: So to your point, this is about rigging the election
Speaker 3: before vote is cast before twenty twenty six and that's so.
Speaker 3: Is that fundamentally, why you guys, not only are breaking quorum,
Speaker 3: not only for yourself and standing tall and firm on
Speaker 3: behalf of the people that you represent and your own
Speaker 3: values and your own conscience. I imagine we'll get to that
Speaker 3: in a moment. But also to raise the whole arm bells, sue,
Speaker 3: this is not about your state, It's about our country exactly.
Speaker 5: I didn't see how we couldn't not break quorum because
Speaker 5: it wasn't just about us, it was about saving democracy
Speaker 5: for the entire United States.
Speaker 3: What's this trickle effect?
Speaker 5: If everyone can do that, why did we have laws?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 5: To me, it was so serious because of the future
Speaker 5: of the United States.
Speaker 3: And what district do you represent in Texas?
Speaker 5: I'm in Houston, I represent how Sistrict one forty four.
Speaker 3: And are your constituents are they behind you? Are people
Speaker 3: plotting you? Or are they cautious and concerned and concerned
Speaker 3: for you, concern for their country. Don't know if this
Speaker 3: is appropriate. What's been the reaction.
Speaker 5: Well, I'm probably the only one here who has a
Speaker 5: swing district, right, I'm like fifty to fifty district, So
Speaker 5: it's on I guess on social media I get certain comments,
Speaker 5: but I have enough friends that they will correct them
Speaker 5: and try to enlighten them on what's.
Speaker 3: Really going on.
Speaker 5: Some of them are obviously bots, and you just kind
Speaker 5: of don't pay attention to those. But I've had a
Speaker 5: lot of support, which I think is great, even from
Speaker 5: the other side, which I think is wonderful.
Speaker 3: Are you finding that as well? Most of you are.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's relevant to mention that I
Speaker 1: had a swing district the last time we broke Korm
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one. Things changed for me after the
Speaker 1: maps were drawn that they thought were okay, and so
Speaker 1: I came back with the more democratic district and now
Speaker 1: my constituency is spot on, like, yes, please do this.
Speaker 1: We appreciate what you're doing. And I wasn't getting that
Speaker 1: last time. Last time it was like you better get
Speaker 1: get back.
Speaker 3: Yes. And how long, by the way, let's go back
Speaker 3: to twenty twenty one. How long did that last? How
Speaker 3: long it was corn broken?
Speaker 6: At least six week? Thirty five days?
Speaker 7: Yeah, sixty five days. I mean a quor and break
Speaker 7: as a member one, this is the ultimate act of
Speaker 7: public service. We all wanted these jobs. We all put
Speaker 7: ourselves in the position that if we ever had to
Speaker 7: do it, we would, and we recognize this is bigger
Speaker 7: than any seat, any job, any individual, and we have
Speaker 7: left everything behind. We have left our families, we have
Speaker 7: left our businesses, we have left our homes. It means
Speaker 7: our neighbors are checking on our houses, our families are
Speaker 7: picking up all the things that are left behind. People
Speaker 7: are asking how can they pitch in? But we all
Speaker 7: recognized the unfortunate circumstance of being in a state right
Speaker 7: now that is run by an almost super majority of Republicans,
Speaker 7: where when they rammed through this attempt to steal five seats,
Speaker 7: and ninety nine percent of the thousands of people that
Speaker 7: came to testify against this bill said, don't do it.
Speaker 7: We don't want this. This is not for Texas. This
Speaker 7: is purely for Trump. Within a couple of days, they
Speaker 7: put it down, got a vote, threw it on the calendar,
Speaker 7: and try to get it on the floor. We all
Speaker 7: recognize the only way we could uphold the voice of
Speaker 7: our voters was to physically have our body leave the state.
Speaker 7: And that is a sad comment on where we are
Speaker 7: right now and at a time where you talk about
Speaker 7: every state in the domino effect of just trying to
Speaker 7: make it purely red or purely blue at a time
Speaker 7: when voters desperately want us to find common ground, find
Speaker 7: a way to talk with each other, find a way
Speaker 7: to cross the aisle, when our colleagues just refuse to
Speaker 7: participate in that, and again bent the need of Trump,
Speaker 7: we have had to take this extraordinary act. And so, yeah,
Speaker 7: a couple extra days. It does mean a lot, because
Speaker 7: you have more than fifty members held up together in unison,
Speaker 7: together desperately trying to do the right thing against the
Speaker 7: vitriol of attacks that are so much worse than.
Speaker 6: Four years ago. We didn't we weren't.
Speaker 7: We weren't experiencing the threats that we are now getting.
Speaker 7: That is being I mean, I'm your former chief human
Speaker 7: trafficking product prosecutor in Houston. I've had criminals threatened my
Speaker 7: life before. I never thought it would be coming from
Speaker 7: the governor, the attorney general or others in elected off.
Speaker 3: Like hunting people deaths. Right, that's very mean. What you
Speaker 3: were didn't you run an off ed show me a
Speaker 3: little bit of I mean, did potential residents? I mean,
Speaker 3: just you weren't. I mean, you didn't come to this lightly.
Speaker 7: Oh no, no, no.
Speaker 3: You struggled with this decision.
Speaker 7: We all did, I mean all did. We all have
Speaker 7: been hearing the rumors that this might happen. I think
Speaker 7: we all had a hope and an expectation because we
Speaker 7: know nobody really wants to do this. I think we
Speaker 7: all had a hope and an expectation that maybe our
Speaker 7: colleagues would come to their senses and not attempt this
Speaker 7: because it is going to be a domino effect and
Speaker 7: it is going to hurt democracy nation. Why this is
Speaker 7: not just about Texas, but when they filed the bill
Speaker 7: and then when they effectively put up sham hearings, we
Speaker 7: didn't even have a bill at the time that they
Speaker 7: went to Houston or Dallas and asked the voters to comment.
Speaker 7: They didn't have the lines, They held the lines in secrecy,
Speaker 7: they didn't have a map, and they dropped it at
Speaker 7: the last minute. At that point, you not only realized
Speaker 7: that this was rigging the election, this was a sham
Speaker 7: of a process of transparency. So at the time that
Speaker 7: government is supposed to work, at a time where at
Speaker 7: least one hundred and thirty seven people died in Central Texas.
Speaker 3: My arms are on that again, where the hell are
Speaker 3: your priorities?
Speaker 7: And we've been there for two weeks. We've been there
Speaker 7: for two weeks. There are eighteen items on the call.
Speaker 7: Not one bill had been put forth except for redistricting,
Speaker 7: only one. And that does show the that's the first
Speaker 7: thing we did the first two weeks.
Speaker 3: That we were there. Just anyone listened. I don't care
Speaker 3: Democrat or Republican is a human being, just consider, pause
Speaker 3: and reflect on that for a moment. There's your values
Speaker 3: and your priorities, that things you lay claimed to, particularly
Speaker 3: as we bring people. You know, I think about Sunday Service, Yes,
Speaker 3: I think about the Good Book. Yes, try to square
Speaker 3: that with their priorities as it relates to this. But
Speaker 3: are there colleagues of yours that are quietly saying, you know,
Speaker 3: just got to do this one for the team? You know,
Speaker 3: Trump called I've got to wear my red cape.
Speaker 8: You know. I don't see a single Republican defending the
Speaker 8: actual details of the bill. And I think part of
Speaker 8: the issue is this bill was so rushed. I don't
Speaker 8: think anybody has really fully looked at the level of
Speaker 8: discrimination that exists in this map. If this passes Texas,
Speaker 8: Hispanics will be the most underrepresented group in America, exceeding
Speaker 8: the levels of discrimination that still exists in many parts
Speaker 8: of the Deep South with black residents in the state.
Speaker 8: The level of underrepresentation is something that will take Texas
Speaker 8: Hispanics back to the nineteen sixties. But because Donald Trump
Speaker 8: wants it, he wants this temporary gain of power, He's
Speaker 8: going to sacrifice Hispanics blacks to get it. Yes, and
Speaker 8: I think that Republicans know that this is illegal, But
Speaker 8: the problem is they want to deliver those five votes
Speaker 8: at all costs to Donald Trump. But it's going to
Speaker 8: deliver a temporary gain in power because they're leading it
Speaker 8: up to the courts to clean up this mess. So
Speaker 8: it's going to have an impact on California, it's going
Speaker 8: to have an impact in New York that they're proposing
Speaker 8: an overtly racist map to try to get two years
Speaker 8: of political power for Donald Trump. We've seen this in
Speaker 8: North Carolina, and we've seen this in Louisiana.
Speaker 3: And North Carolina, perfect example.
Speaker 1: And that's a I'm sorry that that's a word. Thank
Speaker 1: you Vince for saying that. That's a word that we're
Speaker 1: not even allowed to say on the House floor. Racist racism.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're not allowed to say racist. Are call
Speaker 1: it what it is. We're not allowed to call it
Speaker 1: what it is. And so we are encouraged to not
Speaker 1: call it a power grab, to definitely say that this
Speaker 1: is racial jerrymandering, and it really is. You know, Vince
Speaker 1: talked about the reduction of power for Latinos, but for
Speaker 1: black people, it means that it will take four black
Speaker 1: votes to equal one white vote. So uh, you know,
Speaker 1: and I have to talk about some of what it
Speaker 1: means to me. And you talked about the eighteenth Congressional
Speaker 1: district that I grew up in. You know, one of
Speaker 1: those members, Barbara Jordan was my sorority sister, but Mickey
Speaker 1: Leland I held his hand as he announced his bid
Speaker 1: in my home for Congress when he left the state House.
Speaker 1: And the fact that the eighteenth has no representation right
Speaker 1: now though I represent in Dallas, it still matters to me.
Speaker 1: You know, that's my family that is not represented right now.
Speaker 5: And just let me add and it's been vacant. Sylvester
Speaker 5: Diydam March fifth, and so that's how long it's been.
Speaker 5: And he set there the election for November November, just
Speaker 5: so that they could have the votes the way they
Speaker 5: have it in Congress.
Speaker 3: You mentioned earlier just threats, and you know, we talked
Speaker 3: about language, we talked about some of the threats we
Speaker 3: know about, but also you got a notable bomb threat
Speaker 3: in Illinois just a day or so ago. I mean,
Speaker 3: back to your families and someone checking and you said,
Speaker 3: just checking in on your home. You know, I still
Speaker 3: go back to the financial pressure. But this is, you know,
Speaker 3: a part time job and you're gonna up paying fines
Speaker 3: that are greater than your entire gross salary. Uh. They
Speaker 3: even made it more difficult to even get paid. But
Speaker 3: no longer direct deposits.
Speaker 1: Of course, maybe checkers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well petty doesn't even describe some of this. But
Speaker 3: back to just your personal your family, your safety. I mean,
Speaker 3: I don't want to be modeling about it, but I
Speaker 3: mean that's got to be a real concern. No.
Speaker 8: Well, on the flight over here, I got a text
Speaker 8: message from the daughter of my ninety year old neighbor
Speaker 8: and there were six police units that showed up to
Speaker 8: the neighborhood today. They got down, they tried to get
Speaker 8: into the backyard, and they looked around. It stretched the
Speaker 8: length of the entire street. It was clearly an excessive
Speaker 8: show of force, an expensive use of tax dollars that
Speaker 8: is just clearly designed to intimidate and just cause anxiety.
Speaker 8: And that's all it did, is just cause anxiety with
Speaker 8: my neighbors in my neighborhood. But that was just this
Speaker 8: morning on the way over here, and other members had
Speaker 8: similar experiences. You know where there's this level of intimidation.
Speaker 4: Well, it's a lawlessness that comes from the top, Right,
Speaker 4: it's not surprising that vigilantes will engage in lawlessness when
Speaker 4: our president turns on its head the idea of elections
Speaker 4: by saying we're going to have we're going to predetermine
Speaker 4: the election by manipulating these maps so as to segregate
Speaker 4: racial minorities so that we get five more members of Congress.
Speaker 4: We have our senator acting outside the bounds of the
Speaker 4: law to ask the FBI to surveil political opponents in
Speaker 4: the United States of America. Our governor backing that plan.
Speaker 6: So I have a son at.
Speaker 4: Home who is in middle school, and yes, it's hard
Speaker 4: to leave my family behind. But we went to Philadelphia
Speaker 4: this summer for a vacation, family vacation, and it hit
Speaker 4: different this time around to be at Independence Hall to
Speaker 4: remember this is who, this is why we exist. Representation
Speaker 4: is why we exist. And so yes, the pool away
Speaker 4: from family, being apart from them is hard, but I
Speaker 4: do it because of my son.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I love that. And we're about to celebrate the
Speaker 3: two hundred and fifteth anniversary of the principles of the
Speaker 3: founding fathers of the best of your Greek democracy, the
Speaker 3: Roman Republic, co equal branches of government, popular sovereignty, rule
Speaker 3: of law. It's not exaggerated, all of it at risk.
Speaker 3: And this is I mean, I really applaud you because
Speaker 3: you've given us. I mean it's you know, it's like
Speaker 3: we talk about in psychology where you know, so often
Speaker 3: those old enough to remember record players, but we're you know,
Speaker 3: there's sort of a predictabilit until you scratch the record.
Speaker 3: There has to be a pattern interrupt and I think
Speaker 3: for me, this quorum has done that, and it's forced
Speaker 3: a national conversation, as uncomfortable as it is. But behind
Speaker 3: that is your son. Behind that are your families. Behind
Speaker 3: it's your reputation. I mean, you know you're putting put
Speaker 3: it all out on the line, financial and otherwise, and
Speaker 3: you know, politics is this is tough, and and to
Speaker 3: your point, my question to you in a swing district
Speaker 3: that could go either way, this then necessarily aid in
Speaker 3: a bet and advancing your prospects necessarily. So just you know,
Speaker 3: just once again, why are you what's the why, what's
Speaker 3: the burning why?
Speaker 5: I think it's a big picture democracy. Yeah, that's really
Speaker 5: why we're doing it right to save the rest of
Speaker 5: the country. I believe my colleague here said it best.
Speaker 6: The other day.
Speaker 5: She said, we get to keep our seats, but the
Speaker 5: entire country will lose their voice. And I just that
Speaker 5: really hit home with me when and said that. And
Speaker 5: that's that's the truth.
Speaker 3: Right, speaking of losing Just they walked in, I guess
Speaker 3: Ken Paxson's just declared thirteen seats vacant seconds ago, the
Speaker 3: United State of Ken Paxson dictator in chief. Just with
Speaker 3: this kind of declaries, I mean, guess we're at the
Speaker 3: point when nothing surprises you. Yeah, no, I love it.
Speaker 3: I say that, and you're all just not you know, and.
Speaker 7: It is frightening because you bring up Ken Paxton. I
Speaker 7: was also on the impeachment team where he was put
Speaker 7: before the Senate. The Senate had an opportunity to try
Speaker 7: to do the right thing. It was their Republican colleagues
Speaker 7: that were saying, hey, this guy was recently he's corrupt.
Speaker 7: Yeah it was two years ago. But you know, it's
Speaker 7: a challenge because we have two split courts, the Texas
Speaker 7: Supreme Court, the Quarter Criminal Appeals. When the quart Crininal
Speaker 7: Appeals all Republicans. When three of them took a stand
Speaker 7: and gave a ruling opposed to Paxston on constitutional grounds,
Speaker 7: he went after them politically and unfortunately he won. And
Speaker 7: that's what we talk about right now. The guard rails
Speaker 7: are missing. The guardrails within the Republican Party are missing
Speaker 7: when you have them taking these steps, these extraordinary steps.
Speaker 7: This didn't happen four years ago. This is at a
Speaker 7: rapid fire that they think they can go to the courts,
Speaker 7: they can manipulate the courts, that the courts will not
Speaker 7: be there to be a backstop. It is part of
Speaker 7: the reason that we are trying to get catch fire
Speaker 7: with the people. With the people, they are the last
Speaker 7: line of defense. The folks within the Republican Party will
Speaker 7: not say no to this. It is up to the voters,
Speaker 7: and that's why they are so desperately trying to cheat
Speaker 7: and change the lines because it is up to the voters.
Speaker 7: And that's why we are desperately trying to have everybody
Speaker 7: stand up as California is doing and saying you cannot
Speaker 7: let these dominoes start to fall because we will completely lose.
Speaker 4: Our way because Republicans aren't free the elected Republicans. I
Speaker 4: had a Republican Member of Congress from Texas say I
Speaker 4: don't want this, None of my colleagues want this, but
Speaker 4: none of us will say no to Trump, so it
Speaker 4: will happen.
Speaker 6: And time and time.
Speaker 4: Again we hear this refrain from our Republican colleagues. They
Speaker 4: don't agree with what's happening, but they won't stand up
Speaker 4: against it. We had Donald Trump way in the day
Speaker 4: of the vote this regular session on val we had
Speaker 4: a big fight that lasted years on taking money out
Speaker 4: of our neighborhood public schools and putting it into private
Speaker 4: schools for kids who already attend. Texas is through and through.
Speaker 5: It is.
Speaker 6: Public schools are through and through part.
Speaker 4: Of our identity as Texans, right and many Republicans were
Speaker 4: against Melchers. But Donald Trump called on the day of
Speaker 4: the vote and talked to all the Republicans and they
Speaker 4: supported it even though their constituents were against it. They
Speaker 4: will not say no.
Speaker 5: And in return, they were all endorsed by Trump of course. Yeah,
Speaker 5: they all have their little letters and they post them proudly.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And you know the other I think if you
Speaker 2: start to kind of think about the far reaching implications
Speaker 2: of what these Shenanigans are going to create, you know,
Speaker 2: the world is looking at us. They're looking at the
Speaker 2: American democracy that we've been trying to nurture for the
Speaker 2: last two hundred and fifty years and saying, gee, we
Speaker 2: wish we could get to where you are. What they're
Speaker 2: going to see is that it's under it's being eroded.
Speaker 2: They're going to see that the value of the American
Speaker 2: system is not what it used to be. And it
Speaker 2: puts us in a completely different position, knowing that world
Speaker 2: politics are very, you know, right now, very fragile, and
Speaker 2: they need someone with the strength that we've had in
Speaker 2: the past to be able to firmly say what we
Speaker 2: need to do and how we're going to lean democracy forward.
Speaker 2: That hand is gone, is going, it's fading, and now
Speaker 2: what are we going to do. There are a lot
Speaker 2: of countries that look to the United states, to the democracy,
Speaker 2: to the way of life that we've established over two
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty years, and saying what the world, what
Speaker 2: are we going to do now? That's important and that
Speaker 2: is what's going to go in the history books if
Speaker 2: they allow those history books to be printed, of course,
Speaker 2: but that's what's going to go down in those history books.
Speaker 2: That's what people are going to remember. That's what my
Speaker 2: fourteen grandchildren are going to remember when they say, Grandpa,
Speaker 2: what did you do during that time? I can tell
Speaker 2: them exactly what I did. But we've got to be
Speaker 2: able to tell that story to generations coming up so
Speaker 2: that we don't repeat the mistakes that we're creating right now.
Speaker 2: So you're sitting there, there's a big, big stake in this.
Speaker 3: I love everything you said. I love the spirit which
Speaker 3: brought you to say it, and it's just for what
Speaker 3: it's worth. You're in a library with a lot of
Speaker 3: books that have been banned as they're rewriting history, censoring
Speaker 3: historical facts. You're seeing that in real time. So what
Speaker 3: you said was I hope people pause and reflected on
Speaker 3: what you said. I wasn't just throwaway line. It's quite
Speaker 3: literal and real. At this moment. So thanks the question
Speaker 3: you know, held out thirty seven days twenty twenty one,
Speaker 3: how come didn't necessarily go your way? Ultimately, there, Governor,
Speaker 3: I'm intimately familiar with this. Forgive me as the ability
Speaker 3: to call another special session and then another special session.
Speaker 3: I heard your governor yesterday say he'll call another no no, no,
Speaker 3: you know, until the end of time, or at least
Speaker 3: the end of his time is his tenure as governor.
Speaker 3: So where does that leave you? In the private conversations,
Speaker 3: I don't need to get into tactics or any of that,
Speaker 3: but you know how we're all asking how long are
Speaker 3: you willing to hold out? When's the end date of
Speaker 3: this special election? When when are you going to be
Speaker 3: back senior grandkids, When are you going to see the family?
Speaker 3: When are you going to you know, reconcile the books
Speaker 3: and figure out how to pay these fines?
Speaker 4: So that is the question we always get. Everyone wants
Speaker 4: to know, how does this end? Its human nature? Our
Speaker 4: lesson from the twenty one coreum break was we stood
Speaker 4: up to fight to win for the day we could
Speaker 4: win for the day, and the next take day. We
Speaker 4: took it as it came because of our bold Act
Speaker 4: of Defiance. Last time, we shamed Republicans into taking out
Speaker 4: those two egregious provisions that I described at the beginning
Speaker 4: of this program. They couldn't defend them, so they took
Speaker 4: them out of the bill, ultimately the most egregious parts.
Speaker 4: And so essentially we say free and fair elections in
Speaker 4: Texas with our corn break. The bill passed, but it
Speaker 4: wasn't the same bill. You just can't know what tomorrow brings.
Speaker 4: We can only fight to win today.
Speaker 3: Yes, like that, so day by day surely I have
Speaker 3: to go back to the financial stress though. I mean,
Speaker 3: you've not now have threats that anyone who aids in
Speaker 3: a bets quote unquote you seeking some support related to
Speaker 3: these fines will somehow be charged for bribery. They've quite
Speaker 3: literally threatened that on multiple occasions. You're elected leaders in
Speaker 3: your state, people that are I mean, I imagine I'll
Speaker 3: be on that list shortly if we're not already being
Speaker 3: surveilled by the I'm with this visit. I mean, how
Speaker 3: do you talk to your kids about that, Say don't worry, honey,
Speaker 3: we're good. Your husband or wife you know, home saying
Speaker 3: you know you're already I mean, this is again, you're
Speaker 3: you're not getting rich. We're working in this.
Speaker 1: I definitely thank you for bringing that up. I want
Speaker 1: to speak to that because I am one of the
Speaker 1: only or maybe very few, that are full time legislators
Speaker 1: in a part time legislature. I don't have another job.
Speaker 1: So I don't think any of us are in it
Speaker 1: for the money, though I want you to.
Speaker 3: I don't think we are stimulated.
Speaker 1: I don't think we are, and I honestly think you know,
Speaker 1: my husband is given up on you know that she's
Speaker 1: not about public service, and so it really is about
Speaker 1: us serving the people and the constituents that we have,
Speaker 1: listening to them, representing them in a way that they
Speaker 1: know that we're their voice. You know, when they go
Speaker 1: to that ballot box, we want them to know that
Speaker 1: their voice really does count and their vote counts, and
Speaker 1: that we're going to speak in their best interests and
Speaker 1: on their behalf. And I think nobody can buy that.
Speaker 1: You just really can't buy that. And I think in
Speaker 1: a district that in twenty eighteen, with the help of
Speaker 1: my community, I was able to flip, I think they
Speaker 1: know that that's who the person they have sitting there,
Speaker 1: and I can't be bought and I'm going to always stick.
Speaker 6: Up for them.
Speaker 7: So and it does show how desperate they are. I mean,
Speaker 7: they have threatened our leadership positions, they threaten our job,
Speaker 7: they're now trying to vacate. They're threatened direct deposit. I
Speaker 7: mean they literally are throwing anything and everything at the wall,
Speaker 7: these allegations of bribery. They're throwing all this stuff that
Speaker 7: they can at the wall, and I think it shows
Speaker 7: how desperate they are that they have to perform for
Speaker 7: Donald Trump and they're going to look embarrassed if they
Speaker 7: don't get it done this time. I will say it's
Speaker 7: a little rich for these guys to make an allegation
Speaker 7: of bribery given the fact that Dan Patrick took three
Speaker 7: million dollars on the eve of the trial before he
Speaker 7: presided in paston from one of Paxson's biggest donor. It's
Speaker 7: a little rich for the governor when he took twelve
Speaker 7: million dollars from an individual out of Pennsylvania who had
Speaker 7: an interest in getting the voucher's passed. And so we
Speaker 7: know that what they are is just throwing up desperate
Speaker 7: allegations because they're doing anything and everything that they can
Speaker 7: to try to force us back. But again, it just
Speaker 7: strengthens our resolve because it shows us how desperate they
Speaker 7: are to not serve the interest of the people, but
Speaker 7: to serve the interest to Donald Trump, and that's not
Speaker 7: who we serve.
Speaker 6: And it has not slowed down contributions.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can imagine maybe the opposite. I imagine it's
Speaker 3: only accelerated though.
Speaker 7: And it is we like anybody else. It's also ironic
Speaker 7: that Governor Abbitt sent out an email talking about us
Speaker 7: and how to donate link at the bottom.
Speaker 3: Of course.
Speaker 7: So we are elected officials who campaign and people can
Speaker 7: send us contributions and that is what keeps us having
Speaker 7: the ability to lift our voice and be able to
Speaker 7: campaign and be able to put out an opposing position
Speaker 7: to these guys that are out there.
Speaker 8: And look the damage that's going to be done to
Speaker 8: generations of Texas kids who are going to grow up
Speaker 8: in a society where if you're Hispanic or Black, the
Speaker 8: government's not going to feel they're accountable to you. The
Speaker 8: way these lines are drawn, the government's only going to
Speaker 8: be accountable to one particular group. I mean, what kind
Speaker 8: of society they're going to grow up in. It is
Speaker 8: going to take US generations if we go back to
Speaker 8: the nineteen sixties and have our own version of the
Speaker 8: civil rights struggle all over again here in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 8: So the damage that's going to be done to future
Speaker 8: generations of Texans honestly pales in comparison to whatever it
Speaker 8: is they're going to do to any of us. And
Speaker 8: I think a lot of members feel that way, and
Speaker 8: that's why I think they're just so determined in their result.
Speaker 3: I love that and I appreciate. I mean, just the
Speaker 3: reflection in California is about thirty nine percent of its
Speaker 3: population is Hispanic, twenty seven percent of its population form
Speaker 3: born a majority minority state. It's a point of deep pride. Now,
Speaker 3: we don't tolerate, we celebrate that diversity at our best.
Speaker 3: We celebrate that diversity. Texas is right there and now
Speaker 3: looking to exceed. It's an extraordinary state, isn't it. And
Speaker 3: so this notion of representation, of representing everybody having a
Speaker 3: voice seen themselves as well, is so critical. So I
Speaker 3: really appreciate you highlighting that. What do we need to
Speaker 3: highlight though? What's the message? Look, you're here in California.
Speaker 3: I'm grateful we're about to have a press conference with
Speaker 3: former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, other congressional representatives. You're going to
Speaker 3: be here with my pro tem and speaker of our legislature.
Speaker 3: We're moving forward very aggressively to neutralize neoter to limit
Speaker 3: the five seats. We'll do the same here in California.
Speaker 3: So all of this is for not Donald Trump. All
Speaker 3: this is for not at show. And we will fight
Speaker 3: fire with fire, and we will punch above our weight.
Speaker 3: California is the size of twenty one state popular relations combined.
Speaker 3: We're not here for a press conference. We're here to
Speaker 3: take action and we're to delivery results, and we're going
Speaker 3: to do it in a transparent way, a temporary way,
Speaker 3: because we believe in independent redistricting. We'll do it on
Speaker 3: the basis of a vote of the people as well,
Speaker 3: respecting and as you said, the people, and in democracy,
Speaker 3: the most important office, brand I said, is the office
Speaker 3: of citizens. So this notion of transparent maps and active,
Speaker 3: non inert citizen tree is foundational. But what more do
Speaker 3: we need to do what other states need to do?
Speaker 7: You know, it's I think folks when they talk about
Speaker 7: redistricting and they say, oh, those guys are just redistricting.
Speaker 7: I don't think they understand this is not normal. We
Speaker 7: don't redistrict mid decade. And even if we think about
Speaker 7: the last time we redistricted states like yours, where you
Speaker 7: have an independent commission, you allowed the people to draw
Speaker 7: the lines. Many of us have offered legislation in Texas
Speaker 7: to have an independent commission to have the people draw
Speaker 7: the lines. I think people forget Republicans in those states
Speaker 7: started the game decade already carving up districts to give
Speaker 7: them a heavy advantage. And even with that cheat, when
Speaker 7: other folks are letting their people do it. Here we
Speaker 7: are four years in. They know they're about to lose,
Speaker 7: and so they want to redraw it again. We appreciate
Speaker 7: greatly the courage that California is stepping showing the fact
Speaker 7: that you have stepped up and immediately said, Texas, what's
Speaker 7: good for the goose is good for the gander. But
Speaker 7: what we hope to do is lift a conversation. And
Speaker 7: which wouldn't it be great? Wouldn't it be great if
Speaker 7: the nation said, you know what, we should all let
Speaker 7: the people draw the lines. We should all do an
Speaker 7: independent commission and get politicians out of drawing our lines,
Speaker 7: and so we are grateful that you are willing to,
Speaker 7: as you say, fight fire with fire, because when one
Speaker 7: group is playing by one set of rules and not
Speaker 7: allowing the others to play by an equal set of rules,
Speaker 7: it violates the fundamental fairness of who we are as
Speaker 7: people and a nation.
Speaker 3: Appreciate that. And one of the things that we intend
Speaker 3: to do with the consent of the Legislature and ultimately
Speaker 3: present to the voters in a special election the first
Speaker 3: week in November in a very short period of time,
Speaker 3: is also a commitment to support a national independent redistricting Commission.
Speaker 3: So we want to reinforce that principle in that paradigm,
Speaker 3: and that's why we're looking at this as an emergency
Speaker 3: response to this outrageous act in this mid decade redistrict team.
Speaker 3: But again, it's not just rhetorical, and I think, look,
Speaker 3: one of the big frustrations I have often with my party,
Speaker 3: with our party, the Democratic Party, is fire and fury
Speaker 3: is oftentimes signifying little or nothing. Sometimes we just sit
Speaker 3: there and we're on the side. We feel there's a
Speaker 3: weakness sometimes because we sort of we push back, but
Speaker 3: we're not delivering on the counter and That's why I
Speaker 3: think really critical that we're successful here in California. We
Speaker 3: have to deliver an equal reaction that actually produces a
Speaker 3: real result. What more can we do in our state,
Speaker 3: but other states as well, actually delivered not just in
Speaker 3: more support, not talk about sort of the better angels,
Speaker 3: and not just you know, have your back rhetorically, but
Speaker 3: to get back on the offensive, not just constantly being
Speaker 3: shape shifted by these folks on the receiving end twenty
Speaker 3: four to seven. I joke all the time, it's not
Speaker 3: a joke, but everything with three letters E, S, G,
Speaker 3: D I, S CRT I R S FBI, except when
Speaker 3: they need to weaponize them, you know, the EPA. We're
Speaker 3: constantly on the receiving n on this redistricting. You know,
Speaker 3: at least we feel like we have a tool, and
Speaker 3: that's the people themselves. We the people that can exercise
Speaker 3: their moral and formal authority to neutralize what's happening in
Speaker 3: Texas and to get back. But what else do you
Speaker 3: want to see across this country in a more meaningful
Speaker 3: and substantive.
Speaker 4: I think Americans and Texans for sure want to see
Speaker 4: how these things impact their daily lives. For for me
Speaker 4: part of why, Yes, there is the big picture representation,
Speaker 4: democracy goals, but ultimately this is about higher prices at
Speaker 4: the grocery stores and how these pay to play tariffs
Speaker 4: that Donald Trump is implementing are hurting every day Americans,
Speaker 4: every day Texans. It's about a hit to financial aid
Speaker 4: and ability for often latinal communities in Texas to attend college,
Speaker 4: but all communities, right they rely on that kind of
Speaker 4: aid and what Donald Trump is doing to that, hit
Speaker 4: to healthcare, hit to neighborhood schools, the list goes on,
Speaker 4: and those are real threats to Americans that will continue
Speaker 4: to get worse if this goes unchecked. And so I
Speaker 4: think ideas for how ideas and examples of how this
Speaker 4: big picture conversation is impacting their everyday lives and will
Speaker 4: protect That's why we have representation to protect the people
Speaker 4: against harm in a use from the politicians to hold
Speaker 4: them accountable. That's what Donald Trump is taking away. And
Speaker 4: the more we can speak to people's to people's daily
Speaker 4: lives and the way what we do impacts them, I
Speaker 4: think the better.
Speaker 3: Love that it's not just about drawing lines, it's sort
Speaker 3: of holding the line, having a line of accountability, oversight,
Speaker 3: back to this notion coequal branches of government and this
Speaker 3: fundamental notion of what underneath all of it it's about,
Speaker 3: which is about having the aspirations of mind and the
Speaker 3: American people having the master's of not just your district,
Speaker 3: your state, but our nation and a dressing all of
Speaker 3: these profound issues. And as you say on the tariffs
Speaker 3: and everything else. I mean, that's at the end of
Speaker 3: the day, it is about all of those issues. So
Speaker 3: that's important. What else do we need to sort of
Speaker 3: raise in terms of consciousness around Again the why this
Speaker 3: is so.
Speaker 2: Well I can tell what I tell all my folks
Speaker 2: is that listen, as a look at officials, we do
Speaker 2: this day in and day out. We're always having the
Speaker 2: we have an in depth understanding, and sometimes we overcomplicate
Speaker 2: the process. What we need to do is to get
Speaker 2: those moms and dads that get up early in the morning,
Speaker 2: dress their kids, take them to school, drop them off,
Speaker 2: pick them up in the afternoon, take them to daycare,
Speaker 2: go to the grocery store, pay for the eggs and
Speaker 2: the milk, to have that conversation of how what this
Speaker 2: economy is doing to them. At the town square, have
Speaker 2: that discussion among themselves and understand what the impact is
Speaker 2: to America. Because as elected officials we say it all
Speaker 2: the time, and sometimes they don't have time to listen
Speaker 2: to what we're telling them. It's important they get it.
Speaker 2: They just don't have time. They're taking care of their lives.
Speaker 2: They're trying to cook the dinner, they're trying to get
Speaker 2: their kids off to school. So what I tell everyone,
Speaker 2: get with your neighbors, whatever that town square is for you,
Speaker 2: whether it's your homeowner association or some event that you
Speaker 2: happen to go to, take the discussion there and raise
Speaker 2: the issues how it's affecting you directly. I think if
Speaker 2: we do that, I think the entire Cunto will understand
Speaker 2: and understand. We've got to do something different, and that's
Speaker 2: only I think the only way we're going to really
Speaker 2: be successful. I love it.
Speaker 7: We need folks who are sick and tired of being
Speaker 7: sick and tired to get up and vote in our selections.
Speaker 1: That's what I was going to say. I mean, to
Speaker 1: Gina's point, the loss of access to healthcare, and especially
Speaker 1: when we look at taking food out of children's bows
Speaker 1: and the staff benefits that are gone. But we just
Speaker 1: want that message to resonate so much with people that
Speaker 1: they don't forget come November. So to Anne's point, that
Speaker 1: really brings it home for me that they don't forget
Speaker 1: when they go to that ballot.
Speaker 5: People tend to have very short memories. And that's really
Speaker 5: sad because and I think this is why the governor
Speaker 5: gets elected on the off years, right, because people were like,
Speaker 5: there's an election. But I think educating the voters on
Speaker 5: the big picture, whatever that big picture is to them,
Speaker 5: it's probably the best thing to do.
Speaker 8: Yeah, And I would say in this moment, I think
Speaker 8: the more Americans who learn about the details of the map,
Speaker 8: I think more Americans should be outraged at what's being proposed.
Speaker 8: I don't care if you're a Republican or Democrat, if
Speaker 8: you're white, black, Latino. What are the implications of a
Speaker 8: government that feels like it is not going to be
Speaker 8: accountable to a large segment of its population, It's going
Speaker 8: to be held accountable to a small segment that it's
Speaker 8: going to hand pick what kind you know. In order
Speaker 8: for democracy to work, we need our government to be
Speaker 8: accountable to all people, regardless of race, regardless of where
Speaker 8: they live. And that's not what's happening here. So, whether
Speaker 8: you're a Republican or Democrat, you want a government that's
Speaker 8: going to be held accountable to everybody, not there just
Speaker 8: handpicked constituents. And I would say too, Look clearly, what
Speaker 8: happens in Texas affects California. And we have years, thirty
Speaker 8: years of Republican rule where they have system stomatically designed
Speaker 8: and drawn these lines to ensure that black and Hispanic
Speaker 8: residents don't vote. The overwhelming number of Latinos in Blacks
Speaker 8: in Texas are stuck in districts that are uncompetitive, and
Speaker 8: they're there where there's a ninety eighty ninety ninety five
Speaker 8: percent Latino population because that's the best way for Republicans
Speaker 8: to throw away votes. And so how do we activate
Speaker 8: these large segments of Texas that have been acted for
Speaker 8: so long. I think it's going to take a national
Speaker 8: effort from the Democratic Party, but I think people from
Speaker 8: all states because there are just large segments of our
Speaker 8: population who are just don't see any reason to vote.
Speaker 8: But that's the way the government has created it.
Speaker 6: Don't give up on Texas.
Speaker 4: Also, Texas really without all this grift, the grift, like
Speaker 4: we could deal a whole segment on just the grift,
Speaker 4: but without all the grift in the manipulation. Texas is
Speaker 4: a purple state. We have not we say Texas Democrats
Speaker 4: for the ATM. For the rest of the nation. We
Speaker 4: need investment in Texas. We explore our Republicans, Texas expert
Speaker 4: all the worst ideas to the national level. You want
Speaker 4: us to flip, It's over when we flip, right, So
Speaker 4: that's what I would encourage. People think Texas is crazy, Yes,
Speaker 4: crazy things come out of Texas, but we see in
Speaker 4: our communities that Texans are open. Texans are open to
Speaker 4: being persuaded. They care about what you're going to do
Speaker 4: to help them in their own lives. And I would say,
Speaker 4: please take a chance on Texas.
Speaker 6: Invest in Texas.
Speaker 3: Spectacular state and spectacular representatives from the state. And I
Speaker 3: really appreciate Mara. And just for folks listening watching you
Speaker 3: guys flew in, You're going to fly right out. And
Speaker 3: that means the world to all of us that are
Speaker 3: trying to raise awareness or raise the alarm bells of
Speaker 3: this moment where we get so easily distracted by sugar
Speaker 3: and Coca cola or whatever. The new distraction and Alcatraz
Speaker 3: may be what's really happening in this country. It is
Speaker 3: code red, It is code red, and this only highlights,
Speaker 3: this punctuates what's at stake. The Trump presidency de facto
Speaker 3: ends in less than eighteen months. If we get Speaker
Speaker 3: Jeffries back into office. Donald Trump knows that they're on
Speaker 3: the run. They know they will lose the mid terms
Speaker 3: if they do not rig them. And that's what this
Speaker 3: is all about. And the fact that you are willing
Speaker 3: to sacrifice so much your personal as well as professional
Speaker 3: reputation to be here and to be everywhere you've been.
Speaker 3: Everybody listening should owe you. And do I think, oh
Speaker 3: you a debt of gratitude regardless of party. This is
Speaker 3: about fundamental, enduring principles that have served the world, not
Speaker 3: just our country for two hundred and forty nine years.
Speaker 3: So I'm deeply grateful and I'm proud as well to
Speaker 3: have this opportunity to transparent way, to have this conversation,
Speaker 3: this private conversation more publicly. We'll understand why you're out here,
Speaker 3: and the opportunity now to share that more publicly with
Speaker 3: this press conference with Speaker Amrita Nancy Pelosi and talk
Speaker 3: more about mistakes. Thank you all very
Speaker 5: Much, thank you, thank you, thank you for having us