WEBVTT - And, This Is The Texas Democratic Legislative Delegation 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:05.200 Governor. 0:00:05.240 --> 0:00:05.559 How are you. 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:07.320 It's good to see you, glad to see the ties on. 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:12.280 I didn't know who you guys were. Thank you, guys 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:16.800 just literally just got in Yes, thank you amazing, And 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:19.239 I'm grateful for everything you're doing. And I'm grateful of 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:21.799 this opportunity to have a chance to dialogue about it 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:24.640 and talk about you know, what exactly is going on 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:27.360 at this moment, where do you see things going? But 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:30.240 in order to paint the picture of this moment, I 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:34.320 want to just formally welcome you to Ronald Reagan's old mansion, 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.240 the place that Nancy Reagan infamously said was a fire 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:41.959 trap before they moved out. It's been since remodeled, so 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:45.440 you should feel more confident and comfortable here. But it's 0:00:45.560 --> 0:00:49.199 nice to be here. And I say that mindful of 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:52.879 our history in the state of California, and mindful in 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:58.520 many ways how far we've gone, uh and how far 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:03.040 we have traveled away from some of the core principles 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:05.959 that defined the best of the Republican Party. And so 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.959 without getting nostalgia for that, I just want to acknowledge 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:13.839 the journey that you guys are on and express gratitude 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:17.520 that you're not just here in California, but you've been 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.200 all across your colleagues, all across this country. But first, 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:24.800 if I could, I just want to briefly contextualized, because 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:28.920 yesterday I experienced, in a modest way, a little bit 0:01:28.959 --> 0:01:34.360 about all that you've experienced in Texas. Coming from July fourth, 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:39.800 a very close friend of my wife's family passed away, 0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:46.640 Mark and his wife Sarah, and his son Johnny Mark Walker, 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:51.760 the Walker family passed in the floods in Texas. My 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:54.680 wife had the privilege of speaking a little bit at 0:01:54.680 --> 0:02:02.000 the memorial yesterday, and it was beyond intense. Johnny's fourteen 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:04.960 years old, the age of my son. They live in 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:09.839 the neighborhood, and it really brought me back to what 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:13.840 this is all about, this special session, what the special 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:16.800 session should be about. Yes, I think what it was 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.800 one hundred and thirty seven people lost their life, thirty 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:25.960 five children kids, And that's what a special session as 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.800 a governor should be all about, exactly. And I haven't 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:35.400 heard a lot talked about those families torn as under, 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:39.320 those lives lost, people that are still healing. What in 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:41.680 a dry eye in the church for. 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:46.560 Rest are for redistricting, not for flood relief legislation for 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:48.600 redistricting legislation. 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:51.960 Says everything you need to know at this moment. So 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.560 if I may, I'd love as we go around, and 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:59.079 I want to make this as easy and casual as 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:01.560 it possibly can be. Just jump in if you could 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:04.959 introduce yourself so people that are listening know who you are. 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:08.800 But what you just said just strikes the core of 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:12.720 what this is all about. So you you have been 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:16.880 threatened to be hunted down by the Attorney General of Texas, Paxston. 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:20.560 You are being fined five hundred dollars a day in 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:23.760 a job where you don't make a lot of money 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.880 dollars a year, seven two hundred dollars a year a year, 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.639 and you mean five five hundred dollars a day. You've 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.400 got a guy named Cornyn who's running for reelection Senator. 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:39.480 I say that because it's pretty obvious that it needs 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.480 to be said. Running for reelection needed to get in 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:46.280 on this now, threatening to send the FBI to find 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:48.160 you even though you're hiding in playing sight. 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:51.440 What's interesting that better is I kind of feel like 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:54.280 we're in the perfect storm because you've got corn and 0:03:54.360 --> 0:03:57.680 running against Paxton, and they're trying to outdo the other 0:03:58.280 --> 0:04:01.280 who's gonna apprehend us for right. Then you have the 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:04.560 governor who's also working on it, and I think maybe 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:07.400 a little embarrassed he and the speaker both because we 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:08.640 still haven't gotten gotten. 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:11.680 So your attorney general is running for the United States 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.080 Senate against incumbent Senator Cornyn, and they're trying to one 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:19.400 up each other exactly and attacking you rhetorically and substances. 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.200 And in the courts, breaking news, they just filed to 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:25.479 remove me and twelve other of my colleagues in the 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:26.159 Texas House. 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:28.280 And the voice we're listening to. 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:31.039 Is Gina Josse Gina. 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:35.000 So that you have been picked with twelve of your colleagues, 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:38.279 not all of your colleagues, but twelve. What's set about? 0:04:38.520 --> 0:04:39.320 I have no idea. 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:43.240 We're all wondering the same thing, but yes, myself, and 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:46.640 it was just filed by our attorney general in the 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:50.200 Texas Supreme Court. It's called a quot what is it 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:54.320 quote warrnte proceeding to remove us from office. 0:04:56.040 --> 0:05:00.920 So you've got a governor himself claiming some forty on 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:05.160 that basis as well for simply quote unquote breaking a quorum. 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:06.920 Which has been done for one hundred and fifty years 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:08.200 by Texas legislators. 0:05:08.240 --> 0:05:10.719 To be clear, because American is Dare I say, apple 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:15.720 pie breaking quorum to protect the minority against the whims 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:16.400 of the majority. 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:20.040 Yes, because if you don't have some rule in place 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:22.840 for the minority, then the majority just completely runs you over. 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:26.599 And this is an extraordinary step. It is not something 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:30.040 that we take lightly. It is an exceptional and extraordinary 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.080 act to write quorum. And so my name's Anne Johnson 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.320 and I'm from Houston. I'm proud to sit with these 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:37.839 other Democratic colleagues, and for some of us, this is 0:05:37.880 --> 0:05:40.800 now the second time we have had to do this 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:44.000 in the last few years, and it really is an act. 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:47.560 It is the last tool that the founding fathers gave 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:50.560 to us in the minority to have available when you 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:52.919 know that the majority has gone off the rails. And 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:57.320 so we have been threatened with financial ruin, with arrest, 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:01.839 but we are undeterred. And I think it highlights how 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.640 important it is that if they will come at us 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:08.320 this hard and we actually are in positions of power, 0:06:08.720 --> 0:06:11.320 look at how easily they run over those that are 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:13.560 most vulnerable and don't have a voice. And so I 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:16.279 think that's why we are really resolute or resolved that 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:17.360 this is the right thing to do. 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:19.880 And you said, this is not the first time. It 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:24.359 was twenty twenty one, and that was for different reasons. 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:26.680 Remind me what those reasons were. In twenty twenty one, 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:27.159 it was. 0:06:27.160 --> 0:06:28.919 An anti voter bill. 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:32.040 Go ahead, Well, it was a bill that made it 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:35.280 much harder to vote. Two provisions in that bill that work. 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:40.599 The most egregious was one that banned Sunday morning voting, 0:06:40.960 --> 0:06:44.039 which was a target on African American churches that have 0:06:44.200 --> 0:06:47.720 a long standing tradition of going after service as a 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:49.839 faith community to vote together. 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:51.680 The others. 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:54.760 We know, well, that's right. 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.360 The other provision would have given elected judges the ability 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:03.560 to overturn election results, to overturn the will of the voters. 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:09.080 And when those provisions were added in the middle, literally 0:07:09.440 --> 0:07:12.440 in the middle of the night, with no record of 0:07:12.520 --> 0:07:16.720 how they got into the bill, we left right. 0:07:17.320 --> 0:07:20.000 But you didn't have the level, or did you, of threats. 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:22.040 You didn't have the five hundred dollars fine that was 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:25.000 being a US. You didn't have senators calling for the 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:28.720 FBI and calling the head of the FBI to sort 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:30.760 of track you down right, Well. 0:07:30.480 --> 0:07:32.600 It seems to me and my name's right Lopus from 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.400 San Antonio and up you know, in the House for 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:38.320 a few years afew sessions, and it seems a difference 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.160 between where we were a few years ago when we 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:43.640 broke horm and where we were today is that while 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.200 we have a lot of evil doers, and we've talked 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:48.720 about who those people are, where it's the governor, the 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:52.640 Attorney general, all the political gainsmanship that's being played, we 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.880 also recognize that they are dancing to another evil doer 0:07:56.960 --> 0:07:59.760 and we did not have that kind of engagement before. 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.000 And that's a president of the United States is encouraging them, 0:08:03.040 --> 0:08:07.280 giving them the path forward, giving them the tools like 0:08:07.320 --> 0:08:10.160 the FBI and others. We didn't battle that last time. 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:13.120 We are battling it now. But it is layers of 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.000 evildoers that are out there, and I mean, at some 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:19.480 point we all need to understand, you know, who it 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:21.680 is that we're up against. And it isn't just that 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.520 one front that's attacking us. It's all those individuals that 0:08:24.560 --> 0:08:27.360 are behind them providing them that level of support. And 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:29.400 it happens, it grows every day. 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:31.960 It grows every day what I mean. So that's important 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:33.720 to remind everybody just you know, people that are not 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.040 tracking this hour by hour day to day, they're not 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.920 watching cable news, which is one because that's that's the 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:45.040 vast majority of people. The President of the United States. 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:49.439 The origin story on this is the President called your governor, 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:53.840 Greg Abbott, and the President asked him. 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:57.280 To do what So I'm read of Boers read to Andrews. 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:01.760 Bowers from Dallas and thank you for having today. But 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.920 it's really about what's at stake, and I think that's 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:09.760 what Ray was leading us into. So many people out 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:13.520 there don't understand that this Texas special Session is not 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:17.680 an isolated incident, and it truly has implications that will 0:09:17.720 --> 0:09:21.600 carry across the United States. You know, if this goes 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.840 through with Texas, it can happen in so many other states. 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:29.520 And you look at North Carolina, they already had something 0:09:29.600 --> 0:09:31.840 like this happened. So we're so glad to be here 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:34.200 having this opportunity to chat with you today. 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:36.920 I appreciate it. And it happened because Donald Trump made 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:39.240 a call and said find me five seats. Yep. 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:42.200 He's made those kinds of calls before, as we well know. 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:44.840 Called into Georgia, I need eleven thy twelve thousand, whatever. 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:47.600 It was right good because he thinks he is above 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:50.120 the law. He thinks he's the one that can interpret 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:55.000 all action, and that everybody has a loyalty to him, 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:58.000 and they do, but it's a loyalty to the devil 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:00.600 to do his bidding so that they can get in 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:01.480 a position of power. 0:10:01.520 --> 0:10:04.319 And the difference in four difference in Georgia, of course 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:06.560 was right that he was told. Now he was told no. 0:10:06.720 --> 0:10:10.040 But in your state, your governor said yes, Ben Denis. 0:10:10.559 --> 0:10:13.280 And the only way you can get five additional seats 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:16.760 in Texas is if you aggressively discriminate against the Hispanic 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:19.840 and Black populations. You know, something's happening in Texas. That's 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:22.400 that's unique. For the first time, the Latino population is 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:25.240 actually going to exceed that of California on a percentage, 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:27.920 based on a percentage, so we have over forty percent 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:30.199 now Latinos in Texas. It is one of the most 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:33.360 diverse states in the nation. But under this proposal, we 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:36.920 have eleven million of white residents, eleven million Latino residents. 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:39.920 Twenty six out of the thirty eight seats will be 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:43.800 under white controlled districts. Well, Latinos are only being relegated 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:46.000 to eight. That means that the Latin the value of 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:49.000 a Latino resident in Texas is one third the value 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:49.920 of a white resident. 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:52.800 So that I mean there's a and am I right 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:56.880 to have learned or read accurately that four out of 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.000 the five seats they're talking about taking a majority of 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:01.600 Hispanic districts, well three. 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.720 Three for sure, three out of the four were African 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:08.760 American three to the four right of America. 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:14.360 But minority districts districts, so voting rice acts issues here, 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:16.000 I mean just self evident. 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:20.240 They were previously held by heroes in Texas, heroes that 0:11:20.360 --> 0:11:24.400 have gone out and fought that tight for generations, and 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:27.520 they're changing the demographics to be able to put someone 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:29.240 else in there. That's just like. 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:34.120 Marbara Jordan Congressional District eighteen. You know, she was the 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:38.160 first African American woman of color from the South elected 0:11:38.240 --> 0:11:40.439 to the Congress. She was part of the impeachment tronals 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:46.480 against President legend. That district is a historic African American community, 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:51.400 of which now that seat sits open because Governor Abbott 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:54.760 after the death of Congressman Turner refused to allow a 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:56.920 special election in that seat. And so when you look 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.679 at the big, ugly bill that has passed by one vote, 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.800 you know how important the voices of that community are. 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:05.840 And so yes, it is shameful that being at sixty 0:12:05.920 --> 0:12:09.160 years of the Civil Rights Act signed by President Johnson 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:14.040 from Texas, that we now face discrimination by Governor Abbott 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:16.920 bending the need to Trump and wanting to steal five 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.880 seats before the next election cycle. And so that's what 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:22.160 we know is on the line. Not just for Texas, 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:23.880 this sweeps across the nation. 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.480 And that's the point now, number of you have made. 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:31.559 This is not again just about Texas, and we're already 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:35.600 reading about we saw yesterday j d Vance himself, the 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:38.959 Vice President the United States, made his way to Indiana 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:42.000 to try to convince the folks there to do the same. 0:12:42.200 --> 0:12:44.680 We've already heard the Speaker of the House and the 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:48.920 governor of Florida talk about their efforts or their desire 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:51.440 to do their efforts. We know Ohio is already moving 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:56.440 in this direction, Missouri other states that likely will follow suits. 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:59.600 So to your point, this is about rigging the election 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:04.600 before vote is cast before twenty twenty six and that's so. 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.880 Is that fundamentally, why you guys, not only are breaking quorum, 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:11.360 not only for yourself and standing tall and firm on 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:14.000 behalf of the people that you represent and your own 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.400 values and your own conscience. I imagine we'll get to that 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:20.400 in a moment. But also to raise the whole arm bells, sue, 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:24.280 this is not about your state, It's about our country exactly. 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:28.480 I didn't see how we couldn't not break quorum because 0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.640 it wasn't just about us, it was about saving democracy 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:33.160 for the entire United States. 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:34.480 What's this trickle effect? 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:37.160 If everyone can do that, why did we have laws? 0:13:37.400 --> 0:13:37.600 Yeah? 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:41.960 To me, it was so serious because of the future 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:43.040 of the United States. 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:45.160 And what district do you represent in Texas? 0:13:45.240 --> 0:13:49.520 I'm in Houston, I represent how Sistrict one forty four. 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:53.240 And are your constituents are they behind you? Are people 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:57.400 plotting you? Or are they cautious and concerned and concerned 0:13:57.440 --> 0:14:00.080 for you, concern for their country. Don't know if this 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:02.000 is appropriate. What's been the reaction. 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:04.199 Well, I'm probably the only one here who has a 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:08.719 swing district, right, I'm like fifty to fifty district, So 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:13.640 it's on I guess on social media I get certain comments, 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.319 but I have enough friends that they will correct them 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.120 and try to enlighten them on what's. 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:18.640 Really going on. 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:20.880 Some of them are obviously bots, and you just kind 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:24.440 of don't pay attention to those. But I've had a 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:26.480 lot of support, which I think is great, even from 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:28.440 the other side, which I think is wonderful. 0:14:28.480 --> 0:14:30.360 Are you finding that as well? Most of you are. 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:34.240 I mean, I think it's relevant to mention that I 0:14:34.320 --> 0:14:36.560 had a swing district the last time we broke Korm 0:14:36.640 --> 0:14:40.440 in twenty twenty one. Things changed for me after the 0:14:41.840 --> 0:14:45.040 maps were drawn that they thought were okay, and so 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:48.680 I came back with the more democratic district and now 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:53.720 my constituency is spot on, like, yes, please do this. 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.040 We appreciate what you're doing. And I wasn't getting that 0:14:57.120 --> 0:14:59.480 last time. Last time it was like you better get 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:00.480 get back. 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:02.720 Yes. And how long, by the way, let's go back 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:05.760 to twenty twenty one. How long did that last? How 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:06.760 long it was corn broken? 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:08.360 At least six week? Thirty five days? 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:11.480 Yeah, sixty five days. I mean a quor and break 0:15:11.840 --> 0:15:15.880 as a member one, this is the ultimate act of 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:19.280 public service. We all wanted these jobs. We all put 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:21.360 ourselves in the position that if we ever had to 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:24.480 do it, we would, and we recognize this is bigger 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:28.760 than any seat, any job, any individual, and we have 0:15:28.880 --> 0:15:32.040 left everything behind. We have left our families, we have 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:35.200 left our businesses, we have left our homes. It means 0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:37.840 our neighbors are checking on our houses, our families are 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:40.320 picking up all the things that are left behind. People 0:15:40.360 --> 0:15:42.920 are asking how can they pitch in? But we all 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:46.920 recognized the unfortunate circumstance of being in a state right 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:50.720 now that is run by an almost super majority of Republicans, 0:15:51.200 --> 0:15:55.200 where when they rammed through this attempt to steal five seats, 0:15:55.640 --> 0:15:58.200 and ninety nine percent of the thousands of people that 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:01.000 came to testify against this bill said, don't do it. 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:03.280 We don't want this. This is not for Texas. This 0:16:03.360 --> 0:16:07.360 is purely for Trump. Within a couple of days, they 0:16:07.440 --> 0:16:10.360 put it down, got a vote, threw it on the calendar, 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:12.640 and try to get it on the floor. We all 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.840 recognize the only way we could uphold the voice of 0:16:15.880 --> 0:16:19.120 our voters was to physically have our body leave the state. 0:16:19.960 --> 0:16:21.920 And that is a sad comment on where we are 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.840 right now and at a time where you talk about 0:16:24.920 --> 0:16:27.240 every state in the domino effect of just trying to 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:29.880 make it purely red or purely blue at a time 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:33.160 when voters desperately want us to find common ground, find 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:34.960 a way to talk with each other, find a way 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.880 to cross the aisle, when our colleagues just refuse to 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.920 participate in that, and again bent the need of Trump, 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:44.480 we have had to take this extraordinary act. And so, yeah, 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:47.880 a couple extra days. It does mean a lot, because 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:51.880 you have more than fifty members held up together in unison, 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:55.520 together desperately trying to do the right thing against the 0:16:55.600 --> 0:16:58.080 vitriol of attacks that are so much worse than. 0:16:57.960 --> 0:17:00.920 Four years ago. We didn't we weren't. 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:05.280 We weren't experiencing the threats that we are now getting. 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:09.000 That is being I mean, I'm your former chief human 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:12.720 trafficking product prosecutor in Houston. I've had criminals threatened my 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:15.240 life before. I never thought it would be coming from 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.120 the governor, the attorney general or others in elected off. 0:17:18.920 --> 0:17:23.679 Like hunting people deaths. Right, that's very mean. What you 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:26.119 were didn't you run an off ed show me a 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:30.520 little bit of I mean, did potential residents? I mean, 0:17:30.560 --> 0:17:32.879 just you weren't. I mean, you didn't come to this lightly. 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:34.800 Oh no, no, no. 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:36.040 You struggled with this decision. 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:38.560 We all did, I mean all did. We all have 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:41.960 been hearing the rumors that this might happen. I think 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:45.600 we all had a hope and an expectation because we 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:47.919 know nobody really wants to do this. I think we 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:50.000 all had a hope and an expectation that maybe our 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:52.359 colleagues would come to their senses and not attempt this 0:17:52.440 --> 0:17:54.840 because it is going to be a domino effect and 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:57.159 it is going to hurt democracy nation. Why this is 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:00.480 not just about Texas, but when they filed the bill 0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:04.159 and then when they effectively put up sham hearings, we 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:06.479 didn't even have a bill at the time that they 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:10.359 went to Houston or Dallas and asked the voters to comment. 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:13.720 They didn't have the lines, They held the lines in secrecy, 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.199 they didn't have a map, and they dropped it at 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:18.879 the last minute. At that point, you not only realized 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:21.600 that this was rigging the election, this was a sham 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.520 of a process of transparency. So at the time that 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:26.919 government is supposed to work, at a time where at 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:30.080 least one hundred and thirty seven people died in Central Texas. 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:31.760 My arms are on that again, where the hell are 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:33.120 your priorities? 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:35.520 And we've been there for two weeks. We've been there 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:37.760 for two weeks. There are eighteen items on the call. 0:18:38.000 --> 0:18:41.600 Not one bill had been put forth except for redistricting, 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:44.200 only one. And that does show the that's the first 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:45.760 thing we did the first two weeks. 0:18:45.520 --> 0:18:47.280 That we were there. Just anyone listened. I don't care 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:50.359 Democrat or Republican is a human being, just consider, pause 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:53.479 and reflect on that for a moment. There's your values 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:56.800 and your priorities, that things you lay claimed to, particularly 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:01.439 as we bring people. You know, I think about Sunday Service, Yes, 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:04.240 I think about the Good Book. Yes, try to square 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.399 that with their priorities as it relates to this. But 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:11.199 are there colleagues of yours that are quietly saying, you know, 0:19:12.640 --> 0:19:14.479 just got to do this one for the team? You know, 0:19:14.640 --> 0:19:19.040 Trump called I've got to wear my red cape. 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:23.359 You know. I don't see a single Republican defending the 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:25.320 actual details of the bill. And I think part of 0:19:25.359 --> 0:19:27.600 the issue is this bill was so rushed. I don't 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:30.080 think anybody has really fully looked at the level of 0:19:30.320 --> 0:19:34.840 discrimination that exists in this map. If this passes Texas, 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:40.640 Hispanics will be the most underrepresented group in America, exceeding 0:19:40.680 --> 0:19:43.480 the levels of discrimination that still exists in many parts 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:45.920 of the Deep South with black residents in the state. 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.520 The level of underrepresentation is something that will take Texas 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:54.040 Hispanics back to the nineteen sixties. But because Donald Trump 0:19:54.080 --> 0:19:57.600 wants it, he wants this temporary gain of power, He's 0:19:57.600 --> 0:20:00.600 going to sacrifice Hispanics blacks to get it. Yes, and 0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:04.919 I think that Republicans know that this is illegal, But 0:20:05.000 --> 0:20:07.959 the problem is they want to deliver those five votes 0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:10.439 at all costs to Donald Trump. But it's going to 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.040 deliver a temporary gain in power because they're leading it 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:15.040 up to the courts to clean up this mess. So 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:17.399 it's going to have an impact on California, it's going 0:20:17.440 --> 0:20:19.400 to have an impact in New York that they're proposing 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:23.040 an overtly racist map to try to get two years 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:26.000 of political power for Donald Trump. We've seen this in 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:28.359 North Carolina, and we've seen this in Louisiana. 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:29.320 And North Carolina, perfect example. 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:32.520 And that's a I'm sorry that that's a word. Thank 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.000 you Vince for saying that. That's a word that we're 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:39.320 not even allowed to say on the House floor. Racist racism. 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:44.880 I mean, we're not allowed to say racist. Are call 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:47.119 it what it is. We're not allowed to call it 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:51.439 what it is. And so we are encouraged to not 0:20:51.640 --> 0:20:54.480 call it a power grab, to definitely say that this 0:20:54.560 --> 0:21:00.800 is racial jerrymandering, and it really is. You know, Vince 0:21:00.960 --> 0:21:04.600 talked about the reduction of power for Latinos, but for 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:07.920 black people, it means that it will take four black 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:12.840 votes to equal one white vote. So uh, you know, 0:21:12.920 --> 0:21:16.560 and I have to talk about some of what it 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.800 means to me. And you talked about the eighteenth Congressional 0:21:19.800 --> 0:21:23.119 district that I grew up in. You know, one of 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:28.639