The Bulwark Podcast - James Talarico: The Bulwark LIVE from Dallas

Episode Date: March 19, 2026

For Talarico, it doesn't really matter whether Cornyn or Paxton wins their runoff battle. Either way, the Texas Democratic Senate candidate says he is running against the billionaire mega-donors and their corrupt system. To flip the Senate seat, he says he is speaking to the hearts of voters, avoiding media echo chambers, and campaigning on being both pro-immigrant and pro-border security. Plus, Trump's broken promises, Cornyn may be more corrupt than Paxton, Apostle Paul's thoughts on God's sausage, and a Shermanesque denial of the vegan accusations.James Talarico joins Tim Miller before a live Bulwark audience.

The Bell Air Direct app includes crash assist, which detects an accident the moment it happens, and even offers you emergency assistance at the tap of a button. Okay, but what if I don't have an accident? Well, just keep on, keeping on. Bell Air Direct, insurance, simplified. Conditions apply. Hello and welcome to the Bullwark Podcast. I'm your host, Tim Miller.

We're here in Dallas. And our guest on today's show is Senate Canada James Teller Rico. Thank you. Teller Rico. You know, we booked this. you're in a primary still and so we decided to keep it as a surprise for people so it's a nice

pleasant surprise here in Texas how are you feeling it's got to feel good to get a little win under your belt I mean the real works ahead but you gotta feel good I'm feeling good and it's so good to be in Dallas Texas thank you all for the world welcome no it's been great and I feel like people are finally believing in Texas again

that we can that we can change the politics of the state that we can push back against the extremism and the corruption in our government. And I think we're going to surprise a lot of people in November in this state. You don't think they're doing a good job here so far, the incumbent, you don't think they're doing a good job?

I don't, no. I have just a few complaints. You have a few critiques. Well, I want to talk about Texas and the Senate race to do a little politics here in a minute and talk about some other stuff. We'll have a little bit of fun at the end. You know, it's a live show.

But we got to talk about the news first. And while we were back there, just before we came on, Reuters reporting that Trump is looking at bringing additional troops to the Middle East as part of the Iran War. This obviously seems like it's escalating, though, you know, who the hell knows, he could just turn around and quit tomorrow. We don't know with him. What's your assessment of what we've seen there and just your initial reactions to this war? Well, you know, as a millennial, I saw how military disasters like the Iraq War robbed this nation.

of young lives, of billions of dollars, and of our moral standing in the world. And I worry that this president, this administration, is making the same mistake with another forever war in the Middle East. And I was a few weeks ago in Sand Branch, Texas, which is just a few miles from here, that community doesn't have any running water. It doesn't have basic sewer infrastructure. Every dollar we are spending bombing people in the Middle East is a dollar that we are not spending in our communities in this country. And Tim, we're always told that there's not enough money for schools, not enough money for health care, not enough money for veterans, but there always seems to be enough money to bomb people on the other side of the world.

And so I think it is possible to support the democracy movement in Iran. it is possible to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon without this kind of reckless military intervention. Are we even doing either of those things? Are we supporting a democracy weapon in Iran? We may be doing the exact opposite. I mean, the single best way to empower the regime in Iran is to have this kind of bombing from America. And you're seeing them burning American flags when the regime was on its back foot. just weeks ago. And so I worry that we've done the exact opposite, and we've empowered the extremists

in Iran, and we have weakened the democracy movement in that country. Yeah, I saw it today, because of the closing of the Strait of Hormuz and the bombing of oil fields in Qatar and elsewhere, the price of a barrel of oil now is up to $110. Do you have mixed feelings about that at all? It is kind of good for Midland. I mean, the sad thing is that this president was elected to do one thing and one thing only, and that was bring down costs. And now he is doing the exact opposite, not just the price of gas, but I mean the price of food, the cost of housing, of health care. Here in Texas, our state leaders didn't expand Medicaid, and so a lot of our fellow Texans depend on the Affordable Care Act on those subsidies. And so these cuts to the ACA are

hurting Texans in particular. And the estimate is two million Texans are going to lose their insurance because of these cuts. So this president who was elected to lower cost has actually made things more expensive. And I think it's why you're seeing such a backlash in this state and in this country. Tim, you may know that the folks here in DFW flipped a state Senate seat in Tarrant County. Oh yeah. It was a it was a district that the president had won by 17 points in 2024. And so this community shocked the nation by flipping a state Senate seat. And I think that we're going to shock the world when we flip a U.S. Senate seat. The other kind of big war-related news is that Trump's counterterrorism chief, Joe Kent, quit the administration. Not a big fan.

Any Joe Kent fans in the audience? Joe, you know, has quite a hit list. As far as his background is concerned, but his resignation was basically pure America First It, you know, included some conspiracy theories, but it also said, you know, fundamentally when he signed up for this, you know, he wasn't signing up for a war in Iran. He wasn't signing up for a war that was pushed by Israel. As we're talking, he's on with Tucker Carlson right now. It sounds like the FBI is now going to be investigating him. How do you, how do you like process that? How do you think about that in Texas? And you're kind of big moment, really, maybe not the original big moment, but on the national stage, for those of us non-Texans,

was when you went on Joe Rogan. And that audience, like, there's some overlap, people who really did believe in maybe the non-racist part of the America First movement, you know, and they didn't want to be in those foreign wars. So how do you think about, like, talking about the Joe Kents and communicating with those people and offering something to that constituency? I mean, again, we just talked about broken promises when it comes to the cost of living crisis, but there was also a promise made by the...

the president during his campaign that he wasn't going to start any more wars. And now he's started multiple wars just in the first year of his administration. And so I can sympathize with the disillusionment that some of the folks in the MAGA movement are feeling. And I think this is, there is bipartisan opposition to this war in Iran. I hear it from people across the state of Texas, not just Democrats, but independents and Republicans too, who think it's reckless. They think it's counterproductive, and they think it is a wasteful use of our resources when we have so many pressing priorities here at home. Is there a room in the Telarico Coalition for America First?

MTAG calls you up and says, hey, I think I might be for you. I mean, this, what do you say? I've told, I've told people that if they want a small insular group of people who agree with you on everything, you should start a social club. But a political party is meant to be a big tent. It is meant to be a group of people who don't agree on everything, but agree on the big stuff. And, Tim, I have, you know, in the course of the primary campaign, I went to literally every corner of Texas. I went from Beaumont to El Paso, from Amarillo to Brownsville, and I held so many events with so many Texans who showed up.

I can't tell you the number of people who came up to me at the end of those events and whispered, I'm not a Democrat. like they were in the witness protection program. Yeah. And, you know, I'm, I stayed to the very end of the events. I shake every hand. I take every selfie. I answer every question. And, you know, you hear that 12 times in a photo line, and you want to tell people that

they're not alone, that they, that they, they can join this movement we're building because it is big enough for every Texan who is fed up with the extremism and the corruption in our government. So that's a maybe then on MTV. I'll take that as a maybe. Is she a Texan? No, you're not been in endorsements. You take endorsements out of state.

You never know. I don't know. She's going through some shit. I mean, and to be, let's, I mean, just in all seriousness, like, we should be extending an open hand rather than a closed fist to those people who are questioning their past support for the president or their past support for the party. Like, I do want to welcome those folks into our coalition. I'm really not interested in purity politics. I am interested in building political power

so that we can transform this state and this country and improve people's lives. If you don't win political power, you can't help anybody. Then you're just doom scrolling and complaining on Twitter. Okay. Which this group never does. That feels like a message. It's called a sub-tweet.

That is the purpose of politics is to win power and improve people's lives. And that requires persuasion. There's this thing in my party here in Texas where people will say that Texas is not a red state, it's a non-voting state. And I understand where they're coming from. And Texas does have one of the lowest voter turnout rates

in the country. But there's also a point where that argument is used as an excuse not to persuade people who aren't with us yet. And that is so deadly in a democracy. because the whole point of this democratic experiment is that we're supposed to make our argument. We're supposed to make our case and we're supposed to win hearts and minds. That's how you build a big enough coalition to govern.

And I want us to get back to that in the Democratic Party. There was a feeling for a long time that everyone secretly agreed with us. And if they didn't, they were a bigot or a racist or misogynist and we didn't need their support. And I hope that the 2024 election was a wake-up call to everyone in our party that we have to start reaching out to people who are. aren't with us yet and building a bigger coalition. I love that because I do, yeah, that's, you're speaking my language because there is, I think this weird view that all of the non-voting Texans are just like Democrats, just haven't come, woken up yet.

They're all resistance liberals. It's like waiting. Actually, I think somebody that doesn't launch the news and doesn't vote and doesn't care about what's happening, they might be for Trump. Well, well, so more, I mean, just saying. So a couple things. Maybe we don't want them to vote. I, um, I, I, we, um, on our campaign, we, uh, this is something you and I have in common.

I, uh, did the episode of, uh, of surrounded, Jubilee on YouTube. Yeah. And I sat down with 25 undecided voters in Texas. And it was a conversation that was wide ranging. And I think something, if you go back and watch that episode on YouTube, you'll realize a truth about politics, which is that undecided voters or non-voters, they tend to have pretty heterodox opinions about things.

Yeah, weird opinions. Yeah, and we, you know, and that's a good thing. Like, I honestly think there's, there's, within the parties and within, among partisan people, like, there's way too much rigid orthodoxies that can never be questioned. I love that people who aren't really into politics, they kind of have a grab bag of some progressive views, some conservative views. You talk about Joe Rogan. You know, Joe Rogan is for a universal basic income. He's for universal health care. And so you could try to put him into a box, but he doesn't fit into a box. And most Texans, most Americans don't either. And I think we should embrace that. And I think it's a mistake that hyper-political people make when they think that all these non-voters or, you know, infrequent voters somehow secretly agree with them on every single

plank in the Democratic platform. I don't know about you, but I loved doing Jubilee. I did too. After I thought, like, I wanted a cigarette, and I said to the guys, I was like, can we do this again tomorrow? I just, it was, I don't know, it got me, you know, my synapses firing. I mean, I get bored very easily, and it's why I enjoy, it's why I enjoy serving in the Texas legislature, because it's like being in the Lions Jen all the time. And it's why I like going on Rogan. I like going on Fox News. I like going on the Christian Broadcasting Network, and I love doing Jubilee, because it's an opportunity to change hearts and minds, and, like, that's so rewarding. No offense to MS now. But I just, I don't, I don't feel like I'm accomplishing as much

when I'm in the echo chamber. And sometimes it feels good to be with people who agree with you, and it's sometimes fun to preach to the choir, but I don't feel like I'm doing any good in some of these media spaces like I feel when I'm on Jubilee or on Rogan actually reaching people who aren't with us yet. Totally great. All right. If you've been with me for a minute, you know how much I love Sol's out of office beverages. I've been hawking them for a while. They're the sparkling THC CBD beverages that are nice for a little night on the couch watching Love Story or you know for a weekend hang at the pool. And now Sol is launching something new. Some mood gummies. The mood gummies are offering something balanced.

Maybe you aren't sure if you need to pick me up or rewind me down. A little bit of both, something in between. Well, the mood gummies have balanced formulas designed to keep your level. Seoul is a wellness brand that makes delicious hemp drives, CBD, and THC products designed to make feeling good simple. Soul's new mood gummies have precise dosing, clean ingredients, and formulations designed for predictable effects. So you can choose how you want to feel while staying in. control. If you're looking for that bright social energizing buzz, you could do the uplift gummies.

Three milligrams of Sativa, THC, plus CBG, are perfect for daytime plans or beating the afternoon slump. Or at nighttime, if you're looking to wind down, the mellow gummies offer a three milligram indica THC plus CBN pairing, ideal for cozy nights and fully unplugging. So make today a good day and get yourself some soul gummies. Right now, Soul is offering my audience, 30% off your entire order. getsole.com and use the code the bulwark. That's getsole.com

promo code the bulwark for 30% off. The other news item from today I want to talk to you about was Mark Wayne Mullen from up on the other side of the red ribbon was he had his confirmation hearing today.

It was kind of there's some fireworks. It's kind of interesting because he had previously basically said that Rand Paul's neighbor like had a few things right when he kicked Rand Paul's ass and Rand is the chair of the committee that he needs to be confirmed through so yeah awkward so there was like a lot of back and forth and then he refused to apologize yeah he wouldn't even just say sorry man you know things got a little heated he wouldn't do it

so um you know that confirmation is i think really hinging unfortunately on john fetterman um so we'll see what happens with that uh but uh I guess the obvious question is you would be a no on Markleine Moe. I would. I would. And here's why. I mean, I would be a know on any potential secretary who is not willing to tear down this secret police force and replace it with an agency that's actually focused on public safety. I, you know, you know this, Tim.

Before I was a politician, I was a public school teacher in San Antonio, Texas on the West. side of the city. And I taught a lot of undocumented students. And those students tended to be my most patriotic students. They understood something about this country that a lot of us who are native-born forget that this is supposed to be the land of opportunity, that this is supposed to be the place where our dreams come true. And they believed that in their bones. And they believed in this country, even when this country didn't believe in them. And so the fact that we have the most powerful politicians in the country terrorizing my former students and their families, people who work hard every day to contribute to this economy and to this country, to me, is immoral. It's

unconscionable. It's unacceptable. And it has to end. I'll just, I mean, we should be cracking down on the cartels, not our communities. We should be deporting gang members, not small business owners. We should be hunting down human traffickers, not moms and babies. This is something that I think most Texans agree with. And this is something I said on Jubilee. It was the failures of my party. It was the failures of the Biden administration that opened the door to this extremism, that opened the door to mask men in unmarked vehicles kidnapping people off our street. So both parties have failed us on this issue over the last 30 years. I think Texans and Americans are just looking,

they're looking for leaders who are going to hold two things in their mind at once, being pro-immigrant and pro-security. Because like we've been told those are mutually exclusive and they're not. Yeah. You know, I saw on the internet, which is in real life, you got a little shit over that, what you were saying unsurrounded about how it was, you know, the mistakes of your party that led us here. And what a lot of people would say is, well, what about the James Lankford bill

that Donald Trump blocked and that the Republicans in the Senate blocked? And like, there's something to that, right? Like Donald Trump wanted there to be chaos because he wanted to help his election. Absolutely. But that was in the fourth year of the Biden presidency. Right. Like there were three years before that. So talk about those three years, like what you think they should have or could have done differently. Well, and the proof is that they were able to get the border under control four months, five months before the election. Right. And so they knew how to do it. And I've heard from people who served in the Biden administration who said that the administration, the president himself, they were listening to these groups for people who aren't super into the infrastructure,

the Democratic Party. In recent years, there have been a series of advocacy groups that claim to represent the interests of different communities like here in Texas, but actually have no real connection to the actual people on the ground. And those groups convinced the administration that it was racist to support border security. And nothing could be further from the truth. It was my colleagues in the State House who served border communities in South Texas, in El Paso, who were constantly telling me about the chaos in their communities because of the Biden administration's policies.

And that is not compassionate. Chaos is not compassionate. And we as Democrats, we're the party that's supposed to make the government work for people. And this was a prime example of government not working for people. And again, you know, the Republicans have been attacking me by taking something

that I say about the border and basically cutting it out, cutting it off mid-sentence. I usually say, yeah. So I have said throughout the whole campaign, that our southern borders should be like our front porch. There should be a giant welcome mat out front and a lock on the door, meaning you can welcome hardworking immigrants who want to contribute to this country

and keep out people who mean to do us harm, not mutually exclusive goals. But the Republicans don't want you to know that those two things are possible, and so they post this clip and they cut it right before I say lock on the door. So it just sounds like I want open borders. But I think this is where most Texans and most Americans are at on the the issue and it's why they're frustrated with both parties because in the Democratic Party, they see a party that's pro-immigrant but doesn't seem too concerned about security. Then they throw us out. They elect the Republicans, a party that's very concerned about security

and seems to be pretty anti-immigrant. And they're dissatisfied with that too. So they want a party, they want leaders who are going to hold both those values together at the same time. Yeah, you did pretty well in the Rio Grande Valley and with Latino voters during the primary. I've had Bobby Polito in the show who's running down there who's a good guy run for a Republican seat there. Thinking about the general election, this was a huge shift, you know, over to Republicans. And I think that was caught a lot of Democrats by surprise, right?

Because they convinced themselves that there was a demographics its destiny argument, that how could any Latino vote for Trump? Because he's obviously racist, what she is. And so it's like, we don't need to try. And when I talk to Bobby, when I talk to some other people, you know, in that community, what you hear a lot of is like two issues. One was border security, which you were just talking about. And the other is faith. You know, like a lot of folks in those communities are Catholic or Protestant, Hispanics that feel like the Democratic Party, you know, is godless or whatever as a short term.

Like, what is your plan for kind of re-engaging those voters that were lost? Yeah. And, you know, my family is from South Texas. My mom grew up in Laredo on our southern border. Talarico. Yeah. It's like Hispanic-ish. It's a vowel at the end.

We're going to count it? That's true. It was just me and my mom when I was born, and she very heroically left an abusive situation to protect me and ensure I had a better life. But the luckiest thing that ever happened to either of us was meeting Mark Talarico, who then adopted me, gave me his last name, and raised me as his own. And he, the, hey, shout out to Mark Talaico. Anyway, he is a first-generation American, his family, came to this country from Italy. So it's an Italian last name.

But down there, you know, I say Tala Rico. They say Talaico, which is much prettier than how I say it. Roll that arm. Yeah. But anyway, but, you know, South Texas is one of my favorite places in the world. The Rio Grande Valley is one of my favorite places in the world. I went down there a lot because the reason Democrats lost support in South Texas and among Hispanic voters across the state is because we took them for granted. We assumed they were a part of our base and we stopped showing up.

We stopped competing for their votes. I was told by my state representative that I grew up with when he was teaching me about campaigning. He said you always have to ask for people's votes. and that sounds obvious, but it's actually something people don't do in our politics anymore. You have to ask for someone's vote. You have to earn their vote. You have to actively compete for it. And so that's what I did in this primary campaign. I went down to South Texas more times than I can count. I went down to the valley a ton, and I listened. I heard their concerns, both about immigration, but honestly, primarily about costs. It's this cost of a living crisis that's

crushing people all over the state, but especially folks in South Texas. And then we developed a policy platform in partnership with them that could meet those needs. And I think showing up and listening is half the battle in politics. And it's where our party should do a better job of among all communities, not just Hispanic voters. I've been listening to a lot of your speeches and your pitch over the past couple of weeks, both during the primary and kind of sense. And you talk a lot in this question of, okay, look, Trump got about a million and a half more votes than Kamala, right? So what we were talking about earlier, there's got to be persuasion. And there's a turnout element to it. There's a persuasion element. And you really focus in the persuasion element on this top-down politics,

like getting out of the culture war, getting out of the left, right, focusing on the top-down. And I believe there's something to it. I also worry, though, that, like, the cultural rift between the Democratic Party and parts of America and parts of Texas is very real. And just like, pretending like that isn't a kitchen table issue, you know, pretending like they're not going to talk about whatever it is, COVID or trans or whatever, whatever, whatever, anything. Like, I think that that's a losing bet, right? And that there has to be some engagement on a cultural level to get people to listen to you. How do you kind of react to that? Well, one, you were just talking about faith and its centrality in the lives of so many Texans. And, and it's a, it's centrality in the lives

of so many Texans, and that people feel like the Democratic Party is hostile to those cultural values, and they're not necessarily wrong about that. Someone pointed out to me that every world religion is mentioned in our party platform except for Christianity. And there seems like a pretty glaring omission. And that's, you know, the DNC has a page for like literally every group you could imagine, like Hawaiian nationals, but not boys or white people. And it's just like, okay. And that's the point is like I get where the, where that, I get the instinct. Sure.

And that is to look out for people who are bullied, people who are on the outside. And I like that instinct in the Democratic Party. It just becomes a problem when that turns into pushing away people who are in the dominant group, who could very much be in our coalition. There are, I think, so many people of faith, so many Christians in this state who who sympathize with the Democratic Party on a whole host of issues. Immigration, maybe being at the top of the list. And they are just, they're waiting for a campaign that's not hostile to those values

and who's willing to connect with them on these conversations of faith and spirituality. And I think it's what's so powerful about the movement that we're currently building in Texas is that we are building bridges about things that are honestly deeper than public policy. Are you going to be able to go into the megachurch? I mean, we all know the woke church. Every town's got the church with the pride flag. We love them. We appreciate to be welcomed.

But are you going to go to see Joel Osteen? I would love to. I would love to visit his church. I mentioned that I go on the Christian Broadcasting Network because, you know, I want to extend an open hand to our, to my brothers and sisters in Christ who are a little more conservative than I am. and I think that kind of outreach will allow us to build a coalition big enough to win in a place like Texas. And it's been a long time since we've had leaders in our party who speak openly and unapologetically about their faith.

And that's necessary because people have to communicate their why. And for me, it's my faith, but it may be different for you. But Democrats always speak to people's brains instead of their heart. and their guts. And every single human being in this room across the state, we make decisions with our heart and our gut, and then our brain justifies it. That's how every person works. But as logical as we all pretend that we are. And so if we as political leaders, we as organizers are not speaking to people's hearts first, then we're committing political malpractice. And it's something that our campaign tries to do every day is focus on values before we get into

policy minutia because those values are unifying and are transcendent and I think it has to be at the forefront of our political discourse in this country. All right, let's have some fun. Okay. I'm having fun. You know, it's the Bullwark podcast. It's true. We're not going to really have fun until we start dunking on the other guys. Who you're rooting for in that other primary? They're still working things out over there. They are. They are. You got a rooting interest? You know, I said on election night that it doesn't matter who comes out of this Republican runoff because we already know who we're running against.

We're running against the billionaire mega donors in their corrupt political system. And I think John Cornyn and Ken Paxton embody the corruption in our politics. Obviously, Ken Paxton's crimes are well-known. And, you know, I was part of the bipartisan majority in the Texas House of Representatives that voted to impeach our corrupt Attorney General. But don't laugh when I say this. I think John Cornyn may be even more corrupt than Ken Paxton. And here's why. Yeah, see.

I'm ready for the pitch. John Cornyn, by the way, he was first elected to public office six years before I was born. He got to the Senate when I was in middle school, actually. And John Cornyn just last year was the deciding vote on that big ugly bill. That big ugly bill that's going to kick millions of Texans off their health care. That big ugly bill that's going to take food out of the mouths of hungry Texas kids, all to give yet another tax break to his billionaire. donors. And so Ken Paxton, Ken Paxton was impeached for using his public office to enrich his donors.

And that's exactly what John Cornyn does at the biggest scale. And so we oftentimes think of corruption as something that's illegal, but corruption is really just the betrayal of the public's trust. And by, and by casting that deciding vote on that big ugly bill, John Cornyn, admitted an act of corruption of the highest order. It's also, yeah, and it's also, even the brown paperback corruption, it's like John Cornyn pretending like he cares about Ken Paxon's corruption. Give me a fucking break. He's in the Senate.

What about, what about Jared's money from MBS? What about the crypto money that Don Jr. and Eric are making? Where's John Corny on any of that? Well, and like, like, I think Kent Paxton actually believes in his extremism. Yeah. I'll give him that. I think he's a true believer. John Cornyn, though, is the worst kind of politician.

He will believe whatever he has to to hold on to power. And I think that's like what people across the political spectrum are really fed up with. So I just believe that neither John Cornyn nor Kim Paxton deserve the honor of representing this great state in the United States Senate. Ken Paxton just loves his side pieces. You know, he loves them earnestly. there's something honest about that. John Cornyn, back to him. You remember that ad of every city?

Big John Cornyn. I'm wondering if there is anybody in public life more emasculated than Big John Cornyn sitting in Daddy Trump's cuck chair. He's getting rid of the filibuster, he's flying on Daddy Trump's plane, whatever you want, sir. Whatever you want, Mr. Trump.

Doesn't give big John Cornyn to me. And that's, honestly, it's a, you know, one of the great things about this state is that we value independence. We like people who think for themselves. And I think what people are looking for in the next U.S. senator from the state is someone who will think for themselves. Someone who will push back against the powerful people in either party. And someone who's going to do right by Texans. I think that's what we don't have currently. and it's something people are hungry for

from their next U.S. Senate. Sarah asked me backstage if I thought Big John Cornyn was non-binary, and I was like, that's a sensitive topic. Mark Levine's situation. Okay. Do we have any? I guess one more thing

before we get to the rapid fire round. Does John Cornyn's kind of solid the Damascus love for getting rid of the filibuster? Do you see any encouragement out of that? Where would you end up being? on the filibuster. Well, in this case, I agree with John Cornyn because I think we should abolish the filibuster so

that we can actually we can actually govern in this country. I mean, people of Texas, they vote for leaders from a certain party and they want to see the results of that vote, whether it's the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. What's happening

now because of the filibuster is they elect one party, they see nothing getting done, they don't see any improvement in their lives, and so they swing wildly to the other party, and then they see more gridlock. And so I think what needs to happen is we have to improve this feedback loop between the voters and the people that represent them. And people deserve to see the results of their vote.

And then they can make judgments about whether they want to continue slashing health care and slashing food assistance for hungry kids or starting more forever wars. And then they can make a judgment and adjust accordingly. right now they're not able to see the results of their vote because of the filibuster. So I'm all for a talking filibuster, but this situation where, you know, a certain number of senators can just veto any action to me is just a recipe for more gridlock. Are there any senators up there you think you're doing good? Are there anybody going to model yourself after? Absolutely.

I mean, I, this probably doesn't come as a surprise, but I'm deeply inspired by Reverend Raphael Warnock. He's great. Because not only the way that he balances his role as a faith leader and his role as a public servant in a healthy and responsible way, but also because he knows how to flip a red state. And we, I think, in Texas, take a lot of inspiration from what they've done in Georgia. And we're going to follow the same playbook so that we can end 30 years of one-party rule in our state. That reminds me I had one other question before he got to rapid fire. Reverend Warnock was invoked in your heated primary, where, you know, there were some issues across racial lines. I think there's been some concern that, like, one of the things that could hold you back in the general is whether black voters are going to be excited enough to turn out for you.

And I'm just kind of wondering how you're thinking about that and how you're communicating with that constituency. Well, thinking about a lot is my top priority right now and for the next few weeks and months is healing the divisions from this primary. and I talked earlier about taking people for granted, taking communities for granted, and that also applies to black voters in the state. And so I'm going to be doing the work to earn the trust and the respect and the support of every black Texan. And that means showing up in the community. In fact, you know, I'm here in Dallas tomorrow morning. I'm participating in a roundtable of black faith leaders here in DFW.

And that's just one example of the kind of work we're going to be doing in the weeks and months ahead. so that we can bring our coalition back together and do something really special together and that's finally win statewide in Texas. All right, here we go. Rapid Fire. We have a meat section and a Texas section. In the meat section, first,

how big is God's sausage, would you say? We know God is a man, and so I'm just wondering, like, how healthy his hog is. So, I know this is rapid fire, Let me just because... Two-word answer, please. Yes or no?

Listen, I know that I was being provocative with that comment. I made it on the floor of the House when the extremists in the Texas legislature were trying to pick on kids who were different. And while it's maybe provocative politically, I don't think it's controversial, theologically. most Christians believe that God is beyond gender. And in fact, the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians, says that in Christ there is neither male nor female. So if you have a problem with what I said, don't take it up with me, take it up with the Apostle Paul.

Second Apostle Paul reference of this podcast. That's a first, I guess. Saul Damascus is kind of close. Okay. Otherwise, in the meet, there's a video going around. you talking about, I guess, one of your state rep campaigns was a vegan campaign, which I don't know, I'm looking side-eye at as a former Republican. Where are you at on Texas meats? What are your favorites? Are you a vegan? One, yeah, thank you for asking this very important question. Because

this is a very serious allegation to make in Texas. So I want to just, I want to say this definitively and categorically that I deny all accusations of veganism. And, you know, our campaign basically runs on barbecue these days. You ask my favorite, I will give a shout out to, I think, the best barbecue joint Texas, which was in my old legislative district in Taylor, Texas, Louis Miller barbecue. If you, hey, check it out. Next time you're in Taylor, best biscuit you're going to find. So that's my pleasure.

I'm a hipster, so I'm going to La Barbecue in Austin tomorrow. But sorry, guys. You know, it's not up there. I'll give you the authentic shit when you're asking me about crawfish atoufay. Okay, I'm going to the hipster tourist joints in Texas. All right, we closed the podcast with the song. We're here in Texas. Obviously, Bob Wills is the king down here.

I'm wondering if you could give us maybe, you know, I don't know, like a round. What's a hill in the hill country? If you did a Mount Rushmore, where would the hill be in Texas? Do we have a hill? A hill? A hill. A hill country? Yeah, we could do the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend.

Okay. So a big band if we're going to make a Texas musician about Rushmore. Who do you think we'd put up there? Oh, my God. Who do you got? So, one, I'm going to start with the king of country music, George Strait. Okay. Then I'm going to add, I'm going to add Selena Ketania, the queen of Tejano music.

Then I'm going to add the patron saint of Austin, Texas, is Willie Nelson. And then I'm going to close it out with one more, one-word musician, and that's Beyonce. That's right. All right. Ain't no hold on. That's James Tala Rico.

He's running for Senta. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I wouldn't be a fan. Nobody swam the Rio Grande American. If it wasn't for Texas.

The Borg podcast is brought to you. Thanks to the work of lead producer Katie Cooper, Associate producer Anzley Skipper, and with video editing by Katie Lutz, and audio engineering and editing by Jason Brown.