The MeidasTouch Podcast - Meet the Texas Democratic Superstar running against a MAGA Republican Under CRIMINAL INDICTMENT (Sheena King)

Episode Date: September 28, 2022

On The Mighty, we feature some of the most impactful responses, reactions, narratives, musings, and rants of Meidas content creators. New episodes of the traditional MeidasTouch Podcast featuring all the brothers drop every Tuesday and Friday morning. Sheena King is the Democrat running for the newly formed Texas House District 61 for the 2022 elections. King is running against a Radical MAGA Republican named Frederick Frazier, who was indicted by a grand jury on a third-degree felony charge of impersonating a public servant. MeidasTouch co-founders Brett and Jordy had an opportunity to chat with King about her campaign. To watch the exclusive video version of this podcast, join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/meidastouch Shop Meidas Merch at: https://store.meidastouch.com Join us on Patreon: https://patreon.com/meidastouch Remember to subscribe to ALL the Meidas Media Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://pod.link/1510240831 Legal AF: https://pod.link/1580828595 The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://pod.link/1595408601 The Influence Continuum: https://pod.link/1603773245 Kremlin File: https://pod.link/1575837599 Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://pod.link/1530639447 The Weekend Show: https://pod.link/1612691018 The Tony Michaels Podcast: https://pod.link/1561049560 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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exclusions, and terms apply. Instacart, groceries that over-deliver. Hello, everybody, and welcome to the Midas Touch podcast, The Mighty Edition. Always so excited on The Mighty to be able to highlight some incredible candidates from around the country. Today, you have Brett and Jordy here to welcome you, to introduce you to an incredible candidate that you got to know from Texas. I want to introduce you to Sheena King. Sheena King is the Democrat running for the newly formed Texas House District 61 in these upcoming elections. Sheena, thank you so much for coming on the show. Yeah, thank you so much for having me. I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts.

Oh, we could not be more excited to share you with our listeners, with our viewers. First, why don't you just start off by introducing yourself a little bit? Tell us a bit about your background. How did you come to run for the seat? Yeah, so I appreciate it. So my background is I am a mom of three adult children. I'm a fourth generation Texan, and I'm just an advocate for democracy. I decided to run for the seat because, A, it's an open seat. Not that I knew that at the time, but it's a great opportunity to make sure, we have no diverse representatives and our county is very diverse. So we need someone to actually represent the values and to listen to all people. So I decided to run because I just saw a gap.

I saw a huge gap. I saw an opportunity and I saw a lot of divisiveness in this last legislative session. So I'm just trying to bring and restore light and love back to Texas. Man, that is certainly refreshing to hear. And we certainly are seeing the divisiveness across the country at this point. What are some of the other cities in Collin County that our listeners are probably aware of? Yeah, so this seat actually represents seven different cities. The cities will include Anna, Melissa, Salina, Prosper, Frisco, McKinney, and a little bitty town called Weston, which is right smack in the middle of all those cities.

Look at that. Covering a lot of ground in this house district. You gotta love it. Now I got to talk about this. So correct me if I'm wrong here. Your opponent is a guy named Frederick Frazier. Am I accurate here? And so if my research is also accurate, he was indicted on

third degree felony charges by a Republican grand jury, mind you, for impersonating a public servant. And he's alleged for those who don't know to have impersonated an election compliance officer on two occasions, two twice late last year, and then early again in February. And he was instructing people to remove campaign signage. Could you go into a little more? I know I just covered a bit of ground, but could you just talk about that a little bit more? Yeah. So you covered it well. You know, as much as I know, as much has been reported out there. So the allegations went before a grand jury and they found evidence of some wrongdoing. So he did receive a felony indictment. That is a fact. Sadly, we've seen no results of that. We

don't know where we are with that. We haven't heard anything. It's been recorded in the news and the outlets and it's kind of gone radio silent. So he is still actively campaigning. So we are still running this race against this felony indicted opponent. And for Collin County, unfortunately, it's unacceptable, but we've seen it before because Ken Paxton actually lives in this district. I was good. OK, so Ken Paxton lives in the district. So something's in the air that the Republicans in Collin County are breathing or something, because if you have Ken Paxton, who, for those who don't know, you know, the AG of Texas, he has also been under criminal indictment for years now. And we still haven't heard anything. So what is it about these Texas Republicans? You know, I wish I could tell you. I've heard a lot of folks talk about the Wild West and, you know, they'll say that.

I'm like, no, I'm a fourth generation Texan. We have morals. We have values. We're real people. But gosh, they are making it really hard to dispel that myth, but I don't know. And it's like the full, you know, they run the full gambit of, you know, criminality, corruption, but also just kind of utter incompetence is what we've seen. And you're just like, how does anybody vote for these people when you see what's going on? You look at Republicans who are completely in charge of the state of Texas at this point, you see the schools are in crisis, the power grid is failing. The gun violence problems are worse than ever. Like, isn't that enough of a reason for folks to say, you know what, I think I'm going to give Democrats a shot this time around. I mean, that's what we're hoping, right? I mean,

golly, 20 years, who gets to keep a job after failure and failure and failure and failure, 20 years of failure. So, yeah, that's what we're hoping. And we're trying to just make sure we flood the airwaves with information. So I appreciate this opportunity because, sadly, a lot of people are just going about their daily lives and they're not able to focus in on what's fact and what's fiction and what's opinion and what's not and what's good for them and their family short term and long term. They're just trying to live for today. So we're just trying to make sure all that information gets out there so they can make informed decisions. Well, let's dive into those issues that affects people and their families. One of the most important issues that I see out there where

Texas is in crisis mode is what I brought up before, and that's public education. Seems like there's been so much damage to the public education system and these kinds of things, because they are so localized, often get overlooked by the national media. So if you could just explain what is going on with the public education system in Texas, why is it in crisis? What's causing it? How could it be fixed? Kind of all that. Yeah, that's a lot. I will start and probably end with the resource challenge. So there is a huge deficit in the amount of pay that our teachers, our educators in Texas receive as compared to the national average. And it's shameful, honestly. So we have, I think it's $44 billion, $44 billion with a B, sitting in reserves and monies that can be allocated to so many services that are needed across Texas, including our public education.

And yet, this 20 years of failed leadership in the state of Texas by the GOP, they have failed to adequately fund our public education system. They've had session after session to be able to do that. But I will say this, Texas is very unique in that they only have a legislative session every other year, and it's only 140 days. So right there, education has to be pushed every single time, and it's not at the forefront. And what is offered is really just a very small little bandaid on a huge problem that needs to be addressed. So that problem exists because our state is underfunding public education. And we think it's intentional. You know, after a few times and you hear about it and you hear about it, it's okay. Something's not right and nothing gets fixed. So it's intentional at this

point where they are underfunding and they're then leaving that gap for the taxpayers to fund the public education. And that burden is creating a huge amount of taxpayer burden for property taxes. So we have our property taxes for our personal property is skyrocketing because of that. And then our commercial property owners, they pay just a fraction. And then the state is definitely not paying their fair share. So I can go on and on on this topic, but right there, we are not balancing our budget in the right way. And we're even being mismanaged with the federal funding. The funding that was sent down for COVID relief to our schools didn't actually get to the schools, not all of it.

So there is a lot of unacceptable behavior. Let's just put it that way. Yeah, well, it certainly it certainly is by design. And we see that in red states or just Republican run states kind of across the country. There is a coordinated effort to starve the public school systems, push people to private schools, push people to charter schools. I think it begs the question, though, if they're getting all this money and it's not going to schools, where is the money going? Yeah, that's a great question. Well, you may have seen some political stunts happening in Texas

that might be where the money's going. So it's not where the money should be going, but we might follow that trail. We see migrants who are seeking asylum in this country, and they are being bused to different parts of the country instead of them trying to find homes and restitution for these folks who really need help. And we see other just slush funds that are being used with this money, as opposed again to using it for the help that people need. We're seeing a huge spike in folks experiencing homelessness. Our mental health is under attack. We don't have funding for that. We've just decided, you know what? We don't need Medicaid. I mean, who needs those billions of dollars that the federal government could send to

us? We don't need that. We're Texas. We're good. So there's just a lot of mismanagement and mishandling of money. And it's all because the GOP doesn't care about helping people. It really is just concerned about helping its constituents and helping some of those lobbyists and corporate entities, let's just be real, who are backing a lot of this defunding

of our public education. I got to just go back and focus on something you just said about the Medicare expansion, because this is just, I mean, it's just mind blowing to me. I mean, it's these sorts of things that just make me be like, how is this even possible? But the federal government is offering Texas a Medicare expansion. They're offering to pay for more than 90% of the expansion to get people the care that they need. And Texas Republicans go, no, we're good. We're good. Is that basically what's happening? Yeah. Yeah. And it's been what, a decade, at least a decade where we've just turned our nose up to the money saying, oh, we don't need it. And it's ego. And I get it. I'm from Texas for years, for decades, excuse me, of generations. So I know we have a lot of pride in Texas, but at some point you got to stop and say, that is just not the way to help. So I don't know what is going to take other than a change. And that change is going to be change in leadership to actually be able to

accept the Medicaid and expand all of the services and stop shutting down hospitals, lower healthcare costs, and make sure that people are not going bankrupt because of medical expenses that we could actually take care of. Yeah, no, I think that's very well said. And I think we've seen a renewed sense of passion and activism amongst people on the ground in Texas. I mean, I know we personally at the Midas Mighty, we have a lot of followers who are very close with who are on the ground every single day knocking on doors for Beto O'Rourke. I know they've been helping out your campaign a bit. These are true activists. I love wearing the Beto O'Rourke shirt

over there, Sheena. I love that. And it's that sort of energy that's actually really been inspiring me right now. And I think what I've noticed is this contrast between that energy of pro-democracy warriors, let's call them, versus this sort of firewall of the Texas good old boys club that's been in place and been in power for all this time. And I think it was more apparent than ever after Uvalde, specifically when I saw, when Beto O'Rourke crashed that Governor Abbott event

and it made the news, that big press conference, the reaction from the law enforcement on the stage, from the governor, from all the people on the stage, the way they rebuked him and pushed him away, I really felt like those people are out to protect themselves and their own corruption rather than are actually trying to help the situation or have an honest conversation. Do you see this firewall of this kind of Texas good old boys club? Let's call them. That's been there for a while. Absolutely. Absolutely. And you see it in what happened in Uvalde. You see it throughout every step of the way. And sadly, it's going to take a crater to break it open and I think that's where we are right now we are at a tipping point and I think Beto right now is bringing a lot of energy and he is just giving

120 percent every single day and that is firing up the base that's firing up all folks in Texas not just Democrats but we see moderates, we see independents, we see Republicans who are like, you know what, enough is enough. And I am all in and trying to make sure that we have the change that we need. And I think that is just resonated. And it truly is at the ground level. You can feel the energy and the passion around it. It's just time. There's no more time to waste on any of this because inaction is at the casino. The excitement doesn't stop there. With over 3,000 games to choose from, including fan favorites like Cash Eruption,

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to speak to an advisor for your charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. And you've seen kind of every election cycle, you've seen it shift closer and closer and closer to kind of Democrats being able to take control and win elections. So it begs the question, and I want you to be, you know, no sugarcoating it. I want you to be completely honest with our audience. Is Texas truly a red state as it appears to be, or is it a voter suppressed state? It is totally a voter suppressed state. And I can say that firsthand because I was an election judge in 2020. So that's someone who's sitting there and assisting voters and assisting the other election workers, right, to make sure that a democracy is working. But I saw suppression firsthand. So not only were we seeing voter suppression then in 2020, now the maps have

been redrawn. And so now they're trying to shift the game again. They're trying to change the rules of the game. So, yes, we are very much voter suppressed and have been historically in Texas. So, again, that's not going to change unless we change the people in power to make sure that what needs to happen happens. Texas had, and we know that the census was not accurate, right? Let's just start there. There was a severe undercount. But even with that undercount, Texas, the demographics, all of that, we saw the fastest growing state. We saw the diversity in Texas. But yet we're not seeing that bear out in the maps. In the maps, they dictate everything else. They dictate the lines of who has control. They did, like I mentioned at the top of the call, my seven cities. That's ridiculous. Why

would I have seven cities as a state representative? No, I'm sure that I could easily have two or three cities and still have the same geographic proportion that needs to be allocated for every state representative. So, yeah, there is definitely a lot of voter suppression in the state of Texas, and that doesn't have to happen. Those changes can be made easily with the stroke of pen, with the right leaders in place who are not trying to just protect their power, but actually trying to advocate for the people. Absolutely. And so, Sheena, we're constantly told by these pundits that Texas voters, that they don't want to hear about protecting abortion. They don't want to hear about gun control. Is that the case? Do Texas voters not want to hear about that?

It is absolutely not the case. As I'm knocking doors and we ask voters, you know, what are the issues, what are the top concerns? Those are the two issues. Those two. Right. So for people to say that we don't care about those issues, they're not listening to the people. They're only, again, protecting the interests of the lobbyists or protecting those industries or manufacturers or companies who are helping line their pockets. So that is absolutely not true. That's false. And then building on that, do you think that Texans would vote for common sense gun legislation? Absolutely. Absolutely. If we put that on a ballot, a ballot measure for sure. But even before then, we need to get legislators involved to actually want to do something. I mean, just do something. Again, to do nothing is just ridiculous. It's disrespectful, it's disgraceful, and it truly is not representing all Texans. Definitely not. So how important is this race, your race, to protect the right for bodily autonomy in Texas? Sadly, Texas has become ground zero for bad legislation. I've been involved in, I don't, countless rallies just this year around bodily autonomy. And again, it is one of the top issues

on the minds of Texans. And just like the rest of the country, women are the majority, the super majority in this country, yet we are underrepresented and our voices are undercounted. And right now we're being under attack. So this race is vitally important. Again, I jumped into the race, interestingly enough, because of the redistricting maps. When I saw those maps come out and I had testified, I was one of the many folks that testified trying to lend my voice to the rationality that we needed to bring into those maps. When I saw what came out, I felt I didn't have a choice. As a woman, as a woman of color who understands that maternal mortality is the highest in the state of Texas. And so to force

births, that is basically a death sentence. So when I saw all of these things happening in the past legislative session, I just felt like I needed to put my name in the hat, jump into the ring and try and do something. And again, to do nothing is just not a choice. So this race is vitally important. This election is the most important election of my lifetime. I've heard people say, you know, the young people are going to save us. I've probably said that myself, but at some point we, as adults, we have to save ourselves and we have to all come together and do what needs to be done, do the hard work. It's easy to sit on the sidelines and,

you know, throw your opinions out there, but it's hard to actually get into the ring. And that's what I'm doing. I'm getting in the ring. And so are a lot of other people, just regular, ordinary people. And that's what I had to realize. You don't have to be a superhero to be an elected official, but you do need to do some extraordinary things to help people. And that's why I'm running. That's why a lot of folks like Beto O'Rourke are running to bring some necessary changes to actually help people, people who have a heart for people, because that's not everybody out there. So it's important. It really is important. It's personally important. And Sheena, I like to think that Brett and I, I like to think that we're pretty good at asking

questions, but there's often things that we miss. So with that, I kind of want to see the floor to you right now. What's something the rest of this country may not know about Texas or specifically the district that you're running in that you want them to know? Well, you guys do ask great questions. You've hit all the really major issues and topics and concerns that not only my district is battling, the state of Texas is battling and then also the state at large. But I would say what's very unique about this district, as we mentioned, the redistricting happened. And, you know, every state representative has a portion of the state, but this district is growing like gangbusters. I can't even imagine the numbers that we're going to have in this district by the time

the session actually starts, the legislative session starts in January. We are all a portion about 200,000 plus or minus folks. But this district is one of the fastest growing in the state and the country. Every single city that I mentioned is growing. So our numbers, our growth, even our voter registration, it's so fast. The clip is so fast. I think we have to ensure that we have folks that are ready and agile enough to be able to be responsive to the changes that we're seeing. So that good old voice system that we said, it's not going to be effective.

The changes that are coming, the people that are in this district, they are hungry for change and they're going to demand change. So I just want to leave with that, that the old way of thinking is not going to help us solve tomorrow's problems. And we just need leaders who are willing to think outside the box, to listen to the people and be responsive and responsible to them. That's amazing. And I literally have the goosebumps from your response right now. I'm not. Yeah, all of our listeners probably want to run through a brick wall and get you elected. So with that, how can they, how can folks get involved and help your campaign? Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for that. So SheenaKing4Texas.com. That's where you can find out information on everything about my campaign.

You can subscribe to the newsletter that we send out. You can volunteer. You can donate for sure. And you can just follow along with any events that we have coming up. So we love to see folks coming out to our events to support us. We have an education forum coming up where it'll be me against my opponent and people actually get to see in real time the contrast between us. So I want to invite you guys to go to SheenaKingForTexas.com to find out more information. And thank you so much for this forum. Oh, no, the pleasure is all ours. You heard her. Go right now. SheenaKingForTexas.com. Get involved. Let's all turn Texas blue. Sheena King, best of luck in your election.

So grateful that you've joined us today on this edition of The Mighty. Thank you so much. Thank you, guys. I appreciate it. So great having Sheena King on this episode of The Mighty. Jordy, how amazing is she? She's incredible. She's incredible.

So we touched on it during the interview, but we, Ben and I actually got the pleasure to meet Sheena when we were canvassing for Beto a few months ago. And we're like, we have to have you on the podcast. Let's try and get it closer to the election. Let's see where the polls are landing. And she's right up there. She's a top tier candidate in that district and she could take it, man. She's awesome. She's passionate and she really cares at the end of the day. She cares. She has the right values. She has great ideas. She really wants to push Texas forward. I guess it also doesn't hurt that she is not under criminal indictment, unlike her opponent. And for some reason, many of these Texas Republicans

and just Republicans in general are just under criminal indictment. How doesn't that just immediately rule them out? They're under legitimate criminal indictments. There are people that are out there. You have Ken Paxton literally running away from his home, fleeing subpoenas. I mean, we'll get into that on another episode of the podcast. But anyway, at this point, I just want to thank everybody for listening to this episode of The Mighty. It's such a pleasure to be able to bring you this sort of content and highlight these candidates who really need your support as we go and try to win these elections in November. It cannot happen without you. We also got this super cool thing

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If you want to check out also the latest Midas Touch gear, we got some incredible new stuff at store.midastouch.com. Jordy, what's your favorite right now? What are you rocking these days? Oh, you know what? I like the Rovember gear, man. That is my favorite. Lo and behold, I was rocking my Rovember gear gear when I was in D.C. last week.

And I had a few people stop me saying, hey, I love your shirt. Where can I get it? And well, I told them. Store it on MidasTouch.com. I love the Rovemberg gear. I also love the Fight Fascism shirt, which has the as the A, S and Fascism 45. That's a pretty cool one. But you can check it out at Store.MidasTouch.com.

It's really great stuff. And on that note, thank you again for listening to this episode of The Mighty. Thank you for supporting democracy and for pushing pro-democracy values today and every day. We need you in this fight. The midterms are fast approaching. And Jordy, why don't you take us out? Shout out to The Midas Mighty!