Welcome to Texas, y'all. I promise I didn't pick the time. I didn't ask you to come here in the summer. Okay, that was picked for us. But welcome. I'm really glad that you're here. If any of you need any advice on restaurants to go to, places to get barbecue, Tex-Mex, tacos, let me know. This fat guy can get you all set up. I got good recommendations. Welcome. I'm glad that you're here. And I have several of my friends that are joining us here today. Of course, Governor Pritzker, we have Commissioner Alisa Simmons, we have Controller Chris Hollins, and we're so excited to be able to address you and give you the other side of the story that you aren't going to hear this week.
Many of you have been asking me, why Dallas? Why Dallas? There's an obvious answer. Ken Paxton has the magnetic pull of a plastic spoon and they have to do everything that they can to prop him up before they lose their stranglehold on Texas. But here are a couple of other reasons that I would like to suggest for why Dallas. Dallas has a world-class memory care clinic specializing in dementia, so it gives easier access and opportunities for a president who clearly has ailing health. DFW is also home to more than 200 golf courses. Given that President Trump has spent 37% of his presidency on vacation, this could actually give him something to do while he's here in Dallas.
Lastly, the president shares a lot of similarities to our mayor, Eric Johnson. They both have great disrespect for their own wives and bulldoze public buildings that don't belong to them against the wishes of the public. I'm sure that he'll have a great time here in one of the bluest cities in Texas, the economic engine of North Texas, a city built on Democratic policies in a state that was built by Democrats.
Legendary Texas Senator Ralph Yarborough used to campaign around Texas with a very simple slogan: Let's put the jam on the bottom shelf so that the little people can reach it. Republicans have been campaigning around the country with the opposite plan of action: give everything we can to big businesses, billionaires, and bootlicking bastards so they can buy their fealty to Donald Trump on your dime. Trump's tariffs have cost the average American family more than around $1,800 in the last year, with American consumers paying $230 billion in total tariff costs. So, in typical Republican fashion, they jumped to the rescue and gave corporations $100 billion in tariff relief funds, leaving the taxpayers holding the bag while corporations saw massive boons to their bottom line.
They doled out tax breaks to the highest tax bracket in the country while slashing food assistance, infrastructure dollars, Medicaid funding, food safety programs, and funds to help keep our communities safer. Any dollar of your tax dollars that went to you was on the chopping block, but dollars that they doled out to themselves were constantly on the rise. He's managed to outsource the jobs of the American rancher and the American oil field worker overseas. Your job is next. He won't stop until his billionaire pedophile buddies gobble every penny out of your pockets. Trump's trickle-up economics is taking money out of your pocket and giving it to the richest people in this country.
Not a single day has Donald Trump or Republican leadership or the clowns like Ken Paxton gotten out of bed and thought about how to make your life better. Ken Paxton owns 15 homes on a government salary for the last 23 years. You do the math. Let me know how it checks out for you. Texans know politicians like Ken Paxton well. They sit in saddles with crisp felt hats every election season and then hop their asses off to D.C. before the queso hits the table. God gave them souls but forgot to install the pilot light.
At the Texas Democratic Party, we've been building a grassroots movement of working-class Texans in every corner of this state. For the first time since 1972, Democrats have fielded a candidate for every state and federal office in every community across this state. We've overperformed special elections, recruited more than a thousand precinct chairs, made millions of phone calls, knocked millions of doors, delivered congressional seats in states that aren't even ours, and outvoted Republicans in our primary for the first time in 25 years.
This country needs Texans to meet a moment and to give working folks a seat at the table again. And we intend to do that. And when we do, we will be on the front lines ensuring that the Democratic Party delivers for those people who were counting on us to put the jam on the bottom shelf again. Democrats built Texas and Democrats intend to save her. I'm now going to go ahead and recognize our good friend, the governor of Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker.
Thank you very much. Thank you for being here. Appreciate you, folks. Good to be here. And thank you very much, Kendall, for that very kind introduction. And I want to thank Alisa and Chris and Cardell for welcoming me here to Dallas. And I'm really glad to be here with our Texas Democrats.
I became friends with Leader Gene Wu and with James Talarico and with Gina Hinojosa and the Texas House Democratic leadership and legislators when I hosted them in Illinois as they bravely broke quorum last year to stand in the breach in the way of Donald Trump's and Greg Abbott's scheme to deprive Black and Hispanic voters of representation in Congress. As it turns out, their resistance to the corrupt mid-decade redistricting in Texas was the canary in the coal mine. Republicans in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Missouri have since drawn from that same playbook.
Republicans are also working to suppress the vote all across the country. In Tarrant County, the Republicans closed 92 in-person polling places last week, and Trump is attempting to have the postal service interfere with mail-in ballots across this state and every state. Republicans know that they can't win on the merits of their unpopular policies, so they're working to rig the 2026 election.
It's a disgraceful attack on Black and Hispanic citizens and civil rights activists who shed their blood and others who lost their lives to secure our right to vote. In this moment when America needs a new generation of leaders, fighters willing to stand up against tyranny, Texas Democrats have stepped into the breach. They alerted the nation to these dangers, and Texas Democrats set an example for the rest of America.
They are why California responded by redistricting. They are why Illinois got Indiana to back down from changing their map, and why the people of Missouri took their MAGA Secretary of State to court. Texas Democrats know what I know, which is we're not going to win every battle, but when we stand against tyranny together, we inspire others to join the fight. Texans are known for their fierce independence and for their resistance to oppression. And I expect that we'll see that in the results in November when Texas voters cast their ballots for Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico.
This bizarre Republican midterm convention here can't paper over the fact that Republicans have done nothing to earn your vote. Donald Trump is hoping that a flashy prime-time event will make you forget that his trade war is raising costs for families at the grocery store, his war in Iran is killing ranchers and farmers and their way of life, and his war on the working people, the working families of this country, is raising the costs of health care and housing.
But Republicans can't rig the election if voters overwhelm them at the polls. Their lives and their livelihoods are at stake, and the Republicans are lying and they're corrupt. And that corruption just won't work this time. Voters can see through the BS that Republicans are spewing. Just take a look at the lineup of speakers for today and tomorrow. From Texas, we have Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, and Ted Cruz. Each one a poster child for bad governance, bad morals, and bad vibes, respectively.
We have RFK Jr., the health secretary that you can thank for the return of measles and unsafe food. We have Todd Blanche, the attorney general who wanted to give your tax dollars to reward Trump's insurrectionists. And we have Don Jr., the chief accomplice in his daddy's shakedown of the American people. And then we have J.D. Vance, Trump's chief bootlicker, who wants to hide the fact that he's the architect of Trump's endless war in Iran. And of course, we have Donald Trump himself, a president suffering from dementia, who unleashed violence on our cities, who jacked up grocery prices, screwed our farmers, and now has you paying for his gaudy golden ballroom.
I'm done pretending that these self-dealing racist misogynist grifters are an aberration of the Republican Party. They are the mainstream of the Republican Party. Now look no further than Brandon Herrera. Brandon Herrera is the candidate for Texas's 23rd district. He was all too eager to show off his copy of Mein Kampf. And the Republican Speaker of the House in Washington, Mike Johnson, came here just recently to campaign for Brandon Herrera.
Nothing Republicans say over the next two days is going to change how clinically deranged and out of touch the GOP has become. And they chose the wrong place to hold this clown show of theirs because a new generation of candidates is rewriting the rules of Texas politics. There's Gina Hinojosa, someone who's spent her entire life fighting for Texans. A mom who, unlike Greg Abbott, has fought for better public schools and understands the struggles of working families like hers.
And then there's James Talarico, whose public service has been defined by his adherence to the highest values of his faith. A breath of fresh air in a race defined by the stench of Ken Paxton's corruption and moral depravity. Talarico and Hinojosa are ready for the fight. And today, whether you're from Kansas or Wisconsin or Georgia or Illinois, we're all Texas Democrats and we're all ready for the fight. Let me turn it back over.
Thank you, Governor. You bet. Next up will be the city controller for the great city of Houston, Chris Hollins.
Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Governor, for being here with us this morning, and thanks to all of you. The folks who I, you know, share the stage with this morning and Democrats across Texas all share a belief about government, and it's that government should help people.
Now, if you were to observe this White House, if you were to observe Republican leadership across the state of Texas for the last 30-plus years, that might sound surprising to you, but the folks I'm standing here with all believe that government should keep people safe, that it should create opportunity for all Americans, not just some, and that government should be supporting and expanding democracy so that this can continue to be a nation that's by the people, that's for the people.
Now, let's look at what we got in real life. In Texas, in Minnesota, across this country, in Maine, we have armed agents of the government murdering people in the streets. We have young men, young women dying, being sent off to fight a useless war. We have folks who are struggling, struggling to pay for gas, struggling to pay for groceries, struggling to keep a job that can keep a roof over them and their families' heads.
And all the while you have Republicans, instead of working to solve those problems, coming to Dallas to throw a party, coming to pop champagne with the billionaires, the billionaires who are being funded and who are increasing their wealth out of your pocket. That's a real problem for me.
Let's talk again about safety. Here in Texas, we have the worst maternal mortality rates in the nation, especially for women of color. We have kids whose public schools are being defunded. And we believe that children are our future. We believe that empowering them empowers our future. It makes us a stronger country, a stronger state. But instead we're outsourcing their money with a voucher scam that's going again to the pockets of the wealthy.
We have more people in prisons in the state of Texas than anywhere in this country, and we're not safer for it. We're not safer for it. And so we have work to do. In Tarrant County, just around the corner, the governor's already mentioned, they closed 92 voting centers, nearly 30% of opportunities for Tarrant County citizens to make their voices heard in a county that's growing, in a county that's becoming more diverse, in a county that is on the verge of electing a Democratic county judge. We have work to do.
Democrats have done just the opposite. We have fought for a fair shot for working people. We have fought to expand access to health care across this state. Gene Wu and his colleagues in the state legislature have fought to expand access to democracy. You may recall that when I was Harris County Clerk back in 2020, we didn't close voting centers even in the midst of a pandemic. We tripled the number of voting centers to make it more likely that people could access democracy near their home, near their place of business, near their child's school, near their place of worship.
In fact, we had places of worship that in that moment stood up to become voting centers, churches, mosques, temples, synagogues, and we as a community made sure that our voices could be heard and that this concept, this project that we call democracy could continue in this country. That's what Texas Democrats stand for. That's what Democrats across this country stand for.
Now, there are many things I admire about Governor JB Pritzker, but one of them is that when push comes to shove, he's willing to stand up and fight for the people who he's called to serve. In Texas, we've been stuck with the exact opposite. We have folks who will do anything that they can to be the lapdog or the doormat of this demented, incompetent tyrant.
We're stuck for now, for just a couple more days with Greg Abbott, with Ken Paxton. We're stuck for a little bit longer with Ted Cruz, with Eric Johnson, with John Whitmire. But the day for change is coming. It might seem dark right now, but on the morning of November 4th, dawn will be here. When we elect James Talarico as the next United States senator from the state of Texas. When we elect Gina Hinojosa as the next governor of the state of Texas.
When we put Democrats at the top of the county judge ticket in Tarrant County, in Harris County, in Fort Bend County, when we elect congressmen, congresswomen, when we elect state representatives and senators from across this great state, that change is coming. And this is not about some game of blue versus red. People are hurting right now. People are suffering right now. And Texans deserve better. Change is on the way. Thank you so much.
Our next speaker is the great county commissioner of Tarrant County, soon to be county judge of Tarrant County, Texas, Commissioner Alisa Simmons.
Do you want me to touch this or... Good morning. Look, Republicans are gathering. They're gathered here in Dallas. I bumped into him on the way up here for a convention built largely around Donald Trump. But right next door in Tarrant County, voters are dealing with the consequences of his type of leadership and government every day. People are worried about affordability, about health care, and wondering if their vote really matters, because in Tarrant County, my colleagues on the commissioner's court have said, 'Your vote doesn't matter.'
And so, while these guys are over here, sounds like they're partying right now, we have some serious issues, very serious issues that have been outlined by the previous speakers. And so what this election is going to come down to is, are we going to keep centering our politics around one man, or are we going to center government around the people it's supposed to serve?
And the answer to that question lies with the people. And that is if they are ready to elect and keep in office Democrats who are responsible, reasonable, who have a heart, who have a heart cavity, then they will elect Gina Hinojosa, James Talarico, Vicky Goodwin, and on down the ballot in this state of Texas.
And so people, I've been interviewed a lot about the polling location vote, and I, you know, I came to a point where I had to remind people, a lot of the media want to connect it back to the Talarico race, but I'm telling you, the governor, the senator, the governor, the lieutenant governor, those people do not affect the number of vote centers on election day. It is those people at the county level who make that decision.
And so it is important that people understand, while we've got those big top-of-the-ticket races, we've got to look at the bottom of the ticket, because in Tarrant County, the bottom of the ticket took away 92 polling places from African-American and Latino communities, from senior communities, from universities, the University of Texas at Arlington. I amended the motion twice to include those students and it didn't work.
Tarrant County is the epicenter of Trump's Project 2025. My colleagues on the commissioner's court have implemented that policy very, very well. And so what has to happen while they are partying is that Democrats will need to turn out the vote so we can change this. I see it firsthand as a county commissioner. I see it firsthand.
We have eliminated our human services department, which deals with rental assistance, utility assistance. Within two months of our new budget last year, this fiscal 26 budget, we were dipping into our reserves to pay for the sheriff's department overtime, which he forgot to budget for. $7.8 million. Is that the type of Republican leadership? That's the type of Republican leadership we have. Is that the type of leadership we want to continue?
Our Tarrant County budget for FY2027, we're eliminating 23 positions in our public health department. We've eliminated immunization programs. Is that the type of leadership that we want? And so I can answer that question for you and all the Democrats of Tarrant County and all the Democrats of Texas. No. Hell no.
And so while these people are in town partying, I keep hearing the music. I'm sorry. We are out fighting. We're knocking on doors. We're on the phones, and we are encouraging people to look at the party who is about their business, who knows what the mission is, who knows that serving the people is what we are in these elected offices to do. And so that is all I have, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much. And before I open up to questions, I also just would like to... Oh, I see our chairman of the Dallas County Democratic Party. So, come on up here, Chairman, Chairman Coleman. This is Chairman Cardell Coleman, who is the chairman of the Dallas County Democratic Party. The Republicans have crashed your backyard, so we'd love to give you an opportunity to chat.
Thank you so much, Chairman, and to these wonderful leaders who have joined us today. Thank you for coming both across the state and across the country to let everyone in America know why this moment is so important in Dallas County. We are not confused about exactly what's happening here. I believe Chairman Scudder gave you a brief welcome into Texas, but I also want to give you a little grounding and let you know exactly what's been happening in Dallas County.
Many members of the media, many of you saw just in our recent primary the type of confusion that this administration wanted to sow in our elections. And I believe that they're working or cooking up some similar idea at a convention or pep rally like this of how they can confuse our elections. Again, Dallas County is a solidly blue county. They have decided to hold a convention in a county that they cannot win. We are the second largest county in the state of Texas and they've not won it in 20 years and we don't plan to let that majority go just yet. We are over 75% Democratic in Dallas County.
And so this is, as we talk about what's happening, I want the members of the media and those of you who are watching to understand exactly who we are and what we believe in a place like this. Look, you've heard the term a tale of two cities. I want to offer you a tale of two cultures. What you'll see at the RNC is the culture of hate, a culture of division, fear-mongering, racism, and every other ism that exists.
But what you'll see in Dallas County as you talk to these leaders or stop by any of the events that we're planning counter to this is a culture of love, a culture of hope, a culture of restoration. As James Talarico would say, loving your neighbor. You'll see folks gathering food to support individuals who cannot afford food and feed themselves. You'll see volunteers at our offices making phone calls and calling their neighbors and letting them know exactly what's at stake this election cycle.
You'll see individuals who are blocking and making donations and making sure that Texas is remaining the blue beacon that it needs to be, not just in our larger counties, but all across the state of Texas. And we'll make sure that we do that together with these leaders and the help of the members of the media who can help us tell the story and amplify who we are. We are a solidly blue county. We welcome you to shine the light exactly on what we're doing here. And we thank you all so much for being here.
So before we open up for questions, just very quickly, I'd like to acknowledge our House Minority Leader, Gene Wu, who's joined us today. Thank you so much for being here, Rep. Wu. It's going to take our entire House Democratic Caucus and hopefully a couple of winners across the finish line for us to roll back the $1 billion that Greg Abbott gave to tech billionaires to build data centers in your backyard. And so grateful for you and the work that you're doing. We're now going to open up for questions from the press as time permits, and we'll do it until we get cut off from the back. And that hand shot up first. Yes, ma'am.
Thank you for... spoke a lot about that. There's always concern when Republicans have control over voting locations. They have shown time and time again that instead of getting better ideas, they would rather get less people to show up and express their point of view. But at the Texas Democratic Party, we're on the front lines of that fight. We built the largest voter protection program that we have ever seen in a state party in the country, where we will have five voter protection war rooms across the state staffed with attorneys and with our large amounts of recruited volunteers to ensure that all legal voters have an opportunity to cast their ballots.
That's all we're asking is for people to be able to have their voices heard. So we're going to do everything we can to make sure that the voices of Texans have an opportunity to be heard, just as our great House Democratic Caucus did when they tried to steal five seats in Congress from the people of Texas. We're going to win anyways. And I'll let any of you take it that would like to answer. Okay. Yes, sir.
Joe Fox with NewsNation, for the Governor and whoever else wants to answer. As this convention is happening, President Trump's poll numbers are at historic lows. This is obviously a favorable environment for Democrats politically. But at the same time, polls also suggest that the Democratic Party is still not exactly popular. Why do you think, you know, a year and a half, two years into this administration, the message that Democrats are selling is still not exactly resonating with voters perhaps in the way that you'd like it to? Well, when people go...
to the polling booth, they're not pulling a lever for the Democratic Party or the Republican Party. They're pulling the lever for Gene Woo. They're pulling the lever for all the folks who are on the ballot here in Texas and across the country. And it's Democrats that have the ideas that people really want to vote for. We're the ones who fight for affordability. We're the ones who think the jam ought to be on the bottom shelf. We're the ones who believe that everybody ought to have healthcare in this country. They're trying to take healthcare away from people. They're trying to take food assistance away from people. They're succeeding in a lot of cases. They're attacking people in our streets, in our American cities. They want to send troops into American cities. Apparently, the Republican Congress, led by MAGA Republicans, are okay with everything that Donald Trump is doing. And so the individuals who are on the ballot, who are running as Democrats, are more popular than their Republican opponents, and the ideas that Democrats are putting forward are more popular than the Republican ideas. So that is why Democrats are going to win in November.
Can I ask? So obviously James Talerico has momentum going so far, but we see a lot of support now coming from President Trump being here in Dallas. We see MAGA Inc. is putting money into the race now. We see TV ads from these shadowy outside groups. Is there help for James Talerico coming from Democrats in the state of Texas or nationally, or is it all just him on his own right now who has to fight this battle?
Well, I can tell you that people across the country care a great deal about what happens in the Senate race in Texas. I know that James Talerico is raising a lot of money among Texans, but there are also a lot of people across the country, including the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and others, who are supporting him. But he's going to get outspent, folks. And voters are the ones who are going to make the difference. There's no way for a candidate who's getting outspent to win unless voters want to vote that person in and want to elect the person who is being outspent. I've seen it over and over again across the country. I'm pleased to say that it appears now, even now, there's more money on the Republican side than there is on the Democratic side, and yet it appears it is highly competitive. So I'll turn it over.
Hang on. I'm sorry. I have to answer on this one as well. I think what will be different this year than what you have seen in Texas in previous cycles is that he's not having to do this by himself. For the first time, we have a massive, robust, coordinated campaign in Texas run by the Texas Democratic Party, where we will have Democrats from the top of the ticket all the way down to constable working together. We've already made 13 million phone calls, knocked on more than a million doors, and we're just getting started. So you're seeing Democrats come together and coalesce to build the largest coordinated campaign this state has seen, not just for this election, but because we're here to stay.
Governor, I want to ask about you being in Texas. You were here, you know, a couple months ago. You were there for the state party convention. You know, I guess what is the point of coming to Texas beyond what you already said about helping Democrats? You know, is there any, I guess, point in coming if you're not running for president? And can you tell us about your aspirations.
I care a great deal about what happens in Texas. Voters everywhere in the country should care about what happens in Texas. So I'm pleased to be here for that reason. If I can advance the cause, that's why I should stand here. Let me also say that when Texas Democrats in the House chose to come to Illinois, I got to know many of them, and I got to know Leader Woo. And I have to say, these are some real fighters. These are people who are, as I often say, you know, if there's a divide in the country, it's between team fight and team cave. And these folks are on team fight, and so are Texas Democrats. So I'm very pleased to stand with them. It's where I stand in this battle on team fight. We're going to have to win if we want to preserve our democracy, but very importantly to fight for working-class families in this country. They need Democrats to win and push back on the policies of MAGA Republicans and Donald Trump.
Do you see this as an opportunity to raise your national profile ahead of a presidential run?
I can tell you that first, I'm running for reelection in Illinois, so I absolutely could be in Illinois right now. But here's what I think: what's good for the people of Illinois is if Democrats win across the country and the Congress becomes a Democratic Congress, because we've seen the people of Illinois have their Medicaid taken away, have their SNAP benefits taken away. We have people who are losing their homes because their jobs are going away because of tariffs, and nobody going to the grocery store can't notice that everything has gone up in price because of the trade wars that Donald Trump has initiated. So it is challenging. By the way, our largest trading partners in the state of Illinois are Canada and Mexico, and so this is hurting everybody, businesses and working families alike.
Just, this is also seen as sort of an audition for the Republican 2028, right? Obviously the vice president is speaking during the week. Is there a Republican that Democrats fear most in the presidential cycle?
Well, I can say this: anybody that is showing up here and bootlicking Donald Trump, and that's what this is all about, is probably going to be disqualified in 2028. I can tell you that. I don't think Democrats are afraid of anything in 2028. We've learned that we need to be fighting. People are joining the fight every day. I think the voters are seeing it, and they're joining the fight, and that is why I believe that there's no fear here. In fact, what do they say? You know, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And Democrats understand now that we cannot go another term without taking the White House, taking the Congress, and putting back and then restoring, especially, the American dream for working families.
Governor, yesterday you launched a new PAC to help Democrats in tough races. You mentioned Brendan Guerra, Texas 23. You're also going to be helping Ohio 7 in the Max Miller district. To the earlier question that was asked, do you expect your PAC to help James Talerico? I know it's more focused on House Democrats, but are you going to, is there, do you expect some money from that organization coming to help James Talerico or Inosa in their respective statewide battles? And also, your message has primarily been, I believe, right now to Democrats in Texas. If either of these candidates win in Texas, you have to obviously gain support from voters on the Republican side, moderates, independents, and of course those Hispanics that voted for President Trump in 2024. 55% of Hispanics in Texas voted for President Trump in that cycle. What do you say specifically to them?
