00:00This is your eighth congressional campaign. Are you confident you'll win another term? How's the mood?
00:06Yeah, I feel good about getting reelected here in San Antonio.
00:10My district became even more democratic because of the gerrymandering that went on done by Texas Republicans.
00:18And, you know, I think I've done a good job for the people in my district. And so looking forward
00:22to Tuesday.
00:23Tell me about them, about the people in your district. What are their biggest concerns right now?
00:29Well, I have a district of very hardworking, I think, humble people who don't really ask a lot from their
00:35government.
00:36These are people that get up early in the morning, drop off their kids at school, go to work, and
00:41then sometimes come home late at night.
00:43But a lot of people are struggling right now because the price of everything has gone up.
00:48The price of gas, the price of groceries, child care, everything.
00:53And on top of that, my district is about 64 percent Latino.
00:58And so all of the ICE raids and the targeting of Latino men, the targeting of people speaking Spanish in
01:05public, that has really impacted my community here.
01:10You have been supporting a lot of ICE victims.
01:13We saw you with Liam Conejo, the five-year-old kid.
01:17Can you tell me a little bit about that reunion with the mother and that case in particular?
01:24Well, I mean, it was a case that really captured the attention of the world.
01:29We got emails and calls from people all over the country and all over the world who were concerned with
01:36Liam Ramos.
01:37And, you know, people were really struck by this innocent young man, young bong boy who was in that bunny
01:43hat and the Spider-Man backpack.
01:45And when I visited with he and his dad at Dilley, he was, you know, passed out the whole time,
01:52never woke up the whole time.
01:53So I was concerned with his well-being and there were a lot of other people that were concerned with
01:57his well-being.
01:58And so it was very special to be able to help get them out and reunite him with his mom
02:03and with his family.
02:04And, you know, but I visited with him a few months ago again, and he's been traumatized by the experience.
02:14And his parents said that it has changed who he is as a person, that he's not as carefree and
02:20joyful anymore.
02:22And so it's really it has really harmed him in his life.
02:25Help me understand the impact of these ICE raids in the state of Texas or in your district.
02:32Well, of course, there's been a deep personal impact to people because there are people who are being put into
02:37detention for months and months.
02:38But there's an impact on the family as well, because, you know, we talk a lot about the kids that
02:44are in detention.
02:45But even the adults who are in detention, oftentimes it's the breadwinners of the family.
02:50And so their spouses are left with kids and often no way to support those kids or having trouble making
02:57ends meet, losing houses, losing apartments, losing cars because they can't pay their bills anymore.
03:03And so it's been devastating to Texas families.
03:06And also, beyond that, devastating to Texas industries, you know, there are four or five major Texas and American industries
03:14that would not exist the way they do, but for immigrant labor.
03:18And those industries are hurting right now, whether it's farming, hospitality, construction, these major industries that are very angry about
03:29what's happening.
03:30And as a congressman, what are your priorities or how are you trying to help them with these issues?
03:38Well, for everybody right now, you know, what I try to do is look at how we can lower costs.
03:44The number one way to lower the price of gas right now would be to end the war in Iran
03:49is holding ICE accountable, often for what has been illegal behavior and racial profiling of brown skinned people and people
03:58speaking Spanish in public.
04:00So lowering costs, but also holding this government accountable for the first time, Democrats could flip the Senate in Texas.
04:09Are you confident that that will happen?
04:12And why is Talarico a winnable candidate?
04:15What does he have?
04:16These are the best conditions politically that Democrats have had in about 30 years, because I think we've put forward
04:23an agenda to help people in their lives and because Republicans have become so destructive of that and really only
04:30offer culture wars and not real solutions to real problems people are facing.
04:34But James Talarico is a very special candidate.
04:37You know, he speaks about his faith and has tried to unite people in a way that's very different from
04:44the state's Republican leadership that uses faith even to divide people.
04:50And right now, people are tired of fighting.
04:52So they're looking for people to bring them together towards solutions.
04:56And that's what James has been talking about.
04:59And that's what he's been offering.
05:00I won't quite believe it till it happens.
05:03So I won't say that I'm overly confident, but I am very hopeful that James Talarico will be the first
05:09Democrat since the 1980s elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas.
05:13Do you have Trump supporters in your district that actually are upset with him, with his policies?
05:20Yeah, there are some Trump supporters that are upset with him.
05:23Although, you know, the way that it usually comes across is that they're upset with what's going on.
05:28And even yesterday, as I took my kids trick-or-treating, I was in my neighborhood here.
05:34And as I was walking through my neighborhood, there was a man that he and his wife were giving out
05:38Halloween candies.
05:39And he said, oh, I want to talk to you.
05:41And I thought, oh, he's going to give me an earful about, you know, something he disagrees with.
05:46But he said, you know, no, I have a friend that got picked up by ICE who's been here 10
05:51or 12 years.
05:52And he said, you know, I just don't understand why all of this is happening, because this man didn't have
05:58a criminal record.
05:58He was a hard worker and all those things.
06:01And so it's mostly Trump supporters saying, hey, I don't like, why are we doing all this?
06:07Why is it going on?
06:08They feel like they didn't sign up for this.
06:11And then some of the Latino supporters, they do feel betrayed.
06:16They do feel like the Latino community in Texas has become a target.
06:20And they very much are against that.
06:22And they're fed up with it.
06:24If Democrats win both the Senate and the House, what do you think you guys should do first in order
06:31to limit Trump's agenda?
06:32Well, I mean, the first thing people want us to do is to work on the issues that are impacting
06:36their lives right now.
06:37But in order to do that, it also involves holding President Trump and the administration accountable.
06:43For example, on issues of corruption, there's been so much corruption where billions of dollars has been given away by
06:51the government to Trump's friends and cronies.
06:54And so to save money for the American taxpayers, for the people, you have to get in the middle of
06:59that and hold them accountable.
07:00You know, and so we're going to have a chance to make sure there's accountability and oversight to do investigations
07:06where we need to.
07:07You know, I'm somebody that believes that you shouldn't just go after your political opponents just to go after them
07:13or start investigations just to investigate people.
07:17But when there's wrongdoing, there's clear evidence of wrongdoing.
07:21You need to investigate it.
07:22You need to stop it.
07:23Because if you don't, then it's going to come back again even worse.
07:27So now that you mentioned the post-election path inside the Democratic Party, I saw that there's a Denver summit
07:36in mid-November called What's Next?
07:41So my question is actually, what's next?
07:43What do you expect from this summit?
07:47Well, hopefully by mid-November, as Democrats, we'll have a majority in the House and hopefully in the Senate.
07:53And, you know, we're going to talk about how we use those majorities to impact people's lives for the better,
07:59to make life easier and better for them, but also, again, to hold President Trump accountable and his administration accountable,
08:06because that's making it more costly for all Americans to live.
08:11And, you know, there's no doubt when you have divided government, you have a Republican president and perhaps a Democratic
08:17Congress, you've got to figure out how you can still make gains on behalf of people.
08:23And also, you know, what issues can you work with the president on?
08:27There have been a few over the years, for example, criminal justice reform a few years ago.
08:34There was a housing bill not too long ago that was bipartisan, even though President Trump kind of changed his
08:40mind on it after it was passed through the Congress.
08:43But so there have been things here and there where we've actually been able to work on big issues together.
08:48We need to figure out, you know, what remains that we can work on.
08:51So so it's not a summit that's focused on the unity of the party ahead of the 2028 election.
08:58This will be the kickoff after the election to to the presidential season.
09:03And so it's also envisioning, OK, what's the Democratic agenda for 2028 for the next few years?
09:10And how do we make sure that our nation is a nation of opportunity for all Americans?
09:15So, yeah, I mean, there's plenty to talk about.
09:18So El Sayed in Michigan, some moderate Democrats are uncomfortable with some of his policies.
09:24Maybe he's too progressive.
09:26What's your take on that? Is he too progressive?
09:29I mean, no, look, I think you have Democratic candidates across the different states running for Senate, running for governor.
09:36There are some of the some of that are that are more moderate, some of that are more progressive.
09:41But I think it looks like right now, many of them on throughout that the political spectrum are doing well.
09:47So I think that, you know, he is a candidate is standing up for what he believes, believes people in
09:54Michigan need.
09:56What will benefit the people of Michigan and, you know, and he's it looks like he's ahead by a few
10:02points in the polls.
10:03And so I'm hoping that he's able to win that Senate race on Tuesday.
10:07It's been a very atypical campaign, right?
10:09We've seen Trump treating this election as if it's a presidential election.
10:14Have you ever seen that before?
10:15Historically, the turnout for a presidential election is higher than in the midterm elections.
10:21In other words, for each political party, the president is usually the most popular person within that party and is
10:29is able to drive turnout up more than anyone else.
10:33And so I think for Donald Trump, he's trying to use that this time kind of in a peculiar way
10:38by suggesting that he is on the ballot or to pretend that he's on the ballot.
10:42But he's trying to use that to try to encourage Republicans to come out and vote.
10:49But from what I've seen, many Republicans are simply deflated.
10:52They either feel betrayed, like the Latinos in South Texas who voted for him in 2024, or they feel disillusioned,
11:00like the business owners whose workforce oftentimes has been picked up by ICE and they feel like, well, I didn't
11:08sign up for that.
11:09And, you know, and so that's why part of the reason I think that you see that the turnout numbers
11:14among Republicans generally are down.
11:16Have you ever considered running for president?
11:20No, I left that to my brother, Julian.
11:23My brother ran in 2020 with about a hundred other Democrats and I was his campaign manager.
11:30And, you know, it was an incredible experience.
11:33And there are a lot of valuable lessons that come from it.
11:36And, you know, I was very proud of how my brother ran that race.
11:40But, you know, I'm going to focus on Texas for a while.
11:42Are there names that you think could, you know, emerge or some presidential hopefuls that you have in mind?
11:50No, I'm not committed to anybody, you know, haven't made any commitments.
11:53I'm open to listening to the field of candidates.
11:56I think we're going to have a lot of strong candidates.
11:58Everybody from governors like Pritzker, you know, Brashear, and then folks from the House of Representatives like AOC and Ro
12:06Khanna.
12:07So just a lot of people that will get up on that stage and hopefully lay out their vision for
12:13a stronger, more prosperous, hopefully more unified America in the years to come.
12:20And I'm anxious to listen to them and hear what they have to say.
12:23Joaquin, thank you so, so, so, so much.
12:25It's been great to talk to you.
