Texas is the world’s eighth-largest economy — and last in the nation in health insurance. Three Houston-area Democrats say that gap is exactly why they’re running.

All three of their Texas House districts are currently held by Republicans.

At the Texas Democratic Convention in Corpus Christi, Tejano Talks sits down with three Houston-area challengers — a Baytown mom and small-business owner, a trilingual transactional attorney, and a 26-year-old gun-safety advocate — on schools, health care, jobs, and why they signed up for the hardest cheap job in Texas.

MEET THE CANDIDATES (in order of appearance)

DESIREE KLAUS — House District 128, Baytown (0:20)
Mom, small-business owner, and community advocate from a four-generation refinery family — great-grandfather, grandfather, and mother all worked at Exxon. Running for the seat Briscoe Cain is leaving, in a district she calls a strong Latino community that built the industry around it.
Learn More: desireeklaustx.com

JOSH WALLENSTEIN — House District 133, west Houston (12:07)
A transactional attorney raised by a single mom after losing his dad at seven — "public schools saved my life." Trilingual (English, Spanish, Portuguese) in one of the most diverse districts in Texas, running on schools, health care, and what he calls bringing the adults back to Austin.
Campaign: josh4texas.com

TYLER SMITH — House District 138, Spring Branch (26:52)
A 26-year-old Texas Southern University graduate who worked in Washington for Kamala Harris and Jon Ossoff, now a gun-safety advocate at Everytown and an Obama Foundation fellow — and a dues-paying member of the Harris County Tejano Democrats.
Learn More: tylerfortx.com

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IN THIS EPISODE

— Why three very different Houstonians are challenging Republican-held seats
— Schools, from three angles: closures, takeovers, and the free-lunch math
— The health care question in the state with the most uninsured residents
— Child care bills that match the mortgage — the affordability stories behind the campaigns
— Winning back Latino voters: three different answers to the same hard question
— Generators in the energy capital, and the case each makes for change

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CHAPTERS

0:00 Welcome from the Texas Democratic Convention
0:20 DESIREE KLAUS (HD128, Baytown): mom, business owner, advocate
1:32 Why now: redistricting, and a 10-hour wait to testify
2:31 The open seat, and who Baytown is
3:15 Four generations at Exxon
5:04 Day one: jobs, workforce training, small business
6:39 Child care math, and a 21-year-old barbecue joint closing
8:03 Her community network, and National Latina Day
10:40 How to find Desiree
12:07 JOSH WALLENSTEIN (HD133, west Houston): the transactional attorney
12:51 "Public schools saved my life"
14:18 Country before party: his answer on Latino voters
15:15 Knocking doors in one of Texas’s most diverse districts
16:26 The uninsured state: his health care answer
17:47 Losing his dad at seven, and the teachers who stepped in
18:43 HISD, Spring Branch, and the free-lunch math
20:04 One-party control: who he says is accountable
21:29 Unfunded mandates, and six math teachers in nine months
22:16 His case against vouchers
23:12 Reaching Houston’s Latino community — en español too
25:48 How to reach Josh
26:18 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
26:52 TYLER SMITH (HD138, Spring Branch): the 26-year-old
27:14 From TSU to Beto to Washington
28:26 Two parents at home — and the friends who had it harder
29:35 Immigration, and what he’d sponsor day one
30:33 Gun violence beyond the headlines
33:34 Winning back Latino voters, his way
35:20 A Black Tejano in Harris County
36:03 His closing pitch
37:40 Where to find Tyler (and where he eats)
38:26 Closing: subscribe

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DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. In 2006, he organized the largest march in Texas history, when more than 500,000 people filled downtown Dallas to demand immigration reform. He is a former national president of LULAC and has practiced law for more than 40 years.

HIRAM GILBERTO GARCIA is a journalist, producer, and public affairs strategist based in Austin. His frontline coverage of the 2020 protests drew wide local and national attention.

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ABOUT TEJANO TALKS

Tejano Talks is a podcast hosted by Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia that blends cultural conversation, political analysis, and interviews with notable voices in Texas and beyond. The show covers everything from Tejano culture and identity to current events, business, and career development. We’re here for Tejanos like us — to help you build wealth, honor your family, and make well-informed choices for your future.

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Subscribe, and tell us in the comments who you want to see on the show next. We’re on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok.

Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own.

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