Tejano Talks

Texas is sitting on $28 billion it won't spend. State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, Democratic nominee for Texas Comptroller, joins Tejano Talks to explain what the Comptroller actually does — and why she says Austin is "stuffing money in a mattress" instead of investing in Texans.

Hiram and Domingo talk with Eckhardt — former prosecutor, Travis County Commissioner, and first woman elected Travis County Judge — about the $28B Economic Stabilization Fund, Texas refusing Medicaid expansion, the paused HUB certification program, and her Republican opponent Don Huffines in the November 2026 general election.

Learn more or get involved: saraheckhardt.com

🎙️ More from Tejano Talks:
• Nathan Johnson on Running for Texas Attorney General:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL3r7EO2nHU
• Jon Rosenthal on Fixing the Texas Railroad Commission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTQKpsZBECA

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IN THIS EPISODE

— What the Texas Comptroller's office actually does — tax collection, state purchasing, revenue certification, and more
— The $28 billion Economic Stabilization Fund ("rainy day fund"), and Eckhardt's case for spending some of it now
— Texas's decision not to expand Medicaid, in a state with the highest uninsured rate in the country
— The Comptroller's Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) certification program, paused amid controversy and litigation
— Meet Don Huffines: his business background, his 2022 primary challenge to Gov. Abbott, and his ownership of Jeffrey Epstein's former New Mexico ranch
— Why Eckhardt says down-ballot races like Comptroller matter as much as the top of the ticket

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome: introducing State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt
00:47 From prosecutor to county commissioner to Travis County Judge
01:51 Six years in "the heart of darkness": Dan Patrick's Senate
03:48 The first woman elected Travis County Judge
05:22 What does the Texas Comptroller actually do?
07:14 The $28 billion Rainy Day Fund Texas won't spend
09:44 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
10:04 One-party rule, pay-to-play, and no-bid contracts in Austin
13:36 Meet Don Huffines, her Republican opponent
14:38 Huffines and Jeffrey Epstein's former ranch
16:37 "DOGE-ing" the Comptroller's office
17:33 Crony capitalism after 27 years of one-party rule
18:22 How to get involved, and why the down-ballot vote matters

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Sarah Eckhardt represents Texas Senate District 14 (Austin/Travis County), where she has served since 2020. Before the Senate, she served five years as Travis County Judge — the first woman ever elected to that role — after eight years as a Travis County commissioner and eight years as an assistant county attorney. She holds a J.D. and a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin. She is the Democratic nominee for Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts in the November 2026 general election. Learn more: saraheckhardt.com

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HOSTS

DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. 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. We're here for Tejanos like us — to help you build wealth, honor your family, and make well-informed choices for your future.


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.

#TexasComptroller #SarahEckhardt #DonHuffines #TexasPolitics #RainyDayFund #TexasDemocrats2026 #TexasElections #TejanoTalks

4 1

Get to know Ericka Ledferd, a candidate for Texas State Board of Education, in this exclusive interview on Tejano Talks.

Fifteen people set the curriculum standards for every public school in Texas. Most voters can't name one. Ericka Ledferd who wants one of those seats. She is a mom, a twelve-year classroom teacher, and the candidate in District 9 — and on what she says is happening to Tejano, Black and Native history in Texas textbooks: "They are completely erasing."

The board is nine Republicans to six Democrats, and she says three seats is all it would take: "We only need three Democrats and we flip them."

Hiram and Domingo sit down with Ericka Ledferd — a mom, a twelve-year classroom teacher, and a candidate for the Texas State Board of Education — to talk about what the board actually controls, what she says is being cut out of Texas history books, where she stands on privatization and AI in schools, why the race at the bottom of your ballot may be the one that reaches your kid first — and, in Spanish, where her accent comes from.

Ericka Ledferd's campaign:
https://www.ledferd4texas.com/

🎙️ More Tejano Talks:
• Texas Is the 8th Largest Economy — So Why Is It Last in Health Insurance?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQnKL-WQTJc
• Nathan Johnson Scored 67 Episodes of Dragon Ball Z. Now He's Running for Texas Attorney General: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL3r7EO2nHU

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IN THIS EPISODE

— What the State Board of Education actually does — and why most voters can't name the person holding their district's seat
— The three-seat math: how a 9–6 board becomes a different board
— Her three pillars, in her words: privatization, the AI era, and curriculum "rooted in real opportunity"
— Why she says Tejano, Black and Native contributions are being cut out of Texas textbooks
— What twelve years in a Texas classroom shows you that a policy briefing does not
— The Spanish-language exchange about her accent, and where she's originally from
— The down-ballot problem — the race people skip on the way to the top of the ticket
— What parents can do before November 2026

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Who Ericka Ledferd is and what she's running for
00:42 "Number one, I'm a mom" — why she's running
01:20 Her three pillars: privatization, AI, curriculum
01:53 On what's being cut from Texas history books
02:26 "We only need three Democrats and we flip the board"
03:06 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
03:25 What she says has hurt Texas kids most
04:05 Domingo asks about her accent — "I immigrated from Argentina"
04:56 What the State Board of Education actually does
05:31 Go down the ballot — the race voters skip
05:48 How to reach the campaign

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ABOUT THE GUEST

ERICKA LEDFERD is a candidate for the Texas State Board of Education in District 9. She taught for twelve years at Royse City ISD, where she taught dual credit courses and served as ESL testing coordinator and director. She has also worked with East Texas A&M's TRIO Programs, Baptist Immigration Centers, and SMU's Upward Bound program, and brings more than fifteen years of board experience with community organizations. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science and a master's degree in Spanish literature. She and her husband David have three children who attend or have attended Texas public schools. She is originally from Argentina.

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HOSTS

DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. 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. @abogadodomingo

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. We're here for Tejanos like us — to help you build wealth, honor your family, and make well-informed choices for your future.

Subscribe, and tell us in the comments who you want to see on the show next. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, TikTok, and wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own.

#TejanoTalks #TexasEducation #SBOE

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People froze to death in Texas during Winter Storm Uri — and it was preventable.

Jon Rosenthal, the only mechanical engineer in the Texas Legislature and a 25-year oil field engineer, explains how weatherizing natural gas facilities would have kept the power on, why Texans are still paying for Uri years later, and why he's running to fix the Texas Railroad Commission.

Hiram and Domingo sit down with Rosenthal to talk about what the Railroad Commission actually does (it doesn't regulate railroads — it regulates oil and gas), why he says it's "owned by industry," his plan to mandate weatherization and make AI data centers bring their own power and water — and his race against Republican Bo French, whose social media poll asking whether Jews or Muslims pose a bigger threat to America drew public condemnation from Texas Republican leadership, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Learn more or get involved: jonrosenthaltx.com

🎙️ More from Tejano Talks:
• Gina Hinojosa's Fight to Be Texas's First Latina Governor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzQWSZMkpo&t=64s
• Nathan Johnson, The Dragonball Z composer Running for Texas Attorney General: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL3r7EO2nHU

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IN THIS EPISODE

— What the Texas Railroad Commission actually regulates (hint: it's not railroads)
— How the statewide grid failure during Winter Storm Uri still hasn't been fully fixed, and who's paying for it
— Why a 25-year oil field engineer says Texas energy policy needs an engineer in the room, not just industry lobbyists
— The documented, widely-reported controversy surrounding his Republican opponent, Bo French — who Rosenthal says won his primary on "a campaign of hate"
— AI data centers, and Rosenthal's plan to make them provide their own power and water
— How Rosenthal plans to win a statewide race for "an office a lot of people wouldn't touch"

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CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome: introducing Jon Rosenthal
00:40 What does the Railroad Commission actually do?
01:36 25 years as an oil field engineer, now the Legislature's only mechanical engineer
02:09 The 2018 upset: defeating a 24-year Republican incumbent
02:29 Winter Storm Uri: the freeze that killed Texans
03:47 Why the grid still isn't fixed — and who's paying for it
06:11 An industry-owned commission vs. one that works for Texans
06:48 Meet the opponent: Bo French
09:40 The poll, the rhetoric, and why Republicans are alarmed too
10:04 Zombie wells and West Texas Republicans who want real regulation
10:34 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
10:44 AI data centers: who pays for the power and water
12:50 The statewide game plan: rural Texas and energy workers
14:16 Talking to Democrats who fear losing their energy jobs
17:56 Closing: get informed, get involved

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Jon Rosenthal represents Texas House District 135 (Cypress and northwest Harris County) and is not seeking reelection to focus on his campaign for Texas Railroad Commissioner. A mechanical engineer with 25 years in the oil and gas industry — including work on drilling rigs, production platforms, pipelines, and chemical plants — he holds a graduate certificate in subsea engineering from the University of Houston. In 2018, he defeated a 24-year Republican incumbent to flip his district, and has since served four terms as the Legislature's only mechanical engineer and a recognized subject-matter expert on energy policy. He is the only Jewish member of the Texas Legislature. Learn more: jonrosenthaltx.com

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HOSTS

DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. 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. @abogadodomingo
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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. 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.

#TexasRailroadCommission #JonRosenthal #WinterStormUri #TexasPowerGrid #ERCOT #TexasPolitics #BoFrench #TejanoTalks #TexasOilAndGas #TexasBlackout

9 1

A Texas state representative’s base pay is $600 a month — the same as it was decades ago. These four Texans are running anyway.

At the Texas Democratic Convention in Corpus Christi, Hiram and Domingo sit down with four candidates for the Texas House — three first-time nominees and one incumbent — from four corners of the state: San Antonio, Austin, the Rockwall area, and Dallas. Different districts, different lives, same questions: why run, what’s broken, and what would you actually do in Austin?

MEET THE CANDIDATES (in order of appearance)

ADRIAN REYNA — House District 125, San Antonio (0:28)
A 15-year San Antonio ISD classroom teacher (8th-grade U.S. history), teachers-union leader, and AFL-CIO executive board member. Says he’s ready for the Capitol: "I’ve had 42 eighth graders in a classroom."
Learn More: voteadrianreyna.com

MONTSERRAT GARIBAY — House District 49, Austin (6:56)
Came to the U.S. as an undocumented child, became a citizen in 2012, taught bilingual pre-K for eight years, rose to first Latina secretary-treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO, and served in the U.S. Department of Education. Now the nominee for the Austin seat Gina Hinojosa is leaving.
Learn More: montserratfortexas.com

ORLANDO LOPEZ — House District 33, Rockwall area (29:53)
A construction project manager from the Rio Grande Valley ("we’re 956") running in a traditionally Republican district, with a wife who’s an educator and a daughter about to turn two. "I’m not pretending to be someone like them. I am someone like them."
Learn More: lopezfortxhd33.com

REP. VENTON JONES — House District 100, Dallas (38:16)
The incumbent, born and raised in Oak Cliff, seeking a third term. Vice chair of the Corrections committee, a leader in the Legislature’s LGBTQ caucus, and one of the members who broke quorum to Illinois in 2025.
Learn More: ventonfor100.com

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CHAPTERS

0:00 Welcome from the Texas Democratic Convention
0:28 ADRIAN REYNA (HD125, San Antonio): the teacher ready for the Capitol
1:55 Vouchers, and what he says classrooms are losing
3:07 A history teacher on how Texas history gets taught
4:13 His first bills: school funding and the consent-law story
5:16 Uninsured Texans and the affordability crisis
6:20 How to join the Reyna campaign
6:56 MONTSERRAT GARIBAY (HD49, Austin): organizer at heart
7:32 An undocumented childhood, and citizenship in 2012
8:38 The pre-K funding fight that taught her to organize
9:51 First Latina secretary-treasurer of the Texas AFL-CIO
10:38 The call from Washington
12:12 Deciding to run for the Austin seat
14:25 4,000 doors and 15 pounds
16:32 "We won. We won more than 60%."
18:20 Her priorities: schools, housing, transportation, health care
21:13 Listening to UT students
22:38 Domingo, the DREAM Act, and what comes next
24:52 Identify, educate, mobilize
26:27 A former state rep’s warning about lobbyists
28:06 How to support the Garibay campaign
29:18 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
29:53 ORLANDO LOPEZ (HD33, Rockwall area): from the 956
30:47 Why he stepped up — a rally, and a daughter turning two
31:53 His pitch in a traditionally Republican district
33:00 A working family’s math
33:52 "Real Tejano values"
35:21 Schools closing, and what he’d do about it
36:48 How to join the Lopez campaign
37:39 One last question: Selena
38:16 REP. VENTON JONES (HD100, Dallas): the incumbent
38:55 Running for the ignored parts of Dallas
39:35 The quorum break, from inside
40:36 What the next session is really about
41:37 Corrections, immigration enforcement, and public safety
43:13 The 2026 ticket, from where he sits
44:25 Hope, ancestors, and LGBTQ Texans
46:12 "$600 a month": why they do it
46:29 Closing: get involved

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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.

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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.

#TejanoTalks #TexasPolitics #TexasHouse #TexasLegislature #2026Elections

9 0

"When Governor Richards was governor, we ranked seventh in the nation in education. Today, we rank 40th." That’s Vikki Goodwin’s case — and she says the fix starts with the most powerful job in Texas most voters never think about.

A four-term state representative from Travis County and a real estate broker by trade, Goodwin flipped a Republican-held seat in 2018 and is now the Democratic nominee for Texas Lieutenant Governor, challenging incumbent Dan Patrick on November 3. She has walked out of the state twice to break quorum — the second time to Chicago — and she’ll tell you exactly why.

Hiram and Domingo sit down with her at the Texas Democratic Convention in Corpus Christi to talk about the school-board mom who got her into politics, what the lieutenant governor actually controls, her case on vouchers and school funding, the quorum breaks, data centers and the grid, and her housing agenda for a state where young people can’t picture owning a home.

Learn more about her campaign: goodwinfortexas.com

🎙️ More Texas politics:
• Nathan Johnson on Running for Texas Attorney General: [PASTE FULL WATCH URL ON THIS LINE]
• Gina Hinojosa on the Fight to Flip Texas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzQWSZMkpo&t=56s


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IN THIS EPISODE

— Why she says the lieutenant governor — not the governor — holds the real power
— The school-board mom whose complaint became her daughter’s campaign
— Two quorum breaks, one bus to Chicago, and what it cost
— Her math on vouchers, charter schools, and your property taxes
— Data centers, water, and the billion dollars she says Texas gave away
— A real estate broker’s answer for the generation that can’t buy a home

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CHAPTERS

0:00 Welcome: Rep. Vikki Goodwin (HD47)
0:53 The school-board mom who started it all
1:17 Flipping a four-term Republican seat
1:57 Why lieutenant governor: "the most powerful position in Texas"
2:30 Her case against Dan Patrick: vouchers and school funding
3:16 From 7th to 40th: her numbers on Texas schools
3:32 Health care: the uninsured and maternal mortality
4:17 Gerrymandering, and quorum break #1
5:12 Quorum break #2: the bus to Chicago
6:17 Vouchers, charters, and your property taxes
7:27 Immigration: "we are not treating people like humans"
9:28 A Texas plan for the uninsured — and telehealth
11:43 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
12:01 Data centers: water, incentives, and county authority
13:14 The grid, the freeze, and her renewables answer
14:29 A real estate broker’s housing agenda
15:49 Bullock memories, and the signs she sees for 2026
17:15 Winning back Latino voters
17:49 How to get involved
18:12 Closing: why the lieutenant governor matters

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ABOUT THE GUEST

Vikki Goodwin is the Democratic nominee for Texas Lieutenant Governor in the 2026 election. A state representative for House District 47 in Travis County since 2019, she flipped the seat in 2018, defeating a four-term Republican incumbent. A real estate broker and owner of Goodwin & Goodwin Real Estate, she holds a business degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s in public affairs from UT’s LBJ School. Her campaign centers on public school funding, health care coverage, water and infrastructure, and housing affordability. She faces incumbent Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick on November 3, 2026.

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HOSTS

DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. 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.

#TejanoTalks #TexasPolitics #VikkiGoodwin #DanPatrick #TexasLtGov #TexasEducation

12 0

46 3

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.

#TejanoTalks #TexasPolitics #Houston #TexasHouse #2026Elections

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"The border crossed us again." His family has ranched the same stretch of Rio Grande river bottom since the early 1900s — and the planned Big Bend border wall would run through their land, between their house and the cemetery where their grandparents are buried.

Tejano Talks goes on location to Pilares, in Presidio County, West Texas — inside the Border Patrol sector that recorded the fewest crossings on the entire southwest border last year — to hear from landowners Octavio Alvarado and Yolanda Alvarado, whose families are in the path of a federally funded barrier project now planned across Hudspeth, Jeff Davis, and Presidio counties. As of late August, construction near Big Bend National Park is under a temporary CBP pause while the fight over the rest of the region continues.

They talk about the emergency declaration they woke up to, what they told Border Patrol on their own ranch, the technology they say would actually work out here, and the coalition — from Fort Hancock to Lake Amistad — organizing under one message: no wall in the Big Bend.

Learn more about the coalition: nobigbendwall.org

🎙️ More Tejano Talks:
• Clayton Tucker on Saving the Texas Family Farm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4Jf2o2rKwQ&t=14s
• Gina Hinojosa on the Fight to Flip Texas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzQWSZMkpo&t=63s

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IN THIS EPISODE

— A family on the same river bottomland for more than 120 years
— The wall line they say would separate their home from their family cemetery
— The emergency declaration — in the border’s least-active sector
— Their math on the project: "$14 million a mile" against a $4 million county budget
— Sensors, not steel: what the landowners say would actually work
— 600 miles of organized neighbors: the No Big Bend Wall Coalition

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CHAPTERS

00:00 On the border in Pilares, Texas
00:57 A family on this land since the early 1900s
01:43 "The border crossed us again": 1919 to 2026
01:56 The day they learned the wall would lock them in
02:27 The line between the house and the cemetery
02:49 The emergency declaration that made it possible
03:22 "Do you see any emergency here?"
03:54 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
04:10 The pause, and what they’ve told Border Patrol
05:19 Sensors, not steel: what they say would work
05:40 Their math: "$14 million a mile"
06:22 What you can do: the No Big Bend Wall Coalition
07:17 Closing: make your phone calls

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ABOUT OUR GUESTS

Octavio Alvarado and Yolanda Alvarado are West Texas landowners at Pilares, in Presidio County, where the Alvarado and Sanchez family has ranched the same stretch of Rio Grande river bottom since the early 1900s. They are organizing with the No Big Bend Wall Coalition, which represents landowners and communities along roughly 600 miles of the border, from Fort Hancock to Lake Amistad.

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HOSTS

DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. 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.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

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

Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own.

#TejanoTalks #BigBend #BorderWall #WestTexas #TexasPolitics

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