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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Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own.

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