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Tejano Talks

With Domingo & Hiram Garcia

Tejano Talks is a public affairs and cultural podcast hosted by Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia. It focuses on political analysis, financial literacy, community empowerment, and interviews with prominent figures across Texas.

Latest Episode

A Republican governor signed the Texas DREAM Act, written by Rick Noriega. Texas was first in the country to do it. Roughly twenty states followed. On June 4, 2025, the Justice Department sued Texas in a Wichita Falls federal court, and the state agreed the same day. Rick Noriega says Texas can lead again. Hiram and Domingo sit down with Rick Noriega — the author of HB 1403 — to talk about how the Texas DREAM Act passed with Republican votes and a Republican governor’s signature, how it ended twenty-four years later without a trial, and what he says is the route left to bring it back. 🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • Why Dolores Huerta's isn't done yet at 96 years old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv_gdY2jWMI&t=1s • Can Ericka Ledferd Fix Our Schools?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_hNj6KcSk ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — Why a Republican governor signed the first in-state tuition law in the country — The two students behind the bill — one in Houston’s East End, one a Dallas valedictorian who learned she was undocumented when West Point asked for her birth certificate — How it moved: co-authors from both parties, and a second bill Domingo set aside so this one could go first — June 2025 — the Legislature adjourns, the Justice Department sues, and Texas agrees to the end of its own law — The second tuition bill students received mid-degree, for three or four times the amount — What Noriega says is left, and Hiram’s version of the ask — take someone with you on November 3 — Hiram on being the first in his family to finish at UT, and what changed at home after ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open 00:21 Welcome — Hiram, Domingo, and Rick Noriega 00:47 "The Aztec Warrior": Afghanistan, and why this moment matters 01:35 The Texas DREAM Act: House Bill 1403 02:02 The young man from El Salvador who started it 03:15 Domingo’s story: the valedictorian who got into West Point 04:22 What else was moving: California, and a Republican senator 04:54 Irma Rangel chairs the committee — and Domingo steps aside 05:41 Fred Hill, Elvira Reyna, and a bill both parties signed 06:08 How HB 1403 passed, and who signed it 07:02 What happened to the law in 2025 07:39 Sine die, then a federal lawsuit in Wichita Falls 08:07 The state agrees — and the law is gone 08:40 The tuition bills that arrived mid-degree 09:46 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 10:01 What changed since 2001 11:15 Getting it back — and the November 3 ballot 11:44 What an attorney general could actually do 12:25 The return on the investment 13:22 The next twenty-five years 14:11 Hiram: first in his family to finish at UT 15:27 What his parents left behind in Mexico 16:03 Starting the family business 16:43 The fight is not over 17:08 Where that young man from the East End is now 17:48 Noriega’s advice: don’t complain, vote 18:50 Values, community, and showing up for each other 19:54 A moment of personal privilege — his mother’s 95th birthday 20:25 Sign-off ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE GUEST RICK NORIEGA served five terms in the Texas House of Representatives, from 1999 to 2009, representing House District 145 in eastern Houston. He authored HB 1403, the 2001 law that made Texas the first state in the country to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students who graduated from a Texas high school. He is a retired brigadier general of the Texas Army National Guard, with an honorific promotion to major general on the state retired list. He served in Afghanistan and commanded the Houston shelter that housed evacuees after Hurricane Katrina. He was the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate in 2008. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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 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. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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. #TejanoTalks #TexasDreamAct #Texas2026

A Republican governor signed the Texas DREAM Act, written by Rick Noriega. Texas was first in the country to do it.

Roughly twenty states followed. On June 4, 2025, the Justice Department sued Texas in a Wichita Falls federal court, and the state agreed the same day. Rick Noriega says Texas can lead again.

Hiram and Domingo sit down with Rick Noriega — the author of HB 1403 — to talk about how the Texas DREAM Act passed with Republican votes and a Republican governor’s signature, how it ended twenty-four years later without a trial, and what he says is the route left to bring it back.

🎙️ More from Tejano Talks:
• Why Dolores Huerta's isn't done yet at 96 years old:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv_gdY2jWMI&t=1s
• Can Ericka Ledferd Fix Our Schools?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_hNj6KcSk

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
IN THIS EPISODE

— Why a Republican governor signed the first in-state tuition law in the country
— The two students behind the bill — one in Houston’s East End, one a Dallas valedictorian who learned she was undocumented when West Point asked for her birth certificate
— How it moved: co-authors from both parties, and a second bill Domingo set aside so this one could go first
— June 2025 — the Legislature adjourns, the Justice Department sues, and Texas agrees to the end of its own law
— The second tuition bill students received mid-degree, for three or four times the amount
— What Noriega says is left, and Hiram’s version of the ask — take someone with you on November 3
— Hiram on being the first in his family to finish at UT, and what changed at home after

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open
00:21 Welcome — Hiram, Domingo, and Rick Noriega
00:47 "The Aztec Warrior": Afghanistan, and why this moment matters
01:35 The Texas DREAM Act: House Bill 1403
02:02 The young man from El Salvador who started it
03:15 Domingo’s story: the valedictorian who got into West Point
04:22 What else was moving: California, and a Republican senator
04:54 Irma Rangel chairs the committee — and Domingo steps aside
05:41 Fred Hill, Elvira Reyna, and a bill both parties signed
06:08 How HB 1403 passed, and who signed it
07:02 What happened to the law in 2025
07:39 Sine die, then a federal lawsuit in Wichita Falls
08:07 The state agrees — and the law is gone
08:40 The tuition bills that arrived mid-degree
09:46 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
10:01 What changed since 2001
11:15 Getting it back — and the November 3 ballot
11:44 What an attorney general could actually do
12:25 The return on the investment
13:22 The next twenty-five years
14:11 Hiram: first in his family to finish at UT
15:27 What his parents left behind in Mexico
16:03 Starting the family business
16:43 The fight is not over
17:08 Where that young man from the East End is now
17:48 Noriega’s advice: don’t complain, vote
18:50 Values, community, and showing up for each other
19:54 A moment of personal privilege — his mother’s 95th birthday
20:25 Sign-off

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ABOUT THE GUEST

RICK NORIEGA served five terms in the Texas House of Representatives, from 1999 to 2009, representing House District 145 in eastern Houston. He authored HB 1403, the 2001 law that made Texas the first state in the country to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students who graduated from a Texas high school. He is a retired brigadier general of the Texas Army National Guard, with an honorific promotion to major general on the state retired list. He served in Afghanistan and commanded the Houston shelter that housed evacuees after Hurricane Katrina. He was the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate in 2008.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
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 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.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
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.

#TejanoTalks #TexasDreamAct #Texas2026

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YouTube Video VVVnMmVYZlpfX21xYTJEa3o5V3JDV3h3LnRGVGFfZ0JyaXBz
Tejano Talks 1.3K

The True Story of the Texas DREAM Act, and How Texas Can Lead Again

Tejano Talks October 13, 2026 5:00 pm

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A Republican governor signed the Texas DREAM Act, written by Rick Noriega. Texas was first in the country to do it. Roughly twenty states followed. On June 4, 2025, the Justice Department sued Texas in a Wichita Falls federal court, and the state agreed the same day. Rick Noriega says Texas can lead again. Hiram and Domingo sit down with Rick Noriega — the author of HB 1403 — to talk about how the Texas DREAM Act passed with Republican votes and a Republican governor’s signature, how it ended twenty-four years later without a trial, and what he says is the route left to bring it back. 🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • Why Dolores Huerta's isn't done yet at 96 years old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv_gdY2jWMI&t=1s • Can Ericka Ledferd Fix Our Schools?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_hNj6KcSk ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — Why a Republican governor signed the first in-state tuition law in the country — The two students behind the bill — one in Houston’s East End, one a Dallas valedictorian who learned she was undocumented when West Point asked for her birth certificate — How it moved: co-authors from both parties, and a second bill Domingo set aside so this one could go first — June 2025 — the Legislature adjourns, the Justice Department sues, and Texas agrees to the end of its own law — The second tuition bill students received mid-degree, for three or four times the amount — What Noriega says is left, and Hiram’s version of the ask — take someone with you on November 3 — Hiram on being the first in his family to finish at UT, and what changed at home after ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open 00:21 Welcome — Hiram, Domingo, and Rick Noriega 00:47 "The Aztec Warrior": Afghanistan, and why this moment matters 01:35 The Texas DREAM Act: House Bill 1403 02:02 The young man from El Salvador who started it 03:15 Domingo’s story: the valedictorian who got into West Point 04:22 What else was moving: California, and a Republican senator 04:54 Irma Rangel chairs the committee — and Domingo steps aside 05:41 Fred Hill, Elvira Reyna, and a bill both parties signed 06:08 How HB 1403 passed, and who signed it 07:02 What happened to the law in 2025 07:39 Sine die, then a federal lawsuit in Wichita Falls 08:07 The state agrees — and the law is gone 08:40 The tuition bills that arrived mid-degree 09:46 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 10:01 What changed since 2001 11:15 Getting it back — and the November 3 ballot 11:44 What an attorney general could actually do 12:25 The return on the investment 13:22 The next twenty-five years 14:11 Hiram: first in his family to finish at UT 15:27 What his parents left behind in Mexico 16:03 Starting the family business 16:43 The fight is not over 17:08 Where that young man from the East End is now 17:48 Noriega’s advice: don’t complain, vote 18:50 Values, community, and showing up for each other 19:54 A moment of personal privilege — his mother’s 95th birthday 20:25 Sign-off ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE GUEST RICK NORIEGA served five terms in the Texas House of Representatives, from 1999 to 2009, representing House District 145 in eastern Houston. He authored HB 1403, the 2001 law that made Texas the first state in the country to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students who graduated from a Texas high school. He is a retired brigadier general of the Texas Army National Guard, with an honorific promotion to major general on the state retired list. He served in Afghanistan and commanded the Houston shelter that housed evacuees after Hurricane Katrina. He was the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate in 2008. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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 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. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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. #TejanoTalks #TexasDreamAct #Texas2026

A Republican governor signed the Texas DREAM Act, written by Rick Noriega. Texas was first in the country to do it.

Roughly twenty states followed. On June 4, 2025, the Justice Department sued Texas in a Wichita Falls federal court, and the state agreed the same day. Rick Noriega says Texas can lead again.

Hiram and Domingo sit down with Rick Noriega — the author of HB 1403 — to talk about how the Texas DREAM Act passed with Republican votes and a Republican governor’s signature, how it ended twenty-four years later without a trial, and what he says is the route left to bring it back.

🎙️ More from Tejano Talks:
• Why Dolores Huerta's isn't done yet at 96 years old:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv_gdY2jWMI&t=1s
• Can Ericka Ledferd Fix Our Schools?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_hNj6KcSk

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
IN THIS EPISODE

— Why a Republican governor signed the first in-state tuition law in the country
— The two students behind the bill — one in Houston’s East End, one a Dallas valedictorian who learned she was undocumented when West Point asked for her birth certificate
— How it moved: co-authors from both parties, and a second bill Domingo set aside so this one could go first
— June 2025 — the Legislature adjourns, the Justice Department sues, and Texas agrees to the end of its own law
— The second tuition bill students received mid-degree, for three or four times the amount
— What Noriega says is left, and Hiram’s version of the ask — take someone with you on November 3
— Hiram on being the first in his family to finish at UT, and what changed at home after

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open
00:21 Welcome — Hiram, Domingo, and Rick Noriega
00:47 "The Aztec Warrior": Afghanistan, and why this moment matters
01:35 The Texas DREAM Act: House Bill 1403
02:02 The young man from El Salvador who started it
03:15 Domingo’s story: the valedictorian who got into West Point
04:22 What else was moving: California, and a Republican senator
04:54 Irma Rangel chairs the committee — and Domingo steps aside
05:41 Fred Hill, Elvira Reyna, and a bill both parties signed
06:08 How HB 1403 passed, and who signed it
07:02 What happened to the law in 2025
07:39 Sine die, then a federal lawsuit in Wichita Falls
08:07 The state agrees — and the law is gone
08:40 The tuition bills that arrived mid-degree
09:46 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
10:01 What changed since 2001
11:15 Getting it back — and the November 3 ballot
11:44 What an attorney general could actually do
12:25 The return on the investment
13:22 The next twenty-five years
14:11 Hiram: first in his family to finish at UT
15:27 What his parents left behind in Mexico
16:03 Starting the family business
16:43 The fight is not over
17:08 Where that young man from the East End is now
17:48 Noriega’s advice: don’t complain, vote
18:50 Values, community, and showing up for each other
19:54 A moment of personal privilege — his mother’s 95th birthday
20:25 Sign-off

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ABOUT THE GUEST

RICK NORIEGA served five terms in the Texas House of Representatives, from 1999 to 2009, representing House District 145 in eastern Houston. He authored HB 1403, the 2001 law that made Texas the first state in the country to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students who graduated from a Texas high school. He is a retired brigadier general of the Texas Army National Guard, with an honorific promotion to major general on the state retired list. He served in Afghanistan and commanded the Houston shelter that housed evacuees after Hurricane Katrina. He was the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate in 2008.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
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 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.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
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.

#TejanoTalks #TexasDreamAct #Texas2026

1 0

YouTube Video VVVnMmVYZlpfX21xYTJEa3o5V3JDV3h3LnRGVGFfZ0JyaXBz

The True Story of the Texas DREAM Act, and How Texas Can Lead Again

Tejano Talks October 13, 2026 5:00 pm

Skipping the bottom of your ballot? Those races pick who decides criminal charges, eviction cases, and flood projects in your county. The district attorney decides how the law gets charged. The county judge and commissioners decide what gets built, funded, and fixed. The justice of the peace hears evictions, truancy, and traffic cases.This episode help you prepare for Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Hiram and Domingo sit down with four Democratic candidates at the 2026 Texas Democratic Convention in Corpus Christi to talk about what these local offices actually do, and how each candidate says they would run theirs. The candidates: Alfonso Salazar, Hays County Criminal District Attorney: https://www.alfonso4haysda.com Lesley Briones, Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 4: https://lesleybriones.com Dr. Letitia Plummer, Harris County Judge: https://www.drletitiaplummer.com Rodney Lee, Tarrant County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4: https://www.rodneyleeforjop.com 🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • Texas is sitting on $28 Billion in won't spend, Sarah Eckhardt for Texas Comptroller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNk55x1O3l8 • Gina Hinojosa on her run for governor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzQWSZMkpo ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — What a DA, a county commissioner, a county judge, and a justice of the peace actually decide — Charging discretion, second chances, and reviewing past convictions — Flood control, public health, and mental-health diversion at the county level — Bond money, hospital access, and how fast local government delivers — Court access for hourly workers who can't miss a shift — Trust between communities and the institutions that serve them ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:21 Alfonso Salazar — Hays County Criminal District Attorney 10:22 Lesley Briones — Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 4 24:08 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 24:23 Dr. Letitia Plummer — Harris County Judge 35:01 Rodney Lee — Tarrant County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE GUESTS ALFONSO SALAZAR is the Democratic nominee for Hays County Criminal District Attorney. He served as a military police officer with the U.S. Air Force, Air National Guard, and State of Texas from 2008 to 2020, and holds a B.A. in Government from the University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from Baylor Law School. On the show, he focuses on second chances, lowering recidivism, and a civil rights division in the DA's office. LESLEY BRIONES is the Harris County Commissioner for Precinct 4 and is running for reelection. She grew up in Laredo, the daughter of teachers, taught 8th and 10th grade, and earned degrees from Harvard and Yale Law School. She previously served as judge of Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4. On the show, she focuses on flood mitigation, county wages, and mental-health diversion. DR. LETITIA PLUMMER is the Democratic nominee for Harris County Judge. A practicing dentist who began her career with the Harris Health System, she served on the Houston City Council in At-Large Position 4 from 2020 to 2025. On the show, she focuses on getting voter-approved bond projects built, regional collaboration, and health care access. RODNEY LEE is the Democratic nominee for Tarrant County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4. He is a 22-year Navy veteran, a former juvenile probation officer, and a public school educator. On the show, he focuses on night court for hourly workers, evictions, and truancy. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE 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. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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. #TejanoTalks #TexasPolitics #Election2026

Skipping the bottom of your ballot? Those races pick who decides criminal charges, eviction cases, and flood projects in your county.

The district attorney decides how the law gets charged. The county judge and commissioners decide what gets built, funded, and fixed. The justice of the peace hears evictions, truancy, and traffic cases.This episode help you prepare for Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2026.

Hiram and Domingo sit down with four Democratic candidates at the 2026 Texas Democratic Convention in Corpus Christi to talk about what these local offices actually do, and how each candidate says they would run theirs.

The candidates:
Alfonso Salazar, Hays County Criminal District Attorney: https://www.alfonso4haysda.com
Lesley Briones, Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 4: https://lesleybriones.com
Dr. Letitia Plummer, Harris County Judge: https://www.drletitiaplummer.com
Rodney Lee, Tarrant County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4: https://www.rodneyleeforjop.com

🎙️ More from Tejano Talks:
• Texas is sitting on $28 Billion in won't spend, Sarah Eckhardt for Texas Comptroller:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNk55x1O3l8
• Gina Hinojosa on her run for governor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzQWSZMkpo

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
IN THIS EPISODE
— What a DA, a county commissioner, a county judge, and a justice of the peace actually decide
— Charging discretion, second chances, and reviewing past convictions
— Flood control, public health, and mental-health diversion at the county level
— Bond money, hospital access, and how fast local government delivers
— Court access for hourly workers who can't miss a shift
— Trust between communities and the institutions that serve them

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CHAPTERS
00:00 Intro
00:21 Alfonso Salazar — Hays County Criminal District Attorney
10:22 Lesley Briones — Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 4
24:08 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
24:23 Dr. Letitia Plummer — Harris County Judge
35:01 Rodney Lee — Tarrant County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ABOUT THE GUESTS

ALFONSO SALAZAR is the Democratic nominee for Hays County Criminal District Attorney. He served as a military police officer with the U.S. Air Force, Air National Guard, and State of Texas from 2008 to 2020, and holds a B.A. in Government from the University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from Baylor Law School. On the show, he focuses on second chances, lowering recidivism, and a civil rights division in the DA's office.

LESLEY BRIONES is the Harris County Commissioner for Precinct 4 and is running for reelection. She grew up in Laredo, the daughter of teachers, taught 8th and 10th grade, and earned degrees from Harvard and Yale Law School. She previously served as judge of Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4. On the show, she focuses on flood mitigation, county wages, and mental-health diversion.

DR. LETITIA PLUMMER is the Democratic nominee for Harris County Judge. A practicing dentist who began her career with the Harris Health System, she served on the Houston City Council in At-Large Position 4 from 2020 to 2025. On the show, she focuses on getting voter-approved bond projects built, regional collaboration, and health care access.

RODNEY LEE is the Democratic nominee for Tarrant County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4. He is a 22-year Navy veteran, a former juvenile probation officer, and a public school educator. On the show, he focuses on night court for hourly workers, evictions, and truancy.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ABOUT THE 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.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
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.

#TejanoTalks #TexasPolitics #Election2026

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YouTube Video VVVnMmVYZlpfX21xYTJEa3o5V3JDV3h3LmdFeU1WX3Zobk9n

Skipping the Bottom of Your Ballot? Here's What It Decides | Tejano Talks

Tejano Talks October 8, 2026 5:00 pm

There was never a pure taco. José R. Ralat is Texas Monthly's taco editor — the first at an American publication Ralat has spent almost seven years tracing the origins of the best tacos. Lebanese immigrants brought a shawarma spit to Puebla and Mexicans adapted it into tacos árabes, then al pastor. Japanese and Mexican fishermen worked out the Baja fish taco together, tempura batter and all. Korean tacos came from Koreans and Mexicans living side by side in California. For his newest list he covered 14,000 miles and 437 taquerías to pick 25 of the best new or improved in Texas. Hiram and Domingo sit down with José R. Ralat to argue flour versus corn, explain why burritos are tacos, and make the case that a French tire company has no business telling Texas what tastes good. José R. Ralat’s work at Texas Monthly: https://www.texasmonthly.com/contributors/jose-r-ralat/ 🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • Texas Has Two Supreme Courts. You’ve Never Heard of This One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMnEN8wIku8&t=8s • Can Ericka Ledferd Fix Our Schools?: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_hNj6KcSk&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — Why nearly every taco he traces turns out to be a record of somebody else's migration — How al pastor got from a shawarma spit in Puebla to a trompo in Monterrey — What he judges first — the tortilla — and why "flour or corn" is a trick question — What 14,000 miles and 437 taquerías cost him, including a shattered ankle — His account of being stopped by ICE and by a state trooper on the same reporting trip — The Michelin star a Mexico City taquería won and then lost — "New Tejano" cuisine, the term he coined in 2024 — and why a Puerto Rican gets to define it ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome — Texas Monthly's taco editor 01:16 Seven years on the beat; 1,000 taquerías for the book 03:05 Judging a lonchera against fine dining 04:14 How to judge al pastor: trompo, adobo, the slice 04:41 Lebanese immigrants, tacos árabes, and the road to al pastor 05:54 "Nothing is perfect until Mexicans get a hold of it" 07:03 The Baja fish taco and Japanese tempura 08:02 Fajitas: the cut nobody wanted 09:35 A shattered ankle in Veracruz 11:45 14,000 miles, 437 taquerías, 25 spots 12:22 "I had a run-in with ICE" 15:57 The criteria: tortilla, filling, salsa, story 17:39 Flour or corn — the trick question 19:15 Tradition versus innovation 20:55 Burritos are tacos 22:38 Korean tacos and fusion that works 24:17 His favorites from the 25 29:02 Austin versus San Antonio breakfast tacos 33:01 Big Red and barbacoa on Sundays 34:17 Mesquite, marinades, store-bought tortillas 37:49 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 38:20 Taco trends: birria, ribeye, wagyu 41:11 The taquería that lost its Michelin star 45:00 Why a French tire company can't judge Texas 46:59 "New Tejano" cuisine, coined in 2024 50:18 Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, and the gateway taco 52:49 The teacher who saw his breakfast tacos 56:26 Where to find José Ralat ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE GUEST JOSÉ R. RALAT is the taco editor at Texas Monthly — the first job of its kind at an American publication. He is the author of American Tacos: A History and Guide (2020) and won James Beard Awards in 2022 and 2023 for his Tex-Mexplainer column. In 2024 he introduced the idea of "New Tejano" cuisine alongside the magazine's 50 Best Tacos in Texas list, and his most recent project is "The 25 Best New (Or Improved!) Taquerías in Texas." He serves on the advisory board of Foodways Texas. Originally from Puerto Rico, he lives in Oak Cliff, Dallas. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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 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. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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. #TejanoTalks #Tacos #TexasFood

There was never a pure taco. José R. Ralat is Texas Monthly's taco editor — the first at an American publication

Ralat has spent almost seven years tracing the origins of the best tacos. Lebanese immigrants brought a shawarma spit to Puebla and Mexicans adapted it into tacos árabes, then al pastor. Japanese and Mexican fishermen worked out the Baja fish taco together, tempura batter and all. Korean tacos came from Koreans and Mexicans living side by side in California. For his newest list he covered 14,000 miles and 437 taquerías to pick 25 of the best new or improved in Texas.

Hiram and Domingo sit down with José R. Ralat to argue flour versus corn, explain why burritos are tacos, and make the case that a French tire company has no business telling Texas what tastes good.

José R. Ralat’s work at Texas Monthly:
https://www.texasmonthly.com/contributors/jose-r-ralat/


🎙️ More from Tejano Talks:
• Texas Has Two Supreme Courts. You’ve Never Heard of This One:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMnEN8wIku8&t=8s
• Can Ericka Ledferd Fix Our Schools?:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_hNj6KcSk&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
IN THIS EPISODE

— Why nearly every taco he traces turns out to be a record of somebody else's migration
— How al pastor got from a shawarma spit in Puebla to a trompo in Monterrey
— What he judges first — the tortilla — and why "flour or corn" is a trick question
— What 14,000 miles and 437 taquerías cost him, including a shattered ankle
— His account of being stopped by ICE and by a state trooper on the same reporting trip
— The Michelin star a Mexico City taquería won and then lost
— "New Tejano" cuisine, the term he coined in 2024 — and why a Puerto Rican gets to define it

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CHAPTERS

00:00 Welcome — Texas Monthly's taco editor
01:16 Seven years on the beat; 1,000 taquerías for the book
03:05 Judging a lonchera against fine dining
04:14 How to judge al pastor: trompo, adobo, the slice
04:41 Lebanese immigrants, tacos árabes, and the road to al pastor
05:54 "Nothing is perfect until Mexicans get a hold of it"
07:03 The Baja fish taco and Japanese tempura
08:02 Fajitas: the cut nobody wanted
09:35 A shattered ankle in Veracruz
11:45 14,000 miles, 437 taquerías, 25 spots
12:22 "I had a run-in with ICE"
15:57 The criteria: tortilla, filling, salsa, story
17:39 Flour or corn — the trick question
19:15 Tradition versus innovation
20:55 Burritos are tacos
22:38 Korean tacos and fusion that works
24:17 His favorites from the 25
29:02 Austin versus San Antonio breakfast tacos
33:01 Big Red and barbacoa on Sundays
34:17 Mesquite, marinades, store-bought tortillas
37:49 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
38:20 Taco trends: birria, ribeye, wagyu
41:11 The taquería that lost its Michelin star
45:00 Why a French tire company can't judge Texas
46:59 "New Tejano" cuisine, coined in 2024
50:18 Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, and the gateway taco
52:49 The teacher who saw his breakfast tacos
56:26 Where to find José Ralat

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ABOUT THE GUEST

JOSÉ R. RALAT is the taco editor at Texas Monthly — the first job of its kind at an American publication. He is the author of American Tacos: A History and Guide (2020) and won James Beard Awards in 2022 and 2023 for his Tex-Mexplainer column. In 2024 he introduced the idea of "New Tejano" cuisine alongside the magazine's 50 Best Tacos in Texas list, and his most recent project is "The 25 Best New (Or Improved!) Taquerías in Texas." He serves on the advisory board of Foodways Texas. Originally from Puerto Rico, he lives in Oak Cliff, Dallas.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
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 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.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
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.

#TejanoTalks #Tacos #TexasFood

5 1

YouTube Video VVVnMmVYZlpfX21xYTJEa3o5V3JDV3h3LkFHUFZxdktZbFNZ

There Was Never a Pure Taco — and That’s the Whole Point

Tejano Talks October 6, 2026 5:00 pm

"I was declared dead about 4 months ago," Domingo Garcia says. His Texas voter registration had been suspended, and he had to get it reinstated. His isn't the only registration with a problem. More than 1.2 million Texas voters are on the state's voter suspense list, according to KERA News. October 5 is the last day to register or update your address for the November 3 election. Being on the list doesn't mean you can't vote — but check now, not on Election Day. Hiram and Domingo sit down, just the two of them, to talk about what's on the Texas ballot this November: the race for U.S. Senate between James Talarico and Ken Paxton, the governor's race between Gina Hinojosa and Greg Abbott, the cost of living, and why both hosts say turnout — not persuasion — is what decides Texas elections. Check your registration, find your polling place, and see voting dates: https://www.votetexas.gov/ Registered online through a DPS driver's license transaction? A state error left tens of thousands of those applications unsent to counties. Confirm with your county elections office. 🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • "No Te Dejes": Gina Hinojosa on running for governor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzQWSZMkpo&t=84s • Nathan Johnson Scored 67 Episodes of Dragon Ball Z. Now He's Running for Texas Attorney General: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL3r7EO2nHU&t=29s ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — Why October 5 matters, and how to check whether your registration is current — What the voter suspense list is, who ends up on it, and what to do if you're flagged — Talarico vs. Paxton for U.S. Senate, and why the hosts say the race comes down to turnout — Hinojosa vs. Abbott, and why Hiram and Domingo think the governor's race has tightened — Gas, groceries, rent, health care: how the hosts connect the cost of living to the ballot — Faith, values, and a direct appeal to young and conservative Latino voters — Hiram's closing case: elections change when turnout changes, not when minds do KEY DATES Register or update your address: October 5 Early voting: October 19–30 Mail-ballot applications (eligible voters) must be received by: October 23 Election Day: November 3 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 What's at stake on November 3 00:37 Step one: register by October 5 01:19 "I was declared dead": check your registration 01:52 Redistricting and the fight over who votes 02:58 "My vote doesn't count": the 2018 Senate margin 03:23 Talarico vs. Paxton for U.S. Senate 05:49 Why some Latino conservatives still back Paxton 06:49 Diesel, tariffs, and the cost of living 08:31 Big money in Texas elections 09:51 Hinojosa vs. Abbott: why the governor's race tightened 11:46 The rest of the ticket 12:41 How to vote early and find your polling place 13:41 A message to people who don't vote 15:11 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 15:26 Marijuana, health care, and "small government" 16:38 Faith, history books, and Matthew 25 20:42 "Republicans win on fear. Democrats win on hope." 22:03 Take nine people to vote with you 22:26 Why turnout, not persuasion, decides elections ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ YOUR 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 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. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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. #TejanoTalks #TexasVotes #RegisterToVote

"I was declared dead about 4 months ago," Domingo Garcia says. His Texas voter registration had been suspended, and he had to get it reinstated.

His isn't the only registration with a problem. More than 1.2 million Texas voters are on the state's voter suspense list, according to KERA News. October 5 is the last day to register or update your address for the November 3 election. Being on the list doesn't mean you can't vote — but check now, not on Election Day.

Hiram and Domingo sit down, just the two of them, to talk about what's on the Texas ballot this November: the race for U.S. Senate between James Talarico and Ken Paxton, the governor's race between Gina Hinojosa and Greg Abbott, the cost of living, and why both hosts say turnout — not persuasion — is what decides Texas elections.

Check your registration, find your polling place, and see voting dates:
https://www.votetexas.gov/

Registered online through a DPS driver's license transaction? A state error left tens of thousands of those applications unsent to counties. Confirm with your county elections office.

🎙️ More from Tejano Talks:
• "No Te Dejes": Gina Hinojosa on running for governor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzQWSZMkpo&t=84s
• Nathan Johnson Scored 67 Episodes of Dragon Ball Z. Now He's Running for Texas Attorney General: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL3r7EO2nHU&t=29s

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

IN THIS EPISODE
— Why October 5 matters, and how to check whether your registration is current
— What the voter suspense list is, who ends up on it, and what to do if you're flagged
— Talarico vs. Paxton for U.S. Senate, and why the hosts say the race comes down to turnout
— Hinojosa vs. Abbott, and why Hiram and Domingo think the governor's race has tightened
— Gas, groceries, rent, health care: how the hosts connect the cost of living to the ballot
— Faith, values, and a direct appeal to young and conservative Latino voters
— Hiram's closing case: elections change when turnout changes, not when minds do

KEY DATES
Register or update your address: October 5
Early voting: October 19–30
Mail-ballot applications (eligible voters) must be received by: October 23
Election Day: November 3

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CHAPTERS
00:00 What's at stake on November 3
00:37 Step one: register by October 5
01:19 "I was declared dead": check your registration
01:52 Redistricting and the fight over who votes
02:58 "My vote doesn't count": the 2018 Senate margin
03:23 Talarico vs. Paxton for U.S. Senate
05:49 Why some Latino conservatives still back Paxton
06:49 Diesel, tariffs, and the cost of living
08:31 Big money in Texas elections
09:51 Hinojosa vs. Abbott: why the governor's race tightened
11:46 The rest of the ticket
12:41 How to vote early and find your polling place
13:41 A message to people who don't vote
15:11 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
15:26 Marijuana, health care, and "small government"
16:38 Faith, history books, and Matthew 25
20:42 "Republicans win on fear. Democrats win on hope."
22:03 Take nine people to vote with you
22:26 Why turnout, not persuasion, decides elections

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

YOUR 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 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.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

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.

#TejanoTalks #TexasVotes #RegisterToVote

8 1

YouTube Video VVVnMmVYZlpfX21xYTJEa3o5V3JDV3h3LkNUY2FGbllsT2RN

“I Was Declared Dead”: Check Your Texas Voter Registration Now

Tejano Talks October 1, 2026 10:00 pm

"No power is ever given. It is always demanded." That's Matthias Early, running for the Texas House the same year his father runs for Congress. Also here: a city councilman chasing a newly redrawn open seat, Opal Lee's granddaughter taking Juneteenth to Congress, and a Houston broker betting on "purple" politics. Five Texas Democrats, live from the convention floor in Corpus Christi. Justin Early for Congress (TX-31): votejustinearly.com Matthias Early for Texas House (HD-20): votematthiasearly.com Dan Barrios for Congress (TX-32): danbarriosforcongress.com Dione Sims for Congress (TX-25): dionesimsforcongress.com Melissa McDonough for Congress (TX-38): melissaforcongress.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome: live from the Texas Democratic Convention, Corpus Christi 00:21 Justin Early and Matthias Early: a father and son, both on the ballot 01:08 ★ Justin Early on affordability and his run for Congress in TX-31 02:49 ★ Matthias Early: from pre-med to a run for the Texas House 05:56 Regulating AI, and who new data centers are targeting 09:59 The data-center fight in Hutto, Taylor, and Temple 11:36 Operation Lone Star, ICE, and the immigration question 14:43 Justin Early's military background, from Fort Bragg to the Pentagon 17:08 Two campaigns, one family — and demanding a seat at the table 21:27 ★ Dan Barrios: a Richardson city councilman running for the newly open TX-32 22:50 From an 82-vote loss in 2019 to Richardson City Council 23:31 Why TX-32 is now in play, after redistricting 25:08 Term limits, dark money, and the "Take Back Congress" platform 28:04 "Breakfast with Barrios": bringing government back to the people 31:48 Meet the opponent — and a challenge to debate 34:27 ★ Dione Sims: Opal Lee's granddaughter, running for TX-25 35:37 Juneteenth, and the history most Texans were never taught 38:09 Mexico, slavery, and the Underground Railroad South 40:33 Redistricting, and why she decided to run herself 42:10 Coalition-building, and her first days in Congress 45:42 Getting Juneteenth passed: a case study in coalition-building 47:27 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 47:46 ★ Melissa McDonough: from professional flutist to candidate for TX-38 51:11 30 years in real estate, and why she calls Congress "checks and balances" 54:29 "Who are you working for?" — accountability and corporate money 57:50 "Backward town halls": McDonough's listening tours across the district 1:00:47 Purple politics, and talking with disenfranchised Latino voters 1:03:38 A border tour, SpaceX complaints, and a 400-page bill that stalled 1:06:05 Closing: five races, one election on November 3rd ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ THE CANDIDATES Justin Early (TX-31): Army veteran (Fort Bragg, Pentagon) and Dell cybersecurity architect. Faces Rep. John Carter (R). Matthias Early (HD-20): Justin's son, former EMT and ER tech, studied political science at UT Arlington. Faces Rep. Terry Wilson (R). Dan Barrios (TX-32): Richardson City Council member since 2023, running for an open, newly redrawn seat. Faces Jace Yarbrough (R). Dione Sims (TX-25): Granddaughter of Dr. Opal Lee, co-producer of Juneteenth Fort Worth since 2015, founder of Unity Unlimited. Faces Rep. Roger Williams (R). Melissa McDonough (TX-38): 30-year real estate broker, running for the seat Rep. Wesley Hunt left open to run for the Senate. Faces Jon Bonck (R). ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer 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. 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. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT TEJANO TALKS Tejano Talks is a podcast hosted by Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia, blending cultural conversation, political analysis, and interviews with notable voices in Texas and beyond. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Subscribe, and tell us in the comments which of these five races you'll be watching closest. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok. Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own. #TejanoTalks #TexasDemocrats #Election2026

"No power is ever given. It is always demanded." That's Matthias Early, running for the Texas House the same year his father runs for Congress. Also here: a city councilman chasing a newly redrawn open seat, Opal Lee's granddaughter taking Juneteenth to Congress, and a Houston broker betting on "purple" politics. Five Texas Democrats, live from the convention floor in Corpus Christi.

Justin Early for Congress (TX-31): votejustinearly.com
Matthias Early for Texas House (HD-20): votematthiasearly.com
Dan Barrios for Congress (TX-32): danbarriosforcongress.com
Dione Sims for Congress (TX-25): dionesimsforcongress.com
Melissa McDonough for Congress (TX-38): melissaforcongress.com

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
CHAPTERS
00:00 Welcome: live from the Texas Democratic Convention, Corpus Christi
00:21 Justin Early and Matthias Early: a father and son, both on the ballot
01:08 ★ Justin Early on affordability and his run for Congress in TX-31
02:49 ★ Matthias Early: from pre-med to a run for the Texas House
05:56 Regulating AI, and who new data centers are targeting
09:59 The data-center fight in Hutto, Taylor, and Temple
11:36 Operation Lone Star, ICE, and the immigration question
14:43 Justin Early's military background, from Fort Bragg to the Pentagon
17:08 Two campaigns, one family — and demanding a seat at the table
21:27 ★ Dan Barrios: a Richardson city councilman running for the newly open TX-32
22:50 From an 82-vote loss in 2019 to Richardson City Council
23:31 Why TX-32 is now in play, after redistricting
25:08 Term limits, dark money, and the "Take Back Congress" platform
28:04 "Breakfast with Barrios": bringing government back to the people
31:48 Meet the opponent — and a challenge to debate
34:27 ★ Dione Sims: Opal Lee's granddaughter, running for TX-25
35:37 Juneteenth, and the history most Texans were never taught
38:09 Mexico, slavery, and the Underground Railroad South
40:33 Redistricting, and why she decided to run herself
42:10 Coalition-building, and her first days in Congress
45:42 Getting Juneteenth passed: a case study in coalition-building
47:27 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
47:46 ★ Melissa McDonough: from professional flutist to candidate for TX-38
51:11 30 years in real estate, and why she calls Congress "checks and balances"
54:29 "Who are you working for?" — accountability and corporate money
57:50 "Backward town halls": McDonough's listening tours across the district
1:00:47 Purple politics, and talking with disenfranchised Latino voters
1:03:38 A border tour, SpaceX complaints, and a 400-page bill that stalled
1:06:05 Closing: five races, one election on November 3rd

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

THE CANDIDATES

Justin Early (TX-31): Army veteran (Fort Bragg, Pentagon) and Dell cybersecurity architect. Faces Rep. John Carter (R).

Matthias Early (HD-20): Justin's son, former EMT and ER tech, studied political science at UT Arlington. Faces Rep. Terry Wilson (R).

Dan Barrios (TX-32): Richardson City Council member since 2023, running for an open, newly redrawn seat. Faces Jace Yarbrough (R).

Dione Sims (TX-25): Granddaughter of Dr. Opal Lee, co-producer of Juneteenth Fort Worth since 2015, founder of Unity Unlimited. Faces Rep. Roger Williams (R).

Melissa McDonough (TX-38): 30-year real estate broker, running for the seat Rep. Wesley Hunt left open to run for the Senate. Faces Jon Bonck (R).

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DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer 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. 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, blending cultural conversation, political analysis, and interviews with notable voices in Texas and beyond.

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Subscribe, and tell us in the comments which of these five races you'll be watching closest. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok.

Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own.

#TejanoTalks #TexasDemocrats #Election2026

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YouTube Video VVVnMmVYZlpfX21xYTJEa3o5V3JDV3h3Llp2bTAyUHRyenFB

"No Power Is Ever Given" — 5 Texas Democrats Running in 2026

Tejano Talks October 1, 2026 5:00 pm

4 1

YouTube Video VVVnMmVYZlpfX21xYTJEa3o5V3JDV3h3LjRfX2xMOW9qam5F

VOTE, DONT BE LAZY. #tejanotalks #podcast #texaspolitics #texas

Tejano Talks October 1, 2026 7:20 am

Holly Taylor is running for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. It's the highest criminal court in Texas, and most voters have never heard of it. The Texas Supreme Court handles civil cases. This one has the final word on criminal convictions in the state, including death penalty cases. Taylor has worked on both sides of the system. She spent 17 years as a Travis County prosecutor. Then she joined the Conviction Integrity Unit where she reviewed cases for wrongful convictions, including one that helped free a woman after more than 20 years in prison. "I actually had worked to put this person behind bars," she says, "only to find out later that she was completely innocent." Today she's a defense attorney. Hiram and Domingo sit down with Holly Taylor, Democratic candidate for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9, to talk about what it looks like to reopen a case you won, why she says a wrongful conviction creates two injustices instead of one, and what she means by "smart on crime." Holly Taylor's campaign: https://www.hollytforjudge.com/ 🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • Texas is sitting on $28 Billion in won't spend, Sarah Eckhardt for Texas Comptroller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNk55x1O3l8 • Can Ericka Ledferd Fix Our Schools?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_hNj6KcSk ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — What the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is, and why most voters have never heard of it — Why Texas is one of only two states with two courts of last resort — What a conviction integrity unit does — old evidence boxes, witnesses nobody called, science that has since changed — The case she prosecuted herself, then worked to overturn when the evidence fell apart — Why she argues a wrongful conviction creates a second injustice, not just one — "Smart on crime" versus "tough on crime," and what she says the difference buys you — Judicial independence, and why she says it matters who appoints Texas judges ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Who Holly Taylor is and what she's running for 00:44 What the Court of Criminal Appeals actually does 01:00 Why Texas has two high courts — and only Oklahoma does too 01:38 Free speech, digital privacy, and what's inside your phone 01:58 254 counties, 54,000 miles 02:32 25 years in criminal law, 17 as a Travis County prosecutor 03:09 Joining the conviction integrity unit 03:42 How a wrongful-conviction investigation actually works 05:05 The case she prosecuted — and later helped undo 07:18 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 07:38 Why she moved to criminal defense 08:19 How to reach the campaign 08:52 "No county is too red, no Texan is too conservative" 09:32 The second injustice — when the real predator walks free 10:09 "We need to be smart on crime" 10:56 Judicial independence and pressure on the courts 11:48 Vote November 3 — and go all the way down the ballot ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE GUEST HOLLY TAYLOR is the Democratic candidate for Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9, facing Republican John Messinger in the November 2026 general election. She has practiced criminal law for more than 25 years. She is board certified in Criminal Appellate Law. She holds degrees from Rice, UT Austin School of Law, and the LBJ School. She and her husband John have four children who attended Austin public schools. She was the Democratic nominee for Presiding Judge of the same court in 2024. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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 enjoy your podcasts. Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own. #TejanoTalks #TexasCourts #WrongfulConviction

Holly Taylor is running for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. It's the highest criminal court in Texas, and most voters have never heard of it.

The Texas Supreme Court handles civil cases. This one has the final word on criminal convictions in the state, including death penalty cases.

Taylor has worked on both sides of the system. She spent 17 years as a Travis County prosecutor. Then she joined the Conviction Integrity Unit where she reviewed cases for wrongful convictions, including one that helped free a woman after more than 20 years in prison. "I actually had worked to put this person behind bars," she says, "only to find out later that she was completely innocent."

Today she's a defense attorney.

Hiram and Domingo sit down with Holly Taylor, Democratic candidate for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9, to talk about what it looks like to reopen a case you won, why she says a wrongful conviction creates two injustices instead of one, and what she means by "smart on crime."

Holly Taylor's campaign:
https://www.hollytforjudge.com/

🎙️ More from Tejano Talks:
• Texas is sitting on $28 Billion in won't spend, Sarah Eckhardt for Texas Comptroller:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNk55x1O3l8
• Can Ericka Ledferd Fix Our Schools?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_hNj6KcSk


━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

IN THIS EPISODE

— What the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is, and why most voters have never heard of it
— Why Texas is one of only two states with two courts of last resort
— What a conviction integrity unit does — old evidence boxes, witnesses nobody called, science that has since changed
— The case she prosecuted herself, then worked to overturn when the evidence fell apart
— Why she argues a wrongful conviction creates a second injustice, not just one
— "Smart on crime" versus "tough on crime," and what she says the difference buys you
— Judicial independence, and why she says it matters who appoints Texas judges

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CHAPTERS

00:00 Who Holly Taylor is and what she's running for
00:44 What the Court of Criminal Appeals actually does
01:00 Why Texas has two high courts — and only Oklahoma does too
01:38 Free speech, digital privacy, and what's inside your phone
01:58 254 counties, 54,000 miles
02:32 25 years in criminal law, 17 as a Travis County prosecutor
03:09 Joining the conviction integrity unit
03:42 How a wrongful-conviction investigation actually works
05:05 The case she prosecuted — and later helped undo
07:18 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm
07:38 Why she moved to criminal defense
08:19 How to reach the campaign
08:52 "No county is too red, no Texan is too conservative"
09:32 The second injustice — when the real predator walks free
10:09 "We need to be smart on crime"
10:56 Judicial independence and pressure on the courts
11:48 Vote November 3 — and go all the way down the ballot

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ABOUT THE GUEST

HOLLY TAYLOR is the Democratic candidate for Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9, facing Republican John Messinger in the November 2026 general election. She has practiced criminal law for more than 25 years. She is board certified in Criminal Appellate Law. She holds degrees from Rice, UT Austin School of Law, and the LBJ School. She and her husband John have four children who attended Austin public schools. She was the Democratic nominee for Presiding Judge of the same court in 2024.

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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.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
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 enjoy your podcasts.

Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own.

#TejanoTalks #TexasCourts #WrongfulConviction

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YouTube Video VVVnMmVYZlpfX21xYTJEa3o5V3JDV3h3LlhNbkVOOHdJa3U4

Texas Has TWO Supreme Courts. You've Never Heard of This One

Tejano Talks September 29, 2026 5:00 pm

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YouTube Video VVVnMmVYZlpfX21xYTJEa3o5V3JDV3h3LjlBSVVBa2d0dmh3

we must end crony capitalism. #tejanotalks #texaspolitics #podcast #texas

Tejano Talks September 27, 2026 4:43 pm

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YouTube Video VVVnMmVYZlpfX21xYTJEa3o5V3JDV3h3LkUtX0NMNUJCbXBV

ICE ALMOST KILLED SOMEONE ELSE. #STOPICE #ICE #IMMIGRATION #TEJANOTALKS

Tejano Talks September 24, 2026 10:51 pm

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Meet The Hosts

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Tejano Talks is a podcast hosted by Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia that blends cultural conversation, political analysis, and interviews with notable figures from the Tejano community. The show covers everything from Tejano culture and identity to current events, business, and career development, aiming to empower the community to build wealth, lead with purpose, and shape their future.

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