In the March 8 episode, Don Huffines, the GOP nominee for Texas Comptroller, discusses why he would want hundreds of auditors from the office to look into local governments. State Rep.-Elect Junior Ezeonu explains how he managed to defeat a veteran incumbent at the ripe old age of 26. And the CEO of the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation, Jason Villalba, on the single most important story to emerge from the Primary election.
0:00 Preview: Texas Primary Surprises & Political Shakeups
0:30 Texas Political Headlines: Gonzalez Resigns, Agriculture Controversy
2:14 Don Huffines Wins GOP Comptroller Primary
3:36 Huffines on Auditing Government Waste in Texas
6:40 Roundtable: Why Polls Missed Key Texas Primary Races
9:38 Junior Ezeonu Upsets Veteran Democrat Chris Turner
11:46 Campaign Strategy: How Door Knocking Beat Big Money
14:45 Latino Voters and What the Texas Primary Revealed
18:03 Roundtable: What the Results Mean for November
< spk_0 - 00:00:02.8800000 >
Straight ahead, Don Huffine scored a decisive victory, but Governor Abbott wanted someone else as state comptroller. So if elected in November, what kind of working relationship would the two have? A question we had for Huffines. What did the primary election tell us about the Hispanic vote in Texas? Jason Villalba on the single most important story from Tuesday's results.
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Plus, who is Junior Ezenuo, the 26 year old defeated state rep Chris Turner. Why he says that veteran Democrat was vulnerable, and how Ezenuo tailored that to his campaign. And the ballots are now set for several high profile runoffs this spring. Cornyn versus Paxton, Middleton versus Roy. How did the polls underestimate so many candidates?
< spk_0 - 00:00:58.1390000 >
Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whitely starts now. Thank you for being here. We appreciate it. I'm Jason Whitely. Let's begin the program as always with the latest political headlines. Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez is out, saying he will now resign rather than go to a runoff in May. The Republican from San Antonio finally admitted to an affair with a staffer who later took her own life. Gonzalez called the affair a lapse in judgment, but the political pressure was growing.
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Fellow Republicans wanted to censure him, so Friday morning, Gonzalez announced he would not seek reelection in the May runoff. New leadership and new firings could shake up the Texas Department of Agriculture if Nate Sheets wins in November. Incumbent Sid Miller has had a number of controversies over his 12 years in the position. After a close political aide was indicted for trying to sell hemp licenses. Miller made that aide chief of staff there at the department.
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Nate Sheets told the Texas Tribune that if he wins in November, he's going to fire all of Sid Miller's hires. And a tense and unusual situation in San Antonio. The council, city council there censured the mayor for verbally abusing a council member last month. Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones admitted that she swore and raised her voice to a colleague.
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An independent investigation said the mayor violated the council's code of conduct, so council voted 8 to 1 to censure her and require the mayor to take leadership training. Let's begin right now though with one of the winners from Tuesday's primary election. Don Huffines was endorsed by President Trump to be the state's comptroller, the chief financial officer, but Governor Abbott wanted someone else. He wanted Kelly Hancock. Huffines and Abbott have clashed before in the past. But this time Huffines came out on top.
< spk_0 - 00:02:44.8800000 >
He won the Republican race decisively and says he got a call from the governor not long after. Senator, you won the GOP nomination obviously decisively here when we look at these results. Governor Abbott though wanted someone else in the position, and I know you have famously pushed him to the right, further to the right politically. What kind of working relationship do you expect to have with him if you're elected in November?
< spk_1 - 00:03:08.5800000 >
Well, even though this is a, was a massive win, but, uh, actually the governor called me yesterday and we had a great visit. We really did. Uh, and we're, we're united, uh, now going forward as all Republicans should be. You know, primaries are a little tough. You know, there's no doubt about that. And, and it, and so, But we talked about how we're gonna beat the, the Democrats in the fall. We talked about legislative priorities that he has, and I'm looking forward to working with the governor.
< spk_0 - 00:03:36.4100000 >
And when Texans here rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in Austin, uh, a lot of people say, well, well, listen, Republicans have been in charge there in Austin for 30+ years. Do you expect to find any waste, fraud, and abuse?
< spk_1 - 00:03:50.8990000 >
Well, there's always going to be that in government, always, and, and, and I just put the simple question out there, who really runs Texas? And it's not the legislature or the executive branch because the, the legislature is only there every other year for 140 days. It's the bureaucracy, it's the administrative state. And occasionally, you know, after a period of time, the garage gets full of a lot of junk. Nobody likes cleaning out the garage, but we sure like pulling in when it's done. And that's what I'm going to do as comptroller.
< spk_0 - 00:04:20.4880000 >
You've pledged to bring that private sector mentality to Austin. What, what does that look like though?
< spk_1 - 00:04:26.2690000 >
Well, it's just looking, it's, it's just like I said, it's, my motto seemed beyond the obvious. Not everything I'm gonna do is, is obvious, but I'm gonna take it. I'm not looking to upsize a business if I buy a business, I'm looking to downsize the business and make it more efficient. How does, how is it all the team members can get together, justify their position, and let's work together to make government as efficient as possible and spend as little money as possible.
< spk_1 - 00:04:54.8800000 >
Because, you know, government never has enough of our money. Let's just make sure that they understand who the money really belongs to and it belongs to the people.
< spk_0 - 00:05:03.4800000 >
But the spending decisions are in the legislative branch. I mean, your office is essentially writing the checks and balancing the checkbook, right?
< spk_1 - 00:05:11.2380000 >
No, that's not all we do. Not at all. The comptroller has deep and vast responsibilities across the spectrum of the state. The legislature can set the budgets, but that doesn't mean the money is being spent correctly. And that's what my role is as comptroller.
< spk_1 - 00:05:26.7200000 >
And I'm also taking the constitutional responsibility that any, any government that's using your money, Texas taxpayer money, I have a right to look at it and make sure it's not being stolen or wasted and that includes local governments, counties, cities, school districts. So I have 600 auditors. I'll be turning a lot of them over uh to audit government, local governments.
< spk_0 - 00:05:48.4880000 >
If you get elected, which city or local governments would you start looking at first?
< spk_1 - 00:05:52.7300000 >
Well, it's the ones that have requested help, uh, and I've been traveling the state, Jason, as you know, for over a year now, and you would be shocked at how many government mayors, uh, city council members, uh, county commissioners come up to me with a dossier, a file, an envelope with A stack of documents that say, this is the corruption in our county. This is the corruption in our city. Please help us. What can you do to help us?
< spk_1 - 00:06:20.0190000 >
And, and, and so I'm going to turn our, our, my people loose to help a lot of people. So we, we'll be evaluating that. We'll have a robust whistleblower system in place, and we're going to root out as much corruption as possible in the state of Texas.
< spk_0 - 00:06:34.4400000 >
Don, congratulations to you. Big win.
< spk_1 - 00:06:36.5100000 >
Thank you, Jason. Thank you very much.
< spk_0 - 00:06:40.1090000 >
All right, let's bring in the round table to talk about the politics of this here. We have with us, uh, Ashley Goode, political director at KU in Austin, Abby Livingston is a congressional correspondent for PU News, and Natalie Haddad, political reporter at WFAA in Dallas. Abby, let's start with you. The runoffs are set for May twenty-sixth. Uh, John Cornyn, Ken Paxton for US Senate on the Republican side, Middleton versus Chip Roy for Texas AG. Here's what I'm curious about.
< spk_0 - 00:07:05.3750000 >
Almost every poll underestimated Mays Middleton and underestimated John Cornyn. How in the world did they get this wrong?
< spk_2 - 00:07:13.2790000 >
I think there are a lot of questions. In fact, I've talked to folks in the state and there are questions about that. But what I would also just add, this is a very, very unusual Senate race, and there are repercussions bouncing in every direction, and it's, uh, I would, I would suggest in part because it's a double-barreled competitive primary on both sides that throws things out of whack in a state like Texas where you don't have, it's an open primary state and you don't have to be ready. Registered to vote.
< spk_0 - 00:07:37.6050000 >
Um, yeah, and we'll wait and see what things look like for the May runoff polls and for, uh, November as well. Some of those runoffs though, Ashley, uh, in Houston, the Democratic, uh, 18th congressional district there, Christian Menefee versus Al Green, this is a generational thing we've talked about in the past. Which way do you think runoff voters go? Because Democrats like Republicans, only the most diehard show up for these races in, in, uh, the runoff in May.
< spk_3 - 00:08:01.5890000 >
Yeah, and, and just imagine that it's gonna be the day after Memorial Day too, right? So folks are gonna have to be really, really motivated to show to show up. I, I don't know, Jason. I wish that I had an answer for you. I wish I felt confident enough to make a prediction, but I just really don't. I think there's something to be said about having experience in a chamber in Washington DC that people like, but also I think Democrats are really. Ready for change and they're ready for something new.
< spk_3 - 00:08:29.2550000 >
I think we saw that in terms of some of the, you know, the races on the Democratic ticket. And so I think that, you know, I guess, I guess I will make a guess here and say Menefee, it could work in his favor over Congressman Green.
< spk_0 - 00:08:42.6950000 >
Yeah, especially if Talarico brings out younger voters, uh, perhaps it would go to Menefee there. And then Natalie, as we record this, the huge question right now is whether the White House, President Trump is going to make an endorsement. In the Senate race in Texas, the Republican side, John Cornyn or Ken Paxton, I just, I just don't see whoever doesn't get endorsed getting knocked out of this race or saying I'm going to quit the race.
< spk_4 - 00:09:03.3200000 >
We've already seen Pen Paxton go on national news and tell one conservative network that he owes it to the people of Texas after campaigning, campaigning for almost a year to not drop out, and he has no intentions to. And then President Trump in response in hearing that said, oh, that's bad, that's really bad for him, and you know, I think you could look up.
< spk_4 - 00:09:22.7290000 >
Anywhere and see that, you know, that experts believe that President Trump will likely side with endorsing Cornyn, and I'm not personally surprised by that, but I also wouldn't be surprised to see President Trump potentially sweeten the deal somehow in another way for Ken Paxton.
< spk_0 - 00:09:38.7990000 >
All right guys, back to you in just a moment here. A lot more ahead in just a moment. When we come back, meet the 26 year old who defeated a veteran Democrat in the legislature. Why Junior Ezenuo says he's still going to rely on his opponent, Chris Turner. And Latino voters swinging back to Democrats in the primary election. Jason Villalba on what that might mean heading towards November. Inside Texas politics back in a moment.
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This is Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whitely. Welcome back to Inside Texas Politics. Now to Tarrant County and another political upset there. How did a 26 year old progressive defeat a veteran Democrat? This guy's name is Junior Ezenuo. He beat Chris Turner, a Democratic leader at the legislature, and with no Republican opponent in November, the twenty-six-year-old is now heading to Austin. Junior, congratulations. Thank you. You just defeated a longtime incumbent.
< spk_0 - 00:10:39 >
He'd served in the legislature for more than a decade. Why, why did you look at this race and say Chris Turner is vulnerable? What made you think that?
< spk_5 - 00:10:46.4000000 >
Well, first, thank you for having me, Jason. It's an honor to be here. I've always watched the show, so I'm truly grateful to be here. Um, but I grew up in District 101. I've lived there since I was 2 years old, um, went to all my schooling there from pre-K to college, UTA grad, Bowie High School grad as well. In my profession as a consultant, I work on numbers. I'm a political consultant by trade. I help people get elected all over the country, and I looked at the numbers just like when I ran for city council.
< spk_5 - 00:11:11.1690000 >
Uh, the guy I beat to get on city council in Grand Prairie was not a bad person, but I knew the numbers were there to be competitive and potentially win, and I saw those same numbers with this election. I just said, you know, I'm going to raise enough money to be competitive and run a formidable campaign, and by the grace of God we're going to win it.
< spk_0 - 00:11:27.4600000 >
You have experience with political campaigns as a political consultant there. You're just talking about incumbents in Texas usually win their legislative primaries, Democrat or Republican. How did your campaign break that pattern? You're looking at the numbers is one thing, but actually executing a plan to break the pattern is something else.
< spk_5 - 00:11:46.2600000 >
You have to have a very strong field plan. You definitely have to have a very strong field plan, um, especially that's
< spk_0 - 00:11:52.2600000 >
door knocking, that's showing up at the different events and venues and places like that. Is that
< spk_5 - 00:11:56.2100000 >
what it is? I'll tell you this. This is what I tell all the candidates that run, especially those that are, you know, being outspent, because, uh, Mr. Turner outspent me 10 to 1, if not 11 to 1. Um, events are cool, but you're wasting your time if you're spending a lot of time at events. You need to be at the doors. You need to have a very targeted door knocking. Strategy, you need to send enough mail to be competitive. I only send about 3 mail pieces. I didn't send, I didn't have enough money to send out 5, but you need to be door knocking, running those digital ads. If you have some money for TV ads, there's some TV ads on cable and streaming.
< spk_5 - 00:12:25.9690000 >
Um, you just need to make sure that your message and your name is spread out in a different, uh, methods and, and mediums. Um, having signs are good, but signs are not signs don't decide an election, but that canvassing component. Making sure you're hitting those doors because on average you're gonna talk to 1 out of every 5 people that open the door, right? So I would always say canvass, canvass, canvass, especially when you're running state and local
< spk_0 - 00:12:48.6190000 >
campaigns. As you know, Democrats are the minority in Austin. How does a freshman legislator from Grand Prairie get anything done?
< spk_5 - 00:12:57.0700000 >
I think first is taking the time out to listen and learn from the experienced legislators that have been there, both those that are currently serving and those that have served in the past, like Representative Turner, who I'm sure will give me great advice to help me be a successful freshman in the state legislature.
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Will you reach out to him? Definitely and I have to,
< spk_5 - 00:13:14.2260000 >
I have to for me to be a good, uh, legislator for my community for District 10 1, I have to have the humility to know that I don't know everything and I have to go to those that have been serving prior to me getting there and ask them for their guidance, for their, for their expertise and for their wisdom so I can be able to deliver for my constituents. So that's the first step and the next step is being bold. And believing in a vision where we can not just unite residents across the state of Texas, but deliver on policies that impact their daily life. And that's what I'm gonna focus on those kitchen table issues.
< spk_0 - 00:13:43.3810000 >
You support raising the minimum wage, ending school vouchers. Give voters a realistic answer here though. When you're in a Republican controlled legislature, how much can you actually accomplish?
< spk_5 - 00:13:53.6900000 >
You can't accomplish everything all at once. It's gonna take time. Those are policies that I support and I will fight for, but being realistic, I know I can't do it all on day one, but we can build towards it. We can find common ground. An issue that I spoke about that people don't even realize has bipartisan support is banning private equity and large corporations from buying single family homes. Uh, President Trump talked about it recently, and many Republicans are supporting him now.
< spk_0 - 00:14:15.6900000 >
It's a national issue, yeah, if you wanna bring it. To the state though,
< spk_5 - 00:14:18.3040000 >
exactly, because housing is an issue that faces that affects all of us, especially in Tarrant County. Back in 2021, 52% of all the single family homes that were bought were sold to, um, private, uh, private equity or large institutional investors which price out regular people from home ownership. So this is an issue that affects everybody, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat, and that's an issue where we can find common ground and solve that to make housing affordable for all.
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Junior, congratulations.
< spk_5 - 00:14:42.9450000 >
Thank you so much, Jason. I appreciate you.
< spk_0 - 00:14:45.5990000 >
As campaigns take apart their wins and losses, they will look closely at the Latino vote. Democrats once took them for granted, but two years ago, Texas Hispanics swung towards President Trump. Latinos will likely decide winners this November as well, which is why Jason Villalba and the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation are paying such close attention to them. Jason, good to see you again here. Great to be back, Jason.
< spk_0 - 00:15:10.0490000 >
When, when you look at the March 3rd turnout numbers overall, especially in, you know, Hispanic rich areas, South Texas, places like that, what's the single most important story to come out of the
< spk_6 - 00:15:19.2500000 >
results? I think it's the erosion of the Republican support by Hispanics that we saw in 2024 and 2022 for Republicans begin to roll back into the Democratic side. What we saw in 2024. Was Trump winning statewide 55%. What we saw on election night two nights ago was that strength whittled down and then mostly Hispanic districts in the RGV.
< spk_6 - 00:15:43.4340000 >
We saw overwhelming support for Democrats and for people like James Talarico.
< spk_0 - 00:15:50.0340000 >
Yes, and why is it though? I mean, is it the president's policies or the ICE raids in Minneapolis? What's driving the support away from him for Hispanics?
< spk_6 - 00:15:57.5150000 >
I think it's a Number of factors. The midterm cycle is always going to be less popular for the president, but I think two other issues are really driving this. Number one, affordability issues, the economics of it, right? I mean, can we afford bread and beans on the kitchen table? Can we send our kids to good schools? Can we get healthcare? These are all promises that the president made for the Hispanic community, but he has not yet been able. To deliver on that's had a major impact as well.
< spk_6 - 00:16:26.6040000 >
The aggressive tactics we're seeing from ICE has unquestionably whittled down some of the support that the Hispanics were showing for the president earlier on.
< spk_0 - 00:16:37.0150000 >
Can Republicans still turn around the Hispanic vote, still attract them, even if they run away from President Trump and the issues from his first year in office?
< spk_6 - 00:16:44.4840000 >
I think they can. You know, I like to talk a lot about. That Hispanics never vote for the color of the jersey. They're not Republicans or Democrats. They vote for the individual who can most help them have a life that they aspire to. Chuck Roacher said it the other day in the Wall Street Journal, Hispanics are aspirational people, and they, they seek, you know, goodness in their homes, and they want a better life for their children like all Texans do.
< spk_6 - 00:17:12.5690000 >
Unless the Republicans are able to really refocus on that message, they're going to continue to struggle with that, but I do believe that Republicans can talk about some of the good things that are happening. There's no question that the stock market remains very strong and resilient in the face of these wars we're seeing tariffs, because the Supreme Court has recently said that they're not legal, will probably result in lower prices at the grocery store because tariffs will be gone, which is our tax on people.
< spk_6 - 00:17:39.5200000 >
And I think these wars will ultimately, you know, burn out before the election. So those are three issues where
< spk_0 - 00:17:46.3490000 >
you're hopeful, Jason, on
< spk_6 - 00:17:47.4490000 >
all this. I'm an optimist,
< spk_0 - 00:17:49.5300000 >
you're aspirational,
< spk_6 - 00:17:50.7700000 >
aspirational for sure. But I think if Republicans can focus on those three things happening, I think they can win back some of the votes they've lost recently. Jason, good to see you, man. Hey, great to be back. Thank you so much for having me.
< spk_0 - 00:18:03.0300000 >
The roundtable is ready when we come back here on Inside Texas Politics. All right, time now for reporters roundtable to put the headlines in perspective. Ashley, Natalie, and Abby all back with us here, and Ashley, let's start with you. More Texans voted in the Democratic primary than the Republican primary. That doesn't necessarily suggest we're gonna see the same thing in November though. Any idea what, what you might expect or what people should prepare for?
< spk_3 - 00:18:26.7290000 >
You know, I think what we did see was, I think the likelihood of more independents choosing to cast a vote in the Democratic primary over the Republican primary, and that was largely because of the US Senate race at the top, you know, James Talarico has had the ability to really reach out and talk to voters and have a message that resonates with them, and I think that that got a lot of. People to the polls, you know, and we'll just kind of have to wait and see what happens in November.
< spk_3 - 00:18:53.4840000 >
I think it is largely going to depend on who he's facing on the Republican side, and I mean, you know, who's to say who that person
< spk_0 - 00:19:02.6250000 >
will be. And earlier in the program, Natalie, we had Jason Villalba on from the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation. One of the points he made was that. Uh, Latino voters, especially in South Texas, the Rio Grande Valley are swinging back towards Democrats here that that could be significant, uh, for James Talarico at the top of the ballot.
< spk_4 - 00:19:19.6190000 >
I definitely think so and to what Ashley was saying about, you know, the message and who they would like to see your how this will depend on, uh, who Talarico is facing, you know, Talarico has this experience, as we've often heard him talk about being a teacher in the west side of San Antonio, uh, and, uh, mother from Laredo, and I think that he has a message that really resonates with the Hispanic voter, uh, population, uh, along the border and, uh, in San Antonio, and I, I would.
< spk_4 - 00:19:47.8640000 >
Bet that he's going to be very successful with the Hispanic vote in many areas of Texas, not just the border or San Antonio or otherwise.
< spk_0 - 00:19:55.5450000 >
And Abby, speaking of the border, South Texas and even West Texas here we mentioned earlier in the program Congressman Tony Gonzalez dropping out of the race. He, he didn't really have a choice after admitting to this affair where his staffer, uh, self-immolated. This wasn't really an option for Republicans, but since it's so tight in Congress for Republicans right now, he's still going to serve out the rest of his term through January.
< spk_2 - 00:20:16.8800000 >
This is probably the cleanest resolution to a very big mess for Republicans, but what's so remarkable about it is the allegations against Congressman Gonzalez that he had an affair with a staffer who ended up dying by self-immolation. Uh, they still viewed him, uh, both Democrats and Republicans, as the stronger candidate in this district. It's a safe Republican district.
< spk_2 - 00:20:38.8800000 >
It's very Trumpy, but the now de facto nominee Brandon Herrera has invoked Nazism on many occasions, and his opposition research file has already started. To come out
< spk_0 - 00:20:48.3290000 >
and Ashley in the final 30-40 seconds here or so, I mean he, he has Brendan Herrera is also known as the AK guy for people who've kind of followed the headlines here on this, even though as Abby said, it's a safe Republican district, could this still be a target for Democrats?
< spk_3 - 00:21:05.1700000 >
Oh, it's absolutely going to be a target for Democrats. I think that you see, especially with the messaging that's coming out of the White House, you know, and some of the actions that they're taking and the impact that it's having and the impressions that it's having on, uh, Latino voters. I, I just don't see how it's not an issue for him and if the, the Democrats keep pushing the gas, I think that this is gonna be a district that's gonna be in play for certain come
< spk_0 - 00:21:28.6890000 >
November. Well, looking forward to November 8 months away, guys. Thanks so much as always. We appreciate your insight. Thank you for watching as well we're back next Sunday to take you inside Texas politics. We hope to see you then. Take care.