In the May 10 episode, U.S. Rep. Nathaniel Moran tells us why he endorsed a candidate in a Republican primary for the first time ever, while the roundtable discusses whether the GOP can reunite after a bruising U.S. Senate race. Council Member Chad West on why money is suddenly tight at Dallas City Hall. And U.S. Rep. Roger Williams explains why he thinks the World Cup is a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” for large and small businesses alike.
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Straight ahead. The World Cup now just weeks away, and Texas businesses hoping to score big with it. But is FIFA overselling the impact? Congressman Roger Williams on what fans, cities and taxpayers should expect. But Dallas leaders admit the expected World Cup surge just has not materialized. Councilman Chad West on why that leaves City Hall suddenly strapped for cash and what it will take to revive downtown Dallas.
Plus, early voting starts a week from Monday. A new public poll shows John Cornyn and Ken Paxton locked in a dead heat. And Republican Congressman Nate Moran from Tyler. Why he chose sides in that Senate showdown and whether Republicans believe they can stop Democrat James Talarico this November.
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Inside Texas politics with Jason Whitely. Starts now. Thank you for being here. Let's begin the program, as always, with the top political headlines happening across our state. And early voting begins a week from Monday in the primary runoff election. Get ready for an onslaught of ads with final pitches in the state's biggest races.
The University of Houston out with the latest survey showing Ken Paxton leading John Cornyn by three points in their showdown for the Senate. Mayes Middleton, though leading Chip Roy by ten points in that survey and the Republican nomination for Texas Attorney general. 96,000 students in Texas are the first to receive school vouchers this fall.
Here are the stats on them 42% are white. More than half come from families considered low income, and also another half previously attended a public school. More than 274,000 students in all applied. And Dallas County Republicans have finally chosen a new leader here. Remember Allen West, who also once led the Republican Party of Texas.
He resigned as a county party chair last month, while precinct chairs elected his number two to take over for the rest of his term. Tammy Brown Rodriguez. The Dallas Morning News reports that she is the eighth chairperson for the Dallas GOP in the last decade. Let's begin right now, though, with the contentious Republican race for U.S. Senate between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton.
Public polls suggest it is too close to call, but Paxton's team says he is ahead by a long shot, and he is a favorite among the grassroots Republicans. But most Republicans in Congress from Texas prefer John Cornyn. The question now will the party come together after voters select a nominee this month?
Our first guest, Congressman Nathaniel Moran, a Republican from Tyler. Congressman, good to see you again here. Thanks, Jason. Great to be with you again. Absolutely. Let's start with the Republican Senate runoff less than three weeks away. This is very contentious inside the GOP. You've taken a stand on this and endorsed John Cornyn.
Tell us why. Yeah. And this is the first time I've actually endorsed in any primary in the Republican side, from top to bottom. And I think it's important for folks to know why. Because when we look at these two competitors that are vying for the United States Senate position, what you're really looking for is a difference between the character on one side and the absence of character on the other.
That's the starting point for me. I think that character matters to conservatives. I think that John Cornyn has evidence that and on the other side, Ken Paxton has not. And that's a starting point for me. The other. The other real issue is who's electable in November. This is a big deal because Talarico is going to present a formidable opponent in November, and John Cornyn is the one that can beat him in November.
We need somebody that also has the the ability to support President Trump in the next two years. John Cornyn, relationships in the Senate. His experience in the Senate will provide the support that President Trump needs to finish the job that he's been hired to do. Will you back Paxton if he is the nominee?
We'll see. But I think John Cornyn is going to be the nominee. So, you know, I think the problem is not just, uh, you know, what? What are Republicans going to do in December? But what are the people in the middle, the independents going to do in November? When they go to the ballot box? They're going to look at two candidates, and they're going to wonder who's going to best reflect the principles and the values of Texas and who who can do the job for them.
In Washington, D.C., that man is John Cornyn. And the middle makes the decision, as you know, all the time. But could Ken Paxton defeat James Talarico? I have serious doubts about that, because I think that there will be a lot of people that go to the the polls and in November, the ballot box in November that say, you know, I'm just not sure that I want to vote for either one of them.
So I, I anticipate that if you have a Paxton versus Talarico race, you're going to see a lot of vote of people showing up to the ballot box to just say, I'm just not willing to vote for either one of these guys because they don't raise, they don't get to the level of the quality of either the competency or the character that I want in Washington, D.C..
Congressman, let's talk to Iran for a moment here. It's costing taxpayers billions of dollars. You and I know it every time we fill up for gas. Summer vacation is going to be more expensive too. And we don't seem any closer to overthrowing the regime in Iran than we were before this even began here. Do you think this was thought out correctly, or was it miscalculated at all?
No. And the primary purpose of the Iran conflict was not to overthrow the regime. When you look back at what the president stated, his objectives on it comes back to national security interest. It came back to finishing the job that he started when we bombed these secret bunkers that were were creating the nuclear enriched nuclear materials.
That's right. And so we needed to finish that job. We also knew that we had a continued problem of national security of Iran. And it's, um, it's, uh, it's affiliates, Hezbollah and Hamas and others that were doing their bidding against the United States, against our allies such as Israel. We needed to go in and cut their legs out.
But if the regime is still in place, I mean, what's to stop it from from secretly enriching uranium again and keeping Hezbollah and Hamas going? Yeah, I certainly think that they do have that intention, and that's why I would love to see regime change, no question about that. But the immediacy of the objective of of the national security interest of the United States in the next couple of decades certainly been accomplished by what President Trump has done there with the strong military move.
Fiscal conservatives are increasingly worried about the cost of these overseas conflicts. The Pentagon is asking for $25 billion to pay for the first 60 days of this. Should there be a timeline or exit strategy to any additional funding that Congress might approve? I do think Congress needs to have oversight and make sure that it has its voice heard strongly in this.
Should it be tied to anything, though? Well, I think we are seeing the potential end of the conflict as we're speaking. We know that those negotiations negotiations going on right now, there's a cease fire. Congressman, good to see you. Thanks for the time. Thanks so much.
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All right. Let's bring in the roundtable to talk about the politics of all this. But Kennedy is here from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Natalie Haddad, political reporter at WFAA in Dallas, and Ashley Goudeau, political director at Kvue in Austin. Ashley, to start with you. Will the threat of James Talarico.
Will that be the uniting factor for Texas Republicans this fall? Or do you think they'll stay divided?
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They won't stay divided. They'll all end up coming behind whoever is the candidate, because that's what the president is going to tell them to do at the end of the day. They don't want to lose in the Senate. They don't want to lose that seat in Texas. So they're going to rob rob behind whoever wins. Bottom line.
Natalie, what do you think about that? Because you talked to a lot of Republicans I do too. We just heard Nate Moran there a moment ago who says we'll have to wait and see. I think it's right. We're just going to have to wait and see. I thought what Representative Moran said was really spot on. I think it comes down to character.
I think Cornyn is spending a lot of money to only enhance what name recognition he already has. I think Ken Paxton is going to really depend on the grassroots campaign he has, because his name comes with a lot of baggage. And as far as Talarico goes, I think Republicans know that he's kind of cruising right now until they figure out their own fight.
Yeah, indeed. So. And but let me ask you this polls Paxton. Paxton says polls show him ahead. Cornyn is the one spending money. What do you read into all this? Well, it's a dead heat. If you look at the margin of error in most of the polls, Paxton's been a little bit ahead in one poll. What's going on here? A lot of the Republican establishment supports Cornyn because, you know, Paxton is such a heavier lift to get elected.
It'll take tens of millions of dollars to get him elected. And then down ballot candidates will still lose with Paxton on top of the ticket. You know, Cornyn has a poll saying that Republicans will lose four seats in Congress, ten seats in the House, in the Texas House. If Paxton is the nominee, even if they lose half that, it's a disaster for Republicans.
Indeed. So a lot's on the line here. Guys, back to you in just a moment. A lot more ahead, including this.
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When we come back here, the World Cup is coming to Texas next month. But is FIFA overselling the economic boost it could bring? Dallas Councilman Chad West says Dallas just has not seen it yet, but Congressman Roger Williams says businesses should get ready inside Texas politics back in a moment. And.
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Welcome back to Inside Texas Politics. Monday marks one month from the World Cup coming to Texas matches in Dallas and Houston, but bookings for hotel rooms have not been as strong as local leaders expected. And in Dallas, that's one of the reasons the city is now short on revenue. Here's council member Chad West, Council member.
Good to see you again here. Always great to be on the show. Thanks for having me. Let's start with the city budget. Money is suddenly tight at Dallas City Hall. What's going on? Yeah, I think it's a combination of revenue shortfall that, you know, us seeing with the general economy that all Americans are experiencing having to tighten their budgets right now.
And so that we're feeling that. Plus we're seeing a reduction in sales tax revenue that was forecasted to be a little bit higher than it was. And I think that's a result also of the national economy and gas prices going up unless people just traveling. Part of this is because FIFA is not going to be as profitable for Dallas and all the other host cities as originally expected, with hotel bookings.
ET cetera. Not not the same forecast that you guys were expecting. Did FIFA over promise the World Cup? Yeah, I think we expected more of a bump from the travel coming into Dallas from FIFA number one. And then to the convention center right now is not is not fully occupied. The only thing happening in the convention center, which is a big piece of our tourism dollars in Dallas, is the the media center, the media headquarters for FIFA.
Whereas normally we'd be having the big cheerleader conferences and everything else coming here, but because it's under construction, we're going to be seeing sales tax revenue shortages going into the next few years. The fans for FIFA, as far as hotel bookings go, just hasn't materialized yet. It hasn't been as strong as forecasted.
But why is that, you think? I think part of it is, you know, travel concerns, you know, internationally coming into the United States right now. I think another big piece of that is just the cost of travel. Uh, gas prices soaring, uh, you know, things of that nature. Councilman, there was talk that the future of Dallas City Hall might be decided this month.
That vote now looks like it's pushed to next month, in June. Does that mean there's second thoughts about all this? What's going on? Yeah, the city hall discussions got to happen. You know, no matter. I know the Mavs have been the center of a lot of publicity lately, but whatever the Mavericks decide to do, the City Hall decision still has to take place.
And we had over 400 submissions from interested folks who who have ideas. Now, some of them were like to redevelop the site, to redevelop the site or to keep it and to build around it. And some of them were, you know, 100 page pieces, you know, theses that are like, you know, really detailed plans. And then there's some 2 or 3 page plans that are just like, all right, do this.
Put a museum there. Very, very simple plans that many submissions has kind of delayed our review of this. Let me ask you this. Why the rush to do something with the City Hall side? There are plenty of other places near downtown in downtown that the city could redevelop. You know, on the east side of the skyline by Deep Ellum, Riverfront Boulevard.
There are other places that the, you know, the maps could look at or the city could look at to redevelop. Why did that exact location? I mean, let's the let's let me just say this. The Mavericks have said they want to stay in Dallas. I hope that continues to be true. Um, whether the Mavs go to Valley View or whether the Mavs stay in downtown somewhere, it's a win to the city.
It's a loss to the city if they move to Irving or some other place. So we have to keep the Mavs. Does that mean they need to be at the City Hall site? I don't think they do. I think they could they could go to Valley View would still be a win to me. But that conversation aside, we still have to figure out how to save downtown, how to energize it so we don't have any more corporate relocations.
Does that mean we have to move out of City Hall? Not necessarily, but we've got to have a true vision for the southern part of downtown, because nothing's been built there in the 20 years I've been here, except the Omni and, um, and it's if we're going to really have a vibrant downtown in the future and let the rest of the city benefit from that, we've got to do something now.
Councilman, good to see you again. You, too. Thank you. So even if hotel rooms are not filling up like local leaders expected, small businesses should still look forward to the World Cup matches. That's what Congressman Roger Williams told companies at a roundtable in Fort Worth. Chairman, it's good to see you again here.
Yeah, let's talk about the World Cup matches. We're a month away from this. Are small businesses actually going to profit from this, or are the big corporations going to capture all the dollars when these teams come to town? No, I think I think it's going to be all the above. I mean, the big the big dollar is going to be captured.
But the great thing about something like it like this, it's like starting a new business or a plant in your community. There's so much what I call trickle down economics, where people, smaller businesses will generate more than they would have otherwise. And it's going to be fantastic. And you're talking about not only millions of billions of dollars.
It's going to be going through here, through the Dallas Fort Worth area because of this, this series of games. And you think this will impact not just hospitality and restaurants, but but do you think the games could have a bigger economic impact? No, I think I mean, it's going to say it's going to give us a chance to sell the metroplex.
I mean, people are going to come here, maybe have never been here before. They're going to say, that was nice, I like that. Let's go back. Let's buy something. And that's that's what we're talking about. And when you look at a size like Dallas Fort Worth and all the surrounding area and the great things we have to offer, it's going to be, I think, really, really fabulous what's going to happen with business.
And, and frankly, small business, Main Street America is going to is going to find that there was a pretty good deal. Are you concerned at all that that FIFA might be overpromising some of the economic impact of local communities? Well I don't. They might be. But at the same time, you look at in all due respect, I'm not a soccer fan because I grew up grabbed generations of baseball, football, basketball.
But it sports people love sports, and when they look at what's coming in, I think FIFA, they know better than anybody what they're going to generate. And there's no better fans than the people right here in Dallas Fort Worth. And so I think that what they say, we ought to try to make it even better. A couple last questions here.
Let me ask about the Iraq war. Pentagon's projected tens of billions of dollars in early costs for the Iran war. $25 billion in the first 60 days. Do you support continued funding at that level? Yeah, I want to know how much more we're going to spend. We can't have an unlimited amount. Yeah, we have always.
We always have financial crises going on in America that we need to address, but we need to see how much it's going to cost. And I want to see an exit strategy. Are you concerned at all that the war's ripple effects, the fuel costs, fertilizer supply chains? Could that offset any of the economic gains from the World Cup?
Well, well it might. I mean, you know, you're in a farming area here when you're in Dallas Fort Worth area, and the cost of fuel, we know it's higher than it was. It will come down as we begin to get out of out of Iran. The fertilizer is a huge deal for farmers because they got to decide, am I going to grow my hay?
Have to go by my hay and plant this crop and not plant this crop so it will affect. I mean that's a takeaway. That's a deduction. And that all centers are about getting beginning to get out of Iran and lowering these energy prices. So so farmers and ranchers and and other people even in the auto business. Right.
I'm in the automobile business. People start looking at how, you know, how much gas money they use on this as opposed to this, and they make a decision. Mr. chairman, good to see you. Thank you for the time. Thank you. As always. The Round Table is ready when we come back here on Inside Texas Politics and our politics episode this week pulls the curtain back on a persistent problem in Dallas.
The violent crime rate is down overall, but gun violence claiming children is still trending up. An investigative reporter who spent months on this takes It Apart with us this episode. Ready to download right now wherever you get your podcasts.
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This is inside Texas Politics with Jason Whitely.
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All right. Back now with the roundtable to put the headlines in perspective. Ashley, Natalie and Bud all back with us here. And, Bud, let's start with you. Grand Prairie in Tarrant County, making a lot of news over the last week because it did bow to political pressure from Governor Abbott and canceled a muslim event it had planned.
Jason, this is an old controversy in Texas. 20 years ago, there was a muslim family day at Six Flags. There were protesters pickets. It just happens to have bubbled up in the election again this year. The Republican theme is all about stopping Islam in Texas or the threat of Islam to Christian dominance in Texas.
The governor is trying to, you know, obviously be part of that campaign and part of that effort to crack down on Sharia as much as he can. But this was a problematic event to his advertised as Muslim only. You know what? There are other people who like conservative dress or, you know, can Amish come? Can, you know, conservative Pentecostals who only wear skirts.
Long skirts come, you know. It was not clear that it was open to everyone. If you dress conservatively, it is going to be an issue this year, this fall, as we've seen from Republicans already here. Natalie, let's shift off to Dallas City Hall. It remains in the news here and no closer to any resolution. It looks like that might come next month.
Yeah, I think if we've learned anything from this experience with Dallas City Hall, and what's to come of it is that local government is not working quietly anymore. I, I think this is a real moment for Dallas and what we are seeing happening in city politics, whether the Dallas Mavericks stay here or we revitalize downtown or we don't.
I think what happens next is going to really shake up the city and whether that's for better or worse. We'll just have to see. And the city manager and the mayor and council have a lot on the line with that as well. Actually, let's talk about Houston Mayor John Whitmire. Word came out the other day, it was reported that he's spending $60,000 taxpayer money when the city is tight on money as well.
on a podcast to reach out to constituents. A lot of questions about this.
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Sure, lots of questions. And apparently the source of three. Ethics complaints, right to dealing with the funding and just how much money is being used. And then another complaint about some of the things that he said, I don't think we're going to see much happen about the things that he said. You know, he's not really campaigning.
The comment that he made was more, you know, politicians get elected by what they do outside of Election Day. And that's just facts. So you can't be mad at that. I think, you know, it's is this a good use of money when the city is tight on cash? And obviously the mayor thinks it is. And somebody else had to think, you know, the same.
We'll just see, you know, what comes of it. Yeah. It's interesting to see if anything comes with those, those ethics complaints. But, you know, it seems like Whitmire has successfully been able to fend off all types of, of of issues like this since he left the Senate and went to City Hall in Houston.
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Yeah. I mean, I just don't think that I think there is a group of people who would say, isn't there another way that we can do this or they're not city resources for this, just maybe a different way, because a lot of that money, a lot of that 60,000 apparently is being used for advertising. You know, as well as the host of the podcast.
And so, you know, maybe there is, you know, issue there. We'll see if he continues to pay for this podcast. Is that the one time fee to get it off the ground and get it running? What's the ongoing cost? But also things cost money and podcast costs money to produce podcasts do indeed. We know that it took so. Ashley.
Indeed so. But let me ask you about the Democrats are celebrating the local elections. These are the the sleeper elections that happened earlier this month here to, um, school board elections as well too. But but some of these school board members who had banned books in the past at different districts, they were defeated.
Democrats won some mayorship council seats in the suburbs. Does this suggest anything about where we are this year? I think the Democrats celebrated a little too much. Some of the more conservative Republicans on the school boards were defeated by moderate Republicans. It wasn't like Democrats were elected.
They did flip us to a few seats, a couple of mayor ships. You know, every local seat that Democrats win is somebody who can move up into higher office later. The Democrats have finally figured out what the Republicans have known all along. You have to play the local game and win locally to move up. What's the message, you think, for Democrats?
Final seconds here. But the message for Democrats going into November, because they are excited about Talarico, they're going to have to vote up and down the ticket. They're going to have to get their votes out. You know, Talarico still has to prove he can turn out votes in the valley, in the rural area.
The Texas is still predominantly Republican. Yeah, indeed. So guys, thanks so much. We appreciate it as always. And thank you for watching as well. We're back next Sunday to take you inside Texas politics. We hope to see you there. Take care.