In the May 24 episode, U.S. Representative Julie Johnson and former Congressman Colin Allred provide voters in the 33rd District one final pitch before the runoff election. The Democrats also tell you how they differ from one another in one of the most combative races in the runoff cycle. And Republican candidate for Texas Comptroller Don Huffines explains why he’d audit TXDOT if elected, and what he has to say about Texas still spending billions on the border even after President Trump virtually sealed it. GUESTS Julie Johnson, D – Candidate for 33rd District Colin Allred, D – Candidate for 33rd District Don Huffines, R – Candidate for Texas Comptroller
2026-05-22
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Straight ahead here, countdown to the runoff election. Political careers on the line this week. Who has the edge though going into Tuesday? Dallas County with one of the state's most watched congressional runoffs, Colin Allred versus Julie Johnson in March. She finished 10 points behind Allred. So what has changed besides the calendar? And Allred had high praise for Johnson in an endorsement less than 2 years ago. Does he now regret those remarks?
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Plus, Texas is notorious for never ending road construction. Republican Don Huffines says if he's elected comptroller, he will audit TOT along with other agencies. And President Trump's late endorsement of Ken Paxton. Is it enough for Paxton to lock up the Senate race? We'll look at the final hours of his campaign against John Cornyn.
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Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whitely starts now. Thank you for being with us here. Let's start with the political headlines happening across the state this holiday weekend. Political careers are on the line on Tuesday as Texans go to the polls in the runoff election. The Republican race for US Senate being watched across the country. Ken Paxton with that big. Boost the other day after President Trump endorsed him over John Cornyn.
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The Republican race to replace Paxson as Attorney General, also competitive between Chip Roy and Mays Middleton. Polls open statewide on Tuesday from 7 until 7. And a question folks have asked for a long time, is Texas really going to get repaid after spending billions of dollars on the border? President Trump signed a law to reimburse Texas, but a year later, the money is yet to arrive.
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Republicans put $11 billion into last year's one big beautiful bill, but the Houston Chronicle says almost a year later, none of that money has been dispersed, and it is unclear when Texas will see any of it. And the ongoing fight to save Dallas City Hall could eventually end up in court. The Save City Hall Coalition is threatening legal action if Dallas move moves forward with plans to abandon the landmark building.
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The group says that city leaders are violating multiple policies, including a 2021 rule requiring a supermajority council vote for any new municipal building. The city now has 60 days to respond before a lawsuit could be filed. Let's begin right now though with the political careers that are on the line on Tuesday. Big congressional races in Houston and South Texas. We will also be watching closely what happens in Dallas after two unsuccessful runs for US Senate.
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Colin Allred now asking Dallas voters to send him back to Congress to represent Dallas. Julie Johnson already represents part of the area as the incumbent, and she starts us off. Congresswoman, it's good to see you again here. So great to be with you. Give us an honest assessment right now. Where do you think you stand in this race as we close in on election day?
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We feel really good about where we are. Um, I have a lot of support from base Democrats, from informed people who, people who really know me, who really know Colin Allred, know our distinctions, know our record. They are with me in record numbers, and that's the typical turnout in a runoff, especially in a low turnout runoff.
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You finished behind all red though in the March 3rd primary. What has changed since then though, besides the calendar? Well,
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I think we don't have a competitive Senate race sitting on top of us. That really drove a lot of turnout. And as a Democrat, I was Really happy to see that you know we had over 20,000 people vote in the Democratic primary that had never voted before. That's really exciting as we come into November. Not so great in uh in in your own personal race for a runoff, um, but you know it's, it's just the nature of politics. It's the nature of runoff turnout. The turnout was low yesterday. The weather is going to be terrible all week.
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And those most determined voters who typically vote in a runoff, and we have a lot of support in that group.
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If Allred had two failed Senate bids, why do you think this race is so competitive?
< spk_1 - 17:53:03.9490000 >
Because he had 2 failed Senate bids, because he didn't win and he doesn't have a message and a record to run on that's appealing to voters, you know, he, he lost ground from where Beto was against Ted Cruz, one of the most despised members of the Senate.
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Because he couldn't articulate a plan for people and he didn't have a record to achieve and that's what as I've dug into his record, I realized he didn't really do much in a in a time when we had a Democratic controlled House, a Democratic Senate, a Democratic president. That's when Democrats get stuff done, and he didn't do that.
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You and Allred probably have a lot of the same Democratic positions. Tell voters where you guys are most. On thelike on what issues?
< spk_1 - 17:53:50.0100000 >
Well, I would say we have a couple of significant differences. One is Staying true to your values, he has flip flopped on his values back and forth, such as what? Well, let's just take immigration and ICE as an example. He's for strong immigration enforcement, strong border wall. ICE needs to remain. Oh, now it needs to be abolished. Oh, now it's terrible. Oh no, I didn't call for that. He's back and forth all over the board based on who he's talking to.
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I. Consistent in my values and what I believe in regardless of the office that I'm running for, and I think Democrats need that. We have to have people who have a strong moral compass to stay the course in strong headwinds, not flip flop our positions based on our own political advancements. But this immigration stuff has been a really, really big issue. He voted.
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To allow the eroding of our constitutional protections of due process, he voted basically to say, you know what, convictions don't matter anymore. Innocent until proven guilty. These concepts that we've all grown up with, they don't matter in immigration anymore. We're going to allow Republicans to deport people merely based on accusations. I fundamentally disagree with that. I think that is morally wrong. And he voted to allow that to happen.
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We have very clear distinctions on some votes, a record when you put your name on the line, one talk is one thing, but when you actually vote, that's a statement.
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Congresswoman, good luck to you. Thank
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you so much.
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This one, it's good to see you again here closing in on election day. Give us an honest assessment where you think this race stands right now.
< spk_2 - 17:55:26.6600000 >
Yeah, well, thank you, Jason, for having me. You know, I think this is a runoff and runoffs are always about getting folks out to vote again. They've already voted once in this election. Uh, we have school coming to an end. We have the holiday coming up and the holiday weekend. So I recognize that we're up against, you know, a number of competing factors, but I feel good. I feel good about everything I've been hearing and seeing in the community, the efforts that we're putting to turn out the vote, and we're just going to do everything we possibly can.
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I ran across something getting ready for the interview I thought was interesting here is less than 2 years ago, you actually endorsed Julie Johnson, not a surprise because you're running for Senate at the time, but you said that she has dedication, integrity, and vision. It's less than 2 years ago. Do you regret that?
< spk_2 - 17:56:08.0700000 >
No, but listen, this is also, of course, in the context of after a nominee after she'd already been the nominee, was running in a general election, and wanted to make sure that we kept that seat. But then let's also be very clear, I did not expect that she was gonna get in office and trade $4 million worth of stock or continue to take, uh, you know, corporate PAC money from interests that she said she was standing up against. I certainly didn't think she was gonna buy stock in a company like Palantir.
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Uh, who was being used by ICE as part of their mass surveillance operations and then sell it at a profit while in office. For 6 years, as, as I think you know, Jason, I never traded a single stock, and I did that even though it wasn't illegal because I thought it was unethical. And so seeing that kind of activity and also going around and talking to folks and seeing that the feeling that this entire system is rigged.
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And that everyone is corrupt is a very real thing that we're running against, not only in this state, but I think in this, in the country, and we have to unrig that and show people that not everyone is corrupt, not everyone is looking out for themselves. Some people are on your side and just wanna serve you.
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2024, you said we have to have tough border security. Now you're talking about abolishing ICE. Where are you on, on, on, on border security and immigration here just to, to make sure that people understand the dividing line.
< spk_2 - 17:57:19.7390000 >
Yeah, I, I'm not sure I ever said tough border security. I think I said we have to have a secure border and that we, what we had at the border, particularly for our border communities, was chaos. And that was different than, uh, saying that we need to mistreat people. I've, I was very clear that things like what our governor was doing with those buoys, uh, and the fact that he was talking about we should be shooting people when they're coming across the border, that I thought that was deeply un-American and outrageous. But I do think every country. has to make sure that you have a process that's not chaotic at your border.
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And that's what I thought we needed to do. And that's also why I was advocating for the $20 billion that we're trying to pass in the Congress to try and hire more people to make it easier and treat people in a humane way. But when it comes to what's happened since then, that was all under President Biden. Now we're talking about President Trump and the fact that he's built a private army.
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That they have been given a slush fund by this Republican Congress to hire unqualified people to train them with very little training, to put them in masks and covering up their credentials and to send them into communities to racially profile people. That's what they're doing, and we should just be very clear about this.
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This is outrageous, and this is reducing confidence in all law enforcement and our communities are being terrorized, and I can't tell you as a responsible, you know, leader that I'm gonna be able to retrain these people who've been violating your civil rights, or that I'm gonna be able to fix this agency. And that's why I have to say to you that instead of doing that, we're gonna have to start over. We've had to do that before in other cases. This is not something that I think uh we're gonna be able to fix.
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Congressman, good luck to you.
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All right, thank you, Jason.
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The thirty-third congressional district is drawn for Democrats, but two Republicans also in a runoff on Tuesday there for the GOP nomination. Patrick Gillespie faces John Sims. Gillespie led the March 3rd primary. The winner here, of course, will take on either Allred or Johnson in November. Alright, let's bring in the roundtable to talk about the politics of this race, one of the most watched races across the state. Bud Kennedy is here from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Jessica Huseman is the editorial director at Votebe.org, and our friend Abby Livingston, congressional reporter for PU News. Abby, let's start with you.
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There's no big Senate race, uh, for Democrats in, in, in Dallas County to, to draw them out. Who has the edge here now? Because turnout's gonna be everything for this race with uh with Julie Johnson, Colin Allred.
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I think at a baseline it really benefits Colin Allred to have run for office so many times since 2018 and have appeared in the very, very expensive Dallas-Fort Worth media market. At the same time, I think most observers think that the Texas political electorate is very, uh. Unstable and so I'm a little hesitant to make sweeping predictions because we just don't know who's going to turn out in a runoff
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and Jessica, you know, we keep hearing that Julie Johnson has a very strong machine out there, but as Abby said, you know, Colin Allred has been around for a minute on the ballot.
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He has been around for a minute on the ballot, that's true. I, I, you know, I think that right now Democrats in Texas really feel like they want a fighter in office, and I think. You know, the, the sort of difference in who may turn out may come down to that. That's sort of what I'm hearing locally, that, you know, people feel like Julie Johnson is more of a fighter than Colin Allred, but that's such a waffly thing to say. So we'll see who turns
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out, and that's what it's all about, bud. What do you think?
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Well, you know, it's interesting that immigration would suddenly. Become the big issue in this race, you know, Colin Allred took a lot of those votes and positions so he could carry boxes in the valley, and he carried like 7 counties that Donald Trump carried. They jumped over and voted for already as a background and family members in the valley. It was good political strategy at the time, and now it's being turned against him in this race.
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All right guys, thanks for that. A lot more ahead here, including this. When we come back here, taking on Tech dot, Don Huffine's telling us it is a new priority in his campaign to become state comptroller. Plus, which candidates have the momentum now going into Tuesday? Reporters roundtable coming up here on Inside Texas Politics. Welcome back to Inside Texas Politics.
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Rooting out government waste is emerging as a central theme in the race for Texas comptroller. Last week on the program here, the Democrat running for the position, Sarah Eckhardt. This week, the Republican Don Huffines. You've promised to doze Texas and cut waste, uh, but, but which state agencies would you recommend to lawmakers that might need another look and possibly closing or consolidating?
< spk_6 - 18:01:54.0300000 >
Well, I appreciate that question. It's a great question. And like I just said, it's where we're spending the most money. I think education, uh, it, it needs to be looked at. It's just we're the scale is so huge. Look, if I can save 5% of the education dollars, that's $5 billion annually we can say because we spend about $100 billion in education. It's the number one.
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Are, are we talking, sorry to interrupt, are we talking about, uh, uh, higher education? Are we talking about, you know, high schools,
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elementary schools, government school system? One thing that's a smaller agency, but it's really not that small that I'm really. Wanna focus on a tech stop, for instance, uh, you know, we all know that like 6:35 around Dallas, LBJ Freeway was supposed to be a 3-year program, 4-year max. It was a design build program. Nine years into this, this highway construction around Dallas is an example, it still isn't finished.
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If you open the books of textile, what do you think you might find?
< spk_6 - 18:02:52.5390000 >
Well, I think I'm gonna find a lot of inefficiencies, I'll tell you that. And I'm gonna, and we're gonna focus on that. Why do they do, why do they sign contracts where people don't work 7 days a week, 24 hours a day? I mean, why does it take so long to build the road? Are they no bid contracts? And we're just gonna really dig into it and and do what's best. I think Tex thought.
< spk_6 - 18:03:15.0000000 >
It's a good example because they really underestimate the, the stress that the traffic puts on the, the urban areas when we have traffic, rural areas too, but they underestimate the, the. The what happens to the effect on the driver and the time delay isn't one thing is one thing, but it's also just the quality of life that we all need a better quality of life.
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We've seen President Trump effectively seal the southern border since he came into office for a second term back in January of last year. Should Texas taxpayers still be spending billions of dollars down there in Operation Lone Star on the border after President Trump has sealed it?
< spk_6 - 18:03:57.1400000 >
I can tell you that I'll be investigating everything, every dollar the state of Texas spends if, if I can. I have over 600 state auditors. I have over 3000 people in the comptroller's office that work there. It's a major agency. We collect all the money for the state. We manage all the money for the state. We have eyes on all the spending for the state. I tell the legislature how much they can do. At and what we're spending on the border needs to be investigated just like everything else we spend money on. This is our money.
< spk_6 - 18:04:25.9290000 >
We need to make sure we're getting the right results. Ask the proper questions. Why do you exist? What's your purpose? What, what are you accomplishing your mission for the taxpayer? Is the taxpayer getting a good deal with what you're doing with the dollar we're spending as a businessman? I know that every dollar we save is, is a dollar we've earned and uh hopefully we can convince the legislature to turn that into property tax relief.
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Senator, it's always good to see you. Thank you for the time.
< spk_6 - 18:04:53.0300000 >
Oh, thank you very much. Always good to be on. Call me anytime.
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The roundtable is ready when we come back here on Inside Texas Politics, and our podcast this week looks at the final hours before Tuesday's runoff election. The bitter campaigns on the right and left, not just the C Corny Paxton race, but one big Democratic campaign as well has also turned ugly. This episode of Y'all-itics ready to download right now wherever you get your podcasts. This is Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whitely.
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All right, let's bring in the roundtable now to put the headlines in perspective. Bud, Jessica, and Abby all back with us here. Bud, let's talk about the Trump endorsement. You know, Cornyn and Paxton both really trying to spent months trying to get Trump to endorse in this race. Trump finally endorses in the in the final week here. Does this mean Paxton has this race locked up for US Senate? Well,
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and it just looks like a spite endorsement on Trump's part. He didn't get the Senate to do what he wants, so he. Decided to just make them all angry. I think supposedly the ballroom, if Abby will tell us what Puck reported, but the ballroom was the last straw, you know, Trump is just seeing that the bandwagons rolling and pretending like he's the one who built it. He, you know, he's just jumping on because he thinks Paxton will be the nominee.
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But at the end of the day, Jessica, this is huge news for Ken Paxton. This is exactly what he wanted. It's exactly what John Cornyn wanted.
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Yes, it is. They have been asking for this in ostentatious ways over the last several months. Cornyn is, is just after attempting to name a highway after President Trump and still did not get the nomination. So they have really, both of them, I think. Have have humiliated themselves a little bit. Cornyn more than Paxton for this. Well,
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Abby, let me ask you, so what does Cornyn do now in the in the final hours here before election day? How does he counter this or can he even counter this because only the most diehard go to vote in these runoff elections after a holiday.
< spk_3 - 18:06:50.6990000 >
I think he's doing what every Texan has learned to do with the Alamo, and you fight till the very end, and we're seeing his supporters like Governor Perry do that too. But I have to say from a big picture perspective this is going to be the kickoff of the general election, and Texans need to get ready because this is going to be one of the biggest Senate races of all time.
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And when we talk about the kickoff to the general election, we already see Ken Paxton running ads against James Talarico, a pretty brutal 62nd ad he released the other day. Have you, have you seen that one yet, Abby?
< spk_3 - 18:07:20.6890000 >
Uh, I've seen some of that, uh, yes, and I think that this is going to be a very personal campaign against him, and the biggest question in this race is does James Talarico have a glass jaw or can he take it?
< spk_0 - 18:07:33.1700000 >
And that's the question too, uh, Jessica, is whether, you know, Talarico can survive the onslaught of the Republican machine which he has not yet faced.
< spk_4 - 18:07:42.8490000 >
He hasn't faced it, you know, he's been able to sit back and collect campaign money while his two current opponents, I suppose you could say, beat themselves up. And so I think it will be interesting to see what happens when sort of the full force of the Democratic Party is behind him and he is spending a lot of money. And I think it will come down to that. Does he have a glass jaw? And I don't know the answer to that.
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But what do you make of that ad though?
< spk_5 - 18:08:08.1250000 >
Well, you know, if you think these campaigns have been dirty, just remember so far we've had Republicans campaigning against other Republicans. Now we're getting into the, the general election. The campaigns are going to be even worse than what we've seen already. Uh, just, it's not going to be safe to go to the mailbox
< spk_0 - 18:08:23.0150000 >
until November or turn on the TV maybe or even check your phone with all the ads likely coming through, uh, Abby. Let's talk about another big congressional race, uh, in South, not in South Texas, in the Gulf Coast Houston, uh, Al Green and Christian Menefee. um, this is a generational race where it's kind of like what we saw setting up didn't happen with Greg Cassar and Lloyd Doggett in Austin, but it's actually happening in Harris County. Al Green's hugely popular there. Can, can he knock off Christian Menefee and remain in Congress?
< spk_3 - 18:08:53.7600000 >
He came out ahead in the first pass of this race, and I think it's an open question. I, I, the folks I've talked to in Houston are very agnostic on how this thing ends, but there are national implications to this because the Democratic Party is going through a generational change and the. Question is, can Al Green and the uh senior folks, uh, hold on?
< spk_0 - 18:09:13.0790000 >
And then on the Republican ballot, Jessica, the Republican, uh, race to replace Ken Paxton for attorney general, huge race, it's all over, uh, TV across the state. Mays Middleton versus Chip Roy here. How does this pan out?
< spk_4 - 18:09:25.8900000 >
Your guess is as good as mine. I think this has been a fascinating race. It has been so much less about their backgrounds, and they have very different backgrounds that they could be campaigning on and more about who is more aligned with Donald Trump. That is the sum total of the ads that we are seeing. And so I think depending on whether or not voters dive deeper, we could get one of two very different
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options. Thought on that race, bud.
< spk_5 - 18:09:48.8050000 >
Well, Chip Roy is already talking about how he wants to run against Nathan Johnson, so he's predicting his winner in the Democratic runoff.
< spk_0 - 18:09:55.3140000 >
But this will likely be a close race though. But I, I haven't seen really anybody, you know, saying one way or the other who might pull this off
< spk_5 - 18:10:01.9250000 >
on
< spk_0 - 18:10:02.1040000 >
you.
< spk_5 - 18:10:02.3950000 >
I think Chip Roy has come from behind. He's got a lot of support, you know, from the Amarillo businessman who's kind of trying to counter all the Midland oil money. And you know it's a real showdown. Uh Chip Roy has a lot of the, the, the two factions in Republican politics going at each other, uh, kind of at play.
< spk_0 - 18:10:18.5300000 >
Yeah, a, a, a lot of, uh, a lot to watch on Tuesday and a lot of money in that race specifically as well, guys, thanks so much. Always appreciate it and thank you for watching as well. We're back next Sunday to take you inside Texas politics. We hope to see you then and don't forget to go vote on Tuesday if you haven't already.