In the May 3 episode, U.S. Rep. Keith Self discusses his votes on three critical pieces of legislation passed in the U.S. House: the farm bill, a controversial spy program extension and funding for most of DHS. But does he support a blank check for the Iran war? Houston Council Member Abbie Kamen explains why she thinks the city’s new ICE policy violates the Fourth Amendment. And Dallas Council Member Maxie Johnson tells us why he’s asking for random gunfire to be classified as a higher priority crime.
2026-05-01
< spk_0 - 15:16:33.8390000 >
Straight ahead here, crime is down in Dallas, but random gunfire has a council member demanding action. Maxie Johnson shares a close call and also tells us whether he would shut down Dallas's oldest bridge to cars and trucks. James Talarico gaining ground. New polls show him leading both Ken Paxton and John Cornyn for the first time. A high stakes week in Washington.
< spk_0 - 15:17:02.5490000 >
House and Senate Republicans at odds. Congressman Keith Self from DC on the cost of the Iran war, a new bailout for farmers, and the push to rename the Pentagon. And a Houston council member says her city just voted to sideline police officers. Abby Kamen takes our questions from
< spk_1 - 15:17:23.7200000 >
Houston, which is in our own backyard.
< spk_2 - 15:17:28.8190000 >
Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whitely starts now.
< spk_0 - 15:17:33.4590000 >
Thank you for being here. Let's begin the program as always with the top political headlines happening across the state and that huge week for James Talarico. Two new polls show him leading both Republicans, Ken Paxton and John Cornyn. Texas Public Opinion Research did the first survey. Showing Talarico ahead of either Republican by a few points, the Texas Politics Project at UT Austin released another poll showing Talarico ahead by double digits.
< spk_0 - 15:17:58.5990000 >
This is only a snapshot in time, but it is the first time Talarico has led either Republican. FIFA is going to make billions of dollars from the World Cup, but Houston and DFW might not see much in return. That's the headline from the Houston Chronicle. Host cities will pay for security and cover the cost of prepping their stadiums, but cities aren't going to get a cut of any game day revenues of $11 billion at stake here. Chicago bailed out because of this.
< spk_0 - 15:18:26.9300000 >
FIFA says that cities will get a boost of economic tourism, but the Cron says taxpayers could be left up to make up the remainder. And Corpus Christi has postponed a vote on restricting everyone's water usage by 25%. Council was supposed to put a plan in place for the approaching water emergency that could be here by September, but council wanted to know how restrictions would be enforced. Residents want big industry to use less. Council meets again on this on Tuesday.
< spk_0 - 15:18:56.2880000 >
Let's start with that high stakes week in Washington. House and Senate Republicans at odds over several big issues, but there are also questions about the surging cost of the Iran war, whether that might lead to a new bailout for farmers, and the Pentagon wants Congress to spend millions of dollars to officially change its name. Our first guest, Congressman Keith Self, an Army veteran and a Republican who represents parts of Collin and Hunt Counties in North Texas. Congressman, welcome back to the program here.
< spk_0 - 15:19:24.8390000 >
House Republicans juggling a lot here, the DHS funding, the FISA extension along with the farm bill, passing out of the House, but not, doesn't have the, the best future, it looks like in the Senate here. No clear resolution. What do you tell Texans who are looking for results, especially as we close in on this pivotal election?
< spk_3 - 15:19:45.2790000 >
Look, yesterday we dealt with several, as you said, very vital, very critical issues, and the Senate has dismissed all of them and said they're going to do their own thing. That's, we need to go to conference rather than them just coming up with something on their own, but we need to tell Texans. That the Senate needs to get on the stick. They need to get things done. John Cornyn is in leadership in the Senate now. Let's get something done in the Senate.
< spk_3 - 15:20:12.2200000 >
Let's at least negotiate with the House with what we have done on three critical vital issues.
< spk_0 - 15:20:19.7140000 >
The House just passed the farm bill. You know, who knows what's going to happen to it in the Senate, but we've heard from farmers for a few weeks now saying, listen, the war in Iran is really pinching us when it comes to rising fuel costs and to fertilizer. Do you expect another bailout to be coming for farmers?
< spk_3 - 15:20:37.6390000 >
That would be the executive branch. They have not brought us that, so I know that this discussion is going on, but I don't want to get ahead of the negotiations. Our farmers are hurting, and whether or not this farm bill will move fast enough and far enough is the question right now. We need to get the farm bill in place to start giving relief to our farmers.
< spk_0 - 15:21:02.1490000 >
We saw Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fighting with Congress this week in the committee hearings, the House Armed Services Committee, while asking for $25 billion for the war in Iran. There's no end in sight that we can see. The public can see. Peace talks have stalled so far here. Are you going to support writing an open check for this?
< spk_3 - 15:21:21.9590000 >
That's an open question because actually beyond, well beyond that, the request is for $1.5 trillion now. Some of that is going to have to go through a reconciliation 3, but we might have a supplemental on top of that. So this is a very complex funding. Matrix that we're dealing with here. The conservatives like myself want to support our troops, want to support the war effort, but how are we going to pay for this?
< spk_3 - 15:21:49.9400000 >
We're already $39 trillion in debt. We want to see some sort of payment schedule. How are we going to pay for this is the question that we are asking. So I don't have an answer for you yet. We're asking those questions. We're asking them to come to us with a how are we going to pay for this? What does it actually look like? What are we going to spend it on? So it is not a done deal at this point.
< spk_0 - 15:22:14.4880000 >
I saw a headline the other day that kind of struck me. I thought I'd ask you with your vast military experience here, the Pentagon now formally asking Congress to change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War. I think it's going to cost $52 million to make that change. Do you support that?
< spk_3 - 15:22:30.2380000 >
Um, I, I, I, it's not a major issue with me. $52 million I would again, I'm, I'm vetoing bills or not vetoing, I'm voting against bills that are $10 million over a few number of years. So yeah, the price. tag is an issue with me. The name is not an issue with me. The price tag is. So we'll see what they suggest.
< spk_3 - 15:22:57.8550000 >
We'll see if they formally put that into the NDAA, and we'll take a look at it. But the name is inconsequential to me. We all know what it is. It's the most powerful military in the world today, so the name, no, the cost, yes.
< spk_0 - 15:23:15.6090000 >
Congressman, great to see you. Thanks for the time. Thank you. Alright, let's bring in the roundtable to talk about the politics of a number of issues we are discussing here today. Bud Kennedy is here from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Natalie Haddad with us from WFAA in Dallas, and Ashley Godot, political director at Caview in Austin. Ashley, we'll start with you and these two new polls out that show James Talarico ahead of John Cornyn and Ken Paxton here.
< spk_0 - 15:23:38.3090000 >
Uh, my first reaction was wow, and then wow, when I saw the UT Austin poll, can the Republican Party unite on, you know, after May 26th, after this vicious runoff between Cornyn and Paxton to go against Talarico?
< spk_4 - 15:23:53.4500000 >
Yeah, I mean, let's be honest, the Republican Party is definitely going to unite. They're gonna come together and theoretically behind whichever candidate, uh, is elected. I think a lot of that though is going to depend if it is John Cornyn, you're gonna have to have Ken Paxton come out and say some positive things, say some things about Republicans needing to stick together because his supporters are so anti-Corny right when you talk to Paxson supporters, but you know.
< spk_4 - 15:24:20.6700000 >
To your point off the top of this, wow, James talarico up by double digits, a Democrat in Texas up by double digits in a poll. I mean that's pretty significant.
< spk_0 - 15:24:32.3500000 >
And you know what, Natalie, she's right. Republicans always unite, but man, this has been a tough primary between Cornyn and Paxton. Paxton has said he would back the Republican nominee if that is John Cornyn. I don't think we've heard that from John Cornyn yet though. Yeah,
< spk_5 - 15:24:45.8290000 >
I will, as far as Paxton goes and. Supporting the nominee, I would like to see it to believe it personally, just because this, uh, candidacy, this run has been so vicious between the two. I think right now James Talarico is really benefiting from being the only Democrat in the conversation right now, and Paxton and Cornyn, like Ashley said, Paxson is going to have to come out and say some positive things about Cornyn if he gets the nominee.
< spk_0 - 15:25:09.4890000 >
And but of course we are a long ways away from November. Can Talarico maintain this momentum? Well,
< spk_6 - 15:25:14.0490000 >
the Republicans don't really know who. Their candidate is, we don't have a one on one matchup set yet. If you read down in the Texas Politics Project poll, the Democratic Party has 50% disapproval rate. Republicans are far more popular in Texas than they were when Beto ran a close race. Texas is more religious. People believe in the literal Bible more than they did in 2018. The Republicans have a very strong base. They're just not happy with these candidates. Some, if Cornyn is the nominee, say they'll vote for Libertarian Ted Brown.
< spk_0 - 15:25:43.0200000 >
Well, guys, back to you in just a moment here. A lot more ahead including this. When we come back here, going along with the governor will sideline Houston police, a council member tells us. Abby Kamen on what she says could be the fallout from HPD enforcing immigration laws. And crime is down in Dallas, but random gunfire has council member Maxie Johnson demanding action.
< spk_0 - 15:26:10.2290000 >
His family's close call up next on Inside Texas Politics. Welcome back to Inside Texas Politics. Now to Houston, where city council voted to require police there to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. It means Houston police must now hold individuals who are in the country without permission. The governor threatened to withhold state and federal grants if the city refused. Houston council member Abby came and voted against this and tells us that it could result now in legal action.
< spk_0 - 15:26:40.7800000 >
Council member, thanks for being here. Let's start with all the back and forth, uh, you know, with the negotiations with the governor's office. What is the city's current policy right now when it comes to working with ICE?
< spk_1 - 15:26:51.6190000 >
The language is very vague. That's the problem with this. It says that HPD can stop, uh, somebody and detain them for a, any reasonable amount of time. And that's the problem with everything that we're talking about is this terminology of reasonable amount of time or a time, uh, limit that they're putting on detention and things of that nature. There's other
< spk_0 - 15:27:17.1690000 >
how long is that? I mean, how long could it be?
< spk_1 - 15:27:19.5900000 >
It can be hours. That's the problem is it, it's actually not the time that's in question that's the problem, and I want to be clear about that because you cannot detain somebody. Just because of a civil violation. And that's what I want to be really clear with folks about. Immigration violations are civil. They're not criminal. And that is not to say that we do not have a broken immigration system.
< spk_1 - 15:27:44.3200000 >
But again, regardless of somebody's immigration status, if they pose a public safety risk to the public, to the community, Local law enforcement has the tools that they need, and nothing that has been worked on or passed and then revoked, uh, Tied the hands of local law enforcement. Or get took away any ability for that type of coordination when necessary.
< spk_1 - 15:28:11.1690000 >
All it did was say, when a when a lawful stop has concluded. If there's no other criminal reason to detain somebody under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, they're free to go. That's it.
< spk_0 - 15:28:24.1190000 >
So do you expect this to go to court then? Do you think someone would, would end up filing a suit over this if they are detained over these civil immigration issues?
< spk_1 - 15:28:33.0800000 >
I can't speak to that. Um, that would be, uh, you know, residents absolutely have the right. Uh, civil, I know civil rights groups are looking at this. One of the concerns when this was, uh, forced onto council, the Abbott Amendment, was that there was no time to vet this, and there was no time given to counsel or to the public who has a right to review this.
< spk_0 - 15:28:56.4890000 >
Council member, it's great to hear from you and we appreciate the insight. Thank you.
< spk_1 - 15:29:00.0900000 >
Thank you very much.
< spk_0 - 15:29:02.9190000 >
Now to Dallas, where violent crime is down, but random gunfire has one council member demanding action. Maxie Johnson represents District 4 in Oak Cliff and says random gunfire there led to a close call with his own family. Councilman, tell us what a stronger, more aggressive public safety response looks like to stop this random gunfire in your district. What, what is that more police on the street? What is it?
< spk_7 - 15:29:26.4690000 >
First is, is moving, uh, random gunfire, in my opinion, to priority 2. Right now it is priority 3, which means, which means that they may come at a decent time or they may not. My community said they've called, uh, several times and some of our officers show up the next day or they're not there. Uh, when, when needed, so if we move from priority 3 to priority 2, possibly priority 1, maybe we can get a faster response time.
< spk_7 - 15:29:51.0100000 >
Now response time is down when it comes to violent crime, but random gunfire is not considered a violent crime.
< spk_0 - 15:29:58.7390000 >
To make sure people understand this, random gunfire isn't just, you know, people sitting in their living room hearing this. These bullets are coming through people's roofs and through walls in people's houses here. I'm. How long do you think it's going to take to get action from DPD or from the city to actually address this?
< spk_7 - 15:30:14.3750000 >
I have no idea. Uh, speaking with uh, the chief of police, I know there's no silver bullet to this, however, we have to be very innovative, intentional, and aggressive concerning this bullets have no name. Um, one of the members in my community, Ms. Jones, uh, called and sent an email that she was so afraid of senior citizens that her and her family slept on the floor. Only to wake up with a bullet in her ceiling.
< spk_7 - 15:30:36.5110000 >
My own daughter was laying in the bed and a bullet came through a wall, went through the mattress, and so when you're looking at those issues, and it's just two of uh real life situations that have happened, we have to address these issues that we have to become very intentional and innovative to get this problem resolved.
< spk_0 - 15:30:54.4320000 >
And you've called this an emergency, what do you think needs to physically happen? What what do you want the police chief to do?
< spk_7 - 15:31:00.5590000 >
I'm asking the police chief to come out and talk to our community in District 4, that's what my residents are asking and not just come have a conversation, but let them know which results is going to work and what he plans to do to solve this problem. Now this is just not on the police chief, we also have to have community policing, so I'm asking. My community to continue to call 91911, to continue to speak up about it so we can get the right resources in the community, what's best for our citizens and what's best for our city hall.
< spk_0 - 15:31:29.2050000 >
The future of Dallas City Hall is likely before the council in May here. Do you expect a final vote, uh, on the future of City Hall to happen in the next few weeks here?
< spk_7 - 15:31:37.6040000 >
I don't know what to expect. What I expect us to do is get all the information, and when we hear all the information, then make that decision. This is a lot of stuff that's going on, uh, things that we didn't foresee. I can tell you, when you go into the walls, you're gonna have some unexpected, uh, asbestos that was there. When I went to L3, I thought L3 was a joke, but when I went there, I asked one question, is L3 a part of City Hall? And the answer is yes.
< spk_7 - 15:32:03.6190000 >
So we have to fix up, if we're gonna stay there, then we have to fix up L3, L2, L1, and do right by
< spk_0 - 15:32:10.0990000 >
City Hall. And those are the parking garage. As the subterranean levels of City Hall L1, L2,
< spk_7 - 15:32:14.3720000 >
L3. Absolutely L3 is, I believe, undeveloped, uh, space that was that, that needs to be developed.
< spk_0 - 15:32:19.7730000 >
One last question, uh, for City Hall. There's a proposal right now to to potentially close the Houston Street Viaduct, uh, to cars. This is the 110 year old bridge. It runs from downtown Dallas into, uh, parts of Oak Cliff. All that traffic under the proposal will be shifted over to Jefferson Street, the parallel. Bridge over there. Do you support or oppose that plan? No,
< spk_7 - 15:32:41.1660000 >
I don't support anything that cuts off access from Southern Dallas. I live in Southern Dallas. I've been living in Southern Dallas my entire life, and so we need to make sure that when we're making decisions and putting plans together, that we have everyone in mind, including Southern Dallas. So I cannot support anything that cuts access access off from Southern Dallas.
< spk_0 - 15:33:02.2260000 >
Councilman, it's good to see you again. Thanks for the time. Thank
< spk_7 - 15:33:04.0460000 >
you so much.
< spk_0 - 15:33:05.7800000 >
The roundtable is ready when we come back here on Inside Texas Politics. And on Y'alllitics this week, the stock market stampede in Texas. An insider explains how the homegrown Texas Stock Exchange is working to disrupt the existing markets. This new episode of Yolitics ready to download right now wherever you get your podcasts. 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. We talked last week about the redistricting.
< spk_0 - 15:33:33.7190000 >
Of course, the Supreme Court has essentially blunted the Democrats' chances, uh, Democrats' hopes rather, of winning in November. Tell us the impact of that SCOTUS decision in DC.
< spk_6 - 15:33:44.4390000 >
Well, you know, basically now redistricting, uh, is not based on race. Nobody can draw a district that's blatantly discriminatory, but you can't go out and say we're going to try to put all these people together. They look like they might vote together. You can't do things like that. It's all partisan now. So in a state like Texas, you know, conceivably Chairman Hunter could come back next year. He says he'll redistrict. Texas could draw a Democratic district in Houston, maybe one in Dallas.
< spk_6 - 15:34:12.1090000 >
Alison, stop there if they think all the other Republicans can win, can get elected.
< spk_0 - 15:34:16.4200000 >
And the next question, the obvious question I think here, Natalie, is, is this ever going to end?
< spk_5 - 15:34:22.2600000 >
I think the big question is, is there legal justification? Is there political will to even try and do this again, Jason, at the end of the day? Yes,
< spk_0 - 15:34:30.0200000 >
that's a good point too, Ashley, because, you know, the members of Congress are no doubt talking to legislators saying. Hey, don't take away this precinct. Don't, you know, don't cover up my district too much here. I'm sure they're going to have some say in this, but like Bud said, if the Republicans or Democrats see an opportunity to, you know, to, to, to solidify their hold somewhere, they're likely going to take it.
< spk_4 - 15:34:50.5300000 >
Yeah, buckle up because they're going to take it. Like there's no ifs, ands or buts about it. If you have a chance to say your party can win and they can win by even larger margins, you're gonna take the opportunity. You would be foolish not to, right? Um, because, you know, is it problematic to have your politicians picking your voters instead of voters picking your politicians? I think that yes, in a democracy we would all say yes, but also at the end of the day, the people in power wanna stay in power. And now they have a really easy way to do that.
< spk_4 - 15:35:20.6890000 >
Yeah,
< spk_0 - 15:35:20.8490000 >
it seems so. And Bud, you mentioned, uh, Chairman Todd Hunter from Corpus Christi, the Republican in charge of the redistricting committee. What are the chances Texas decides to redistrict next year based on what the Supreme Court decided
< spk_6 - 15:35:32.0890000 >
here? I think he said that he believes Texas will redistrict. I think that that they'll come back, and I don't think there's any uh lack of courage to redistrict at all. It's just a matter of drawing all the districts that they can safely hold and not putting. Anybody at risk.
< spk_0 - 15:35:46.0400000 >
And the question I guess then bud, becomes, you know, how, how much can you dilute Republicans' districts in order to, to eliminate as many Democrats as possible, right?
< spk_6 - 15:35:54.2800000 >
You know, I've seen some maps that were solid Republican. I think every state,
< spk_0 - 15:35:58.0000000 >
solid Republican in Texas,
< spk_6 - 15:35:59.2390000 >
the Democrats will draw Democratic precincts in those states, and, you know, California will be all Democrat and Texas will be all Republican, and then we'll see how this carries down to the state board of ed level and some of the lower levels of government.
< spk_0 - 15:36:12.7600000 >
Uh, Natalie, let's shift off to the, uh, long and sad hearing we saw in, uh, in Austin over Camp Mystic here. Finally, after what, a couple of days of, of tremendous testimony, even from the investigator, from parents, etc. uh, Camp Mystic withdrew withdrew their application to reopen this summer here. Was it the emotional testimony, do you think and the public pressure that might have caused the camp to say, listen, it's not the right time?
< spk_5 - 15:36:37.1990000 >
I think let's take a step back and just see. I think it really depends on who you ask. If you were to ask the parents of Seal Stewart, the young girl whose body is still missing, the young camper who died in those floods last year at Camp Mystic, they would say, and I believe we even put out a statement that said that Camp Mystic leaders are only pulling out because they were able to see that their license to at least partially.
< spk_5 - 15:36:58.8050000 >
Reopened this summer was probably not going to get approved after Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick put out a statement saying that it shouldn't, and then camp leaders also put out a statement that said, parent, you know, we shouldn't open this camp while parents are grieving and while this investigation is ongoing. That is a copy and paste from what Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick said weeks ago about this as the first hearings were happening outside of the Capitol, so. Jason, I think it depends on who you ask and
< spk_0 - 15:37:22.6890000 >
Ashley, just, just watching this from the periphery, I, I, I was, it seems to me I was struck that Camp Mystic just really seemed tone deaf in all of this.
< spk_4 - 15:37:32.9100000 >
Absolutely Tonda to have a member of that family, which by the way, their dad also died, right? And to have a member of that family sit there in front of those families who are feet away from them and say I believe in the future you're going to be glad that we reopened this year, you know, maybe not right now. but further down the line to tell those families how they're going to feel while again this eight year old's body is still missing out there, absolutely tone deaf. Wow,
< spk_0 - 15:38:03.1300000 >
guys, thanks so much for the input. We appreciate it as always and thank you for watching as well. We're back next Sunday to take you inside Texas politics and we hope to see you then. Take care.