In the November 9 episode, Plano Mayor John Muns discusses that city’s decision to allow its voters to decide whether to leave Dallas Area Rapid Transit and the offer he hopes DART can’t refuse. Council Member Mario Castillo talks about a new homeless supercenter that will soon open in Houston and the promises made to ease the concerns of nearby residents. And Matt Mackowiak explains why he thinks Austin residents loudly rejected a proposed 20% property tax increase and what the city must do to regain the trust of its voters.
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Straight ahead, defecting from DART, Irving, Farmers Branch, Highland Park, and Plano are going to put the issue on the ballot, letting voters decide whether to leave the transit agency. Plano's Mayor John Munz on the three things that would make his city stay. In Tarrant County, a Democrat finished first in a Republican drawn state Senate seat, but the bigger story is what the results mean for the future of casinos in Texas.
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In Austin, taxpayers revolt, voters soundly rejecting a massive property tax increase. The group that defeated it tells us what it's planning next, and Houston just approved a new unique homeless facility on the East side. Council member Mario Castillo from City Hall, he reveals to us that this is just the first of several to come.
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Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whiteley starts now. Thanks for being with us here. A lot to get to, but let's start with the political headlines across our state. This weekend marks the official start of the 2026 political season. Candidates can now file to run for office in Texas, and they have until December 8th. To do it, but many are waiting to see what a federal court in El Paso decides about the new Republican drawn congressional maps.
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That ruling could affect which offices the Democrats and Republicans run for, and if that decision is delayed past December 8th, it could also push back the March primary. The Democratic race to replace the late Congressman Sylvester Turner in Houston, it could get complicated down there. Harris County Attorney, uh, Christian Menefee and former Houston council member Amanda Edwards were the top finishers this past week, and they're headed to a runoff likely in January. But Congressman Al Green could shake things up in March.
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He says he's going to run for reelection, possibly there in District 18 if the new Republican congressional maps are upheld in court. And this month's election set a brand new turnout record for an off year election here in the state. Almost 3 million Texans voted. That's about 16% of registered voters here in the state. The last turnout record was 2 years ago when 14.5% of Texans voted. Let's start this morning though with the future of mass transit in North Texas.
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4 of the 13 cities that make up DART, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, 4 of those cities are talking about defecting, and they're going to let voters decide next May whether to walk away altogether. Plano is the biggest of the 4. John Munz is the mayor there who says backup plans are already in the works. If DART will not agree to. Three things. Mayor, welcome to the program here. It's glad to, uh, glad to see you. This is going to be on the ballot in May. Which way do you expect Plano voters to go on
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this? I have heard so many people, uh, tell us that they're getting frustrated with empty buses and, uh, not available, uh, where they want to go, and, you know, first mile, last mile issues of people getting to where they want to get to. So I, I think it'll be, uh, Pretty close, either way.
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But can you have a, a replacement in place in 6 months? I mean, this is, this is not that far away, as you know.
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We really do think we can. Uh, we, we've been, we've been working on it, and now we're, you know, we've been kind of lightly working on it up to this point.
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But now we're, we're really focused on, uh, negotiations with companies that will be able to help support this with much smaller transit vehicles, uh, vehicles that will help paratransit, and then, and then, uh, you know, other types of vehicles that can go from here down to the train station to pick up, you know, if they want to go to Dallas or airport or whatever that may be.
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We, we are planning on making sure that connectivity remains, uh, the same for our riders.
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How much will that cost the residents of Plano?
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We have been offered somewhere in the 8 to 10 million range annually. Yes, and We're paying 131 million this year to dart. So, It, it is significantly different.
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I was reading that, that Plano has up to 45 days, the council does to rescind this, uh, referendum this coming May. Any chance of that actually happening?
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I'm hopeful. I, I really am hopeful that we can actually have a dialogue between now and let's say February, the middle of February, before we can't pull that item down. And I think they've got to come up with a way to grow the system with all the growth that's happening in DFW that, that has to be a priority for DART.
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And by, by, by them doing that, I think they can afford to lower that responsibility to all DART members, but they're gonna have to grow the system first.
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What does DART need to do? What does DART need to bring to Plano to, to get this election turned around and to get both parties on track together?
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Well, for, for the city of Plano, we, we know there is infrastructure in Plano that It is difficult to just walk away from. The rail would be, you know, the most important part of what we have. We've always told them we didn't need their buses. We would subcontract, uh, microtransit in the rest of Plano ourselves.
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If we could just keep the rail. And, uh, Go down to 0.5 penny. We, we, we could, we could come up with a solution in that, in, in that type of, uh, framework. What
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does Dirk say to that?
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Well, they haven't said much about it.
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If voters defeat this in Plano next May, would the city consider going to the legislature in 2027 to get something done? We,
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we've proved that we've done it over the last 33 sessions, so, um, we'd do it again. But, uh, you know, we would. We would love to be able to, uh, Do this locally and make, make this, uh, agreement work out and, and end it for a long period of time.
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Uh, but, you know, we, we obviously want to be able to have all the tools in our toolbox to be able to make something much better than what we experienced today.
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Mayor, it's good to talk to you. I appreciate the
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time. Thank you, Jason. I appreciate it.
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All right, let's bring in the roundtable to talk about the politics of this. Renzo Downey is here from the Texas Tribune in Austin. Ashley Goode is political director at Caview in Austin. Bud Kennedy is here from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Bud, let's start with you. Arlington and Frisco in North Texas have shown they can go it alone without mass transit, and when I think about the fervor out there to blow up the establishment. That people or voters are showing all across the country here is mass transit in trouble in North Texas?
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Well, as they say, you know, big hogs get slaughtered, and DART is the big hog when it comes to collecting sales tax in Texas. You know, some of the cities don't collect the transit tax at all. Fort Worth only collects half as much as DART does. They devote the other half to police. Cities want more money to go into the streets. Streets these buses run on and police to keep the city safe for the buses. They want to get some of that transit money back to do that work.
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And we'll see what voters do there. But actually, this theme of taxpayer revolt is one we saw with Prop Q, uh, in Austin. We'll talk about that a little more in the program here. But even in a liberal city like Austin, voters said, listen, we don't want to raise property taxes 20% for homelessness and other things.
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Well, I think a lot of that was also a referendum on the council and the spending of the city council here in Austin. I want you to think about this, Jason. Think about the, the economy and where we stand right now and to ask voters for a 20% increase, right, to cover. You know, supposedly a $30 million deficit. You're going to bring in $110 million instead. Voters are tapped out. Folks just don't have the money right now. It's that
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simple. And Renzo, considering that, I think voters have shown that in Austin and everywhere else across the country. Do you think that entities like Austin City Council, like DART and, and these other bodies are actually getting the message?
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Yeah, well, I think what you saw in Austin, at least was the mayor and the city council putting out statements saying, hey, you know, we hear you. Um, it's tough on people's wallets right now. So, you know, I think, I think elected officials are hearing from the voters and, and they're going to take a second look at things.
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And voters don't mind, uh, clearly stating how they feel on this, guys, back to you here in just a moment. A lot more ahead, including this. When we come back, Houston now actively seeking to open more homeless facilities in new parts of town. Council member Mario Castillo with us from City Hall. And taxpayers in Austin overwhelmingly rejected a massive property tax increase, the message it sends in the state's most liberal city.
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Up next on Inside Texas Politics. Welcome back to Inside Texas Politics. Now to Houston, where the city is weeks away from opening a brand new unique facility that will take any homeless person in the city, no strings attached. They can bring pets and all. This place is called 419 Emancipation for its. Address there on the city's east side.
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Councilman Mario Castillo represents District H nearby and tells us this place is the first of several to come like it across Houston. Is this just for people in the city center, the homeless people there, and the homeless people on the east side?
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Well, we do have a commitment that the folks that are in the east side will be approached first and offered the facility first, knowing that there is a there is a higher concentration there. If you look at the point in time count. When they do the survey, a lot of homeless folks are in the eastern part of Houston. And so that was one of the things that was communicated to the neighborhood.
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We're going to start nearby, but the goal is that folks from other parts of the city can also utilize it and This isn't going to be the only facility. Um, the city is looking at other facilities in other parts of the city as well, so that, um, it's not just one area, but you can reach folks closer to where they are in the west, in the north, in the south,
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and those other facilities in other parts of town, is that something that the city's going to look at in the next year or so?
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I do believe they already are looking at other locations. Yes, we just haven't had anything finalized in terms of the real estate transaction or whatnot like we had for 419 Emancipation.
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I was reading that this will operate for 3 years using disaster funds that were allocated for Hurricane Beryl. Will the city be able to sustain this after that money runs out?
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Well, I can tell you they're already looking for money to keep it going beyond those initial 3 years. Um, that includes philanthropic dollars. I know that our housing director and our Homeland Security director have both already had conversations with folks that Uh, see this model as a key piece of our long term homeless solution.
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If this one is successful on the east side, how soon do you think the city might try to purchase more buildings or property to open similar facilities across the city?
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I'm not exactly sure on that timeline. Uh, I know they're actively looking. I know that, um, multiple facilities are, are gonna be needed in terms of the mayor's goal is to end street homelessness, you know, and that's a lofty goal, and it's gonna take, uh, more than just one shelter, and so, um.
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Specific timeline I'm not sure, but I do know that it's a priority for the administration, and they are actively looking for other other facilities as well.
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I was reading that this will operate for 3 years using disaster funds that were allocated for Hurricane Beryl. Will the city be able to sustain this after that money runs out?
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Well, I can tell you, uh, they're already looking for money to keep it going beyond those initial 3 years. Um, that includes philanthropic dollars. Uh, I know that our, uh, housing director and our, uh, Homeland Security director have both already had conversations with folks that, uh, see this model as a key piece of our long-term homeless, uh, solution. And they've already secured uh some commitments for that.
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Uh, that doesn't mean that it's all gonna be philanthropic. There could be other sources as well, uh, but with the dollars that have come into the city that they've allocated for this, they have budgeted out 3 years with that money specifically.
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Council member, we appreciate the time. Thank
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you. Thank you for the opportunity.
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The city of Austin wanted to raise property taxes 20% to address issues including homelessness, but voters there said overwhelmingly no way. Matt Mokoviak is co-chair of the Save Austin Now Group. It organized against. This proposition called Prop Q on the ballot. Hey Matt, it's good to see you again here. The city says it is now going to have to rebalance its budget and find $109.5 million to eliminate from the budget. What kind of cuts do you expect to see?
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Well, that's actually not accurate. The city manager proposed a budget that fully funds public safety that, that, that left the property tax increase within the 3.5% that's allowed by state law. So, my understanding is they're going to consider that base budget. Uh, so, you know, cutting the cut was not real because the spending was not real. The spending was based on. Taxpayers proactively approving a tax increase that was the largest property tax increase in city history.
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We hope they follow the model that the city of Houston undertook under longtime Democratic state senator John Whitmire, who's now mayor of Houston, who put in place an efficiency audit, an outside efficiency audit that produced $120 million in suggested savings. Which the city put into place and which helped Houston avoid a tax rate election this year. So, it's time for them to get serious. Enough's enough. You're not gonna make affordability better by raising taxes, and that's why 109,000 Austin voters voted no.
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The city leaders said that Prop Q would improve the quality of life in Austin. Austin is still a liberal city, but why do you think that they rejected this 2 to 1?
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Well, there's a, there's a real trust breakdown between taxpayers and the city. We've had so many embarrassing examples just in the last year. $10 million they wanted to spend on New York art for the airport, the ridiculous $1.1 million city logo that made us a national laughing stock, uh, the, you know, the, the, the, they wanted to get paid back for lunches, life coaches, art, furniture for their offices. The list goes on and on and on. All the waste at City Hall at a time when you have a budget deficit and when you're then going to ask taxpayers to pay more.
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Look, everyone recognizes affordability is the number one problem in Austin, period. Full stop. Every poll shows that you simply do not make affordability better by raising taxes. They could have tried to raise taxes $33 million to close the budget deficit. They didn't do that. They did 3.5x that, and they thought that the voters would approve it because generally voters do approve tax elections in Austin. This time, tax, uh, voters said enough's enough. It, it really is a watershed moment for our city, and it's time now for the mayor and the council to do their job to, to instill fiscal responsibility to.
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Make tough decisions to fully support public safety and to efficiently deliver city services.
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This election clearly a success for Save Austin. Now here you said that bringing real change requires a lot more work by your organization. What is next for you?
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Yeah, I mean, we're engaged in a lot of different battles at the city level and, and some of them were public on and some of them we work on quietly and privately behind the scenes. Uh, our first and, and, and most significant commitment to the city is to always fight for public safety. We need more police officers. We're going to support this, uh, charter amendment that the fire union has to require 4 per truck, their staffing minimum, which will be on the ballot in May, I believe, and which really needs to pass, and I think Will pass, uh, and then we're gonna be very focused on the budget. Look, the budget's out of control. It's way too high per capita compared to Houston, Austin, and Dallas.
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We, we, we can choose a better way, but we're only gonna do that if we have that outside audit that finds efficiencies, that gets rid of duplication and fraud and waste, and we focus on delivering core services at a really high level, the way a world-class city should. Austin can be a world-class city, but we're gonna have to make the choice that we're to, to, to move in that direction, and that's what Save Austin now will continue to do.
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Matt, good to see you. Thanks for the time.
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Thank you.
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The roundtable is ready when we come back here on Inside Texas Politics. And he's a famous Tejano star, but he is now venturing into Texas politics himself. Bobby Pito and his run for Congress in South Texas and the two issues behind his campaign. This episode of Y'alllitics with Bobby is ready to download right now wherever you get your podcasts. All right, time now for reporters roundtable to put the headlines in perspective. Bud, Ashley, and Renzo all back with us here. Bud, we have to start with you.
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State Senate District number 9, the race to replace Kelly Hancock in the state Senate was a, a close one to watch there in Tarrant County. A Democrat finished first. The Republicans split the vote, but the bigger story, I think, is that the casino candidate got trounced here.
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Well, you know, the casino money was on a, a, a, a kind of a, a third candidate, kind of a neutral middle of the road business candidate, but he wasn't a Republican Party activist. He didn't have a big political profile. He's a former mayor of South Lake. He was well known in South Lake, but he just came in with this kind of neutral campaign that just said, hey, I'm a good guy in South Lake we. Cut taxes and we have good cops. He didn't really have a strong message.
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You had Lee Wamsks, who was a Republican activist, patriot mobile person who comes in with a strong religious right message. She got most of the Republican votes. And then you have the Democrat who comes out of nowhere with no money, no money at all, uh ups the Democratic turnout in that district from 40%. 2% for Kamala Harris to 48% for this Democrat. Uh, if he could win over a few of the casino voters, he, he could make this a 50/50 race in the runoff. And,
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and it will be a fascinating runoff back in January, I guess, Renzo, this is one you were watching too, but when it comes to casino money in the legislature, what's the message do you think that this race sent?
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Yeah, well, I think this is the casino interest looking ahead because, you know, this past year, the legislature, uh, they kind of lost some ground, and there's no way they're getting any casino or gambling type bill through the Senate as it currently stands. But, you know, this seat could have been the first in a series that would have been needed to, to flip as far as casino is interested in um to make that. Uh, you know, the future,
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yeah, we'll see what happens with that. Certainly something still to watch, but they, they didn't get any traction there. Ashley, of course, the other big news besides the East Coast election results, what happened in California, Californians cleared the way to flip 5 seats out there towards Democrats, congressional seats to Democrats to cancel cancel out the 5 that Republican seats that Texas approved here. Are Texas Republicans going to regret this in the end?
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You know, it's gonna be something to watch, Jason, because there's a lot of analysis out now that even states those 5 seats that the Texas Republicans think they're gonna be able to flip that 2 of them are maybes and that they took some solid red districts and made them a little more iffy and you know we say all the time in Texas that everyone watches us and what Texas does other states follow. Well, other states are following now.
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What Texas did, and it can be very, I think, bad for our democracy. It's certainly gonna be something to watch to see how this shakes out all over the country. The midterms are really gonna be a toss up this year now.
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Yeah, I, I think these are still competitive in California and in Texas, uh, very likely here. And Bud, based on what happened in, you know, in the East Coast, two big Democratic wins for governor in New Jersey and Virginia. We saw Mamdani win, the mayoral seat. In New York City, any takeaways for
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Texas? Well, it's not a huge surprise. I mean, first of all, you always have, you have a Republican in the White House, then the Democrats are empowered. Right now you have the government shutdown. People can't fly. They can't get food for poor kids, you know. Everything's very dysfunctional right now, so you had this huge turnout. I think Democrats are emboldened. I think in Texas, you know, that's always, uh, that always brings out a few Democrats who wind up losing. Yeah, and
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then final few seconds here, Renzo, uh, big takeaway for you. What was it from Tuesday's election?
< spk_4 - 00:21:16.8690000 >
Yeah, well, I think the big takeaway was just the, the Democratic surge and what that could mean in Texas because I, I don't think that, you know, you necessarily saw the same thing in other parts of Texas, but, you know, that SD9 race was certainly interesting. There's that congressional district down in Houston that still needs to get sorted out.
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The, the, the SD9 race was interesting as well. Good to point that out too, guys. Thanks so much. We appreciate it and thank you for watching as well. We're back next Sunday to take you inside Texas politics.