In the October 26 episode, Senator John Cornyn tells us why he’s “optimistic” about a Trump endorsement and his path to victory in the U.S. Senate race. And Congressman Roger Williams explains why he thinks the government shutdown could last through Thanksgiving.
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Straight ahead, Congressman Roger Williams makes a bold prediction on how long he thinks the government shutdown will last and why he says small businesses in Texas could fail because of it. Reopening the government though starts in the Senate. John Cornyn on whether he sees any room for compromise, and the biggest challenge going forward in his race for re-election.
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Governor Abbott is pledging to spend millions of dollars to turn Harris County dark red over the next year. We'll talk about the challenges for that. And the final week for early voting, the races we're watching ahead of the November election. Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whiteley starts now. I'm Jason Whiteley. Thanks for being with us here. Let's start with the latest political headlines happening across the state.
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Governor Abbott is pledging to spend millions of dollars to turn Harris County dark red over the next year. Abbott said he would spend most of his $90 million campaign account to do so. You know, Houston and Harris County are strongholds for Democrats. 25% of all Democratic votes in the state come from there. The Houston Chronicle was there in Cyprus when the governor made that declaration. In Austin, the governor is also no longer waiting on the city or county to address homelessness there in the capital.
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Governor Abbott said DPS and the state guard are among the agencies cleaning up the capital city. So far, Abbott's office said 48 encampments were removed, more than 3000 pounds of debris were taken away, and 24 repeat felony offenders have been arrested. Austin Mayor Kirk Watson though said the state's effort lacks empathy. And this is the final week for early voting here in the state for the November constitutional election. 17 constitutional amendments on the ballot.
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They need your approval from property tax cuts to dementia research. A lot to consider, and we're also keeping an eye on Tarrant County. 3 candidates there running in a special election to replace Kelly Hancock in the state Senate after he became state comptroller. Let's begin right now though with the fierce fight among Republicans running for US Senate. Last week here on the program we had Congressman Wesley Hunt and the Houston Republican took direct aim at the incumbent John Cornyn.
< spk_0 - 00:02:23.6600000 >
Well, today Cornyn wants to respond. Reached him at the US Capitol, but first had questions about the ongoing federal government shutdown that remains stuck there in the Senate. Senator Cornyn, welcome back to the program here. The shutdown is dragging on. President Trump leaving for Asia, no end in sight. How long do you expect this to last?
< spk_1 - 00:02:42.9900000 >
Well, it's really up to Democrats who refuse to conduct the Senate's business. This used to be fairly routine to pass a short-term stopgap spending bill to allow us to complete our work before the end of the year, but I must say this is completely unnecessary, but I think this is more, uh, more designed to appease their their base than it is to, uh, anything else, because nothing else really makes sense.
< spk_0 - 00:03:10.0890000 >
Let's talk 2026 here for a moment. You've closed the gap on Ken Paxton in public polls, at least you have Congressman Wesley Hunt from Houston now in the race. What do you think the biggest challenge is going forward in the remaining four or five months here?
< spk_1 - 00:03:23.9900000 >
Well, uh, Congressman Hunt, uh, can't win, uh, if you believe any of the polls. Uh, he comes in a distant third. And so I believe this race is really between me and the Attorney General. And, uh, I think two things that we've are, are in the process of doing is number one, reminding people about my voting record with President Trump, which is in excess of 99%.
< spk_1 - 00:03:49.9700000 >
And just reminding them of that fact and the things we've done together that we've done to support the president's agenda, but then also at some point we'll begin turning up the heat on the attorney general and exposing a lot of the scandals that he's been involved with for many years now, but he's simply gotten away with.
< spk_1 - 00:04:10.0590000 >
I think he feels like he's he's immune from any of that scrutiny, but I believe the character still matters, and I'm confident of the outcome.
< spk_0 - 00:04:21.4590000 >
And you say turning up the heat, what, what will that look like?
< spk_1 - 00:04:25.0100000 >
Well, stories like we saw in the uh in the Wall Street Journal recently where Ken Paxton, uh earning a government salary, became amazingly over a few years, a multi-millionaire. Paxton's become reckless to the point now he's self-destructive of his family, of his, to his family, to taxpayers, and I believe he's unfit for this office, and we will tell that story.
< spk_0 - 00:04:52.6600000 >
We've all seen your, your ads and, and your record of voting with the president 99% of the time, what's the 1% you haven't voted with the president on?
< spk_1 - 00:05:02.2200000 >
Um, you know, I can't really tell you for sure. It may have been some, uh, uh, well, I can't tell you for sure. We'll, maybe we'll go back and try to figure that out. But the, the point has been, you know, some people have said, well, Cornyn's an establishment guy, you know, he's been there a long time. He's not really MAGA, he's not really a Trump supporter.
< spk_1 - 00:05:24.2300000 >
Well, I worked hand in glove with the president during his first administration and continue that work now to help, make sure his agenda gets passed, including the confirmation of hundreds of federal judges, including 3 new members of the United States Supreme Court. So I'm proud of my record working with President Trump. We've got a good relationship, and I'm just uh think it's been necessary to tell that story in order to refute.
< spk_1 - 00:05:50.1190000 >
Some of the disinformation about my record of working with the president.
< spk_0 - 00:05:55.3590000 >
We had Congressman Hunt on the program last week and he took direct aim at you, not talking about Ken Paxton, but it was all about John Cornyn. One comment he has made is, I'm sure you've heard, he says the US Senate should not serve as a retirement home, a direct shot at you. I'm curious how you respond to that as you seek 1/5 term there in DC in the US Senate.
< spk_1 - 00:06:15.0290000 >
Well, I think the congressman is a little frustrated because he doesn't have a positive case for his election, and he's got no credible path to win, so he throws out Uh, crazy talk like that. Look, um, I'm no spring chicken. I admit that, but I'm, I'm healthy and enjoy the job. And look, I work hand in glove with a 79-year-old at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, who seems to be doing just fine too.
< spk_1 - 00:06:43.6490000 >
So, uh, I just think that the congressman's looking for attention. Most people in Texas don't know who he is. This is a big state. And it's hard to get name ID and I think he's going to find how tough, how tough the race can be and also how big our state is, what he's running now in a, in an election statewide.
< spk_0 - 00:07:07.9700000 >
Senator, we always appreciate the time. Thank you so much.
< spk_1 - 00:07:10.3690000 >
You bet. Good to be with you. Thanks.
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All right, let's bring in the round table to talk about the politics of this. Bud Kennedy is here from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Ashley Goode is political director at Caveview in Austin, and Ayamira is always with us from the Texas Tribune in Austin. Bud, let's start with you. If you look at the polls and if you look at the ads, it seems the momentum is shifting towards Cornyn in this three-person race right now. Well,
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I think it's all those ads that say. Thank the spring chicken John Cornyn for supporting Donald Trump. His advertising has been overwhelming. You know what's happened is that the polls in this race have shifted. Ken Paxton in the poll that was taken a month ago has the highest unfavorability rating. He's the least liked Republican officeholder, 3.
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80% of Republicans don't approve of the job Ken Paxton's doing, and John Cornyn now is at the top of the chain along with Greg Abbott
< spk_0 - 00:08:02.5150000 >
and Ashley Cornyn just told us there just a moment ago, he says, listen, we're gonna turn up the heat on Ken Paxton. Last week we had Hunt talking all about Cornyn. This week we have Cornyn talking all about Paxton here. What do you expect to see in the next 4 months?
< spk_3 - 00:08:15.7500000 >
Well, it's interesting that he says that. And then this week we see his campaign put out a digital digital ad against Hunt. And so I think that this idea that he can just ignore the congressman and focus solely on Kim Paxton, he, his team obviously has realized that's really not gonna work. We have to at least say something about him, um, and I think that he is going to have. To at least battle it out a little bit with both of them because they're both going to be gunning for him.
< spk_0 - 00:08:43.3800000 >
Yeah, and they are. I'm curious about your thoughts on that, Ian, but also, also curious what you think about Jasmine Crockett, Democrat from Dallas, congresswoman here, saying that, listen, I'm still looking at the US Senate race on the Democratic side. How likely is that?
< spk_4 - 00:08:57.5000000 >
Well, she's gonna continue to look at the polling and seeing how, you know, she seems to be focusing kind of on the general election. I mean, and if she does, wow, what a, what a jump that is in for the Democratic primary. You've already got Colin Allred and James Tallarico. You know, I think, you know, uh, uh, the congresswoman comes in with instant name recognition that kind of exceeds, uh, either of her opponents, and that that's gonna really mix things up. And if you have a really bruising GOP primary, you're looking at kind of a, a really interesting turnout too, it, depending on how the general electorate feels, whether.
< spk_4 - 00:09:26.2240000 >
There's GOP fatigue, you know, whether there's the economy where things are. This is still a Republican state, but Jasmine Crockett's entry would make it incredibly interesting.
< spk_0 - 00:09:34.3640000 >
Yeah, I think either way, bruising primary on both sides is likely going to happen. Guys, thanks so much. Back to you all in just a moment. A lot more ahead here, including this. When we come back, Republican Congressman Roger Williams, his bold prediction on how long the shutdown might last and whether he accepts any responsibility for it. Inside Texas politics back in a moment. Welcome back to Inside Texas Politics.
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The federal government shutdown is starting to have some real effects, not just on federal workers, but now on Main Street as well. Small businesses unable to get paid on federal contracts, among other things. Our next guest chairs the Small Business Committee in the House. It's Congressman Roger Williams, a Republican from Weatherford. Mr. Chairman, good to see you again. Thanks for coming into the studio. Good to be here.
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The, uh, federal government shutdown has directly affected small businesses, as I'm sure you've, uh, you know, seen and heard from constituents, though, especially the ones that rely on federal contracts, um, and, and there are so many of those that people may not realize. Are you getting pressure from those businesses to try to find a solution to this ongoing shutdown?
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We're starting to hear from them, uh, and. to you? Well, what they're, they're worried about are they, are they going to get paid? When will they get paid? I mean, if you sell something to the federal government right now, you're not going to get paid because here's the deal, the economy is fixing to break loose. I believe that we're going to get maybe 2 or 3 more rate cuts before the end of the year. That's going to send this economy exploded because it, it, it's pretty good right now with the rate cuts. So we don't need to be having a problem whether we have the business, the business of America being open or not.
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Democrats say Republicans refuse to negotiate. Republicans say reopen the government first. Here. There's a lack of trust in DC, and this is not a new thing with the shutdown, but how do you restore that because that needs to be the foundation of moving forward.
< spk_5 - 00:11:26.5590000 >
No, you're so right, and you know I'm, I'm old enough where I remember Democrats, Republicans agreed to not agree to disagree. They didn't swing at each other and fight. They agree to disagree. And the old adage of Tip O'Neill and Reagan, you know, visiting after, after hours and so forth, but that's long gone. And, and the shame of it in Washington is is the town is driven by anger and, you know, I don't care what you, what field you're in, you can't be angry every morning. You might be mad, but anger takes over and we got a situation where everybody's angry.
< spk_5 - 00:11:56.7000000 >
Uh, if you're for it, I'm against it. The game over, and that we can't run our government that way. And we've got, we've got the greatest country in the world. We've got the greatest people in the world. We need to turn them loose and let government pull back. I, I've always said I want government to do three things collect my taxes, defend my borders, help me with the infrastructure, and get out of the way, and I still believe that.
< spk_0 - 00:12:14.7800000 >
Is there any room for compromise here?
< spk_5 - 00:12:16.9600000 >
Well, I remind, I think there should be, and I think government should have some compromise, and you know, you can compromise leadership. You have a say up there, right? And, and, and, and you can compromise, but you don't have to give away your core, you know, and I'm in the car business, right? I compromise every day. I mean, I tell people, when you come in, I hit you up here when you come to see me, you hit me down here. And we, and we make a deal in the middle, and there's no reason we can't do the same thing. You don't have to give up your core values.
< spk_5 - 00:12:43.4400000 >
We need to find out what we agree on and get that done and what we don't agree on, just slide it over here and come to it at a later date. But let's get done what we agree with. And surprisingly, uh, I think people would be surprised that there's more, more than not that we all agree with.
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As a member of Republican leadership, do you accept any responsibility for the shutdown?
< spk_5 - 00:13:03.6300000 >
Well, I don't know that. I mean, I, I can accept responsibility on anything. I'm a congressman, so that gives me that much responsibility, but I did what I thought was right, and I voted to open the government up. I didn't vote for a shutdown. I voted to open the government up and I did the right thing.
< spk_0 - 00:13:19.5100000 >
And you've been in DC for a few minutes here. How long do you think this shutdown will last?
< spk_5 - 00:13:23.9090000 >
Well, I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna, I'm gonna give you an answer. If I'm right, I hope you'll remind everybody on your show. I've told you, if not, just forget it, but I think we'll be there at least till Thanksgiving.
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Are you serious? Yeah. I mean that, that, that would be
< spk_5 - 00:13:35.8490000 >
a record. I think we're setting the record today or tomorrow, but if that
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happens, I mean that, that would severely impact Main Street and small businesses.
< spk_5 - 00:13:42.7290000 >
No, no question. I mean, I'm, I'm not rooting for the shutdown. I want to get back up there and each day goes by, it's harder on Main Street remembering that Main Street and this small businesses, 99% of the economy is generated by these businesses, and we got to get the economy going because it's ready to go.
< spk_0 - 00:13:59.0100000 >
Do, do you think that this shutdown is going to result in small businesses having to close?
< spk_5 - 00:14:04.2890000 >
I think there will be some stories of small businesses probably having to close from a cash flow standpoint, and there'll be some that will have success stories on what they did to create cash flow and so forth like you do in every business, but I'm sure there'll be some because it's an interruption and a lot of small businesses and people operate their finances week to week, small margins, and, and, and, and I'm telling you, it doesn't have to happen. The Schumer shutdown did not have to happen and affect these small businesses.
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Mr. Chairman, thank you for the time.
< spk_5 - 00:14:35.3490000 >
It's good to see you. I appreciate it. Thanks for having us.
< spk_0 - 00:14:39.0390000 >
All right, back to the roundtable and the big headline there, Bud, he says that he thinks this could go up until Thanksgiving.
< spk_2 - 00:14:45.7500000 >
Jason, that's exactly what I was going to say. I think Thanksgiving, I think once America goes through a holiday weekend with only half the security gates open at airports, with thousands of flights canceled like we saw last week in the country, I think after that, the pressure to settle this and get back to work will be tremendous. And
< spk_0 - 00:15:03.7890000 >
Ashley, the longer this goes on, which party is under more pressure to, to find a resolution?
< spk_3 - 00:15:10.0590000 >
You know, I don't, I, I think that it's, it's a lose lose for both of them. There's polling right now that shows that Americans are blaming Republicans slightly more than they're blaming Democrats, but if people are not seeing a good faith effort. From both parties to come to a resolution. I mean, I think both parties lose with this. No one wins when the government is shut down. And
< spk_0 - 00:15:34.6900000 >
I, if you have air traffic controllers, security agents from at the airports not going to work, finding new jobs, stable employment when everyone thought the federal government was that, could this long shutdown irreparably harm the federal government?
< spk_4 - 00:15:51.6500000 >
there's clear potential for long term damage here, and it's not just politically, it's, it's, it's, it's about kind of services and, and things like that too, as you, as you mentioned, you know, whether it's TSA, whether it's the airports, you know, whether it's just kind of a breakdown too in terms of people who are needing kind of aid with food and health, you know, another key uh date here to look at too is the ACA and open enrollment starts November 1st, you're gonna see that's gonna be an indicator too, of, of how things go here. So if we, if this goes to that length of time, There will be repercussions that will be felt.
< spk_0 - 00:16:21.5900000 >
All right guys, back to you in just a moment here. Up next though, we're gonna talk about the state takeover of Fort Worth ISD and why this one is so different from what we saw happening in Houston. And when is the last time you went out for a plate of barbecue? Beef prices are sky high right now on this week's episode of Y'alllitics. What's behind it and why those prices likely will not be coming down anytime soon. This episode of Y'alllitics available wherever you get your podcast right now or you can watch it.
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Just make sure to have our Plus app downloaded there on your smart TV. All right, time now for reporters roundtable to put the headlines in perspective here. Bud Kennedy is back with us from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Ashley Goode with us from Caview in Austin, and Ian Mitra with us from the Texas Tribune. Bud, let's start with you. Hometown Fort Worth ISD taken over by the Texas Education Agency. Everything I'm hearing from the left and the right is, listen, we welcome this reset of our school district.
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In a city that's growing so fast and needs to have a pipeline of jobs, well,
< spk_2 - 00:17:19.2860000 >
this is something that the city's been concerned about. The mayor came from an educational group. The mayor and the council have been studying the performance of schools, not just Fort Worth ISD, but suburban schools as well, trying to upgrade the level of education all over Fort Worth. You know, the mayor and council want somebody with more.
< spk_2 - 00:17:37.5310000 >
Energy and a sense of immediacy about fixing the problems in the ISD and it's popular in the minority community too because I feel like that too much resources, too much attention is devoted to one particular pyramid, the well-to do Pascal Pyramid, that the rest of the city doesn't get a fair share of resources and attention. I feel like maybe Mike Marath will do something about that,
< spk_0 - 00:17:56.5210000 >
and we talk about this here, I and This is quite different from what we saw happening in Houston. I mean there was an uproar down there. I think people still are concerned in Houston, uh, but what's happening in Fort Worth? Did, did they learn a lesson there or was the situation just totally different?
< spk_4 - 00:18:12.3190000 >
It's different, but then there's still things to watch from what happened, what has happened in Houston, uh, that, that could be similar to Fort Worth. Look, one of the main things too is watching the staff turnover. There's, you know, 400 to 500 positions, uh, changed, uh, removed, uh, in Houston. And also, you know, as amid, amid all the criticism about, you know, local control, and in, and then, and then, in that aspect, you know, the suit, you know, what, what also has been kind of cited too by Mike Miles in Houston is, you know, the, the improvements. You see star rating, they see sites star rating.
< spk_4 - 00:18:42.0400000 >
Improvements. He sees no failing schools since since the takeover. So you know that those are things to kind of keep an eye on those trends is like how the staffing goes in Fort Worth as well as just kind of actually seeing market improvement on the accountability side.
< spk_0 - 00:18:54.9590000 >
Yes, Fort Worth has a while to go as this thing unfolds there. Ashley, let's talk about the Texas Secretary. Secretary of State Jane Nelson, she did an audit on the voter rolls, said that she found 2700 registered voters that may or may not be citizens here. It's not the first time we've heard something like this, but the timing of it all right in the middle of early voting for the constitutional amendment election is a little suspect.
< spk_3 - 00:19:19.9590000 >
Yeah, it's definitely not the best time, right? So out of the 18 million voters, what the state of Texas did really for the first time is the president opened its federal, the federal database, uh, to states for them to be able to run their voter rolls through. Back in the day or prior to this, the state would just do it itself. They would use DPS data and so they kind of timed it out a little differently in terms of how they checked the rolls.
< spk_3 - 00:19:44.7850000 >
You will recall lawmakers passed a law saying that the Secretary of State has to go through the rolls. And so they were able to just sort of plug the names through the federal database and that's how they got these hits. I mean, I think the big thing is that it's inconvenient. So you have county, uh, election officials who are already dealing with that registration backlog because the state decided to change systems and it's taken a long time and now they've got to try to verify the citizenship. Of these voters, so it's a lot to go through in the midst of early voting.
< spk_3 - 00:20:14.7390000 >
And
< spk_0 - 00:20:14.8900000 >
it's too early, Bud, to say this was fraud because we don't know yet who these people are.
< spk_2 - 00:20:19.0500000 >
Well, really there weren't very many. I think it averages out to what, about 10 per county across the state, about 300 in Harris County, 200 in Dallas County. Uh, you know, what you need to remember is that a lot of these people, although on paper the federal government thinks they might not be citizens, this has already been questioned. And they've already, uh, gone down before. They've proven that they're citizens to the voter registrar. The elections department has those records. They won't even need for them to come in. A few of these people will have to come in, but it won't amount to a hill of beans.
< spk_0 - 00:20:47.3690000 >
And I, let's talk about the governor no longer waiting on, uh, you know, Austin or, or Travis County to clean up homeless encampments, which they're making progress on. The governor just says, listen, we're going to go in and, and he is cleaning up down there. You know, it, it echoes kind of what's happening with National Guard going to Chicago and places like that, even though it's different circumstances. What's this all about with the governor taking control of this?
< spk_4 - 00:21:10.3690000 >
You know, and it's also interesting, like, as Ashley was mentioning with the timing of kind of the, the voter rolls, the timing of this announcement as, as, as Austin was actually launching a new effort, uh, targeting, uh, uh, encampments as well. And so, you know, you hear, uh, you know, Greg Abbott talking about making this, uh, the streets of Austin safer and cleaner and. But you also hear about Austin Mayor Kirk Watson talking about how there needs to be empathy, but also better collaboration. Their efforts were focused on building trust and, you know, they don't want, they talked about, you know, wanting to not just move people around.
< spk_0 - 00:21:41.1040000 >
I got to cut you off there. We're out of time, guys. Thanks so much for it. We appreciate you watching as well. We'll see you next week.