AUSTIN, Texas — In this edition of Texas This Week, Rebecca Viagran, Democratic candidate for U.S. House of Representatives District 35, joins KVUE Managing Editor of Political Content Ashley Goudeau to discuss her campaign.
Then, Ross Ramsey, executive editor and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, shares his insights on the upcoming election.
Rebecca Viagran (D), candidate for U.S. House District 35
On Tuesday, Texans will cast their ballots in the Democratic and Republican primaries including the crowded race to represent District 35 in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district is made up of East Austin and stretches down into Hays, Comal and Bexar counties. Four Democrats are in the race, including former San Antonio city councilmember Rebecca Viagran. She joined Ashley Goudeau to discuss her campaign.
Ashley Goudeau: Some of our viewers may not be as familiar with you. So tell us a little bit about yourself and why you want to serve District 35 in Congress.
Rebecca Viagran: "Thank you. Well, my name is Rebecca Viagran. I am a born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, a proud Latina. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, to a working class family. And I have been a community leader and educator, a women's rights advocate, a immigration reform advocate. And I also served four consecutive terms on the San Antonio City Council up until this past June of 2021. And I am serving to represent, I'm looking to represent Congressional District 35 to serve you and all of your families because I believe that representation matters and there is too much at stake when it comes to the assault on women's reproductive rights, when it comes to affordable housing, when it comes to health care and our climate change and our voting rights. And to make sure that we also protect our students, as well as making sure that we have, we empower our working families. So I believe I have the experience, the education, the qualifications and most importantly, the heart and the work ethic to represent this very large district, 100, over 100 miles wide from top to bottom."
Goudeau: During your time on the San Antonio City Council, what policy did you move forward that you are most proud of?
Viagran: "Well, one of the items that I'm extremely proud of on the San Antonio City Council is what we call the Viva San Antonio Healthy Corner Store initiative. That is tackling food insecurity in the City of San Antonio. I worked with the San Antonio Food Policy Council, as well as the San Antonio Food Bank, because 50% of the census tracks in the council district that I represented were food insecure. And what we made sure is that we partnered with local mom-and-pop convenience stores in neighborhoods to put fresh fruits and vegetables at a discounted rate in the communities because we did not have enough grocery stores in the community. So what started with just five stores in one part of town has now grown throughout the City of San Antonio to meet the need of food insecurity."
Goudeau: This race is gaining national attention, especially among progressives. You have Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, along with Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsing Greg Casar. What do you make of those endorsements and what makes you the better candidate?
Viagran: "You know, I am going to be the candidate for Congressional District 35. And I will be held accountable, not to outside influences, but to the Congressional District 35, the constituents in Congressional District 35. That's who I will listen to, work with, talk with and make sure that I am held accountable to them. I'm very excited that so many people's eyes are on this, and it's no wonder because this district has been gerrymandered so, so much from all of this area that's been taken in. But I think what it's going to come down to is making sure that being elected, what I will do is be held accountable to the constituencies of Congressional District 35."
Goudeau: If you are elected, what will be your top priority in Congress?
Viagran: "Thank you for that question. My top priority in Congress will be to continue to push to pass the Raise the Wage Act because I believe we need to increase minimum wage. There is no reason why we should have anybody making in this country, making only $7.25 an hour. We need to pass that and then codify Roe versus Wade, because right now the assault on women's rights is a felt, especially here in Texas, and we need to make sure that we have that, we codify that to bring some protections at the State level. Because I think those are two things that – one I hear very clearly, but two that we need to make sure that we get this, there's, it's already out there. We just need to push and make sure that it gets done in Congress."
KVUE News reached out to Carla-Joy Sisco to request an interview but she did not reply to our request.
RELATED: Texas This Week: Greg Casar, State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez discuss race for U.S. House District 35
You can watch interviews with former Austin City Council Member Greg Casar and State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez here:
Election insights with Ross Ramsey
There are several big races on the March Primary Election ballot, but the majority of Texas voters seem to be sitting this election out. Voter turnout, which is typically low in primaries was especially low during early voting. Ross Ramsey, executive editor and co-founder of The Texas Tribune, joined Ashley Goudeau to talk about the impact that has on Texas politics.
Ashley Goudeau: There are interesting races on both the Democratic and Republican tickets this primary. Which races are you closely watching?
Ross Ramsey: You know, the top of my list is probably the Republican primary for attorney general. You have an attorney general in Ken Paxton, who's had an indictment pending since summer of 2015 that has never really gone to court. Voters have given that a pass once, we'll see if they do it again. But more presently, 14 or 15 months ago, several of the top attorneys in his office went to a whistle blower and then to the FBI and said, this guy is using his public office for the benefit of a private donor. That's a charge that Paxton denies, but it's a present tense thing, and it was enough to attract really big competitors. A former Supreme Court justice, Eva Guzman, a sitting land commissioner, George P. Bush, who's from the most famous family in Texas politics and a really well known Northeast Texas congressman named Louie Gohmert, who is, you know, familiar with anybody with cable TV. Those guys thought that Paxton was enough trouble to the party, that they're challenging him in a primary. And I think that's a, in political terms, that's a really big race."
Goudeau: What do you make of the tactics by some GOP leaders to unseat incumbents, because that's happening, too?
Ramsey: "Well, it's interesting. You know, these are all battles over who's more Republican than the other. And you know, it's easy in a general election to say, 'I'm this kind of candidate and my opponent is that kind of a candidate,' because you have an R or a D or an L for libertarians or a G for Greens behind your name and voters who don't know you by name might say, 'Well, I'm in this party, I'm going to vote for this candidate.' It's harder in a primary because you're looking at a bunch of Republicans or a bunch of Democrats. In the Republican Party, there are a lot of people who want to move up and there are people in their way. A great example is Greg Abbott, who's been in statewide office of some kind or another since 1996 as a Supreme Court justice, as an attorney general, as a governor and some other people want in. And they're trying to figure out, 'Well, how do I run for governor against somebody like Greg Abbott?' Allen West and Don Huffines are examples of people who are trying to run as a, while saying they're more conservative than the current governor. So they're trying to differentiate themselves like that. When you're trying to draw product differentiation, whether you're talking about hand soap or you're talking about politicians, you talk about why you're better than the other one and why the other one's deficient. And that's what we're seeing in these races."
Goudeau: Despite some of these big races, they don't seem to be big enough to actually get voters to the polls. Talk to us about the turnout.
Ramsey: "Turnout is terrible right now. Through Wednesday, you know the numbers come in a little bit slowly, but through Wednesday, I think only 4% of registered Texas voters had voted in the Republican primary, and only 2.5% had voted in the Democratic primary. What that means is that if you want to win a Republican primary and only four percent turnout, you only need 2.1% of the state's voters to pick the nominee. So it gives them a lot of power. It gives those those people who do vote a lot of clout that was basically handed to them by the, you know, of so far 94% of Texans who haven't voted. So it's a real problem, but it's a persistent one. We've had this problem in previous elections, even in the, in the 2020 election and the 2018 election, which were both big high-interest elections, we had somewhere upwards of 80% of Texans not voting in primaries."
Goudeau: And the thing that I think is most interesting about this particular primary is with the new political maps that we have and the recent history of Democrats not being able to win statewide elections, this primary is going to have real political consequences for the candidates.
Ramsey: "Well, I think that's right. You know, it's less and less recent history. The Democrats last won a statewide election in Texas in 1994 and it's been a long time. It's persistently a Republican state. The margins of the Republican victories have dwindled somewhat in the last couple of elections, but wins are wins and the Republicans are still winning. So your point is well taken: unless the Democrats can break the November lock that Republicans have had, anybody nominated in a Republican primary is basically, in a statewide race, is basically just waiting for their coronation in November. There's something like that going on in races for Congress, in the state's congressional delegation and in the Texas Legislature ... the Senate and the House. Most of those political districts were drawn during redistricting to favor one party or the other. The Republicans drew maps that give Republicans more seats than Democrats, but even the seats that they drew for Democrats are pretty strongly Democratic. So again, if you win a primary and you're in one of those districts, either a Republican one or a Democratic one, winning a primary is tantamount to winning general elections."
Election Day is March 1.
PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING: