‘Inside Texas Politics’: Sarah Eckhardt, Armin Mizani, Cate Brennan, and how a Democrat Would Run the Voucher Program

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to learn more. Straight ahead, insiders say she might be the

Democrat's best shot at winning a statewide seat. Sarah Eckhart on her campaign for comptroller.

How would she manage school vouchers even if she disagrees with it? And what could public

school supporters expect of her? Plus, the coming test in Tarant County,

Armin Mazzani versus Kate Brennan for a seat in the legislature. What the Republican Mazzani

told us about public education and whether his position on local control might change if he goes

to Austin. And can Kate Brennan repeat Democrats recent success here? She says two things might

swing in her favor. And the May runoff election coming sooner than you might realize,

plus the one thing to keep in mind if you intend to vote.

Inside Texas politics with Jason Whiteley starts now.

Thank you for being here. I'm Jason Whiteley. Here we are closing in on April, meaning the next

election likely closer than you might think. Nine weeks away. That's the runoff election,

May 26th. This is the next round for the Republicans and Democrats who did not get at least 50% of

the vote on March the 3rd. Cornen versus Ken Paxton is the big race on the right. Colin

Allred versus Julie Johnson. One to watch on the left, especially in Dallas.

Early voting runs through May 18th through the 22nd of May. Campaigns urge voters to cast ballots

early in avoid confusion on election day. And one more important note, we're hearing a lot of

people asking this question. You must stay with your party. No switching here. If you voted

Republican in the primary, you can only vote Republican in the runoff. Same rule for Democrats.

No party switching. Our first guest right now is looking towards November. Beyond that runoff,

the race for state comptroller wide open for the first time in more than a decade.

It's the state's chief financial officer. The person also managing school vouchers among many

other responsibilities. A couple of weeks ago, we heard from the Republican nominee Don Huffines.

With us now, though, the Democrat that he's going to face.

State Senator Sarah Eckhart joining us from the campaign trail at the airport in between stops.

Senator, welcome to the program here. You have been a county commissioner, a county judge

there in Travis County, a state senator. Why in the world do you want to be comptroller,

the chief financial officer for the state? The comptroller's office is the least known and most

powerful statewide office. It's completely independent. It is a constitutional office charged

with following both the law and following the money. And it's a great place to make sure that

the state of Texas is actually investing in Texans and a great place to start taking Texans back

for Texans. The comptroller manages school vouchers. I want to ask you two questions about this.

Could you run the program even if you disagree with it? And secondly, what could public school

supporters expect from you in this position? Well, as I said before, the comptroller's office is

about both following the law and following the money. The comptroller does not change the law

and doesn't write the law. But it does implement the law and then report out faithfully how it's

operating and who it's benefiting. The people of Texas deserve to know whether their government is

working for them. And if it's not, who it's working for? You'll face Don Huffine's in November

the Republican. He's pledging an interview with us to use the office's 600 auditors to investigate

local and, you know, city and county budgets to look for a waste fraud and abuse there if they're

asking the state for money. What would you use that auditing for? I would use that auditing

actually for state government. It's important that we have a federal state and local partnership.

These are three different threads of money that need to be braided for appropriate services to

the people of Texas. Because everyone in Texas is paying at the local level, the state level,

and the federal level. What Don Huffine's is suggesting is actually a retribution campaign on

anyone who dares to try govern. He would prefer to see government go away and for the survival of

the richest to take hold in the state of Texas permanently. And I would suggest that to the extent

that we need to weed out fraud, we absolutely must. But can you really trust Republicans who've

been in power for three decades to do that? In fact, when Republicans have tried, they've been

shown the door by their own party. Huffine's already defeated the candidate, the governor

Abbott wanted the acting control with Kelly Hancock. Huffine's is going to have a tremendous

amount of money to throw at this. He has the energy from the mag of base. How do you intend to

overcome that? This Texas is not for sale. And we're already seeing an early results in the primary,

but also the special elections that Texans are not responding to huge wads of personal cash being

thrown into races for personal power. So I think actually the gobs of money that Huffine's in

his family will throw at this as they did at the governor's race and also his senate race actually

are kind of a turn off. We will have an adequately funded campaign and we'll get the message out

that there's a real choice here. And wouldn't you rather have a watch dog rather than a lap dog for

the rich and powerful? Senator, good to see you. Thank you for the time. Thank you for yours.

All right, let's bring in the round table to talk about the politics of this. But Kennedy is

here from the Fort Worth Star Telegram. Natalie Haddad, political reporter at WFA in Dallas and

Ashley Guto, political director at K view and Austin Buddler start with you. You were in this

same studio with us March 3rd on primary election night. Vinnie Minchillo, a Republican consultant,

said he thinks the comptroller's office might be the Democrat's best chance to pick up a statewide

seat more than 30 years because he said that Huffine's has a ceiling of support among Republican

voters. What do you think? There are a couple of races like that, maybe a railroad commissioner too,

where the Republican candidate has some negatives. We saw in 2018 when Beto O'Rourke ran,

spent so much money. He didn't win, but he turned out so many Democrats around the state that some

of the down ballot Democrats came close. I think Dan Patrick, only one by three or four points.

If Tolerico has a great year and brings out voters, something down palette could happen.

And Ashley, when we look at Huffine's and Senator Eckhart, you've covered her for years down there,

she's not going to have the financial resources that Huffine's and Republicans have.

Can she really make a dent and get out there and be known elsewhere outside central Texas and

introduce herself to voters? So, I mean, I honestly think she can. I couldn't agree with Bud

Moore. I think that the money that Tolerico spends in this race is going to play a really big part

for her. I think one of the things that we know about Senator Eckhart is she's not afraid to work.

She's not afraid to get out there. She holds coffees and community talks. She is not going to be,

I think, outworked in this race, right? So, it's just whether or not her message will resonate

with voters. I think the other thing is some people just don't like Don Huffine's. I mean,

some people see him as, you know, a very wealthy man, someone who is an ultra conservative,

and we don't know how well his messaging is going to sit with independence. And I think that's

going to play a big role come November. And Natalie, one of the jobs that this office has,

of course, is to manage school vouchers. We now know more about who's getting these,

who's applying at least for these private school vouchers here. And it's not necessarily the low

income kids that Republicans anticipated. Yeah, no, I don't think this really came as a shock to

anyone because we have been talking about it for so many years. And there is a reason why a certain

U.S. Senate candidate called this a coupon. We saw more than 160,000 students apply the majority.

And we're talking upwards of 80, more than 80% of those students are already in private schools.

We didn't even see 40,000 students apply coming from public schools. So, I think,

excuse me, Representative James Talleriko had a point when he said this was a coupon for those

already seeking, already in private schools. They're just seeking state help now.

Yeah, Democrats will be talking about that. But let me ask you though about the Muslim

parents in private schools suing this state because they were excluded from the voucher program

here. They call it religious discrimination. And this seems to me, this violates the very law

that Republicans push to pass for years. Well, Republicans, you know, there were people in the

legislature who said, look, this will apply to Muslim schools, to Buddhist schools, to Hindu schools.

You know, the difference is that the government, Governor Abbott is trying to say that Muslim schools

are somehow linked through care or through other groups to terrorists countries.

But the schools themselves have no connection to those countries. It's going to be hard to make

that stand up in court. Yeah, indeed. So, when we were watching guys back to you in just a moment,

thanks so much. A lot more ahead here, including this.

When we come back, Armin Mizani, Kate Brennan, one seat in the state legislature,

he will have the money. Her party has the momentum inside Texas politics back in a month.

This is inside Texas politics with Jason Whiteley.

Welcome back to inside Texas politics now to the coming test in Tarant County.

Democrats there remain motivated after Taylor remits surprise when for a seat in the state senate.

The next battleground, House District 98, one of the most conservative areas in the state.

Republican Armin Mizani, the current mayor of Keller, up first, followed by his Democratic

challenger, Kate Brennan. Mayor, welcome to the program here. You won the Republican primary,

more than 53% of the vote against two different opponents. Why, what do you think ultimately separated

you and prevented this from going into a runoff? Well, first of all, thanks for having me on, Jason.

I'll tell you, I think this was a referendum on the fact that for the last six years as mayors,

we have developed a proven record, a conservative record that I think a lot of folks in the district

have seen. Whether it be taxes or trying to de-incentivize illegal migration,

advocating for public schools, which is so important in my district, people saw that record.

And ultimately, I believe that was what put us over the edge. It is why we were able to avoid

that runoff. And we have broad support from a lot of local leaders, which I think had a direct

impact in this race. A lot of folks from outside House District 98 all over North Texas, DFW saw

the bitter primary fight between you and Fred Tate. Have you spoken to him since the election?

Since your primary one? We did. We did. We had a cordial telephone call the day after, and he

congratulated me and his credit indicated that he would be very supportive of us in the general election.

Mayor, let's talk about your time at City Hall. You made news in color for banning Sharia law there,

and you're reportedly canceled an Episcopalian priest from giving an invocation because the

priest's church participated in or hosted an LGBTQ event. I'm curious how you would represent

voters in your district who do not share your same religious views? Well, at the end of the day,

we're always going to represent everyone, whether you voted for me or my opponent,

whether you agree with me and my policies and my values. But I do believe people elect

leaders to advocate for the values that they ran on. I am someone who very clearly from the

onset said radical Islam, in my opinion, in Sharia law, Sharia courts have no place here in Texas.

Voters very strongly put us in office because of those positions. And I am someone that's going

to be unapologetic in preserving the ideals and the values that I think make Texas great.

And they elected us into office. We're going to be consistent in that regard. And I believe

ultimately that will be something that voters will have a big say in future elections as well.

Mayor, we have all watched the legislature really make it a point to revoke local control in a

lot of instances. You will have the unique experience of elected November to have served as a mayor

and now in the state legislature if you get elected there. But would you counter efforts to

reign in local control or continue that? Listen, and I think you're right, Jason. I offer that

unique perspective, having served as mayor for six years. I think sometimes there's a

less resolution not an Austin get that get passed. They assume that all cities are apples to apples

when we're not. Keller's very different obviously than a full worth or even a South Lake. And

ultimately to be able to offer that perspective. I'm someone that will always advocate for local

control. But at the same time, I do believe the state has a has a hand in ensuring that we are

preserving our values and actually advocating for taxpayers and our constituents. And so that

balance is going to be important in that perspective that I can offer to the members and the

legislative branch down in Austin. I think it's going to be critical. Mayor, congratulations again.

Thank you for the time. Thanks for having me on Jason.

Okay, congratulations and welcome to the program here. Thank you. House District 98 is

probably the most Republican district in the United States. Where do you see an opening

for a victory as a progressive Democrat? I am progressive, but I also want to get things done.

So yeah, House District 98 has been reliably Republican. And I knew that when I got into the race.

But between the bag of fatigue, the wonderful overperformance of Democrats voting almost three

times three to one Republicans in this past primary. And you know, a female advantage.

And the real concern about the public schools, which is a great reason why people move to House

District 98. So all of that tied up, I think will bring me within the margin of error of winning.

So I'm in it to win it. You will face Armand Mizani in the November

general election. He has shown that he can raise money and put money behind TV ads and get people

out there. How do you counter that? Yeah, that's that's a tough one. My my campaign is probably not

going to have access to that kind of political action committee money. But I think Taylor Romett

showed us that money can't buy elections. He's the Democrat that won State Senate District 9.

He is. He is. And his SD9 district overlaps about 50% with House District 98. So that bodes well

for me. But have you spoken to him about any lessons and getting any advice from Taylor Romett?

I he's been so busy, you know, getting getting into office. I have not spoken with him directly.

But I did campaign for Armand speak with him before. And you know, we share a lot of the same

issues. It's it's kitchen table issues. It's schools is affordability. It's health care. I have a

background in health care management. And so, you know, those are the types of things that really

concern people no matter what district you're in. Even with motivated Democrats this year,

joined up with the polls here, Mizani still won more in the Republican primary than you did. How

do you overcome a deficit like that? Just in the primary alone? Yeah. Well, I I have to admit

I was campaigning more for Taylor Romett than I was myself in the lead up. So I didn't leave a

lot of time for me to do door knocking. However, I've been a precinct chair and a committee chair

with the Terran County Democratic Party for about four years. And so the precinct chairs are ready

to help me door knock. I think I can raise the money that's necessary to get my name recognition

out there with a lot of social media, of course, and earned media. So I'm looking forward to that.

I'm working on the real grassroots, having coffees at people's houses and just trying to talk

to everyone, whether that's an independent or a disgruntled Republican, people who are just concerned

about their schools and their neighborhoods. Okay, congratulations. Good luck. Thank you so much.

The roundtable is ready when we come back here on Inside Texas Politics. And keep up with Texas

politics all week long as well by subscribing to our podcast. It is called Yolotics, new content,

fresh interviews, and episodes drop every Sunday wherever you get your podcasts.

This is Inside Texas Politics with Jason Whiteley.

All right, time now for reporters roundtable to put the headlines in perspective. But Kennedy is

back from the Fort Worth start telegram. Natalie Haddad, political reporter WFA in Dallas and

Ashley Gadot, our friend from KVU and Austin, political director there. Buddler, start with you

and the first two polls and the John Corden, Ken Paxton, runoff race from May 26th showed both

guys still close there. What was interesting here though is that Paxton picked up more of Wesley

Hunt's voters. If they didn't vote for Paxton the first time, why would they vote for him the second

time? Well, they are movement conservatives. I mean, Wesley Hunt's voters wanted to change.

They wanted somebody younger than Paxton or maybe they objected to some of the downside of

Paxton, but they went ahead and went with Hunt. But if given the choice, they still want to choose

a movement conservative and not the establishment. The differences like the runoff itself a few more

are for Paxton than for Corden. And Natalie, President Trump did not seem in any rush to endorse

in this race like he said he would. Without an endorsement, I don't see any way this doesn't become

a bloodbath. I absolutely agree with you. These candidates have already spent presidential campaign

levels of money to in advertisements and everything that goes into that, including the AI,

to absolutely trash each other. And I think one of the big takeaways from the primary was that

money talks because they are now headed to a runoff. And you know, when you look at the polls,

some polls showed that one candidate may have swept and that just like wasn't the case.

And so I am surprised, I'm going to take that back. I'm not surprised to see that President

Trump is taking his time and is instead saying I want to see the Save Act passed. And what do you

know? We have Corden and making decisions on the filibuster having a different mindset on that

and promoting the Save Act now. And Ashley, if they trash each other, that's just more of an

opportunity. I presume for Democrat James Tallerico to get out there and eat up as much earned

videos as you can. I mean, to some degree, I think look, it's only going to last until May.

When was the last time we had a fight this juicy? I can't tell you one. Well, we've seen the ads,

the level of ads that we're seeing now with the attacks. And so I think that, guess, you know,

it could get nasty and you could maybe have, say, Representative Tallerico try to take some

advantage of that, but it will be short lived because between June and November, that's a lot of

time for him and the Republican to be attacking each other. Yeah. And bud, you know, with these

attack ads that Natalie mentioned a moment ago, and the amount of money spent on those, you know,

one thing that we see from John Corden is this morality theme. The most recent attack

ad he has against Ken Paxton talks about the 10 Commandments and accusations that Paxton

has violated the 10 Commandments. It's kind of a, he's had another one similar to this

before the March 3rd primary. Are these effective? Well, you know, the morality ads work with

the people who already for John Corden, the older voters already for Corden, the college-educated

voters. I think we've seen that morality is no longer an issue in politics. I think what the

voters want, the voters are against someone who's elite. They want to stop someone who's elite.

Corden has to show all the Ken Paxton's property as wealth as homes and show that he's actually

the elitist in this right. That's a good point, Natalie. I mean, that voters have shown that

multiple times in the past 10 years. They want to, you know, not afraid to burn things down and

bust up the the elite and the establishment. Yeah. I think bud makes excellent points. I do

wonder what certain, you know, certain Paxton voters are certainly thinking now, especially because,

you know, to Bud's point, he is really the elitist here. And if they're not afraid of burning things

down as you put it, Jason, I'm interested to see does Paxton actually pull this off?

Yeah. Natalie, I mean, Ashley, what do you think about that? Because it's, you know, you

talked about how rough this could be and Paxton didn't live up to polls and didn't place

this high on March 3rd as polls said he would. Yeah. And I think that, you know, when it comes to ads,

of course, we all write the four of us see all the ads that come in. We're very into the ads for,

you know, your average Texan or hit miss. And that's why he has to continue running these ads.

And he has to continue bringing up these issues with Paxton to show, you know, his elite status

and the issues, the flaws in his character. And I think if you're not only talking to

Republican primary, runoff voters, but you're also talking to those independents who maybe don't

want to support someone who they think is not a good guy. Yeah. And of course, Paxton has plenty of

his own attack ads out there as well, too, as much recent one just released in the past few days.

Guys, thanks so much. We're out of time for that. Thank you for watching as well. We're back

next Sunday to take you inside Texas politics. We hope you can join us today. Take care.

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