James Talarico

Well, my mother, as I told you, I was born to a single mom.

She was a preacher's daughter from Laredo down on the border.

She left home at 19.

She moved up to Austin.

She met my birth father, who was a high school dropout and had a drinking problem.

And that drinking problem sometimes led to being violent with my mother.

And there was one night, it was me and mom and my birth father, and he had had too much drink and got violent again.

And that was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back.

And my mom decided right then and there that she was leaving.

So she packed all our stuff.

She put me in her little Ford Escort.

She drove me to the hotel where she worked downtown.

The manager let us stay in one of the rooms for a few weeks until we found a little apartment in East Austin.

And mom, she took on double duty at the hotel.

She fought for me at every instance, even when her own physical safety was at risk.

And back then, this was early 90s, she could look over at the Texas Capitol and she saw Texas Democrats like Ann Richards, Bob Bullock, people who fought for the little guy, for working people, people who were forgotten and left behind.

That was the classic Democratic Party.

Right.

And so I remember when I was – I guess I was maybe kindergarten –

And someone in school, they were talking about political parties.