James Talarico

And he wasn't wearing his orange jumpsuit.

He was wearing a cap and gown.

And I just saw how...

a new horizon had opened up for him and that a new world, a new future was completely possible because of a bill that I was able to pass through state government.

And so there's lots of,

ugly parts of politics.

There's hard parts about campaigning statewide in Texas.

But I've seen how when people come together, you can truly change people's lives.

You can truly transform these broken systems.

You can truly love your neighbor through public policy.

And those are the moments that keep me going, even through all the ugly and nasty parts of this.

Yeah, I mean, we were talking earlier about theocracy and the dangers of theocracy, and we're seeing that in this Texas... We're seeing that in the Texas state capitol.

We are seeing lawmakers pushing bills that...

erode the sacred boundary between church and state, that separation that's in our first amendment in the establishment clause and the free exercise clause.

And this bill that they were pushing would force every teacher in Texas, in every public school, not private schools, but public schools, force every teacher to put up a poster of the 10 commandments.

And as a Christian, as a person of faith, the 10 commandments are very important to me.

I've tried to live my life

based on those 10 commandments.

It's hard enough to be different as a kid.

It's hard to be a Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, atheist kid in a Texas public school where Christianity is the dominant religion, the dominant culture.