James Talarico

And so I convinced James to co-author my bill, a Bernie Sanders idea actually, in the Texas legislature to import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada into Texas.

James risked a lot to work on that bill.

We got it passed to the House and the Senate and signed by the governor.

It is now law.

We are working on our application as a state to the FDA to start importing those cheaper prescription drugs.

So that's an example of how love changed someone else.

But then James had a bill

that would have allowed homeschool kids to participate in something called UIL, which in Texas is basically our sports league, our extracurriculars, the arts, and you know how serious Texans take our high school football, Friday Night Lights.

Every Democrat was opposed to it.

And I was opposed to it because I'm like, public education is not a buffet table.

You can't come in and take the sports or take the music, the band, and leave behind everything else and not participate in the community.

James sat down with me because we had a relationship.

We had trust.

We had love for one another.

And he said, when we talk about immigration, you always say we shouldn't punish children for the decisions their parents make.

And suddenly it dawned on me that I was morally inconsistent here, that for these homeschool kids, this may be the only opportunity they have to interact with kids of their own age and to participate in a community like that.

So I ended up crossing party lines.

I got a lot of heat from the education groups and my colleagues.

I voted for that bill.

It passed.