James Talarico

These people are such...

integral parts of my life and a part of me as a person.

And so I can't cancel them.

I can't write them off because they're a part of my life.

And I just feel like that is a blessing because it helps me to...

to see my political opponents as human beings first.

It allows me to connect with them and then allows us to find common ground and actually make some progress.

And I feel like that's what our politics needs at every level in both political parties.

And it's why...

competitive elections, why breaking one-party rule in Texas is so important because one-party rule always leads to extremism and corruption, whether it's the Republican Party in Texas or the Democratic Party elsewhere.

You need that competition.

So it forces lawmakers in both parties to work together, to talk to one another, to compromise.

We don't have that in Texas right now because we've had one party rule for 30 years.

So you see a lot of extremism.

You see a lot of corruption in our state.

And I think it's why people are hungry for a change.

Yeah.

Well, one, I detest this need that we have in our politics to put us all in containers.

Yes.

And it is strong.