Chris Begala - Political Strategist Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Or maybe not so conservatively six twenty three our time
here in Houston's forty years. It was interesting on Michael
Berry's program, I think this was last week. I heard
some of his listeners kind of chiming in about who
they support in the Senate race, John Cornyan or Ken
Paxton or Wesley Hunt. And it was pretty evenly split

(00:20):
between Wesley Hunt and Ken Paxton. Nobody was calling in
to support John Cornyan, which is why he's spending so
much money right now trying to prevent being primary. Joining
us talk about it is Chris Bagala. He has a
problem with the voters at this point, Chris Bagala. But
the question is, are these the people are going to
show up at the polls and vote and voted this

(00:43):
early part of the election for the candidate who eventually
will run for the US Senate Because in the past
that hasn't been the case.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, you know, it's fascinating because when you are running
in a Republican primary, most of those voters are are
are are more secure and knowledgeable about what they're doing,
and it's harder to change their minds. And there's no
doubt that John Cornyn is looking at a situation where

(01:13):
he is not viewed as the rock solid conservative and
that's what he needs to be in a conservative Republican
primary in Texas. So, you know, these polls, I'm not
so sure that the last couple of polls that have
come out have been exactly spot on because they basically

(01:33):
have Paxton and Cornyn pretty darn close. And Wesley Hunt,
who's somewhat you know, new to to the entire state,
but he's looking pretty good because I would think his
name ID would be dragging a little bit more.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Than it is.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
So it's it's fascinating. And as you state, of course,
the incumbency of John Cornyn, you know, the foundational support
he gets from packed lobbyists, all those people to do
business with the government. He's a sitting United States Senator.
That's a pretty big deal. He's got tons of money.
And the question here is can he somewhat change the

(02:12):
mind of Republican primary voters and and and tell them
that I am more conservative than you think. That's the
challenge here, and uh, you know, it's going to be
very interesting. We've still got months and months left, so
that's years in uh in a lifetime in politics. But
it's a very fascinating uh story, and a fascinating race.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Well, the thing that makes the Wesley Hunt candadacy interesting
to me is I think the main reason why he
got in is that he sensed and and I wonder
what you're sensing on this Ken. Ken Paxton's baggage is
all personal baggage, you know, based on based on the
relationship he had with his wife and and and there
are a lot of conservative voters out there that get
nervous about that and and don't want to don't want

(02:57):
to vote for somebody based based on that. So you've
got John Cornyn, who's not conservative, I think, got Ken
Paxton's personal issues. And now you go Wesley Hunt, who's,
as far as I can tell, doesn't have any of
those types of issues to worry about.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, and you know, the elephant in the room, of course,
is the most powerful, the most polarizing figure on the
planet is Donald Trump. If Donald Trump gets involved here
and says I am for Paxton, it's over. Paxton wins.
If Donald Trump says, you know what, he's been good
to me. I don't agree with him all the time,

(03:30):
but I support and endorse wholeheartedly John Cornyn, it might
be over okay, and if he were to go with Hunt,
I think Hunt could easily make a runoff, maybe even
win straight out. So will Donald Trump get involved? I
don't think that Trump is going to endorse Paxton. I
don't think he is so Ken Paxton has got an

(03:52):
uphill battle. This just might turn out that it could
be Hunt and Cornyn in a runoff. I don't see.
Unless Trump comes in and gives a strong endorsement and
raises a bunch of money for a candidate, one of
these three they'll win outright. But if Trump does not endorse,
I think we're looking at a you know, we're looking

(04:14):
at a runoff. I don't think one of these candidates
is going to get fifty plus.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
It's gonna be interesting to watch. Thank you, Chris, appreciated
political strategist Chris Spagala