Dr. Jacquie Baly - Political Science Professor Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Six, twenty three, our time here in Houston's Born News. Yeah,
throw a little bit of politics in today, even though
we're kind of in the Christmas mood here this morning.
Texas Democrats have done something kind of unique. For the
first time in Texas history as far as we know,
they have filled every state and federal race on the
twenty twenty sixth ballot, every single one. That's a first

(00:22):
for either party. Doctor Jackie Bally is a political science
professor here in Houston. She joins us to talk about
I don't remember us putting the doctor before. You worked
really hard to get that doctor. Congratulations, I did, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
I appreciate you as always.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
And you even went to southern California to do it.
And I was concerned at the time that you might
get brain damage, something might happen to you along the way.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
But that will never happen. No, you're a strong woman
and you're approving it constantly. Okay, but this is kind
of unique, I guess, and it makes sense. It is
always amazing to me how many pose races that we have,
especially here in Houston. A lot of the judges races
in years past, these judges have been running unopposed, and

(01:08):
we keep getting the same people doing the same things
over and over again, and it's easy to see why.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Yeah, well, you know, two things are happening at the
same time. The Democrats are deciding we're going to make
sure that every single race from top to bottom is filled.
And then of course we know that the governor just
had his announcement and he said, I'm pouring twenty five
million dollars into the county to make sure that Harris
County becomes deep red. So you have both parties that

(01:35):
have decided they're going to get their base engage and
they're going to make sure up and down the ballot
get voters out based on their both different causes, and
to make sure that each party is competitive, each race
is competitive.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
Well, as long as the govern pointed that out, let
me let me say this, is there enough money on
the planet to turn Harris County deeper. And it takes
more than just money in order to be able to
make that happen.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
What Governor Abbott is planning to do is he's going
to have field workers coming in, He's going to have
strategist coming in, he's going to have grassroots applied. He's
looking at the infighting that's happening with the Democratic Party particularly,
you've covered it with Lena calling out both Kim Ogg
and now she's calling out Anise Parker and a lot

(02:24):
of voters, independents included, are very very very leery about
the crime wave that's happening their property taxes. So he's
going to be pointing and his strategies are going to
be pinpointing a lot of these key policy areas and
they're going to give it their all. And we've heard
so many times that Republicans have not done that in

(02:46):
Harris County because they've just assumed that the Democrats will
have it. So now he said that's not going to
be the case and we're going to make a competitive.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Well, I'm glad to hear that. I really am. I
would agree. You can't win if you don't run, right,
you can't win if you don't try.

Speaker 2 (03:01):
Well, that's exactly right, and you know this is the
time to strike. The governor has said that this is
the time there is infighting with on the Democrat side
and people are looking for strong leadership. People want some answers,
some real answers, some key policy areas, and he has.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
It well, and they want accountability, and I'd like to
think that they want honesty. And that's one thing we
don't have in Harris County right now, is either accountability
or honesty.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Well, I mean, you look at you have several people
in both Harris County and surrounding counties where you have
Republican candidates in races that you haven't seen before. And
so not only is he pouring his money into it,
but the Republican Party feels this is the time to strike.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
Okay, doctor, have a Merry Christmas. Thank you for your
time this morning.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Merry Christmas.