Katrina Pierson - Texas State Representative Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, I guess, to be fair to Texas Democrats, they
didn't all run away, just enough of them ran away
to make sure they couldn't get a quorum. Joining US
Texas State Representative Katrina Pearson's she's in Austin. I'm pretty
sure you're in Austin, right, Cochana. You didn't run away anywhere?

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Good morning. I am in Austin here serving the greatest
district in the state of.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
Thirty three excellent, and just out of curiosity, any idea
how many Democrats stayed behind, didn't go off to Illinois
or where else they may be going.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
You know, it's a great question when you look at
some of their press conferences thirty thirty five. But I'm
pretty sure there are some here in the state. As
you mentioned, there were a few that stayed behind. But
I guess we're about to find out.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Okay, So will be Will there be a session today?
Will there be an attempt to see if there's a
quorum today?

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Absolutely, we will be there at one o'clock to find
out if we have a quorum. There's different discussions on that.
Some think we may some think we may not. After
the eye taken yesterday by Governor Abbotts and Speaker Boroughs.
Some of those may be enticed to show up today.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, I would think they probably would, because if they
are in the state and they don't show up, then
DPS is going to be looking for them, aren't.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
They DPS rangers, you name it. I love the fact
that the Speaker said all options are on the table.
I love the boldness of Governor Abbot who said, you know,
we're going to vacate your seeds or try to. And
I think that's going to get a lot of attention.
The reality is the Democrats fled the state because they
didn't like what was happening, and that is not representing

(01:35):
your districts. And think about this, It's not like they're
going to tell their voters the truth. The simple fact
that minorities in the state of Texas have been trending
Republican in their performance, and that's just not something.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
They can sell well, especially considering where they went. They
went to Illinois. If you take a look at the
map for districting map in Illinois, it's about as jerry
mandard as you could possibly get. Most of these states,
most of these so called blue states, I had a
minimum of thirty five percent vote in favor of President
Trump in the last election, Yet the US representatives representing

(02:12):
that particular state has a percentage far, far, far less
than that of Republicans who are representing those particular states.
So there's guilty. The party that's in power is always
guilty of trying to set this up to their best benefit.
That's just how this works.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, and that's the irony when you look at Illinois, California,
in New York. I mean, you could argue the fact
that it's not worse is their constitution prohibits it. So
we'll see if they tried to nail go and change
their constitution to quote unquote compete. But Texas needs to
be more competitive. The voters here have spoken. The Democrats
don't like the result, and that's really unfortunate to them.

(02:52):
But I will tell you the maps will get passed.
You know, when you talk about the timeline for a minute,
because I've heard so many things that I think it's
important to correct the record. This is something that would
not have been done during regular session because some of
the trials didn't even get started until May. Such an
ended in June. Proclamation came until July, so we're absolutely
on track to be redistricting right.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Now, all right, just out curious the Representative Pearson. Is
anybody checked? I mean, it's interesting that the governor has
threatened not only the arrest but the expulsion of these
Democrats who have fled the state. Is anybody checked the
legality of what the governor's proposing? Legally? Can these Democrats
be expelled from their seats for leaving the state?

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Well, I don't think the governor would have mentioned it
if it wasn't possible. It is a legal situation. How
long that would take I'm not sure, but it is
a possibility, and they would have to go through the
courts in order to do so. And I don't think
the governor is joking. I think he's absolutely serious about
pursuing this.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Yeah, I know that. When I saw the governor last
night on Fox, he said something about they could potentially
also be charged with bribery for taking money from certain
entities in order to flee the state. In other words,
they are allowed to accept money to do something like that.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Well, I mean that's what all options on the table means.
I mean, it's quite serious that Republicans are looking at
all options on the table including bribery and vacating their seats,
and rightly so. I mean, this is a very serious issue.
We have flood legislation to take care of. We cannot
let these people who have been hurt by the flood
to get stuck in the crossfire because the Democrats are

(04:30):
whining that they don't like how the state is trending.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Well, I'll say this, it certainly is nice to see
Republicans fighting back for change. Thanks for joining me today.
Good to talk to you.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Great, thank you.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
Texas State Representative Katrina Pearson