Texas blue wave, new Houston ICE order, race for Texas House Speaker, and more | What's Your Point?

In the great state of Texas, a blue tsunami strikes with pent-up vengeance, washing out three full decades of Republican rule and delivering Democrats their first opportunity to govern in a generation. Also on our table, President Donald Trump curb-stomped in a nationwide midterm repudiation that's delivered complete control of Congress to Team Blue. We'll be right back. And the final chapter of this perfect storm extinguished any hope of a GOP breakthrough in Harris County, with Democrats running the table in decisive fashion. Greg Grugan, and welcome to What's Your Point, where our panelists call it like they see it. Let's greet them. Starting us off, businessman and former Democratic statewide candidate, Andrew White. Next up, Holly Hansen, political reporter for the Texan. In the three-spot, urbanist and energy professional Jordan Thomas. Batting cleanup, Dr. Sergio Lira, president of LULAC Greater Houston. And closing us out, Bill King, businessman, columnist, and fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute. Let's begin. We just took back Texas. We... We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas. They're loud for every billionaire, every lobbyist and every corruption belongs to us. After three long decades, the perfect storm struck Tuesday with a vengeance, an incendiary electoral outpouring of dissatisfaction and anger, accelerated by GOP extremism and a dangerous degree of hubris, which piled up layer upon layer over each unchecked cycle of power. What pundits and pollsters forecast as a razor-close rush to the finish line was anything but. With every Democrat running statewide swept comfortably into office aboard a blue tsunami that may well redefine the once ruby red Lone Star State for years to come. Panel, you've all had an opportunity to absorb what's unfolded, so I ask the question, what's your point? I'm going to start with you, Jordan Thomas. Great night for my folks, for Democrats. I think we've got a once in a lifetime opportunity here and everyone who's now in charge knows not to squander that. I think you saw in those two acceptance speeches a nod to bipartisanship. They know that they've won a traditionally red state and the mandate does not extend to Democrat policy throughout everywhere. They're gonna have to reach across the aisle and work with the Democrats, I mean with the Republicans in the Senate. I'm excited. Sergio, we've talked about it for years, Latinos in Texas are becoming the majority if they're not already. And now we have a Latina leading the state of Texas for the first time ever. This is a phenomenon I never would have imagined in my lifetime, you're correct. This is a historical once in a lifetime situation. I said it on this program, the death of Lorenzo Salgado, it will be a bloodbath for the Republicans, and that's exactly what happened. This was a statement from all the families that were hurting for what's happening in our state and across the nation. That's just for starters, but this blue wave started in the Gulf of Mexico from the Port Arthur all the way to Port Isabel, and it swept up the Panhandle. We're still excited. All right, Andrew White, we were talking last year, and you sensed that there were some chinks in the armor, and there was some real dissatisfaction with what had evolved over that long stretch of Republican rule. Yeah, I'm 54, so for 30 years, my entire adult life, I've been waiting for this moment. And seeing those clips on the TV, even though it's been about a week, I still get chills. This is a huge, huge moment. When I first realized that the Democrats had won and had won top to bottom, it felt like that ding dong, the witch is dead moment, right? When in the Wizard of Oz, like everyone's dancing, everyone's out. You can't believe we're free, right? And so. What happened, I think, was we saw the most moderate cast of candidates we've seen in 25 years. So from James to Gina to Vicki Goodwin as Lieutenant Governor-elect and Sarah Eckhardt, that's four Austin Democrats. They're known to be the most liberal Democrats in Texas, right? But they just ran the most moderate campaign in 25 years. You didn't hear the abortion word one time. This is not Wendy Davis's party anymore, if you ask me. Because if you wanna win, you have to run as a moderate. All right, Bill King, How about a heaping helping of reality here? Because it's your belief that it wasn't so much an embrace of Democratic ideals as it was a repudiation of what was happening in Washington with the president and down the ticket. It really was not a blue wave. It was an independent wave. The Republicans and the Democrats performed pretty much like they have in previous elections. Thank you very much. What people keep forgetting is not everybody are Republicans or Democrats. About 40% of the people that vote in Texas don't vote in primary, so legally they are unaligned. And that 40% voted about 58-42 for Donald Trump. They voted about 58-42 against the Republicans this time. That is a swing of 1.6 million votes. That's what happened in this election. And so I would just suggest this is a cautionary tale, that if you get out and start talking about fringe issues, like the Republicans did nonstop in this election, we talked about it on the show many times, calling people names, all that nonsense, those of us that are in the middle, the political center got sick of that. Now, right now, we're hearing some great things from Democrats, and I hope they follow through on what they say. But if they go back to their old ways and start acting like the Republicans just did, then I guarantee you, in two years, we'll set all them down on the bench just like we did the Republicans this time. I was talking to our mutual friend, Justin Keener, and I said, you know, you learn more from losses than from victories. What are you hearing out there? Well, to follow up on Bill's point, definitely one thing we've talked about, and we talked about on this show all this past year, is you win elections with those swing voters. And you did not see Republicans persuading those swing voters. So I think there's a lot of soul searching going on right now amongst the Republican Party. They're you know, we have to go back and look at what happened in the primary election for US Senate, where you have a subset of a subset of voters that come out and vote in that election. And they opted to put Ken Paxton at the top. top of the ticket in Texas as if there were not already a problematic political scenario coming from what's happening in the White House. Then you had that candidate at the top of the ticket. It dragged the whole ticket down. Hold that thought still to come. The landmark midterm delivers an historic elevation with Houston's Syphronia Thompson set to become the first ever Madam Speaker of the Texas House. But up next. Referendum Tuesday's election widely viewed as a job review for President Donald J. Trump. You saw the people that were packed, thousands and thousands of people at every rally. And if I was on the ballot, we would have won. Not his fault, says the president, despite posting the lowest approval rating in recent history, including a consistently subsurface mark here in the once loyal Lone Star State, which he carried by double digits less than two years ago. Panel clearly. In my opinion, Mr. Trump is in denial. What do you think, Holly? Yes, absolutely. You know, when we're talking to some of our local Republicans, I'll give you an example. There's a woman by the name of Burgundy Kane in this area, a Republican activist, wife of a state lawmaker. And she was talking about after this election and even before the election, the big problem for people was affordability. And when people are... Sometimes having families pay more for groceries than they are for their mortgage, there's a real problem. And they elected Donald Trump to the White House in response to the economic Situation in 2024, they expected things to get better, but they haven't. And yes, inflation is not at the rate it was a couple of years ago, but it's still ongoing and those prices haven't come down. In the meantime, people are struggling to be able to afford those groceries that are more and more expensive. Young people are having difficulty in imagining even buying their first home because Because of the cost of things and so those are the issues that persuaded those independent Independent voters, as Bill said, don't affiliate with a particular party, and that's where you win and lose elections with those people. Now the question is, what will Democrats do to address these issues? And the devil's in the details. And that's gonna be important because we have criticized the president for over-promising and under-delivering. And we've had some promises on the Democratic side. How do they stay laser-focused? I think some of it's already teed up. So they're a set of Healthcare cuts to happen in the new year, that's going to unify the Democrats on something that they can fight against, right? And they've got to continue it from there. I think Trump is teeing up this fight by choosing Stephen Miller. That's a doubling down on failed policies that were just repudiated. He's offering UFC CEOs jobs in the White House, he's totally disconnected from where people are at. Holly's right. Affordability was the word that Mondale taught the political world in 25. Democrats added accountability to that phrase in this cycle. And I think that's what you're going to see in Washington next year, you will see a whole bunch of hearings, there is going to be kind of the Washington theater. But there are enough policies that the Dems have united on early out the gate that I think is going to get them going. Stand to yield. Bill has identified Latinos as the biggest independent voting block in Texas because there was a 27 point swing in 2024. The president under delivered in the minds of a lot of Latino voters and but it's like show me, show me. Yeah, no, absolutely, I think and Holly's right when she said the swing vote was decided, the factor here in this election. But the Latino vote is the swing vote in the state of Texas and in California and across the state. And it's no longer a swing vote, it's a huge important voting block now. The children of immigrants who have had enough and frustrated, they're called the No Sabo generation. They came out that first one and then once behind them, they're called the six seven generation. They're coming, they're gonna get stronger, sustainable and that's what That's what happened, they're not going, the sleeping giant is not He's not going back to sleep. We'll be watching. Up next, Texas voters elect their first ever Latina governor, signaling a landscape shift in Lone Star politics for potentially generations to come. I love our state. It's been an honor to serve it. And know that we are leaving Texas in far better shape than it's ever been. And yet for outgoing Governor Greg Abbott, a bulging war chest could not calm a rising tide of dissatisfaction with his fourth bite at the apple missing the mark. Once considered a sacrificial lamb, Gina Hinojosa proved instead a lioness, ripping away at Abbott's flip flops, exploiting his profligate fundraising, overly comfy relationship with industry and hard right positions in the culture war. I'm just about delivering for people. This is not about being a Democratic administration. I'm not going to be the governor for just Democrats. I'm going to be the governor for all the people of Texas. Donald, I think it's fair to say one of the most progressive members of the Texas House successfully rebranded herself as an economic populist. And in January, she will take the oath as leader of the world's eighth biggest economy. All right, Andrew, you know something about the governor's mansion? You know, your dad served our state. Thoughts here? Well, first of all, he would be ecstatic right now. He passed away eight years ago, but he probably wouldn't believe this is happening. It's happening. Having run twice, I can tell you this, that first question every single time is always, Greg Abbott has $100 million, how are you going to compete against $100 million? Well, Gina just did. And so money is not everything. And so that's the first point. The second point is this. I've had probably 25 text messages from my Republican friends saying how crazy is this team? Who are they? What do they stand for? And I've been talking them back, say, hey, guys, I know they're Austin Democrats, but guess what? They're super moderate. I've had the good opportunity of meeting them on the campaign trail. I know them personally. And if you're worried about who these people really truly are, I can tell you, they're good people. They have great experience and their hearts in the right place. Bill King, thoughts here. Well, first of all, Abbott's campaign was political malpractice in the extreme. He had a lot of good things to talk about. He chose not to talk about any of those, instead talked about the Chinese buying land, trans kids, Sharia law, stuff like that. And most people were saying, what in the hell are you talking about? I can't afford steaks in the grocery store. I think also, another thing, the affordability was certainly incredibly important. But I'm going to tell you, the big... middle of the country was tired of the nastiness. They were tired of the name calling. I said on this show, if the Republicans think that you're persuading one independent voter by calling Tallarico, Tallarico, you are wrong. All that does is drive voters away. And I think this was a lot of people standing up and saying, hey, listen, my mom and dad didn't raise me like that, and I'm not putting up with it anymore. Holly, do you think that message Have you made it through to those who will be the decision makers for the Republican Party going forward? I sure hope so. There are a lot of Republicans within the Republican Party who are anxious to return to a free market defense. They don't like the corporate, what do you call it, crony capitalism. They don't like some of the decisions coming out of the White House that are in Congress. In contrast with historically what has been a party that supported free enterprise and the ability of business to operate. We're not just talking about big business, even small business owners, right? They don't want to be burdened with regulation. They don't want to be overtaxed. They want to be free to raise enough income to support their families and so forth. So that's an important message. And it was refreshing to hear these winners talk about being more bipartisan and reaching out to the other side of the aisle. While Gina Hinojosa, of course, She adopted Ernest Bales, former state rep, Republican, to be on the team. But another pick of hers is throwing up some red flags, someone who is known here in Harris County, formerly worked with Lena Hidalgo, and Commissioner Rodney Ellis. For those of you in the Harris County area, you know what that means. Got to go. When we come back, Democrat James Tallarico punches his ticket to the U.S. Senate in truly decisive fashion. Yeah, I think there's a wide variety of issues that we could work together on. Immigration is one of them. I think trying to pass comprehensive immigration reform that includes border security, give the president credit where credit is due. He has done a better job than the previous administration in securing our border. But we also need to create more legal pathways for hardworking immigrants who want to come here and contribute to our economy, who want to make us richer and stronger as a nation. And we should figure out a pathway to citizenship for those hardworking neighbors who have been here for years and decades, so they can come out of the shadows. Like Lorenzo Salgado, hours after his victory, Senator-elect James Talarico echoing the bipartisan consensus expressed on this program for more than a decade and doing so in a persuasive, non-confrontational manner. Panel, I'll just say this. This is going to be compelling to watch. Will James Talarico be the consensus builder many have craved? Or a democratic socialist camouflaged in moderate clothing. All right, credit where credit's due. I think it was like four or five months ago, Jordan Thomas said he's doing everything exactly right. He is, he has completely changed the way in which we talk about our politics. We've been on this show today talking about moderates and progressives and he avoided all of that with a top down message of it is billionaires versus the rest of us at the bottom. That is the theme throughout the country. That's what unites someone like Abdul Sayed to the gentleman who's gonna win in Mississippi shortly. It was all them saying they don't care about you. We do. Look at who their donors are. Look at the policies in which they've put forward. Thank you very much. Listening to that, I'm a bit saddened because knowing that Stephen Miller is going to be the chief of staff there, I don't think that there's a bipartisan immigration bill to be had. And the president has signaled he wants the doubling down of what he's been doing. So we'll see. But I definitely think the tone and tenor of the conversation has changed. And Talarico is going to be a leader on that front in Washington. Before you made the decision to back Gina, I was hearing some of these same consensus building arguments from you. Are you encouraged? Is this real what we're hearing from Talarico? On the day after he won his election, James Talarico shows up on Fox News and then compliments the sitting president. He really should be complimenting him because that's why he won. That's why James won, because the Republicans lost, right? But instead, what he was saying was, let's work together. He was recognizing an obvious statement about the borders being closed now and tighter, and that's an improvement. So. He's obviously very comfortable in his own skin to be able to stand up there as a newly minted Democratic senator from Texas and extended an olive branch over to Trump. That's great. I love that. All right, Bill King, the argument has been made that a lot of the super left-of-center crazy talk, kooky stuff that Talarico said once, he's grown out of that. He's moderated. He's matured. Are you buying what he's selling? Well, I would hate to be held accountable for all the dumb stuff I said when I was in my 20s and early 30s, because there would be some clips like these, probably, that you could listen to. Look, we all grow up and we all mature, and going through this kind of campaign, I can tell you from going through the mayor's campaigns, those campaigns mature you in a way, you learn a tremendous amount about... In my case, the city, in his case, the state. So I think he has changed. I had the opportunity to sit in on a Zoom call with him with about 10 other business guys here from Houston, and he was delivering very much the message that you heard right there, which is we've got to get things done. All right. I'm going to hear from you two in a second, okay? Up next, another glass ceiling smashed in this historic midterm election. So get used to the term, Madam Speaker. For no reason, we are Americans. And we are proud Americans and we deserve the same rights and respect and the same considerations that everybody has. And I'm gonna fight until we get it. I'm not gonna be a hostage. If they wanna arrest me, bring it on. I call that vintage Sinfronia Thompson, or Ms. T, as she's respectfully, almost reverently known on the floor of the Texas House. A Texas House that has swung decisively into Democratic hands, and a Texas House that appears poised to elect the ageless 85-year-old its next speaker. Everyone has a Sinfronia story, including me. I'll be forever grateful to Ms. T for rescuing the cameras in special needs classrooms initiative that almost died. In the waning hours of the session until she personally intervened and pushed it across the finish line and into law, protecting untold thousands of Texas kids from abuse. On Friday, Sinfronia Thompson's historic elevation became more or less official. It's going to take all of us working together, the expertise of the Republicans and the expertise of the Democrats, working as a unit to get the things done for this state. I'm not here to punish anybody. I did that when I was a parent. Sinfronia Thompson, soon to be the first female and first African-American House Speaker in the long history of Texas. Bill, you've known her for decades. Yeah, I tell you, I cannot be more thrilled about this. Yes. There's no artifice about Ms. T. She is exactly who she appears to be. And, look, she earned this. I mean, and by the way, the Democrats really made a great choice here because she's the only person in statewide leadership that actually knows how state government works. I mean, she knows how to get things done. And I've seen her work in the majorities. I've seen her work in the minorities. And, you know, she understands the process. And she is not a radical in any stretch of the word. I think she's going to do what's absolutely best for Texas. I could not be more thrilled that this is who the Texas House picked. And by the way, This is the first Houston speaker of the House that I can remember. I think maybe in my lifetime. I don't know, Andrew. I can't remember when we've had one before. If she's elected, we'll have three women running Texas. She is going to be elected. It is a done deal. Okay, Holly. Stroke of genius in what will be a difficult transition. Absolutely. And Ms. T has a history of working with both sides of the aisle to get legislation passed, which is what we would hope our lawmakers would actually do instead of just throwing bombs and so forth. And she understands the dynamic here in the state legislature because she also has a still Republican-controlled Senate to work with. And so you're gonna need both chambers to get these bills passed. She also will probably help the governor-elect who does not have any executive experience. And so I think Enfronia Thompson's gonna bring a lot of wisdom to the Democrat leadership in Texas now. Texas has been breaking Breaking these ceilings, as you mentioned, over the past couple of decades, we had the first African-American elected to the state Supreme Court in 2004 with Wallace Jefferson, a Republican, Kay Bailey Hutchison, first female senator. So it's neat to see these little landmarks along the way of history. But yeah, I think we're hearing a lot of- Positive, for the most part, positive bipartisan applause for Enfronia Thompson as the speaker. Well, Jordan, it's only taken since 1836. Crazy. Crazy, but couldn't think of a better person to be the first. She has made her way into Texas history books, and it's well-deserved. I think she also fits the brand of economic populism that the governor-elect has been talking about. When you look at her legislative career, the things that she's championed, and as has been said on this panel, she has a whole lot of clout on the other side of the aisle, too. A number of Republicans came out and said, this is a great pick. Joe Moody could have made this a fight, didn't, said, like, you know, I'm throwing my support. Joe Moody from El Paso. Yeah, yeah, no, no, I mean, the experience matters, and you have to understand what's going on, and there's some shuffling going on right now. However, she is the right person for this position based purely on her marriage. She's an old school warrior, fights for the working class, and she still has that fire in her belly to make changes. Go ahead. She reminds me of the late Barbara Jordan. Yeah, and here's the other thing. I think she served with the late Barbara Jordan. She's been in office that long. Yeah. What an amazing time. Yeah, Bill, interesting fact. She entered the legislature the same year that John Whitmire did, right? So this is when all the single-member districts got put in place, and that whole cast of people got elected, including Barbara Jordan. What do you think her biggest challenge is going to be? Because this is a gut punch for Republicans who have been in control for a good chunk of Jordan's adult life. The biggest challenge would be trying to find common ground with the Republicans in the Senate. And so I'll give you an example of something, if they're gonna try to roll back the abortion law, which I think is something that's on the table, which by the way, 70, 80% of Texans disagree with our current abortion law. But if you wanted to roll that back. Then I'm afraid the Democrats would try to go too far. So we're just going to repeal it. And Republicans are going to stand up against that as opposed to finding some middle ground. Now, I feel confident that in her heart, she likes all those middle grounds. The question is, shouldn't she bring both sides together to find the middle ground? That's going to be the big challenge. Are you disappointed that. I mean, like Rafael Anchia is very well thought of in the house. Yeah, we're not disappointed. I think the African Americans, they came out in large numbers to support Gina and others. And I think this is based purely on merit, not based on race and the experience. And the other issue is that they're starting to select the Democratic caucus leader and there's still some other positions available to be considered. All right, we're going to leave it right there. And we have an hour of overtime to flesh this stuff out. Tell me his tea stories. All right, still to come, Mayor John Whitmire not waiting until January 1st, limiting HPD cooperation with ICE, effective immediately. But up next, the midterm blue wave moves full control of Congress into Democratic hands. What will be the progressive priority, punishing Trump or improving affordability? Today begins the great American comeback. But with this majority, Americans have given we Democrats the opportunity to prove ourselves worthy of their trust. Democrats on Tuesday riding a blue wave to substantial majorities in both chambers of Congress, majorities that will likely get bigger as votes are tabulated in still undecided races. Panel, the looming certainty is that the Trump administration will have a very difficult final two years of this ongoing presidency, including likely impeachment hearings. And therein lies the trap, Jordan. Thank you, Jordan. Is there a balance here? I mean, I think that there are people who think that they're warranted. But two years is coming. Yeah, I don't think we're going to see two years of nonsense. I think at most you get eight months because you got to remember in both parties is going to be presidential primaries are going to start. So that's going to dominate the news wave. Robert Garcia, the incoming chair of the Oversight Committee, caught a lot of flak on election night for his tweet that simply said lawyer up. That is a preview of things to come that people don't want to see. But when he broke down later on what he was going to be looking into, it was things like Surveillance pricing in Walmart, right? Charging people different prices for the same goods. That's gonna be a very popular thing to look into. We're gonna see the Epstein files and you're gonna investigate the Kushner's and the Trump children and whatnot. But people do wanna see accountability as well. All right, we're looking at a potential 57. Senators? Mm-hm. 56, probably, yeah. 56? 56? Yeah. Okay, but that's still only four from impeachment. Yeah. Is there a trap there? It could be two thirds for impeachment. Two thirds. Okay, sorry. Two thirds. Thanks for the civics lesson. All right. And for a veto brief margin. The first Trump term, the big takeaway was it doesn't matter. It's about the economy, stupid, right? And so this election taught us that same time one more time, right? So Trump is a trap. The House and the Senate have to pass laws, they have to put the laws on Trump's desk, and then dare him to veto those laws. Over, and over, and over, and see what happens, that's how democracy works. And I think when people start seeing that, they're gonna see the Democrats are working for us, and that's how they get reelected. Do the Tejanos you talked to wanna see impeachment, or do they wanna see their prices go down? They wanna see the Democrats deliver. And now they're in a position to not only this the next phase is for them to deliver and also hold them accountable but also deal with the affordability crisis and some immigration reform. And starting with the DACA and the DPS legal status of being here, give them a pathway to legal status. I'm looking at it in terms of piecemeal, go after and hold them accountable for winnable corruption cases. And then the last six months impeach Trump so on his way out that's hanging over his head. Well, the question is, deliver what, right? And so what are the policy specifics that we're going to see? Played the clip of Schumer, well, he's already got a little bit of trouble in his ranks because not everybody is on board as supporting him. And there are some of the more progressive members that will be coming into office here who don't like Schumer and they want to remove him from leadership and want a very much more far left progressive policy agenda that won't play well if they take a lesson from the 2024 to 2026 on Republicans. Same thing for Democrats, be very careful about going too far. Still ahead, a clear... Clean sweep for Democrats in once purplish Harris County. Will it mean more government and the heavy taxation needed to fund it? Affordability is a real thing, ladies and gentlemen, and folks are hurting. And so my commitment with these next four years is to ensure that we make a significant impact on the issue of affordability. Freshly re-elected Harris County Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia making a big promise there. Commissioner, I've got a suggestion for you. How about repealing the 41% increase in my property tax that you just voted for? Now that deeper caps and heftier voter approval standards are likely off the table in Austin, I think we all know that ain't happening. Garcia's win, part of a clean Democratic sweep in Harris County, including election of a new judge, Letitia Plummer. If you voted because you are working multiple jobs and still struggling to afford child care, I will be your county judge. If you voted for full accountability to taxpayers, I will be your county judge. And if you voted for my opponent, I will be your county judge, too. Panel judge-elect Plummer hinting there at new financial assistance funding for low-income residents. As you are probably aware, she's on the record favoring a guaranteed basic income. Bill, the issue here is going to be, will a county judge candidate Plummer, who opposed the tax increase... But who also says, I'd like to institute some new social programs. Will the money be there? Yeah, I think the problem at the county level is going to be a financial one. Their budget's already strapped. They had to do this gigantic increase this year just to balance the budget with all the new spending that they added to it. It looks like the tax roll is going to actually come in less than what they thought it was going to. So they're going to end up with a deficit anyway. And that's not going to change going forward. Thank you. We'll see in mid-December, we'll get the new population numbers. But Harris County will have a very small increase in population. We might actually lose population for the first time since the 1980s. So Harris County is in a very precarious situation. In the last 10 years, 300,000 people have moved out of Harris County. Mostly headed to the suburbs, but some other places. And so somehow they're going to have to figure out how to right this ship in Harris County. Okay, one minute. Shit! Well, to quote Margaret Thatcher, the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money. So if you're going to do guaranteed basic income, how are you going to pay for it? And I appreciate that Letitia Plummer said she wouldn't have supported this tax increase, but she hasn't really shown us what she would cut to pay for the program she would like to implement. And do you increase that burden on middle class people? They just can't afford to keep paying more and more and more taxes, and they don't get as much of a benefit So, you know, how do you balance that out? I don't know how the math is going to work here. All right, we have somebody who worked closely with Letitia Plummer here to respond. She's an extremely pragmatic person. Elections are your opportunity to give the electorate your priorities. And I think in that clip you saw who her priorities are and what her priorities are going to be. It's not on Letitia. There are five. People there that have to lead this county and so it's going to be it's going to be a collection of different voices, but she's told you working people are her concern. Those are the people that they're going to prioritize. I'm not saying they're going to be cuts. I'm not saying they're going to be new tax increases, but whatever happens, Letitia Plummer has committed to you that working families are going to be at the center of what she's thinking about when she goes to work. Am I being unfair to hit Adrian talking about affordability being his biggest priority right after he hammered people with a 41% increase in their property tax? Not at all, but of course, he wasn't the only guy that voted for the tax increase. There was four commissioners on there except for Ramsey. Thank you, Nancy. However- Actually, Lena didn't vote for it. Oh, Lena also abstained, I believe. And also, so you know- I'm glad Letitia Plummer won, and she's going to hold the line on property taxing. Her focus is on affordability. And the issue of cutting, it's too early to tell. You've got to get me with the budget director. You've got to do a hiring freeze, look at the overspending on some of these folks that just hired. I'm talking about someone that makes half a million dollars. Those are the ones you start cutting first. Up next, with Republican leadership soon to depart the state capitol, Mayor John Whitmire makes a move from Further separating HPD from ICE. Welcome back. Elections have consequences, and this one is no different. Houston Mayor John Whitmire announcing an executive order substantially limiting HPD cooperation with ICE. It's to reduce the fear and anxiety, and not just in some of our communities, across Houston. We don't want people to worry about their workers, their family members, their students. This really unifies Houston. Panel with new Democratic leadership soon to take the helm in Austin. The city is no longer under threat of losing hundreds of millions of dollars in state grants due to a lack of compliance with controversial Senate Bill 4, mandating cooperation with ICE. All right, you think this was a dumb move or a move that will not be viewed? Favorably by the electorate. No one can accuse John Whitmire of being dumb. He's one of the most savvy politicians we have in Texas, certainly in Houston. But I think it is transparent here that this is a flip flop. This is he ran by saying I'm the Republican whisperer. I'm in with Abbott and I have good relationships over there. And the second Greg Abbott's political body isn't even cold yet. And he's already saying that now I'm a good standing Democrat with Gina Hinojosa and I'm getting right on immigration. No one believes this. All right, as a citizen of the city of Houston, thoughts? This is raw politics, Whitmire has been between a rock and a hard place, which is the rock is Abbott. And the hard place are these liberal Democrats, and he's been torn between the two. And now Abbott's gone and so he can dance a little bit to the left. And make some people happy, and so I think it's just raw politics. Yeah, no, I think it's a smart move, maybe a little bit too late. However, our city needs to start healing. I agree, folks are tired of the division, and the hate, and the anger, the frustration, we need to somehow figure out how to work together. But there's something that's missing, the big picture. The Chronicle reported 0.0617 out of 87 that were ICE detainees, By police, 300 arrests, 87, 17 go get arrested. .006, the big picture out of the 4,000 from June, July to September that were arrested and went to Harris County Jail and Harris County turned them over twice, where is the bulk of those arrests happening? All the surrounding law enforcement, constables, the small towns that arrest people, 3,000. 873, we need to get a snapshot and see where the bulk of their coming and let them know that we're not happy with that either. Transparency is always good, Bill, your thoughts here? I think if you talk to most law enforcement officers, they'll tell you that they don't want to do immigration law, and I think it's a bad idea for them to do it. The local governments have been forced into this through the Trump administration, now they're not gonna have to do that anymore. But I'm gonna get back to the fact that in the entire history, HPD has turned over about 100 people, and we've turned over 15,000 at the county. over the last three years. So if you're going to criticize it, let's criticize everybody for it. That's my point. Exactly my point. Where are they coming from? We need a big snapshot. And by the way, we don't have any idea of what Harris County Sheriff's Office with the constables because they don't keep records of it. All right, still ahead, a very bad night for Texas school districts pushing billions of dollars of bond debt. What's behind the loud message? No mas. Well, Democrats cleaned house on November 3rd. Those pushing bond initiatives throughout the Lone Star State pretty much got their clock cleaned by unwilling voters. Here in Greater Houston, bond issues put forward in CyFair, Channelview, Crosby, Spring, Huffman, and LaPorte all went down in flames. And as Holly Hansen can tell us, They had plenty of company across the state, right? That's right. And it wasn't just school districts. It was city and county, counties that were proposing bonds. They got shot down across the state with just very, very few exceptions. And I think there's a very interesting... Undercurrent here to the election results because you saw this blue wave across the state of Texas. But you also see voters stating very loudly and clearly that they do not want any more tax increases. And they really are focused on these affordability issues. They don't want CyFair ISD building a new stadium or swimming pools or whatever. And even the more legitimate requests were shot down. So I think everyone in Texas needs to pay heed to what the voters said here. And again, not just in the Houston-Harris County area. One thing we've talked about on the show, Bill's done some great work on this, is a lot of these public school districts, for example, have declining enrollment. There's a demographic shift, fewer children and so forth. And so you're going to have to be a realist if you're going to be fiscally responsible and decide whether or not you need a giant new school or if you need to close some of these older schools. Bill, you've been talking for weeks about... What's going on out in CyFair? CyFair is really a fascinating election because, you know, the MAGA people took over the CyFair school board here a few years ago. And the people in CyFair, after watching their nonsense for a couple of years, said we're done with that. They voted all them out and they voted in the people that were pretty progressive. The progressives said, okay, we need to raise taxes and pass a bunch of bonds. And they said, no, no, that's not why we elected you. So this is way, way down on the ballot, okay? First of all, it was a 50% voter turnout. Turn out. Then it was a two-to-one margin, and there was only a 5% undervote. So this wasn't like this was some disgruntled old guys that were mad about it. This was a community rejection of what the school board had proposed out there. So I think it's... But it fits in perfectly with the affordability message, right? Absolutely. Got to leave it there. Thanks to this week's panel, and thank you for joining us. The conversation continues on a national level next on Fox News Sunday with Shannon Green. More importantly, we'll keep talking here with Watcher Point Overtime, streaming live on Fox26Houston.com and on our free Fox Local app for your phone or smart TV. From all of us here, have a safe and healthy week.