I'm T.J.

Holmes host of Cal Ahrens on the record tonight.

We are presenting a special Meet the Candidates forum with U.S.

Senate Democratic candidates Royce West and Mj Hagar.

This forum is co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters of the San Antonio area and the League of Women Voters of Texas.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan organization and does not support or oppose political parties or candidates.

The league encourages citizens to be informed and actively participate in government.

This program was pre-recorded using Skype due to the pandemic.

Neither candidate was able to see or hear the other candidates segment before the broadcast.

The order of appearance was decided by a drop their names.

Questions asked tonight were preselected by the League of Women Voters and have not been shared with the candidates.

Let's get started.

We begin with Senator Royce West senator West if you'd like to start with an opening statement.

Thank you very much.

I want to say hello to each and every one of you.

My name is Royce West.

I'm a state senator from the twenty third senatorial district in Dallas where I've served for the past 27 years.

You know my grandfather told me something a long time ago.

You can got to look at what a person's done in the past.

See exactly what they're going to be doing in the future for the past 27 years I've served the citizens of the state of Texas and I've fought for issues important to Texas.

I'll do the same thing in Washington in D.C.

when we begin to look at this unprecedented time that we're in right now.

Concerning the cold virus George Floyd death and many others we know that Texas as well as this country is hurting.

We'll look at the unprecedented number of people that have lost their jobs as a result of cohort 19.

We look at the number of persons that are unemployed seeking employment.

Texas is at an all time high as it relates to the number of people that are unemployed.

The impact the covert is far reaching.

Think about schools.

See you right now they're trying to make a decision in terms of whether or not to send your children back to school exactly what your situation is going to be.

Those are issues that must be addressed by persons with experience in those areas.

You look at the racial tension that we have in our country and I will tell you each and every one of you right now that black lives do matter.

All of us witnessed the death of George Floyd the brutal death of George Floyd and you know as well as I know that something must be done to deal with structural racism in this country and for the first time in a long time people are coming together whether they're black white Hispanic Asian Muslim Catholic.

People are coming together across this world.

George Floyd when he died when he got up that morning he never thought that he would die that day.

His death has frankly changed the world.

When we begin to look at issues concerning urban and rural and suburban Texas you've got to have to make certain that you have a person that has experience in those particular areas.

When you think about my background you'll know that I have the experience necessary to make certain that I hit the ground running.

You look at criminal justice Royce West was the person who only wrote and also authored the hate crimes bill along with Rodney Ellis.

You look at issues concerning body cameras Royce West was there.

He wrote and authored that Bill looking racial profiling.

Look at issues concerning education Royce West has been there trying to make certain we have affordable education in this country.

What I'm trying to say is this to you.

We begin to look at all the people that have endorsed me and we'll talk about some of those in the course of this discussion.

You'll know that right there in Bear County.

Most of the Democratic elected officials have decided that Royce has the necessary expertise in order to fulfill the duties of your next United States senator.

Democrats.

I ask you Do you want to continue to be a victim of history.

Do what you want to make history with me you'll be able to make history and also develop a blueprint for the future.

Thank you.

Out senator West you've mentioned a lot of issues in your opening statement.

I think that top of mind for a lot of us is the corona virus.

What further government response if any is needed to address the health and economic crises caused by covered 19 in your view.

Well I think that we've got to continue to do more testing to figure out exactly the magnitude of this particular problem.

We should never put profit above public health and yes when you begin to look at the opening of this economy in Texas at around around this country we think we see that we are looking at starts and stops because people are not taking the necessary precautions.

We must insist upon people taking the necessary precautions the CDC recommendations take them to heart and realize that if they don't we continue to put our country yes this world in peril.

We've got to make certain that we open the schools properly.

One thing that it's really shown is the lack of connectivity that we have in this country.

And we've got to make certain we have that connectivity with with a broadband infrastructure 5G so we can make certain the kids get the opportunity and then employment.

We've got to make certain we begin thinking about how we get the millions of Americans Americans re-employ.

We've got to look at new industries and new economies.

And I think that we need to look at the Green New Economy in order to make certain we get people back to work and deal with issues concerning climate change one of the issues that you mentioned in your opening statement was racial justice and you've mentioned your track record on that which was extensive.

What in your view can be done at the federal level to alleviate the impact of racism on people of color in the United States.

You know what it's going to be a hard living.

I can tell you this now it makes no sense to me that we have frankly states with different laws in terms of the use of deadly force there should be one law in this country in terms of the use of deadly force by police officers and yes it will be a heavy lift and I'm used to heavy lifts and getting results.

I think that with the federal government needs to bring everyone in and figure out what's the appropriate circumstances not just a circumstance where police officers should be able to use deadly force and then we should insist that every state adopt that particular law as their law and make certain that policies across the state across the country and law enforcement agencies are consistent.

And in this this frankly when we have a police officer that is suspected and indicted for a crime motivated by hate a person then that person to the extent that that state has a hate crimes law that that officer should be tried for a hate crime.

In addition as we've done in Texas we need to make certain that every police officer has a body camera and that those police departments have adequate resources in order to implement and carry out that particular program.

And lastly some of the recommendations that have been made by the Congressional Black Caucus in terms of the bill that was just passed we need to do that.

No knock warrants should be a thing of the past.

Chokeholds should be a thing of the past.

So those are things that we can do in addition to training in order to deal with this particular issue.

But it's going to take Democrats and Republicans working together in order to get it done.

So there you're describing a series of police reforms were having a local statewide and national conversation about that.

What does your understanding of the phrase defund the police.

And do you favor or oppose it.

Well what I want you to look at is this when we had the horrific shootings in Dallas our police chief came out and said we're asking police to do too much.

We're asking them to be baby sitters.

We're asking them to do would be social workers.

We're asking them to be mental health officers.

We need to reexamine the role of the police department and make certain we fund that role and not ask them to do everything else to be mental health officers et cetera et cetera.

We need to save those funds that have been allocated for that particular purpose and allocate them to the experts outside the police department in order to make certain we have someone that can respond to those issues and well equipped to deal with those issues as opposed to police.

So what you're describing is read averting Police Department funds that are going toward things like mental health to social services and that's what you're saying.

To fund the police it needs to be it needs to be a communication conversation locally in terms of again figuring out what the core mission is and then to the extent that resources need to be real reallocated then that's what should be done.

I see we're going to change gears to the climate a little bit.

What actions do you think we need to be taken to secure clean air and water for everyone.

Now I know there's been some rollback of EPA guidelines and regulations.

Should those regulations be restored.

Let's talk about the general concept.

I believe that we should have net zero greenhouse emissions by 2050.

I am dead set on making certain that happen as United States senator.

I'm also mindful of the fact that oil and gas jobs in the state of Texas at about 17 percent of our employment is based on the one gas industry so we've got to make certain that whatever we do that we don't cripple the industry in the state of Texas.

But we've got to make certain the people are sitting at the table having conversations about this particular issue recognizing that I want to make certain you want to make certain that our grandchildren and great grandchildren can inherit a world that they can live in one of the things we must do we must get back into the Paris Peace Act the Paris accord.

It makes no sense that America think that it can go along in solving this particular problem.

And we've got to make certain we saw it together.

There's several initiatives that are going on in Congress right now.

The fact is is that most of them are well intent intended but I as a state legislature and having dealt with these types of issues that are kind of had people on all sides we know we've got to get people together in order to make sure we come up with a solution to deal with the climate change issues in this country in the world.

One of the solutions that's been proposed is what's known as a carbon fee and dividend which is a proposal for a fee on fossil fuel emissions to be paid directly to American households as a way of mitigating climate change.

What is your opinion of this.

You know I have looked that particular bill I've got I'm open to it.

I'm frankly open to it.

I'm also open to the clean Futures Act and obviously there's there are great points in the Green New Deal but that's the I guess you could say the experience factor.

You know my grandfather used to always tell me to get him knowledge wisdom and understanding and that's what I've been able to get as a state senator knowledge wisdom and understanding the knowledge is having people have an input into your process in terms of this issue of climate change and they understand the understanding is how the system works in order to get things done and the wisdom is kind of getting it done.

And looking back on what else you can do in the future.

And that's exactly what I'll do.

That's really it's a climate change people are all over the board on this issue.

But we've got to be able to come together to come up with a solution.

Another issue that people is all over the board is is immigration.

There've been some recent Supreme Court decisions a lot of discussion nationally for many years.

What do you think are the proper actions that federal government should take on asylum seekers current undocumented residents and of course dreamers.

I think the number one we have got to have a comprehensive act.

We know we no longer need to have executive orders whether you are a Democrat or a president Democrat or Republican president.

What I do know is this.

I want to make certain in my mind when you bring up immigration what's in my mind is a little kids in cages in America.

That's not the America that we know.

And that's not the America that we need on a going forward basis.

We need to make certain that those types of activities are declared illegal.

Secondly we need to make certain that we have a asylum system that's well funded in terms of having the judges to be able to adjudicate asylum seekers claims within an expedited manner as opposed to having I think about five or six hundred altogether.

We need to expand that given the number of people that are seeking asylum from our southern border.

But there are other persons around the world.

Also when you have the president calling African countries I won't by profanity and then saying that they shouldn't be able to come to America.

That's not the America that the Statue of Liberty is therefore we need to make certain that all persons are able to come to America on a a a process that is wealth and well-founded and applies to every person across this world.

In terms of the dreamers we need to make certain that there is in fact a pathway to citizenship.

When I think about it I think about dreamers coming before the Education Committee some years ago and I made certain that even though they couldn't work and I couldn't pay them we had at least one maybe two in our Senate office helping me to kind of figure out some ideas in order to make certain there was a pathway to citizenship.

I was real pleased with the court system and show its independence against President Trump in terms of the decision that they made last week another issue that's been getting a lot of widespread attention lately is the mental health system.

Mental illness in the criminal justice system are especially connected.

Almost half of prisoners in the U.S.

exhibit symptoms of mental illness.

Do you think that criminal justice reform should seek to improve mental health policy in the United States where not only mental health policies in the United States but a whole host of issues that we've got to be able to do.

We've got to deal with poverty.

You know we continue to talk about poverty issues unemployment issues and we know a lot of these things kind of correlate with one another but yes state of Texas has done some great things as it relates to appropriating moneys for mental health.

I think you're University right there.

The Health Science Center right there in San Antonio was one of the recipients of moneys that were out of catered by the state.

It's the state in order to be a part of a consortium to look at different programs and the issue of having an overrepresentation of persons in our criminal justice system that are confined with mental health problems was one of the main points that we pointed out in passing that particular bill.

You've spoken extensively about your experience in the Texas Senate.

You want to take that to the U.S.

Senate.

One of the things that you have to think about is do you want to go for the strongest possible version of legislation or do you want to compromise.

The next question is about gun safety what approach to gun safety legislation do you think is best.

A bill that is attainable in a divided U.S.

Senate or strive for the strongest possible bill that will be effective and the strongest possible bill to be effective.

When you look back at my history you'll see that almost frankly the first senator in the state of Texas to file a bill to ban assault weapons get universal background checks and also reduce the size of magazines and yes I'm for Red Flag laws.

If anything El Paso has taught us that lesson.

And so I would go for all of those the strongest possible bill that we can get in order to stop the madness that we have in this country based around the use of assault weapons.

No no don't get me wrong and I want to make certain that your viewers understand I am fully for the Second Amendment.

I want to make certain we maintain the intent of the Second Amendment but also had gun since legislation in this country thank you for that.

We're going to switch gears to the voting rights issues.

We're seeing a lot of allegations of voter suppression.

What actions if any would you take to put an end to voter suppression in this country.

Well I mean again I want everyone to understand that elections have consequences and to the extent that you do not vote that's gonna mean that my Republican friends are going to do everything they can in order to maintain power.

If you want a classic example a recent classic example of sorts of voter suppression.

Look at what happened in Wisconsin when the courts basically said that people couldn't given the public health crisis we had in this world.

The courts basically said that people should not be able to vote by mail if the state law says otherwise.

And we need to make certain that if there's a pandemic or anything like that then yes regardless of what the states have in as part of the law that we should be able to have the most comprehensive voter participation apparatus in this country.

You think about this Why in America the number one democracy in this world would we not try to open up the ability of people to be able to vote that President Trump and other Republicans as well as the attorney general talks about fraud.

There is no fraud.

People should be able to vote by mail.

And we need to make certain we're able to do that.

In Wisconsin people stood in line making certain that they were able to vote.

And yes as a result of that some of them ended up testing positive for cocaine 19 that shouldn't happen in America.

So we've got to continue to fight this issue.

And the reality is is that in Texas if we don't get out and vote then when we begin to redraw the lines Democrats won't have any real say so and rejoin those lines and we will end up back in court again and we'll end up fighting for another seven eight years about a time.

A final decision comes down from the Supreme Court.

It'll be time to do the census and redistricting.

Yeah.

Would you support a national vote by mail act.

Yes OK one of the issues that's become more and more prevalent in international relations and nationally is cybersecurity.

What do you think are the most critical cybersecurity dangerous the federal government faces and what do you think needs to be done about them.

I think we need to listen to the experts.

Ok.

You know we have national security advisers and other experts in this area to the extent that they're making recommendations that need to bring them to the respective committees in both the House and also the Senate and persons on those committees need to look at those proposals and figure out exactly what we should be doing about cybersecurity.

It is idiotic to have those experts in cyber security and national security and not take their advice.

This particular president for some strange reason wants to believe otherwise in Russia China and other countries might mean us no ill will.

Well excuse me.

Look at what happened in Kovac when we had to depend upon China India.

They took care of their citizens first.

America has always done that.

We need to do the same.

As it relates to cyber security and other types of international issues that we have to deal with you mentioned listening to experts I know there's a conversation right now about how partisan politics gets in the way of listening to experts.

What political reform if any would you advance to ease the partisan gridlock and restore trust in government which is more important now than ever.

Well you know in terms of political reform I'd make certain we take the dark money out.

You know Citizens United needs to be reversed.

We need to make certain that we do whatever we need to do in order to correct the Voting Rights Act to make certain that persons get the right to vote and that they're not being barred by some artificial voter suppression law that's being passed by not only a law but some artificial law or some device that's being used by a particular state.

We've got we've got to do that and we've got to make certain that as I've done over the course of my career reach across the aisle build coalitions based on interests and that's what I have a wreck.

I have a track record of doing that.

And the fact is is that if I tell somebody something they can take it to the bank and use it as collateral.

You've got to have credibility and integrity and to the extent that we can hopefully get legislators senators House members that can do that then I think we're going to be better off as a country as their last question.

Are there any other issues you believe will be both pressing in the next session of Congress and what is your position on those issues.

Well I think that when you begin to think about household issues I want people to understand that I'm from the projects of Dallas.

I lived at 49 68 hatchet place for several years.

And I understand and I'm sensitive to those household issues.

You don't know what it means to be a senator a state senator and someone sits across from you crying trying to figure out how they're going to pay the rent how they're going to pay their mortgage.

I understand and I'm sensitive to that and I'm going to make certain that as I go to the Senate that I'm not mixing in Texas and Texas values in the 21st century are in fact upheld.

I will be a senator for everyone here in this state.

In the end he's in the final analysis is this Democrats.

Do you want to continue to be victims of history whether you want to make history with Royce West you will make history and you will have a true Democrat that will be responsive to all Texans in terms of issues that are important to Texas.

I want to make my grandfather happy senator West.

Thank you for spending the evening with us.

If there's anything you'd like to say bye bye.

Our closing statement I think I believe we have a couple minutes for that.

Ok thank you very much for tuning in to this and I really appreciate the opportunity to present to you this election.

This campaign has been very unusual because it's all been virtual but if you want someone that's a true Democrat someone that has earned the respect of other legislators talked to Hosie Menendez they're talked to and I'm not I'll start naming names cause I'll get in trouble.

Talk to your respective Democratic leaders right there in Bear County that's important Royce West and the reason they are is because I've done the work I've been in I've been in I've been on the battlefield with them.

They know how I fight.

They know the results that I am capable of getting.

And if you want a true democrat that serve the Democratic Party helping other Democratic elected elected officials to get elected up and down the ballot that serve the Democratic Party has its convention chair that's on a member of the executive committee and also the DNC executive committee Royce West has done that but most of all if you want someone who's going to be responsive to the issues that are important you.

Royce West to do that you can go to Royce West dot com and see my bio issues my response to those issues and people that are supportive of my campaign.

Thank you.

Thank you senator West.

Next we have candidate M.J.

Hogan with Hogan if you'd like to give an opening statement please.

Ok great.

Thanks so much C.J.. Yep.

My name is MJ Hagar.

I grew up here in rural Texas.

And then I spent 12 years in the military five years working in health care two in the tech industry and I got my undergrad and my executive MBA from UTI Austin and I'm running for the U.S.

Senate as a fulfillment of the oath that I took to support and defend our Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.

When I put on our uniform but also because of my ardent desire to protect the world that my two young boys and all of our kids frankly are growing up into the country that they'll be inheriting from us.

Look we're we're facing enormous challenges right now and the only way we can ensure that we will rise to those challenges and come out as a stronger country is to elect leaders like myself who have a demonstrated ability to take on the powerful forces in DC who try to intimidate folks like us and to challenge a system that is not working for everyday Texans the whole world is watching what's happening in Texas right now wondering why our elected officials have prioritized politics over public health and fumbled their handling of this pandemic.

But they've been watching us for a while now and they've been wondering why we still have kids in cages on our southern border why our own governor doesn't want us to vote safely and securely by mail like 34 other states have managed to do.

But when they look at Texas they also see something else.

They see responsible gun owners crying out for common sense gun safety legislation like universal background checks.

They see millions of Texans peacefully protesting for social justice and they see candidates running up and down the ballot the ribbon running up and down the ballot to replace an old guard of career politicians who have spent their time in office serving themselves instead of their constituents.

This November I believe we're going to turn out the vote at the polls and show the world who we are because we're Texas and frankly we're done with D.C.

politicians like John Cornyn who aren't Thank you.

Take our.

We speak in the middle of a pandemic.

Call that pandemic and what further government response if any is needed to address the health and economic crises caused by clothing 19 in your view.

Yeah.

You know T.J.

as somebody who's been trained in crisis management I guess I've just been really disturbed by a couple of things one is a lack of data driven decision making and milestones things like hey when we have this much ICU bed capacity then we go to this decision tree and you know in the military and in health care and my five years in health care.

That's how you make crisis management decisions.

What I'm watching our politicians politicizing our health care making decisions based on what their party leaders tell them to do and what what's going to help their re-election.

But I'm also seeing you know our our governor like I said in my open not prioritize our health by letting us vote by mail just because it's not in his best interests to have more people have access to voting.

And I'm also seeing that we're not listening to essential workers and nurses and meatpackers and the groups that I've been meeting with and talking to those those voices are not being heard.

And when you work in health care one of the first things you learn is to listen to nurses.

So I'd like to see those people get the PPE and the actions that they need the safety measures and to actually start treating essential workers like they are essential.

Thank you.

In addition to the pandemic we have a racial justice discussion happening nationally.

What do you believe can be done at the federal level to alleviate the impact of racism on people of color.

Thank you for framing it that way because there is a lot of talk around reform in policing and criminal justice reform and those are things I've been fighting for that we absolutely need.

But the question is what can we do.

And I think we need to go further.

I think that we need to address systemic racism in our economy in access to housing in employment and small business capital.

There's health care disparities.

Certainly that was something that I worked on when I was working in health care.

And I think that we can get the meaningful change that we need the legislative change and the ensuing culture change if we can vote out the people who are standing in the way of that reform.

You mentioned the police reform conversation.

There's a discussion about defunding the police.

What was your understanding of the phrase defund the police.

And do you favor or oppose it.

You know I feel like so often these things get oversimplified the reaction that I've had to the call for defunding the police immediately was a strong disappointment that John Cornyn completely dismisses the concerns of his constituents without actually going into these communities and trying to understand why they would call for something if he thinks it's so extreme that he should be trying to get to the root cause of figuring out why somebody would call for it.

The bottom line is we're always going to have crime and violent crime and a need to be able to reach out and call for help in those times.

But we also need to acknowledge that some communities do not have that relationship with their with their law enforcement.

And we need to find out why they don't feel safe or empowered to call law enforcement to come to their aid in those moments.

So I think that there's a lot of work that needs to be done but it can be done if we bring voices to us and we seek out a conversation around us instead of just flippantly dismissing people's concerns.

I understand the pandemic and the racial justice issue were both looming challenges that kind of were thrust upon us one moment another looming challenge we face globally as climate change.

What actions will you take to secure clean air and water for everyone.

If elected the US Senate and also do you believe that the rollback EPA regulations from the Trump administration should be restored to where they were.

I do think so.

I think that that is that coupled with the you know the the gutting of the State Department the rolling back to the EPA protections and getting the State Department are probably two of the things that I've had the longest lasting or that we'll have the longest lasting impact on us in a negative way that's probably actually if I could lump in a third one and that's the confirmation of a bunch of hyper partisan some very largely unqualified judges.

But we absolutely need to put those back in place and we need to acknowledge that climate change is the greatest threat facing our children.

It's also a very serious economic challenge and it's a national security crisis.

Even the Pentagon has listed it as one of our top national security threats.

So I believe that we can build broad coalitions around this but not if we spend too much time focusing on what we disagree on.

And you know yelling at each other about whether or not you believe the science there is so much that we can gain through continuing to lead the energy industry here from Texas but leading in renewable energy and I think that if we set aggressive goals for the expansion of clean renewable energy if we invest in clean energy manufacturing and sustainable transportation.

But we also have to make sure that we modernize our energy grid so that it's equipped to handle increased load during peak usage.

And I think that it's in everybody's best interest that Texas and the huge energy economy that we have here start looking to the next chapter and making sure that we're going to lead in the next chapter clearly globally we are trending toward renewable energy whether or not you believe in climate change.

And I think that this is an area that if we make the national security and the economic argument in addition to the science argument and the fact that we're facing an existential threat that we couple all of those things we can actually build a broad bipartisan coalition for that.

So you talked about diversifying energy sources but we still have fossil fuels and they're still relatively inexpensive one proposal to deal with that is a carbon fee and dividend proposal which is where you would have a fee on fossil fuel emissions to be paid as a dividend directly to American households as a way of mitigating climate change.

What is your opinion of this idea.

You know I stand with the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club who who support it but understand that it's not a silver bullet that we actually do need to be taking a more holistic approach.

There's only I believe 11 countries that have a carbon fee and we need to make sure that we do it right.

You know Congresswoman ask of our down in El Paso co-sponsored a bill that I would have I would have supported that you know we just need to make sure that we're not enabling the industry to just pass on those costs to the consumer and put an undue burden on on an already overburdened middle class.

So I support it but I also recognize that it's not the only answer and we do need a more holistic approach.

Speaking of holistic approaches comprehensive immigration reform has stalled in Congress.

There've been some recent Supreme Court decisions about immigration.

What do you think are the proper actions the federal government should take on asylum seekers current undocumented residents and of course dreamers as well.

Yeah I think that our reputation globally is really suffering and as a combat veteran myself you know I used to be a rescue helicopter pilot I don't know if I mentioned that I served three tours in Afghanistan on a 19 country coalition.

It's really difficult for me to watch the degradation of that reputation and our immigration system is definitely one of the main things that is causing that and is hurting our reputation at the U.N.

and our influence around the world.

But you know during my trips to the border I have talked with people on the frontlines and I can tell you that from those conversations we have a broken immigration system and we are not reflecting American values.

Things like valuing opportunity and freedom and democracy and we're the leaders of the free world and I feel like we're not acting like it.

John Cornyn has spent almost 20 years in Washington repeatedly voting against bipartisan immigration reform and I think part of it is because he gets a lot of money from the private prison industry in private detention centers and they have a profit driven incentive to keep the system broken.

We need a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

We need to protect Dreamers and yes we had a good Supreme Court decision.

But let's not forget that it was on a technicality and that people will still keep trying to attack that program.

We need to permanently end child separation and we need to ensure that asylum seekers are not treated as criminals and that we treat asylum seekers from our southern border the same way we treat asylum seekers from other countries.

We can secure our border with effective procedures and technology instead of wasting billions on an ineffective wall that is just going to rob our military construction budget and seize land from from landowners in Texas.

You mentioned the criminal justice system in the privatization of jails.

We've had a nationwide conversation about mental illness.

The criminal justice system the past several years.

They're intimately connected up to a half of prisoners in the US exhibit symptoms of mental illness.

Would you propose to make the criminal justice reform a component of mental health policy in the US.

And if so how.

If not why not.

Yeah I mean we're one of the most heavily incarcerated countries in the industrialized world.

It's definitely something that we need to be talking with the experts in the field.

I see a real lack of listening to experts and modeling and data in our legislators it's part of why I am fighting against career politicians is part of why I'm for term limits because I feel like when these legislators spend their entire career in a bubble then they lose sight of the actual challenges that regular everyday Texans are facing an eye.

Being a combat veteran have a lot of experience in how we're handling mental illness we have issues in the military with PTSD and suicide rates and I know that those are not limited to the military.

I would like to see us you know get to a place with culture change which is very difficult to accomplish but it's doable.

We've been able to do it with other places.

So I'd like to get to a place where you know for example combat veterans coming back don't have to opt in to PTSD treatment.

We just treat everybody the same and give everybody access to resources and maybe people can opt out of that treatment is opting in and we just kind of need to generally change the way that we view it.

I know that you have some experience fighting the opioid epidemic.

I think that we need to legalize marijuana.

We just need to change the way that we approach problems and bring in alternative solutions and be more pragmatic and solution oriented.

Speaking of pragmatism and solution oriented you've been outspoken on the gun safety issue.

This question has to do with the approach to gun safety legislation.

Do you think we should work on a bill that is attainable in the divided Senate or strive for the strongest bill that will be effective in the gun culture issue.

So I mentioned that you know I feel like that that things get politicized too often with career politicians as a gun violence survivor myself and a mom of two young boys a 3 year old and a 5 year old and also I'm a responsible gun owner.

This is a personal conversation for me.

I believe that we you know there's this idea when I went to D.C.

to fight to open jobs for women I found a very dysfunctional environment and it's an environment that I was still able to take on and operate within and be successful.

But I don't think you need to accept things like negotiating away the core values of what you're trying to fight against.

There's widespread I think nearly 90 percent of our country is behind universal background checks that's not negotiable for me.

We need universal background checks on every single gun sale including closing the gun show loophole and we need to pass or oppose extreme risk protection orders limiting access to firearms for domestic abusers that's another thing that's very personal to me.

And we need to fully fund the CDC to reverse the years of damage the decades long ban on gun violence research.

We must stop the sale of weapons of war.

I'm speaking to you as someone who is trained in these weapons who understands the level of training and screening that the military imposes before they armed someone with one of these weapons.

We don't sell arpeggios and grenades and we should not be selling weapons of war to the public.

And I believe there's not enough discussion over we need to end open carry the responsible gun owners that I've met with all across the state agree that open carry really is a threat to our second amendment right because it's putting in the face.

It's it's it's an assault on bystanders.

It's keeping people from feeling like they can call the cops when they feel like they're under threat because they're infringing on somebody is somebody who's rights.

We can't do any of this while we're represented by somebody like Senator Cornyn who took a check from the gun lobby a couple of weeks after the El Paso massacre.

I'm proud to be endorsed by the Brady Campaign.

Giffords Moms Demand Action and I'm a responsible gun owner.

And so I think that if we just bring some pragmatism and some solutions based leadership to the legislature then we're gonna be able to accomplish all of these things.

Shifting gears on you a little bit.

What actions if any would you take to put an end to voter suppression in this country.

Well it's kind of a cart before the horse or the horse thing there because we've got to vote out the people who are supporting voter suppression in order to overcome it.

We just have to win by enough to vote them out first.

We have a long history of voter suppression in this country and in this state and we're seeing it again with Cogan 19.

I mentioned that 34 states across the country have seemed to have been able to figure out vote by mail safely and securely.

But for some reason you know I don't know about you T.J.

I grew up here and I was taught that if any state can do something Texas can do it better.

Right.

So I think that we need to ensure that people are empowered.

That means that we stop partisan gerrymandering.

We need to make it easier for people to vote.

You know we have very restrictive laws here in Texas with what I.D.

you can use in order to gain access.

I feel like a lot of our voter suppression is a little more subtle than it is in some places.

But we do need to keep an eye on things like closing polling stations and you know long lines and we really need to do better and we need to hold representatives accountable that have been failing us.

You mentioned in your opening statement voting by mail that's a hot topic right now.

Would you support a national voting by mail act.

Absolutely.

All right.

Shifting gears to a different conversation.

What do you think are the most critical cybersecurity dangers the federal government faces and what needs to be done about them you know cyber security I think is actually one of our one of our biggest national security threats along with climate change and then the obvious things like I ran in North Korea and Russia.

But I definitely think that we need to focus on you know we see we don't hold social media companies accountable for the impact that foreign governments are able to have on our elections.

We're not seeing enough action on the dark web.

You know when you talk about cyber security I think infrastructure I think our energy grid I think about how creative our enemies have gotten in trying to figure out ways to disrupt us.

So you know cybersecurity is another one of those things that I think we should be making decisions about what we do based on what's best for our country and not based on what our political leaders party leaders what's what's best for elections what's going to grab cameras and headlines but actually start making decisions based on what's best for our constituents.

You mentioned a good point about how we are prioritizing partisan politics over the right policies at times it seems.

What reforms if any would you advance to ease partisan gridlock and restore trust in government.

So you know I really have to believe and maybe I just have more faith in my fellow man.

But I have to believe that these some of the people who are legislating so clearly not in the best interests of their constituents like John Cornyn know right from wrong right.

So for example John Cornyn was the Affordable Care Act's repeal top salesman since the Affordable Care Act went into into it since it was enacted when I was working in health care.

By the way when the Affordable Care Act was enacted and recently he said something along the lines of well with record unemployment luckily people have the Affordable Care Act to fall back on.

And yet he still is pushing the case that's going to the Supreme Court to dismantle it.

So I know that they know things like universal background checks are important if 90 percent of our country supports universal background checks 90 percent of our legislators should be supporting universal background checks.

And when you look at D.C.

and the actions of politicians and it does it make sense it's money.

So I've been endorsed by and Citizens United and Elizabeth Warren because I have been an avid fighter against corruption in politics and really it comes down to money and it's the big money it's not the small dollar grassroots donations when we say getting money out of politics.

We're talking about Cornyn cashing checks from the gun lobby in the middle of massacres in his state and then legislating in a way that allows them to sell a quarter of a million weapons south of our border which feeds a violence epidemic which most of the guns used in violent crime south of our border were bought in the US and then it causes a humanitarian crisis at the southern border that then maximizes the profits for the private prisons and the detention centers and then they cut.

John Cornyn his next check.

So you know I really don't think it's about necessarily just hyper partisanship although term limits would help with that because there are some people who are so wrapped up they have so much wrapped up in their identity that they're a senator or whatever that they will do anything to keep that and they will sell their own constituents out to do that.

So term limits would help with that but I do think ending corporate PAC money in politics is going to be critical if we really want to see a government that functions for people again.

It makes total sense.

We've discussed a lot of issues are there any other issues that you'll be believe will be the most pressing in the next session of Congress and what are your positions on those issues.

You know I think our economy is something that we need to talk about and it disturbs me to see people talking about our economy just in terms of the stock market the stock market it's important in people's retirement depends on it.

So in a lot of cases.

But it's not the only harbinger of the good of the economy.

I'm worried that if we don't have the right leaders in place that when our economy when we're looking to try to recover our economy from this both statewide and as a country you know we've already seen what the current leaders are going to do.

They enacted a tax reform that gave millions of dollars to wealthy individuals and corporations while burdening the middle the middle class further or you know instilling temporary bonuses for the middle class but that will expire.

So I want to make sure we have the right people in a position to make the decisions that will recover our economy that will work for everyday Texans and understand that you know I used to be a bartender.

I have been laid off from a job.

I have worried about where I'm going to get my health care from.

This is what I mean when I say we need to vote people in that have real world experience instead of just political experience.

For example saving Social Security is something very important to me that I'm very passionate about that I hardly ever hear anybody talking about inside the echo chamber but out on the street when I'm talking to voters from you know independent voters the Democrats.

You know people who don't identify with anything so security's when the top things that they're worried about.

Well John Cornyn is on three taxpayer funded pensions.

He's not worried about whether or not Social Security is going to be there for him.

We need to start electing people who have faced the same challenges as we have so that we can get an economy recovering that can work for regular folks.

Makes total sense.

Hagar Do you have a closing statement for us.

I do.

Thank you so much T.J.. I really I can't believe we're already done that.

Thank you for letting me share my vision for our state which is centered like I said on finding pragmatic solutions to the challenges that us everyday Texans are facing.

I've developed that vision through driving tens of thousands of miles across our state before Coburn 19 and then as we transition to a virtual campaign continue connecting with thousands of folks from standing with and amplifying the voices of those peacefully protesting and calling for reforms to meeting with essential frontline workers and labor unions who have put their own health at risk to make sure that Texans can buy food at the grocery store and access essential services.

You know I have found that when you step outside of the echo chamber and you get away from the cameras that there's actually widespread agreement on the solutions that we need to enact.

We just need someone with a proven record of taking on tough fights and serving their country instead of their own self-interest to finally get our government working for regular Texans again.

So I've been running a very coordinated campaign because I don't have the ego to think I can do this alone.

And I want to take a second to lift up some down ballot candidates that I would ask your viewers to seek out do some research on and support some of these amazing down ballot candidates people like Kayla Alex and Ann Johnson in Houston.

Angela Brewer and Denton.

Elizabeth back in Fort Worth.

Kiki Williams in the clean land passes area and my personal state Rep.

James Taylor Rico in my home county of wins and county.

The people in power are trying to keep us from voting.

They're trying to make sure that our fear keeps us from exercising our constitutional right to vote so that they can avoid the consequences of their own failures.

We're in the midst of early voting right now for the runoff and when I drove by my polling station there was no line.

I'm asking everybody out there please continue to be safe.

Follow CDC guidelines but make sure you your family and your friends vote on or before July 14th.

Don't let them silence us.

Vote like our kids future depends on it.

Hagar thank you for joining us and thank you for joining us for this special meet the candidates presentation presented by the League of Women Voters at the San Antonio area and the League of Women Voters of Texas.

Please remember early voting is going on right now on the runoff election date is July 14th.

Find all the information you'll need on all the candidates for 1 1 Doc 1.

Thank you and good night.