Texas Rep. Senfronia Thompson running for House Speaker | What's Your Point?

Of people picking on us 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 Senfronia Thompson, or Miss 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 Senfronia 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 a 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, Senfronia 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. All right. Madeline Senfronia 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. 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 Sen. Fronia Thompson is gonna bring a lot of wisdom to the Democrat leadership in Texas now. Texas has been breaking We're breaking these ceilings as you mentioned over the past couple of decades and we had the first African American elected to the state Supreme Court in 2004 with Wallace, Wallace Jefferson, a Republican, Kay Bailey Hutchison, first female senator. So it's, it's neat to see the 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 Fronia 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, Andrew. 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 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? 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?