Gene Wu

Y- you spent three years as Governor Abbott's general counsel, and he appointed you to the Supreme Court.

This year, though, you wrote the opinion, uh, rejecting the governor's attempt to remove the Democratic leader, uh, House leader, Gene Wu, over the house quorum break.

Uh, can you talk- Kind of big picture here, how important was that case in, in showing Texans that you can tell your former boss no?

Well, it was an important case in, in, in the regard that it, uh, required us to construe provisions of the Texas Constitution that had been a part of our law for the entire history of our state.

But this kinda, this piece kinda came about because I had gone to Trib Fest, and then I went to Texas Values FaithFest, which are very different, um, and kinda pull from, pull audiences from different sides of the aisle, and their messaging is different.

One, and, uh, one Gina Hinojosa, Gene Wu, um, quite a few Democratic candidates were very vocal that we, they would not...

They're, they're over or they're not engaging in the culture war issues.

Um, Gene Wu had mentioned that they, those had hurt the Democrats in 2024, and that the Republicans would feel that same thing this time, he was speculating.

Um, and so there was, you know, I think Hinojosa's gone on a, a couple of different interviews at this point and said very pointedly that the culture wars are over.

Um, she even was asked if she considers herself a progressive, which is something that has been messaged in the past, but she was saying that she's a populist.

You mentioned TribFest as well.

Um, a couple weeks ago there was discussion about it from, um, Representative Gene Wu saying that the Democrats should consider, you know, redistricting maps for State House, Senate, SBOE, those different, those areas if they had the power, and then Representative, um, Republican Jeff Leach saying, "Why would we not redistrict next session?" So, um, you also, last year you remained on the floor, um, last summer and didn't break quorum, which is some- another example, I guess, of, you know, breaking, um, to do what's best for your, uh, for your district.

You talked about wanting to have a different way of fighting, and while you respected them, you know, you wanted to stay engaged.

How do you see another round of redistricting playing out in the 90th?

I, 'cause I keep thinking of, like, Eric Swalwell and Fang Fang, and there are so many.

I think Gene Wu was implicated.

There, I mean, I'm, I'm actually trying to organize all of the names of individuals who have run afoul of this because they did not have these protections in place.

You know, we were talking about foreign influence, and this, uh, you know, it, this kind of makes me think, too, and I wanted to ask you this before we segue into, uh, I want to talk to you about the stock trading ban.

But it will probably put them, I think, roughly around 72.

So all they have to do is peel off four liberal Republicans, and then Gene Wu is the Speaker of the House and not Dustin Burroughs.

So it is a big deal.

You know, all politics, all politics are local.

How about that? If you're a dual citizen, you don't get to run as a member of the Texas House of Representatives.

How about that? Talking to you, Gene Wu.

But literally, I think that these are all reasonable issues that we ought to talk about that aren't just specific to Islamization.

It's basically like, how do we make sure that you have the right to work in this state? So how do you have the right to rent in this state? We've had a lot of discussion about this hot concept of anchor babies, whether or not you should be able to get a birth certificate in Texas.

Um, but of course, you know, there's, it's a legislative session, and, uh, there's lots of horse trading and, uh, prioritization that goes on that, uh, y- neither you or I this far out can say, "Oh, here's how we think it's gonna go." Um, but certainly if the grassroots are engaged on this issue and others, then I fully anticipate that, uh, it, it could happen.

Yeah, and is a communist like Gene Wu going to give up his ability to get his foot soldiers to choose the, uh, non-conservative Republicans in those primaries? It, it, it, th- that's another problem that I have with turning it over to the legislature, giving these socialists and these Marxists in the, in the legislature a say on, on writing this legislation.

Nothing good can come from that.

Folks, we're talking to Daniel Greer.