the fight to continue to keep americans safe, president biden got his covid booster shot today. the white house using this as another chance to remind people to get or stay protected. here's what he said. >> we can do so much now to reduce the number of people who die from this terrible disease. we have the tools. we have the vaccines. we have the treatments. none of this is about politics. it's about your health. and the health of your loved ones. >> a word from the president there. and i want to tell viewers in denver, you can join me this coming saturday for an evening at the jewish community center for arts and culture. i put up the information on my facebook page or go to jcc denver, add, october 29th. there's a spec special edition of "the reidout" right now, including beto o'rourke joining joy live now.

>> good evening, everyone. welcome to a very, very special edition of "the reidout," live from the flying saucer draft imporium in ft. worth, texas. we're now just two weeks away from the midterm elections and the stakes could not be higher for the lone star state where everything from school board elections to the race for governor is dominated by the struggle to define what america is and who america stands for. texas is arguably the center of the u.s. culture wars. the red state that might be getting a little less red here and there where the consequences for this year's election are at a fever pitch. this is where the high-stakes abortion conversation we're all having right now began. when texas passed its bounty hunter abortion ban before the supreme court reversed roe v. wade. voting in texas is so restricted and anti-voter laws so effective, folks have dubbed it jim crow 2.0.

more books have been banned from school libraries in this state than any other state, and this beautiful state is unfortunately home to more mass shootings than any other. including the uvalde massacre, the second deadliest school shooting ever in the united states. on immigration, texas is also front and center. the state shares a 1250-mile border with mexico. from which many desperate immigrants -- desperate migrants attempt to cross into the u.s. each year. let's not forget most mexican americans did not cross the border. the border crossed them. they were already here before this was a u.s. state. also, the state is at the center of the demographic changes that are awaiting the whole country. 4 in 10 texans are latino. and they are the largest population group here. though not yet the largest voter group. bottom line, texas is a microcosm of american politics right now. this is not the only state where election action is taking place this week. state-wide candidates debate are taking place tonight in

pennsylvania and colorado. we learned a governor partnered with the texas governor here to trick some venezuelan migrants to getting on flights to massachusetts. i could go on but i'm not. instead, i'm going to stop talking and turn to the man who is vying to become the new governor of the state, sitting behide me here with a very big crowd of fans behind him is the person who is doing everything in his power to challenge the republican vision, democratic governor, gubernatorial candidate, how are you? >> welcome to ft. worth, welcome to the home of opal lee. debra peoples and so many amazing folks. democrats, republicans, independents alike who want to see something great for texas and they're going to vote for it on november 8th. >> i just met opal lee and i'm excited to talk to her later. i was on with nicolle wallace earlier, and we had a conversation about guns.

and it's a difficult issue to tackle because on the one hand, there are these awful tragedies like what happened in uvalde and you can't stop thinking about the moms and dads and little kids. then you have people who are really passionate about gun ownership. they're really passionate about not having any restrictions to gun ownership whatsoever, no matter how many massacres. how do you talk to the latter group who say i like beto, he seems like a good guy, but i don't want him to be governor because he's going to take my gun. >> i remind them today marked 22 weeks since we lost those children and their teachers in uvalde, texas. 22 weeks and our governor greg abbott has not done a thing to make it less likely that any other child in any part of the state meets the same fate as the 19 kids. then i listen to them, i listen to my fellow texans, republicans, gun owners, democrats, independents. here's what we can agree on. as a minimum, let's raise the age of purchase for an ar-15 to

21. that would purchase at least three more years for some kind of intervention. a red flag law that would allow law to intervene, or a universal background check which means if you're going to buy a gun in texas, we're going to do due diligence to make sure you're not going to use that gun against yourself or someone else. we had five of the worst mass shootings in the u.s. we need a change in the governor's office to have someone who will do something about it. >> the thing is they haven't done nothing, the republicans. this is one of the most shocking stories this week, and there's lot of shocking stories every day. the idea that kids, that families in texas who have children in public school are being given dna kits so god forbid a mass shooting happens in their school, they can identify what's left of their child because we know what an ar-15 does to a human body. you can't hunt with it, you

could get mush, and it does the same thing to a human and god forbid a child. it's shocken for a lot of americans when they think even a state like florida raised the age to 21. when you think about the fact to get a handgun, you have to fill out a lot of paperwork. you have to go and get a background check and get fingerprinted, but to get an ar-15, you can literally go to a pawnshop and buy one with nothing. >> that's right. >> what would you do? let's say you're governor, you're sworn in. what would you do to immediate make that kind of change? >> i'm going to bring everyone around the table, not just democratic legislators but republicans as well, and i'm going to find that common ground i have been hearing about as i travel lit ral every part of the state, and look, we're not going to agree on everything, but those three ideas that i started with, raising the age of, the red flag law, the universal background check, those measures will save lives. you mentioned florida. it took that republican governor and republican legislature 23 days after marjory stoneman douglas to raise the age to 21.

since then, mass shootings are down more than 80% in that state. those kind of things work. and i have yet to find the republican or the gun owner who argues the other side of that issue. they say, you know what, i can get behind raising it to 21 or a universal background check or doing a little bit of due diligence. here's another thing abbott has done, besides sending the dna kits to schools for parents to identify their kids after they have been shot, he's also weakened our gun laws further to allow anyone to carry a gun in public without a background check, without any vetting or any training whatsoever. we used to have a program called license to carry. that allowed law enforcement to do a little due diligence before you could carry a gun in public. 38,000 times over the last six years they said hey, this person is just too dangerous to carry that gun. they're going to use it against their spouse or their girlfriend or perhaps against some kids in schools. now all 38,000 of them are free to carry those guns in public, and none of us are the safer or the wiser for it. that is why gun violence and

homicides have increased 50% in this state since greg abbott has been governor. why we lead the nation in school shootings and why gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and teenagers. those kids don't get to vote in the election except for the actions we take. their lives are on the ballot and that's why we have to make sure we win. >> a lot of newspapers here in the great state of texas have endorsed you, but the dallas morning news endorsed your opponent, the incumbent, greg abbott. the reason they gave was, he's good for business. but i look at some of the statistics. i love texas. i think texas is beautiful, the weather is great. it could be ten degrees warmer. i'm a tropical germ, but it's a great state. when i think about it as outsider looking in, this state, as you said, it leads the world in gun massacres, not just the country but the whole world. it's number one in rapes unfortunately, and the governor said he was going to end rape. i don't think he's done that. and then you have the abortion issue. if you have a state that's the number one state statistically, most likely to be raped, and

then you also have a restrictive abortion law that says that god forbid that happened to you, you have to leave the state and you might still get prosecuted, go to prison for trying to get an abortion. that's the other issue that is the state leads on. i talked to someone today, a young woman who said, you know what, it bothers me. it's thing that bothers her the most, but thought it's done. that can't be changed. can it be changed? >> all of those things can be changed. just on this issue of business, there's no one worse for the texas economy than greg abbott. our property taxes for example have gone up $20 billion over the last eight years. that's a 40% increase. our electricity bills, when governor abbott could not keep the power on for the people of texas when the temperature dropped last winter have gone up $45 on average per rate payer. he's the single greative driver of inflation in the state of texas. our minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour, 13 years after it was

set. and then you have these attacks on our fellow texans against transgender texans or their parents accused of child abuse, against members of the lgbtq community, they're proposing a don't say gay bill next legislative session. in this state, no woman is now able to make her own decisions about her own body. that abortion ban is the most extreme in america. it begins at conception, and as you mentioned, there's no exception for insist, nor is there one for rape. and in texas, the rapist could actually sue the family of his victim if they assist her in getting an abortion and collect a $10,000 bounty. this is how extreme it is. that's why a majority of texans including a majority of republicans disagree with apen's extreme abortion ban. another reason we have to win. most importantly, for the women of the state, we're at the epicenter of a maternal mortality crisis that is three times as deadly for black women. when you have foreclosed opportunities to seek reproductive health care, you have condemned women to suffering and to unnecessary

death. so for all of those reasons we have got to change this, but here's the thing. 50 years ago, abortion was just as illegal in texas as it is today. but young texas women prevailed upon an all-male united states supreme court, won roe v. wade. that stood the test of time for 50 years. if they won it 50 years ago, i believe texas women are going to win it back in november 8th of 2022. >> if you poll on these issues, it's clear. a majority of texans disagree with the abortion ban. a majority of texans want reasonable gun reform. a majority of texans don't want to like ban history from schools. texas, they're good folk. people are not in a majority wanting these things. but in order for you to win, you have get past really restrictive voting laws. these are the worst in the country honestly. will people be able to get their votes for you to count? we have already seen rejections of absentee ballots cast by

asian american, african american, and latino voters here, rejected at a much higher rate than white voters. the machinery is already working. there is a reuters poll showing you closing the gap, closing what was the real clear politics average gap. but can enough of your voters actually get to cast ballots for you to be able to prevail? >> the answer is yes. it's not going to be easy. this is the most voter suppressed state in the union. harder to get your name on the rolls than anywhere else in america. the answer to that is all of us literally knocking on the doors of those people who are the targets of suppression and intimidation. our campaign has over 95,000 volunteers who are doing the hard work of meeting voters where they're at and bringing them in. and the beautiful poetic political justice of all this is that the very people who were intentionally drawn out of this democracy are being brought in by their fellow texans to form a

margin of victory on november 8th. >> let's say you prevail and you're able to win. what is the first thing you would do? >> let's end or significantly reduce gun violence in the state, especially when it comes to our kids. let's restore a woman's right to choose. let's get behind our public educators who are under attack and are leaving the profession by the thousands right now. and let's fix the grid that failed this state and killed 700 of our fellow texans. there is so much work for us to begin, but the great news is the majority of texans are with us on this. we're going to have the political will to get the job done. >> i hate to break it to you. if you fix the grid, ted cruz won't leave again. then he'll always be here with you. maybe that's a good thing. that's me who said that, that's not beto. he's a nice guy. thank you guys very much. i appreciate you. >> thank you for having me on. >> beto o'rourke, everybody. democratic nominee for governor of texas, i want to note, i want to note, we did extend an

invitation to governor greg abbott to join us tonight. but his office declined. so he didn't get his opportunity to meet these great people. >> speaking of abbott, some of the most powerful ads in this election cycle have come from mothers against greg abbott. the founder of that organization joins me next, as our reidout road show continues from the flier saucer in ft. worth, texas.

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hands. one year later, the group is a force, raising hundreds of thousands of dollar to get out the vote and elect a new governor. joining me is nancy thompson, the founder of mothers against greg abbott. thank you so much for being here. >> thank you. >> i was mentioning earlier we did a good color story together. you started this organization. what prompted it? >> i just broke. i have no other explanation for that, that moment in motherhood when you're trying so hard to keep your family alive and healthy. and then you have a governor that's actively working against you. and i have never experienced that before in my life and i was just done. that day, i had enough. i was broken and i thought, i have nothing left to lose. >> what do you think governor abbott has done wrong? >> so many things. he really has been going after everything that is important to texas families. i mean, from gun safety, attacks on public education, attacks on

women and their personal freedom and rights, and then they are not taking climate change seriously, and we have a really serious drought in texas this year. so a combination of all kinds of things. i mean, even including increasing the minimum wage, especially for women in texas. i mean, a lot of them, they're single moms and we need to support all families in texas. >> and the ad that i played at the top, that abortion ad, it was striking and shocking because you don't expect that ending. when it happens, it's a reminder and texas is where it started. the bounty hunter law was the beginning of this trend toward really draconian anti-abortion. i go back to a young lady i talked to about this earlier who thought it's over. there's nothing that can be done. how do you get past people's sense of futility and get people to understand that at this point, now it's your state. it's who you elect as governor, it's who you elect as attorney general, that is what's going to

determine whether you have any rights to health care and to abortion at all? >> yeah, i don't know how to shout it any louder for the people in the back. we're trying to say, everybody, you may think that it doesn't pertain to you, but it's going to pertain to somebody you love. we have to think of it and break it down to a level in which everybody can relate to. and then start the conversations. i think if women start talking to other women and start talking to the men in our lives and we have men also talking to other men in their lives about how many women they know that have had abortions or pregnancies that have gone wrong and how abortion is health care because we need that type of health care in order to sometimes deal with pregnancies that don't go well due to the death of the fetus. >> there was a story about a young woman who, you know, she needed an abortion because she had a pregnancy that was nonviable and couldn't get care until she nearly bled to death. she had to be in a catastrophic

position where she was going to die because that's the new texas law. i mean, your governor is an interesting character. i mean, his response to the prevalence of rape in the state was saying he's going to end it. right? his response to uvalde was to say, it could have been worse. have you had any interactions with governor abbott? >> absolutely none. because he doesn't take mothers seriously. he doesn't take families seriously. if he took us seriously, he would have called in a special session on gun safety and listened to the families from uvalde, from santa fe, from the families from el paso. and he hasn't. he hasn't done his work. he's not listening to anyone but corporations and the nra, and that's a problem because the families in texas are the ones losing out. >> why do you suppose people like greg abbott keep getting elected and re-elected here? >> a lot of voter suppression, definitely, for that. there's a lot of voter suppression. there's a lot of group think and there's a lot of control in

texas politics by certain very wealthy billionaires in texas that are just funding the republican party. >> yeah. well, i know that you are working to change that. nancy thompson, thank you very much for being here. >> thank you. >> and congratulations on all the hard work you're doing just to get people to be active. it's really important that people participate and never think you can't make a difference. thank you. thank you very much. up next, we will hear directly from tex tesh voters of what exactly they're looking for in this election. that's right after this quick break. we'll be right back. when it was time to sign up for a medicare plan... mom didn't know which way to turn. but thanks to the right plan promise from unitedhealthcare she got a medicare plan expert to help guide her to the right plan with the right care team behind her. ♪ wow, uh-huh.♪ and for her, it's a medicare plan with the aarp name. i hope i can keep up!

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kids getting hooked on flavored tobacco, including e-cigarettes. big tobacco lures them in with flavors like lemon drop and bubble gum, candy flavors that get them addicted to tobacco products, and can lead to serious health consequences, even harming their brain development. that's why pediatricians urge you to vote yes on prop 31. it stops the sale of dangerous flavored tobacco and helps protect kids from nicotine addiction.

please vote yes on 31. vote yes on prop 31. with early voting in texas officially under way, nbc's priscilla thompson caught up with voters in ft. bend county near houston about what's on their minds. >> so this is my first time voting. i'm really excited to be here. i really wanted to also show my support and vote against things like republicans overturning roe v. wade and trying to use inflation as some sort of scare tactic to scare voters away from democrats when really the democratic policies are better for the economy. >> talk to me about governor abbott. he's been in office for two terms. what do you think of the job he's done on those issues? >> he's done perfect. but if you compare it to beto, beto is out of -- i mean, he

should not even run for governor. my opinion. he's reached back and forth continuously. i don't believe him. >> when you walked in to cast your ballot, what was the number one issue on your mind? >> the number one issue on my mind was the economy, number one. number two, reproductive rights. number three, also voting rights. so i felt like i was on the ballot. this election was very personal to me, with some of the things going on, i feel like i have two young daughters, so like, what's going on now would have them having less rights than i had when i was their age. >> you have beto o'rourke running. hot do you think of his candidacy? >> frankly, i don'ts like it because he wants open borders. and he's very pro-abortion, which i don't like. >> beto o'rourke. >> right. >> what do you think of him? >> i think he is looking to the future of texas. i think he's looking especially to the rights of the people and

the importance of that. he actually speaks to a texas i wish was here. one where all people are franchises and we essentially looked ahead. >> joining me now from houston is nbc news correspondent priscilla thompson. i love that. it's fascinating to hear people actually talk about what they care about. i have been doing a lot of the same thing and asking people, can you give us sort of a preponderance. i feel like there's a narrative about what people care about and then there's what people care about and what they're telling people like yourself they're caring about. could you get a sense of what in general the most important issues are? >> yeah, i think so. and most of the republicans if not all of the republicans that i talked to in ft. bend county mentioned the economy. they talked about governor abbott and job creation. and the second thing that i heard them mention was immigration. and specifically the things that governor abbott has been doing around the busing of migrants to

other states. and suggesting that texas shouldn't have to bear that whole burden, and that is really resonating with republican voters there. at the same time, i have been hearing from democratic voters who are talking about a completely different set of issues. reproductive health and access to abortion, really big issue for a lot of folks. and you also heard particularly that one democratic voter there, talking about immigration as well, and she told me that she feels like the way that governor abbott has handled things here has been incredibly inhmane and it feels personal to her. i also heard democrats talking about the need to protect democracy, so a lot of those types of issues that are on their minds today. and i want to talk a little bit about ft. bend county and why that's such an interesting county to hear from voters in. it's one of those historically red counties, mitt romney beat obama there in 2012 by around 16 points. but it has trended blue since then. and in fact, in 2018, when beto

o'rourke and abbott were both on the ballot, we saw beto o'rourke beat ted cruz in the senate race by 12 points in that county and we saw governor abbott narrowly win the governorship in that county by less than 500 votes. so you see there, sort of the transition that that county is going in. and i think it will be important for beto o'rourke to pick up voters in a lot of those suburban areas that are trending blue. it's why we have seen him and governor abbott both visiting that county in recent weeks. but at the same time, here in texas, we're seeing republicans picking up ground in south texas. former president trump was just there this weekend, holding a rally because of the congressional races that are going on there. and so just as democrats are picking up ground in some historically red areas, we're seeing the same thing with republicans here, and it really is going to be a countdown to election day. joy. >> yeah. indeed. just more proof that these elections and these communities

are much more complicated than some of the media narratives make them out to be. priscilla thompson in houston, thank you very much. well done. >> one thing is clear about texas. it is at the leading edge of a national shift toward majority nonwhite populations hispanic texans are the state's largest demographic group period. joining me to talk about it all is julian castro, and former mayor of san antonio. he's now an msnbc political analyst, and host of the our america podcast. thank you for being here. wish you were here with us, but i do want to talk about this. the hispanic, the latino vote is extremely important in texas. and increasingly so. it hasn't been that potent in terms of moving the state though. not yet. right now, you're talking about 4 in 10, 40% of the population of this state in 2021, the largest demographic group. 6.2 million latino eligible

voters but only comprising 32% of the voting population. you told me years and years and year ago when we were at a totally different campaign event, the was going to change. it is changing. do you think it's changed enough to make democrats viable state-wide here? >> i think it's about getting there. it's getting closer and closer. just to give you a sense, joy, those numbers are correct. 40%, but only 32% of the voting age population because it's a young population, and traditionally in midterms in texas, pollsters will tell you they figure the hispanic vote would make up between 17% and 19% of the vote. that went a little higher four years ago, and what i'm looking for this year in 2022 is whether it goes even higher, it breaks that 20% mark, perhaps gets to 21% or 22%, to the extent that happens, that is a good thing for democrats, even though as you and others have noted, yes, in some south texas counties in

2020, republicans did gain some ground. that may or may not happen in 2022, but overall, hispanics in texas are still voting democratic. so to the extent they come out, that's a good thing for beto o'rourke and the democratic ticket. >> right. and you talk about narratives. we just put up that graphic. median age of latino voters is younger. but that thing about narrative, there is this thing that's happening in the mainstream media that they say, oh, hispanic voters are going republican. as if they are now a solid republican group, because you do have some south texas counties that are shifting red. but we pulled up the data. there are all of these polls, latino vote shifting toward republicans. will it again. npr, democrats losing latino voters. on and on and on. we pulled the data. telemundo did a poll of latino voters, and they prefer democratic control of congress 54% to 33%.

it's not even close. the narrative doesn't match the data. why do you suppose that narrative is taking hold? >> i have been pulling my hair out for the last couple months as i have seen story after story after story that you mention acting as though the latino vote is somehow firme a republican vote now, which couldn't be further from the truth because when you poll it, latinos are still firmly democratic. yes, there was movement in 2020, but they still are firmly democratic. my worry, joy, is that this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, basically. people that aren't -- that are not super political, you know, that's not all they do is follow politics, they start to think, hey, okay, oh, folks are going republican now. there is a bandwagon effect that i fear can happen based on essentially inaccurate narrative that is out there over and over and over again. what that takes on the other side is very hard organizing, door knocking, phone calling,

going and doing what beto o'rourke and his campaign and other campaigns are doing, especially in the rio grande valley of texas where we saw some hemorrhaging of support for democrats, and making sure that folks understand what the stakes are and the hispanic community gets that touch that you need to keep them in the democratic column. >> you know, when i -- back when i worked in politics, one of the things that was extremely frustrating was democrats' lack of spending on spanish language radio, in-language radio. asian american focused stations and networks, and democrats are generally off them, but the disinformation, the in-language disinformation on those outlets, you can think about miami and spanish language radio and how republicans are in there doing that. are democrats not paying enough attention to the propaganda that is really, really republicans are running pretty successfully on in-language radio and on in-language media period? >> i think it's been

underestimated. we spent a lot of time during the trump era and afterwards focused on social media and especially english language and those platforms have addressed it better in english than they have in spanish. really, these folks who are engaging in disinformation have been allowed to continue to run roughshod over the truth in spanish language. that has had an effect in some races in south florida, in south texas, and hopefully, you know, we have gotten better at combatting it, but it takes spending and organizing and hopefully it won't make much of a difference this year, but we'll see in a couple weeks. when we'll see, and also remembering that the latino market is not a monolit, there are all sorts of different subcommunities and communities with their own needs and they need to be addressed by politics. thank you very much. really appreciate ubeing here. >> up next, since everything is bigger in texas, including tv segments, we have not one but two democracy defenders working tirelessly ahead of these

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just call or go online now and become an aclu guardian of liberty. all it takes is just $19 a month. only $0.63 a day. your monthly support will make you part of the movement to protect the rights of all people, including the fundamental right to vote. states are passing laws that would suppress the right to vote. we are going backwards. but the aclu can't do this important work without the support of people like you. you can help ensure liberty and justice for all and make sure that every vote is counted. so please call the aclu now or go to my aclu.org and join us. when you use your credit card, you'll receive this special we the people t-shirt and much more. to show you're a part of the movement to protect the rights guaranteed to all of us by the us constitution. we protect everyone's rights, the freedom of religion, the freedom of expression, racial justice, lgbtq rights, the rights of the disabled.

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a key to the upcoming elections will be who shows up to vote. two have made sure young voters participate. taylor coleman has been living out of her van named barb for roughly a year and traveling the lone star state, registering voters and helping many people navigate draconian new rules. and then there is olivia juliana, the 19-year-old director of politics at gen z for change, crisscrossing the state, making sure the younger generation turn out for candidates up and down the ballot, and do not play with her on twirtd, you're going to get your feeling hurt. taylor and olivia join me now. thank you both for being here. olivia, you're at a disadvantage, my sister. i'm so sorry that you're not here, but i know you're out there working. i want to start with you. here's some numbers i'm going to throw out for you, olivia. in 2020, 41% of young voters turned out. it was 54% nationally.

in 2018, it was 36%. so voter turnout among younger voters is increasing. do you think that it's enough in this state to change the state? >> i absolutely do. i mean, we have seen just since the dobbs decision came out that we have had 300,000 new voters registered, and i think it's 37% of those people are people under the age of 25, young people are not playing around. and i have had the distinct pleasure of attending some of beto o'rourke's rallies at college campuses and the one i attended first was at the university of texas in austin. it was 10:00 a.m. on a monday morning and there were hundreds of young students there who were not just ready to vote, they're excited to vote. they know what's at stake. and i think that, you know, the texas gop is going to learn that lesson very quickly this november, because young people are going to turn out, and it is my opinion, but i think in a couple weeks we're going to see that's a fact. >> taylor, we were talking a

little bit about this in the break and i want to bring it up on air as well. there's turning out to vote and getting your vote to count. we're seeing ballot rejections of the ballots of voters of color at an astonishing rate. the state is known for voter suppression. 19% of asian voters are getting their ballots rejected, 17% of black voters, 12% of white voters. a lot of ballot rejection and you don't even have to know texas well to know harris county, this county which is a swing county, the rejections are happening in the places where young people, college students, and people of color vote. so how is that overcome. how can that be overcome without getting young voters discouraged? >> i think that's such a great question. i think that the way we overcome it is we have to get angry. i love your question about are the young people voting? there's one young woman i met on my journeys that inspires even me. she's 16 years old. she can't even vote, and she was

telling me her name is mariah, i hope she's watching this. you know, just about how she is trying to get involved in her community and convince people and persuade people why it's so important to do this work. and i think that's what it's going to take for us to overcome these challenges. it's not just a this cycle problem. it's an every single year there's an election problem. i think young people are starting to see this, especially after the dobbs ruling. we have to always make our voices heard and i absolutely agree with you. the suppression we're seeing it's not a coincidence. they see the trends happening, and they're worried. >> and i say this, people have said this to me and i repeat it, you always steal a good idea. texas is not a red state. it's a very voter suppressed state, and olivia, you are very effective at using social media, and social media is the devil in a lot of ways, but you do use it for good. is it useful, because i know there's a lot of #activism isn't

real, whether it changed anything or people going on social and complain. have you found social media is useful in motivating younger voters, because they're all over tiktok, over instagram. is that translating into actual voting? >> oh, absolutely it's translating into actual voting. you know, people go to social media to express their opinions. but they also go to social media to learn. we have seen in the last few years an overwhelming majority of young people are getting their news from social media platforms, especially tiktok. and they're not just going to traditional news media, not just going to news anchors. they're coming to people like me who are living in these states and making their voices heard in a way young people can relate to. it makes a huge difference and i think that's part of the reason why we're seeing some of these republicans crack down on social media platforms because they understand that young people are using them to mobilize. >> you know, and taylor, your story, your family's story, and

beto o'rourke talked about it in his book, it is another thing people when they think about states like texas, they don't think about what this looks like, which is what texas is emering looking like, asian americans, latinos, white folks, black folks, a very mixed state. the leadership does not reflect that. can you foresee, as you're driving around in your van talking to people and talking to young people and inspiring people, do you see a time when this state will look more in the leadership like it does out here in this beautiful crowd? >> absolutely i do. i think the question i get the most is, you know, as i'm out on the road going from town to town, a lot of small towns, republican towns. honestly, like family. i know the division that we see at the statewide level is caused by those in power. not by our neighbors. i think that the more that we get out there and we talk to people, and we meet people, and, you know, we become familiar

with each other and know that we are all on the same side, i think that we absolutely start to become overcome these sorts of divisiveness that we're seeing. >> taylor, i have to show you something while i have you here. taylor tweeted i think the last time that you were on our show, here's the tweet. i will put it on the screen for you. you said, so honored to join the readout to shine a light on voter suppression in texas. thanks so much for having me, joy and read. then you said this. please come down to texas for a barbecue and democracy road trips anytime. so, i decided that i would supply the barbecue. there it is. i got my own barbecue. i'm going to tweet out, what's the name of the restaurant? what's the name of the restaurant? okay, what's it called? flying saucer is here, but we will tell you guys the name of the restaurant where we got the barbecue. but flying saucer allowed us to bring in barbecue from outside, so we love them from doing that.

they sell beer here, so you can get that to. have a glass. >> i'm going to! >> -- and olivia, now you know olivia julianna. the onset with me, my sister. the onset with me, for free drinks, thank you very much, i appreciate it. love you all very much. thank you for what you do. more from this fabulous crowd. i'm going to talk to them and the flying saucer up next. ♪ ♪ ♪ try zegerid otc. it contains the leading medicine to treat frequent heartburn, uniquely designed for absorption. get all day, all night relief with zegerid otc.

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i am back at the flying saucer in fort worth, texas, where we've got beer and barbecue. i'm going to ask all these beautiful people what their most important issue is. here we go, rowan, mertz important issue? >> women's reproductive rights. >> voter registration. >> voter registration. >> every eligible voter should be able to vote and their vote count. >> gun control.

>> reproductive rights 100 percent. >> climate change. >> voters rights. >> abortion. >> but italy autonomy. >> women's rights. >> women's rights. >> the economy. >> our democracy. >> voting. >> women's rights. >> voting. >> women's reproductive rights. >> democracy. >> reproductive rights. >> i have a wife and daughter, abortion. >> -- okay, there we go, we are going to keep moving. >> equal access to voting. >> democracy. >> yell it out! >> -- shout it out! >> democracy. >> i'm going to come right back to you, my dear, -- >> vote! vote! vote! >> this is the lady who brought us juneteenth. miss oberlin, a legend, a legend, a legend. a legend. >> -- running for -- i will be the first woman. >> good luck! >> what's the most important issue? >> -- beto is the most important

issue to this gentleman. >> voters rights. >> keep doing what you are doing, bringing -- to the forefront and keep everybody informed. >> i think i'm the most important issue to this one, thank you, my sister. >> i really mean that. >> thank you, thank you. >> for doing what you are doing. >> i love fort worth, you guys are awesome. let's get a couple more, let's get a couple more. >> women's rights. >> women's reproductive rights. >> the democracy. >> so, this is, it everybody. forget about narratives, forget about polls. none of that matters. all that matters is that you vote. don't listen to the pundits, not listened to anyone. just vote. you heard all these folks give all of the issues that are most important. but i do want to spend a moment with some with miss opal, who you pioneered the juneteenth holiday. you brought it to the country and started it. what is the importance of celebrating juneteenth? >> the fact that it brings us all together. we are talking freedom for everybody. i mean, from we should

celebrate from the 19th of june to the 4th of july. and all of it is about everybody being free, not black folk, not texas folk, but freedom for everybody. >> you know what? what i love, i've got to tell you guys, can we get a sweep of the crowd? what i love about texas is, forget whatever you think about texas. it's not a serial type, it's an incredibly diverse, incredibly friendly, incredibly kind state. i absolutely love being here. people are wonderful, they're open, it's every kind of person with every kind of view, and we have had such a wonderful time. i want to give the names, get me the names of the folks around this place. where's tina? no, the names of the people who run the place. >> shannon and josh. >> shannon and josh, okay shannon and josh have been wonderful to us. i'm so bad with names, but shannon and josh welcomed us and allowed us to be here. so that we could get the views of all of these wonderful voters. i think i have time, do i have time, robert? can i get a few more? i will get a few more, go around again, here we go. >> most important issue? >> democracy.

>> -- he said i'm the most important issue, but give me an issue. >> we are all one people and we deserve equal rights, and we just got to all make it happen. >> i love that. your most important issue? >> gun laws, we need to pass more effective gun law that will prevent folks that don't have any business owning a gun getting a gun, and creating mass murders. >> absolutely, how about back here? >> women's rights. >> but gerrymandering has got to go. >> wow, that's a new one, that's a good one. how about back here? >> -- women's reproductive rights! >> look at that, look at that, the ladies talking about, it thank you guys very much. i want to thank everybody for being here. flying saucer, come down, have some beer, patronize this wonderful restaurant, give them some business. thank y'all very much. appreciate y'all being here and i'm going to go to chris haines, chris haines live right now. chris haines live right now.