Headlong into the towering red wall of Texas politics however Texas demographics are changing rapidly so could that read take on a slightly purple tinge up next on point a close look at the Texas Senate race. First the news. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm Winsor Johnston President Trump is taking to social media to push back against a scathing report published in The New York Times N.P.R.'s Scott Horsley says the article reports that Trump and his family use dubious games to evade taxes on hundreds of millions of dollars in inherited wealth the New York Times $14000.00 word story was the product of more than a year of investigation it shows that despite his claims to be a self-made billionaire President Trump was the beneficiary of a vast inherited fortune much of which was shielded from taxes through a variety of questionable schemes New York taxing authorities say they're reviewing the articles findings in his tweet the president does not dispute any of the facts in the article but describes it as quote a very old boring and often told hit piece Trump complains the vast majority of the newspapers coverage of his administration has been negative echoing a charge leveled by the White House press secretary Scott Horsley n.p.r. News Washington it's still unclear whether the Senate will vote this week to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh all the vote has been delayed a pending the results of an ongoing f.b.i. Investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct against cabin all who denies the claims the agency is expected to release its findings by the end of the week this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to 2 and Americans and a researcher in the United Kingdom N.P.R.'s Nell Greenfieldboyce reports they won for using evolution to design new enzymes and medicines Francis Arnold works at Cal Tech but early this morning she was in a hotel room in die. Alice Texas sound asleep the phone rang and I heard that chorus I thought it was one of my sons with a problem Nope it was the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences she'd been awarded half of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering the idea of using random changes to produce all kinds of new chemicals or enzymes so researchers can pick the best one for use in say an industrial process or a pharmaceutical she shares the award with George Smith of the University of Missouri in Columbia and Gregory Winter at the m.r.c. Laboratory of Molecular Biology in the United Kingdom now Greenfieldboyce n.p.r. News Islamic state is claiming responsibility for a suicide bombing that targeted an election rally in Afghanistan N.P.R.'s Day ahead eed reports the attack killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 2 dozen It was the 1st attack on an election rally since campaigning kicked off last week the parliamentary elections there widespread fear is that this sort of violence could derail the process they seen as a dry run for the more important presidential elections next year and a test of the government's ability to provide security N.P.R.'s Day to date reporting from Islamabad on Wall Street the Dow is up 148 points the Nasdaq up 38 this is n.p.r. News good morning it's 9 o 4 I'm Willow Sandmeyer with k.c.a.l. You news an upper level low is bringing rain to the central and south coast today meteorologists say we could see a half an inch of rain on the coast of 2 an inch inland the heaviest rainfall in Ventura and Santa Barbara County this is expected to come mid to late morning today in fact it's raining right now in Santa Barbara County raining in the city of Santa Barbara the rain has not yet reached Carpentaria rainfall amounts are expected to be well below threshold for flooding and debris flow concerns in brush fire burn zones a plan to help reduce the risk of wild land fires on the south coast has been presented to local officials k c l u. John Palminteri has that story the Santa Barbara County Fire Department has a fuels management plan that may help to reduce large wild land fires it was presented Tuesday to the set of every county board of supervisors The plan calls for several approaches including cutting and reinforcing large fuel trails and breaks along the ridge lines and or historic fire lines of Guardian The report says prescribed burns are risky in the steep from country hills the fire department has given the board support to go forward with environmental reviews and to collaborate with other agencies on fire prevention in Santa Barbara John Palminteri k.c.a.l. You news a large power outage was reported earlier this morning in northern Santa Barbara County the civic Gas and Electric says about $11000.00 customers are affected work is underway to restore power communities affected include long Polk Buellton solving Santa Ana's and the lake a chimera area rain has been falling in that area but no word yet on the cause of that power outage and the Air Force is advising residents of the central and south coast to be prepared for unusual sights and sounds this weekend as Space-X. Attempts its 1st return of a rocket to a launch site on the West Coast a space x. Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch a satellite into orbit from Vandenberg at 721 Saturday evening the Falcons 1st stage will then fly back to Vandenberg and set down in a landing zone on the coastal basin can produce one or more sonic booms support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include e.c. Mc Foundation working to improve post-secondary educational outcomes for under-served students through evidence based enervation learn more at e.c. Mc Foundation dot org. From w.b. You are Boston and n.p.r. I'm Meghna Chopra party and this is on point the last few years have been anything but politics as usual and the trend continues this year in Texas of all places now Texas is deep deep red it hasn't sent a Democratic senator to Washington since 1993 but this year there's a competitive Senate race in the Lone Star State in one corner of incumbent Republican Ted Cruz they want the baby just like California. Boy. And they were caught and that here and in the other corner Democratic congressman beto Roark they don't want somebody who's captured by corporations and political action committees and special interests because that's where Ted Cruz gets his money now the polls have orc within single digits of Cruz making it one of the most watched Senate contest in the nation so this hour on point we'll take a close look at the Texas Senate race and what it indicates for the midterms and you can join us if you live in Texas what candidate are you supporting which one are you supporting and why and even if you don't what do you think the cruise O'Rorke race tells us about American politics in 2018 were 818-042-3825 extension 5 that's 80423 talk you can also join us any time at on point Radio dot org or Twitter and Facebook and on point radio Well joining me 1st today from Austin Texas is Ashley Lopez she's senior reporter for k u t We've got links to her latest stories on the Texas Senate race at on point Radio dot org Ashley Lopez welcome to the program Magna So 1st of all like what Walk us through some of the basics here for people who aren't as familiar with the Texas Senate race as obsessive politics watchers might be I mean how close is the race right now between a senator Ted Cruz and better O'Rorke. If you ask some experts they say it's pretty much all the polls have had Cruz with a slight edge but you know as the election has gotten closer the polls have got the 2 candidates closer which is surprising a lot of people because as you mentioned this is not a swing state so a swing election especially for a midterm surprise is really surprising in Texas so a tossup and has it been like that consistently for the past couple of months or is that narrowing more or widening well in the beginning it seemed like this was you know not going to be a race at all I mean when beto right 1st announced he's a congressman by the way no Paso when he 1st announced everyone's like you know this is a really interesting candidate a lot of people like him he's you know really interested in working with you know Republicans in Congress he isn't well known for being friends with will herd who's a Republican in Congress so those kind of His thing is you who is a really bipartisan friendly guy but you know they didn't think that a ton of money would flood in flood into Texas for this race so you know it was going to seem like a long shot for better work but it's only in the past couple of months that it seems like this race is getting a lot closer than anyone expected Ok And so then what's what's the cause of the traction it seems the better or Rourke is it is gaining here in Texas I mean it's a couple of things I mean this blue wave that everyone's talking about I mean a route it really is is their democratic voters all across the country that are more interested in voting in a midterm than probably ever I mean that we'll see will we'll see what that looks like on Election Day But people are paying attention to politics in a way that they haven't before so that helps better work to have you know just Democrats energized and looking at candidates and their state to he's run a really good campaign I mean if you ask like a Democratic strategist what a good campaign looks like it looks like better O'Rourke's they spent a lot of money on digital ads a lot of shoe leather to his travel the entire state. He's not taking any part of the state for granted you know he has this like interesting texting campaign it's very 21st century and so it's just a strong campaign and also he's a very likable candidate to a lot of people so you know that also helps he's he's pretty charming and then I mean towards the end now he's raising a ton of money he's raising millions of dollars and that doesn't hurt the campaign either Ok so you know maybe we shouldn't get too far ahead of ourselves though I mean I know I'm hearing lots of Democratic operatives looking at Texas and saying well you know there's hope there for the 1st time in maybe a generation but on the other hand I mean is is part of the issue here the senator Ted Cruz incumbent though he might be he's not the perfect Republican candidate right he has a likability problem so if some other candidate some of the Republican were running would we even be talking about this race at all you know I hear this question a lot but I feel like Ted Cruz is not likable in a national audience but he's likable in Texas which is why he's kind of hanging in there so so well you know why he still has an edge in the polls you know this is a red state it's very religious Haven't out there like the of a delegate is very organized here so he's likable in Texas I've see his campaign is just not being as strong like Ted Cruz didn't have you know there was this story in the local papers about how Ted Cruz is campaign hasn't even had law on signs until somewhat recently to give out to people so it's just you know he's doing you know it's been kind of active in Congress so there's that kind of pulling his attention away from the campaign you know I would argue he probably has a little bit of election fatigue this man just ran for president not too long ago and he came in pretty close so you know his campaign just doesn't have as much energy as Betaworks but he's still in a favorable standing and Texas you know this is a state that like people like Ted Cruz a historically has liked people like this Yeah well I want to listen to a little bit of sound from. A debate that Congressman Beto O'Rourke and Republican Senator Ted Cruz had on September 22nd it was their 1st debate and 1st here you're going to hear from O'Rourke talking about what you were just mentioning actually about the nature of his he calls it his grassroots campaign and he says that that's a movement that Texas voters want they don't want somebody who's captured by corporations and political action committees and special interest because that's where Ted Cruz gets his money our campaign is the largest grassroots campaign this state has ever seen funded by people and only people in every single one of the counties of Texas every single day and here's Republican Senator Ted Cruz at that same debate really criticizing O'Rourke for saying over and over again that Iraq has visited every county in the state congressman O'Rourke doesn't seem to understand that representing Texas is not doing a photo op in each county in Texas with reporters in tow but it's actually standing up and fighting for the people of Texas and I can tell you in the 6 years I've represented Texas I have been there on the ground so that's that's Republican Senator Ted Cruz at a debate with Bet O'Rourke on September 22nd actually Lopez but you know before we talk about sort of the deeper trends in Texas politics and Texas demographics too I just want to ask you I mean give us a snapshot a little more of a snapshot of better or can you what is it that made him think that this would be a good year even to run against an incumbent Republican senator Well it's a good year for any Democrat to run for office right as I mentioned Democrats are more you know energized than they've been in a very long time but also you know we had an interesting election presidential election here Hillary Clinton came within a single digit of Donald Trump in Texas it was 9 points which is very surprising because Republicans have historically done a lot better Republicans running for president that is. And so you know I think that was assigned to Democrats that things are changing at least under a trump administration or the possible threat of at that point was a possible threat of Trump becoming president you know they were looking at you know this is possibly energizing racial minorities you know and people young people people who typically don't vote and especially don't vote in Texas so I think that that was the catalyst for that was that closer election than anyone was expecting and 2016 Ok Well you listen to Ashley Lopez she's senior reporter for k u t joining us today from Austin Texas Ashley Stand by for just 2nd because I want to bring in another voice into this conversation Brandon writing House joins us now he's with us today from Houston he's a political science professor at the University of Houston and co-host of The Houston Public Media pub political podcast it's called party politics and he's also author of Inside Texas politics power policy and personality of the Lone Star State Brandon writing House welcome to on point thanks bagman So let me just get to kind of a fundamental question here that I want to want to sort of explore through the course of this hour is this race and the coast as of it between Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman beto or is it you know simply a race it's emblematic of 2018 and Democrats in the position they find themselves visa the g.o.p. And Donald Trump or is there something deeper going on in Texas politics are we sort of seeing the beginnings of what might be a demographically driven political change in the state I think that in some ways both are happening the Democrats like to say that the demographics are destiny and I think in large part that's right the problem for them in part is that it's hard to bridle a horse while you're writing it and the goal is for them to be able to try to invest now and harness these trends which on paper would work for them but which in practice can be very difficult so. Definitely it's the case that the state is younger it has a changing suburbs that are much more demographically diverse than they were you've got a rising number of Latinos and Asians especially in these suburban counties which are breaking towards the Democrats but like you say 2 there's also unique moment in American politics where Donald Trump is uniquely unpopular in what is otherwise a really ruby red state so he has exposed this rift within the Republican Party in Texas he is advocated for things like the border wall which has split many of the parties but also many of the voters he has advocated for trade policies which potentially hurt rural Texas so there is still a lot of displeasure with Donald Trump even though his approval rating remains fairly high within the Republican Party Ok so to your point though that if Democrats are looking at at a demographic change and pinning their hopes on that I'm seeing here that even though of course there's been a huge growth in the number of Latino residents in Texas that turnout among Latino voters has been consistently very low in the state Yeah this is a big problem for Democrats they need to be able to harness this population to things are at play I think number one it's in the case that the Latino vote is not uniform so it's clear that you're not going to be able to use the same message for each different Latino and that's something that is common but in Texas because of the diversity within the Latino community that's certainly the case but it's also of course the case that getting people to come vote for Democrats is not so easy there's about a 6040 split so Republicans are pretty popular in the Latino community and you know as Ted Cruz actually just checked me on this here but I'm reading that Ted Cruz talks about you know sort of the silent majority of Republicans in Texas and that those are the folks who are going to go to the polls in November actually just about 15 seconds before the break here and those happen to also be the voters that are more likely to come out and vote and have to come out to vote in Texas or at will pick up this conversation. We come right back Ashley Lopez is joining us today she's senior reporter for k o t t and Brandon writing House is with us as well he's a political science professor at the University of Houston we're talking about the race between Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman battle Rorik for Senate in Texas 184385 that's 80423 talk. This is on point. K.c.l. You general manager Mary Olsen here because we believe that news comes 1st we stood down from a critical day of on air fundraising to bring you testimony during the Kavanaugh Senate hearings the drive is over but there's still work to do as we are more than $50000.00 behind our goal. Support coverage and pledge online now. Or a call 493-9200 thanks. On the next fresh air Tamar Jenkins talks about writing and directing her new movie Private Life starring Katherine Hahn and Paul Giamatti as a couple in their forty's trying to have a baby through any means necessary adoption. 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This is on point a magnet shocker Barty we're talking about the race for Senate in Texas and that's the race between incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Beto O'Rourke it's a close race which is surprising a lot of people and it's why it's one of the reasons why it's maybe one of the most watched Senate races in the country right now ahead of the midterms and we're joined today by Ashley Lopez she's senior reporter for k u t She's joining us from Austin Texas Brandon running House joins us as well he's a political science professor at the University of Houston joining us from Houston as well and we want to know what you think I mean if you're live you living in Texas what is this Senate race feel like to feel like to you on the ground here what do you think about the fact that it's so close between Cruz and or and if you're living outside of Texas what is the Texas race mean to you in terms of what we might see politically when the midterms do roll around in November 180-423-8255 that's 80423 talk actually Lopez I want to turn back to you here for a 2nd because we were talking about the really big growth in the Latino community in Texas here I mean the 2010 census showed that 51 percent of the state's overall population is Hispanic or Latino and I'm seeing some numbers here 2 and a half 1000000 maybe 2700000 new Texans have come into the state between since 2010 and more than half of them are Latino So this is a huge potential I want to call it a voting bloc that are not monolithic as Brennan was saying but huge growth in the electorate there. Yeah and Latinos are said to be calm at least by 2022 the biggest population group in the state so even if Democrats were to find a way to mobilize and get loyalty among a large portion of that group and they would argue I've heard that immigration because it's such a huge issue and the trumpet ministration has had such unpopular policies here in Texas among Latinos that this would be like the right time to start doing that I mean the other issue and I heard this a lot from people who work in Democratic politics who say that you know they see this opening to really capture a larger part of the Latino group Latino voters is that they haven't really spent a lot of money here it takes a lot of money to register voters in Texas and voter registration drives and mobilization therefore costs a lot of money in Texas and progressive groups and 3rd party groups that are interested in growing the Democratic Party I don't see a good investment here because it's been so Republican for so long so I mean it is true that this is this could be the future of the party it probably is the future of the party here in Texas but it just you know it takes a lot more work than has yet begun I see Brenden running house there so we can focus a whole hour multiple hours on the political force that the growing Hispanic Latino community in Texas will form but I'm also seeing the you know taking the conversation back to how Texans feel about President Donald Trump that in fact the president's. Approval ratings in Texas are probably lower than the one might think some 39 percent yeah they're low overall recent polling has got it more at about 50 percent but that's really propped up by Republicans who support him to the tune of about 86 to 90 percent so it's really driven by Republicans and this is not terribly surprising that there's a lot of unity within the party that number has grown because there was a time where there were definitely people. Who objected to Donald Trump and Democrats or Republicans who were favoring Ted Cruz and so now we've kind of morphed into one bigger sort of more contiguous unit for Republicans that support but there's a lot of friction Still I see so there are no other group of voters that we should be talking about here is potentially influential in this race I mean white suburban white women or women in general yeah I think that suburban white women are going to be the biggest swing vote in this election that's really going to what's probably drive any kind of success that Iraq finds and suburbs which is going to have a reciprocal effect of affecting some of the challengers the congressional level many of whom have really harnessed this vote and could potentially do well but I also think if we're talking about changing demographics that we could talk about younger voters who are energized in significant ways in the selection so that number breaks considerably in favor of that O'Rorke they don't treat typically vote in the same numbers that we see for people who are over 40 but it is the case that those numbers are rising and just as an aside to I think that the number of Asian voters is increasing in some of the big suburbs in these big Texas counties you've got the number of Asians far outpacing the actual growth of any other. Group and as a result you've got them potentially being elected or partner places like Fort Bend County here outside of Harris County outside of Houston are booming and that really could spell another level of success the Democrats might find so actually little that makes it seem as if turnout is going to be absolutely everything in this race in November well it's always the wild card in elections in Texas a big reason you know Democrats always say a big reason that Texas is red is not because it's a conservative state it's because it's a non-voting state so if you get all these populations who don't usually vote that could change what Texas looks like if you change the electorate you can change you get selected so that's always the big question and especially during the midterm I mean this is a weird midterm because. You know everyone's kind of excited and and angry and you know all that but typically like Democrats are likely to vote during midterms so if that's different this year like this could look different than most midterms so I'm seeing for example but. A couple of Saturdays ago is quoted as having said Our contention is that if no one's ever shown up and listen to you talking to voters or potential voters and incorporated your story into why they're campaigning and the expectations we're setting for one another then I wouldn't expect you to vote either so is he hoping to draw people who haven't bothered or haven't seen a reason to vote before I mean that's it that's the tactic that we've seen in other places we saw that in New York with Alexander Ocasio Cortez for example is there I think that's what he's betting on yeah go ahead and I'm sorry that oh sorry I was going to say yeah definitely case like Ashley said that the turnout is in e. Mc and midterm years we're talking about probably on the order of about 30 percent which is extremely low now I think will have turnout probably spike a little bit in the selection because you definitely have the energy that we've seen and so that's something that would definitely I think produce some Democratic gains but you still have about 2 and a half 1000000 registered Texans who could otherwise register the Latino population only registered to vote at about 3044 percent and that's number as about 80 percent for Anglos So there are still some fundamental voting demographics that make it really difficult for Democrats to win statewide Ok well I want to listen to a little bit more from the candidates themselves and by the way I should note that we definitely reached out to Senator Ted Cruz's campaign and to Congressman beto roots campaign as well invited them or one of the represent their representatives to join us today. Campaign declined our request and Senator Cruz's campaign never responded to our requests but we did do our due diligence on that part but let's hear from the senator anyway this is from the the Senate debate that they had on September 22nd. And Senator Ted Cruz was asked about his contentious relationship with President Donald Trump especially the relationship they had during the 2016 election and here's what Senator Ted Cruz said I have worked hand in hand with the president on substance and we have delivered remarkable victories the biggest tax cut of a generation we've seen $4000000.00 new jobs created since Trump was elected and we and we cut taxes and cut regulations we're seeing record low unemployment Texan's lives are better so yes I could have chosen to make it about myself to be selfish and say you know what my feelings are hurt so I'm going to take my marbles and go home but I think that would have been not doing the job I was elected to the senator Ted Cruz on September 22nd let's take a call here Dan is calling from San Antonio you're on the air Dan. Hi Thanks for taking my call I want to say that there is a lot of noise and I don't have all that much time but I did want to say that that or gives me my family's enthusiasm that we haven't felt the generation my parents would say it's like the John f. Kennedy or the Kennedy family inspiring us to have some hope because living in the so-called red state makes us cringe every time I hear that because we're starch blue family and everyone I know just about is at least inside their county here in San Antonio However we are very diverse state and it's all good and I like the message that this or is about hope and moving forward whether you're Republican Democrat independent because we're so sick of the bigotry and the hatefulness comes from Mr Trump in d.c. And that's not what we're here in San Antonio in Texas and probably most of America people are just sick of that negative message and as a country we want to move forward and we just really appreciate the genuine. Gives and we hear Mr Cruz's way so we just cringe then I'm going to take it back from you there and I really appreciate your call and your thoughts let's turn to another voice here Abby Livingston joins us now she's with us from Washington she's the Washington bureau chief for the Texas Tribune and we've got a link to her latest story for the trip Texas Tribune that link is a Web site on point Radio dot org Abby Livingston Welcome to the program Hi Thanks for having me it's great to have you so you just heard that caller retook from San Antonio really sort of had a lot to say about how he feels and what he hears when better O'Rourke is talking in the pride in the hope that it gives him have we had that kind of have you seen that kind of energy with Texas Democrats in recent years absolutely not and I was in 2nd grade with Ann Richards and so maybe with her back probably wasn't really aware of it. But what is happening in taxes is unlike anything I've ever seen before. Or whenever I go to an orca event it is it feels like I am at a New Hampshire event a week before the presidential election our primary there is a level of excitement that is just something. I don't even know how to wrap my head around so but you know how little the push back to a or the analytical push back to a campaign that's run on hope is that hope isn't actually a policy so what is what is better work saying beyond this idea of hope and reaching out in and inspiring voters who haven't felt like they've been heard before is he saying a specific things about what he would want to do in Washington that are surprisingly resonating with Texans I mean it's generally pretty boilerplate national Democratic policies he's for the legalization of marijuana he is the PACs not taking pac money as a super big deal. But what I think is bigger than that is. If you want to see your work if you want to touch him you can he has I think it's been sort of not appreciated this 254 county tour I'm from the To city of Fort Worth which is basically the size of Washington d.c. It is completely ignored in Texas politics it's Dallas Houston Austin Those are the only things that matter and our work is from El Paso which is as remote and Texas as you can possibly be it is closer to San Diego than Louisiana and so I think he sort of has this way of making Texans feel relevant who aren't from these places and so there's just. I compare it to when the ice cream truck comes to your neighborhood there's a level of excitement it doesn't really matter that the ice cream is terrible in the truck and you've got Bluebell in your fridge you're just really excited to have the ice cream truck and knowledge your existence and so I think part of it is he makes people feel a part of their campaign he will stand around for hours after these events and take selfies and then those selfies are posted on Facebook and so I would say since late spring there has not been a day that I've logged on when I didn't see someone I knew in Texas with a photo at that. Well let's take a just let me say this 1st that I'm magnetron this is on point we got another call here coming in from San Antonio Let's go to Jerry who's on the line you're on the air Jerry. There. I just wanted a comment. About beta and how he's different he's nonpartisan and not biased and not owned by corporations is the fact remains all politicians they tune Cruise included they are biased and they are owned and that's just the facts so to me this this race is about the youth and the minorities getting that vote who's going to get to vote you know for myself you know I'm tired of being portrayed as a racist as a Republican which I am I mean I'm not an extremist or anything like that but I'm not racist I'm not anti into I'm not anti immigration and I'm not a bigot who slaughtered us Texans are just tired of of not focusing on America for a while and that's why both approves of. Jerry Stiller. Looks like last year but your thank you for your call Brendan running House what do you hear in Jerry's voice there because I think he Jerry is obviously not alone there might be a lot of energy on the side of better supporters but you know Texas still is what it is it voted for Ted Cruz multiple times and Jerry says it's I think what he was getting to is that he doesn't see this and so much about as about as he does about people pushing back against Donald Trump I think that's probably right I think one of the things that trump inspired a lot of people and not just in Texas but abroad is that there's like but the dissatisfaction with the current climate in Washington I think is a real risk that that there isn't been really any change to that and so it's difficult to be able to catch lightning in a bottle twice Ted Cruz ran the 1st time as somebody who was going to go and change Washington and hasn't done so so I think he might get a little backlash from that to all the energy question just a bra going to be for a minute here she wrote a great article about yard signs in Texas their yard signs are a lagging indicator of support but there's been a tremendous grassroots enthusiasm for what's happening for better or the damage though the problem is that has she had plied no Democrat has won statewide since 1904 this is the 1st year that Frasier and friends were on the air so it has been a long time and you've got Republicans at the state level who are probably going to win their elections by upwards of 20 points the same as we found in 2014 so the Democrats have captured enthusiasm and that's something that can people built on in the future because even if it is a fluke election and it's an unusual cycle where there's a lot of antipathy towards Washington like we heard from the caller it is definitely the case that historically that's been successful for a party in 1961 Republicans elected John Tower to the Senate and although it was a fluke election because it was the sort of jungle primary it was definitely the case though that they were able to parlay that into more resources back home they could recruit candidates and raise money those are all fundamental campaign things that or work can help the party do which they. Desperately need right now Ashley Lopez I presume that you've been out on the stump with with the candidates and I'm thinking especially about better work as Abby Livingston said a 2nd or 2 ago that is O'Rourke talking about actual policies that are somewhat democratic boilerplate and if so could that and the somewhat backfiring on him when it comes time for folks to actually cast their ballots. I guess we'll see right here I mean this is a big question for Democrats after Hillary Clinton last I heard a lot of you know Democrats wringing their hands about whether or not their candidates are too often focus on the details of policy versus inspiring people and they think and you know it's I've heard some experts say that they think that might have hurt Hillary Clinton I mean if you think back at Obama he was sort of the mix of inspiration and sort of like boilerplate you know like like health care for example like the Democratic policies you know I wonder if that's maybe helping instead of hurting I mean that could be why younger voters are maybe really attracted to him because his campaign rallies aren't really very focused on details it's more about talking you know giving a narrative of the how your life fits into his campaign I'm seeing he talks about expanding Medicaid in Texas at every event he goes to yeah and that's a big one in Texas because we have the highest number of uninsured people in the country and the highest rate so issues like health care are really important here right and 60 percent of Texans seem to support expanding Medicaid even as the attorney general of Texas is suing to basically undo the Affordable Care Act So maybe perhaps some daylight there between Texas politicians some of them and what some voters may want let's explore that more when we come back we're talking about the Texas Senate rate the race between incumbent Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman better or worse 18438255 that's 80423 talk a magnet talked about this is one point. 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You I'm Willow Sandmeyer showers today with rain continuing into the evening partly cloudy skies with only a slight chance of rain after midnight daytime highs in the mid sixty's to around 70 overnight lows in the low to mid fifty's tomorrow partly cloudy with highs in the upper sixty's to mid seventy's 1000 Oaks as a forecast high of 67 today Ventura 70 and sat a barber 63 you were listening to k.c.a.l. You. Support for on point comes from Carbonite offering secure data protection solutions for growing businesses including automatic backup for servers and computers high availability and disaster recovery solutions and automated data migration learn more at Carbonite dot com and Geico offering the Geico mobile lab the Geico mobile app stores id cards enables bill pay and submits policy updates and claim reports directly from a user cell phone learn more at Geico dot com. This is on point a magnetometer Barty we're talking about the Senate race in Texas between Ted Cruz and beto or work and I'm joined today by Ashley Lopez Brendon rotting house and Abby Livingston as well and let's just hear some of the ads that Texans are listening and listening to and watching on their televisions This is from a campaign ad from bet O'Rourke it's one of his highlights one of his favorite talking points that he's visited every county in Texas to meet people across the state and he highlighted that fact in his 1st ad the only way for me to be able to labor for the people. Every single community in every county. In Houston. Texas. That's an ad from Congressman beto O'Rourke's campaign and here's some sound from an ad that Senator Ted Cruz's campaign is running. An ad there from Senator Ted Cruz branded running House that that Ted Cruz ad talked to me a little bit about it because I think it speaks to some things that the a lot of Texans hold dear I mean the right to gun ownership but the idea that. Maybe liberalism can't be something that represents the state of Texas Yeah I think you're going to say that this is something that holds the Texas hold dear because it's like country music but I think that's true as well there's definitely a synergy there and clearly the crews campaign understands how to run in taxes they know that there's a certain side guised as you say for voting to keep you know people's guns keeping a fairly conservative philosophy and that's something that was successful for Ted Cruz So there's definitely. Nuff Republican support in a midterm election that an organic kind of campaign that relies on priming Republicans through these conservative policies can work or work has to tangibly make up about a 1000000 votes and the just as sure as God made little green apples Republicans will come to vote in mid term so the difficulty of trying to make up that with a campaign like Cruz is running which primes Republicans and Prime's conservatives it just makes it really difficult Well let's take a call here Christine is calling from San Antonio Texas Christine you're on the air . Hi Good morning I'm just calling I'm a millennium voter and for the 2016 election I had voted for Donald Trump and I grew up in a conservative household my husband is conservative my whole family is but I've been very encouraged and I am voting for Betty over work this election in November just because people can be on partisan lines and I think though important to in this day and age where it's like you're either Republican or Democrat I am a mother and I have 2 children and I think it's the importance that I raise my children with positive values and I really appreciate what the work is going out there and making it a point to meet people where they're at and I really appreciate what he's doing Christine Such a few quick question before before you go Yes Did you support Senator Cruz before this year yes I did so what's changed there him in that I just really whenever he was in the 26 final action. How just doesn't like to talk about whatever he was talking to. President Trump and just how like how he stood against them and always said it and he decided oh I'm going to be for him and then I don't know if like President Trump tweets about Ted Cruz and now he's supporting him I just think that your true I think is so important about a person's true colors and how he just was really good President Trump and also nice for him like yeah but that's got to show you something about some of these personality you know I really appreciate how bestial work is just. And you know you Christine can I just ask you ask you one more question and I'm really glad you called in because you're talking about you like the fact that you think that you feel that better work supports women's rights I mean I just want to touch on one of these controversies that hit the campaign recently right there a controversy over something he wrote in 1901 or a review for a Broadway musical where he in the review he wrote some. Unkind things about the female actresses in the Broadway musical you know he wrote that there are only qualification seem to be there phenomenally large body parts need to say it does that concern you. I I don't know. I know he's apologized for it and. I honestly I don't know I know that I mean I can't say that Ok not but it takes Well let me apologize I think that for a moment right yeah Chris and I just want to say I don't know is a perfectly fine answer rock hard certainty sometimes is probably is what gets us in trouble so so thank you so much for your call Abby Livingston let me turn back to you on that Christine on the one hand must be a Republican Texas Republicans worst nightmare but on the other hand I mean she talked the wish talk about Senator Ted Cruz I keep coming back to this question about whether the challenger this time around is Ted Cruz himself and that we wouldn't be having this conversation if there were a more positive unlikable Republican senatorial candidate I think it's also I think she I have heard similar things from what she said. I think it's important remember what a rough landing Cruz had in his presidential campaign and he was sort of you know I mean it's hard to. Be against I mean and in retrospect endorsing Trump and the fall of 2016 was probably the smart political move but it did there are women in Texas who have a lot of problems particularly when Trump made fun of Cruz's wife. And taxes that's just sort of a. I would quote these women a husband should stand up for his wife and so it's it's a tough conundrum he was and I do think if this was John Cornyn we wouldn't be talking about this race or it would be much more he would have a much bigger lead Cornin is just a different presence and Cruz is very very polarizing and so I think she underscores that Ok well I want to play one more piece of tape here this is something that went viral on social media and it has to do with an answer that better O'Rourke he gave when he took a question from an audience member at a campaign event in the question of believe came from a military veteran and the veteran asked whether or not and if ill players taking in the during the national anthem was disrespectful to members of the military and overwork and of and of giving quite a long answer was several minutes long he began by saying My short answer is No I don't think it's disrespectful. And so we just want to play a portion of the remainder of what he said are frustrated frankly with people like me and those in positions of public trust and power who have been only able to resolve this or bring justice for what has been done and to stop it from continuing to have it in this country and so nonviolently peacefully while the R.'s in this country are watching these games they've taken me to bring our attention and our focus to this problem to ensure that we fix it that is why they are doing it and I can think of nothing more American than a peaceful least amount of work if you was going to have it was going to be very much was actually Lopez as I mentioned that went viral on social media which may or may not have significant meaning but how did that go over in Texas. Well I mean if you look at the black vote in Texas I would say it went over really well specifically among black voters he has something like 97 percent approval according to like one latest poll in that one might be a little high but it's not unlike most polls that have come out. You know conservatives this is red meat for them this is something that Ted Cruz has been talking about the n.f.l. And the protester in the national anthem he's been talking about his rallies because it really frustrates conservatives they see this as like disrespectful to the flag and to veterans so you know if you look at like Democratic base voters this is something that they are so excited to hear you know a Democrat standing up for racial injustice in their eyes and then on the on the other side you know conservative voters you know this is a polarizing issue so conservative voters see this very differently and they're very frustrated by this printer running house I mean I think outside of Texas political watchers are saying that perhaps this is what the way better talks about these issues is one of the reasons why he's getting so much traction there that it's not sort of evasive around the central issues of the you know the n.f.l. Players themselves why are wanting to bring to the national consciousness and it's surprising to actually hear a politician engage with the ideas in that way I think that's a definite right you know it's certainly the case that our work has stimulated the sort of type of candidate for Democrats and if they can find this prototype then and we recreate it centrally then they can be successful in lots of races where otherwise they might not be able to be successful I think that the biggest effect for work is the kind of grassroots support to get not just in terms of people coming to these rallies but in terms of the money he's raising he has pulled in so much money which is impressive for a Democrat in a midterm but the way he's done it with these small dollar donations is a recipe that can be recreated so that energy especially if you multiply you know times the into. I or nation allows for taxes to essentially keep some of that political money here which has been a real problem for Democrats it's true in the case that it's Texas has been like an a.t.m. For the rest of the country they have come to take the money and then has spread to West Virginia and California in every else well or works candidacy and his visibility has really allowed the money to stay here and be used to build the Democratic Party but Livingston on the other hand Senator Ted Cruz is he's he's getting some support from the National g.o.p. I mean the president himself is going to campaign for the senator that brings energy and money as well to to his campaign to an extent I mean Trump could do just as much to energize the Democratic base is the Republican base but on the reverse that resources coming to Texas to defend Ted Cruz is an extraordinary thing so there's a group called the Club for Growth that is spending for groups and generally I can promise you they would probably rather be spending somewhere else they invest in House races and Senate races and so this Texas is becoming a money pit for the Republican Party and I think there is a scenario where we could wake up the day after the election and overwork has lost in several of these competitive u.s. House races that have never been competitive before stay in the g.o.p. Column and people in Texas may say well well that was a failure but if you take a step back this the way to save these people resources have been diverted from other places and the incumbents in those places could go down because of the money being spent in Texas so Democrats could win in Texas by losing a magnet Chakrabarti this is on point let's get a couple more callers in here Dana's calling from Kerrville Texas you're on the air Dana well. We began that's that's the accent of my Spanish I'm afraid though. I'm Caucasian but was raised in Corpus Christi. And what do you want to share with us today. So I want to share I'm kind of like down the middle generally I'm conservative but I am a Medicaid provider I'm a licensed professional count counselor specializing with you at a residential treatment center young boys who are in the foster care system who have been deeply abused and neglected and they have a lot of anger issues that they might have. Charges brought upon them upon themselves but they're all Medicaid kids and as a as a provider and as one that works with the Medicaid kids here's here's my take on it politicians like dirty diapers should be changed periodic Lee and for the same reason I feel there is a professional politician. We have allergies in this area but what I like about over over or is that he's new blood and he fights for like Medicaid expansion to help those who like can't speak up for themselves on the state and national level and I think that's what makes him really interesting is he's taking up a plight for those most of my kids are work with are like 12 to 17 they can't speak up for themselves so I think that is what he fighting for those that can't speak up or maybe the Medicaid even with the adults that need Medicaid will Dana let me take you back from there and thank you so much for your call I want to get one more caller here before we run out of time Koby is calling from Austin Texas you're on the air Koby. I think particularly. You're welcome what you saw today. You know I just think that this election just like the presidential election we just had is going to surprise a lot of people I'm a lifelong Texan and have struck down the middle just like your last caller I think this will be a referendum on the Trump ministration and the fact that Cruz has not been a good senator for our state he didn't do what he went to Washington to do and he's weak ship in the harbor and I think better O'Rorke is come on as a strong candidate who would win a lot of elections in a lot of states Coby Can I just ask you a quick question we're running on time I really want to ask a question when to be fair to Senator Cruz when you say you don't think he's been a good senator for Texas I mean what exactly do you mean because every new candidate says they're going to change Washington but Washington is a giant beast and everyone who goes there find that much more difficult to to than he or she anticipated So what is it that the senator has not done. You know I think after the last presidential election he's just sort of rallied a little too close to Trump's lap and hasn't stood up for what I would consider more traditional values like John McCain did in the Conservative Party that's long since dying away so I just think there are a lot of people who have values in Texas that don't match isn't and he really hasn't brought more jobs to the state that were coming here already he hasn't done anything for are telling me that wasn't happening already like you say Washington's a big place Texas is a big state he's been surfing a wave and he didn't do much of it will be thank you so much for your call Brandon running has he just got a minute to go here what do you hear in in Colby's analysis of what he wants from a Texas senator Well I think that they are looking for change in Texas been a one party state for so long that it's the case that many people have just checked out it's why our voter participation rates are so low people want something new they want something on us and so or work presents that but we should also say that there are several people down ballot running in correctional races that are going to be affected by the crest such as I have are high it is of the blue way of so it a lot of fates are tied up with what happened in the u.s. Senate race Ashley Lopez you're there in Austin and on the campaign trail watching these these candidates what you think we should keep We just got 30 seconds to go here what should we keep our eyes on in the in the closing weeks of this race. I think voter registration numbers and just enthusiast among people who don't usually vote in Texas Ok so this turnout question always turnout turnout turnout and every Livingston in Washington they're your final thought for the day this is a fascinating conversation your final thought. I think our work could carry people over the line down ballot and that's the real story is the farm team is being built in Texas well Abby Livingston Washington bureau chief for the Texas Tribune speaking with us today from Washington Abbi thank you so much and Brendan writing House political science professor at the University of Houston and co-host of Houston Public Media's political podcast party politics Brenda Roddy house real pleasure to speak with you thank you so much thank you very much and Ashley Lopez senior reporter for k u t joining us today from Austin Ashley was great to have you thank you same here and folks go to on point Radio dot org or we're on Twitter and Facebook as well as on point radio let us know what you think about this Texas Senate race and what you see coming in the midterms ahead and what you want for your next wave or generation or maybe the incumbents that you may be voting for a magnet talker Bartie this is on point. 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You mobile app. On the next fresh air Tamar Jenkins talks about writing and directing her new movie Private Life starring Katherine Hahn and Paul Giamatti as a couple in their forty's trying to have a baby through any means necessary adoption I.V.'s egg donor all the doctors ever talked about my advanced maternal way my older join a fresh air for Wednesday between one and 2 in the afternoon also at 8 in the evening on. The u.s. Sent a warship through waters claimed by China and a Chinese ship steered right into its path they might well have collided playing a seagoing version of chicken is not just the u.s. Game the u.k. And France Japan are all undertaking similar freedom of navigation operations through the South China Sea Why we can expect more close encounters with China next time on the world between 2 and 3 Wednesday afternoon Also at 7 in the evening on King c o u public radio it's 10 o'clock pm p r news for the California coast j.c.l. You Af-Am and h.d. $1000.00 k.c.l. You Santa Barbara Casey Santa Maria and everywhere at k.c.l. You dot au argy. Major funding for on point is provided by Geico offering car insurance as well as services for homeowners and renters insurance through the Geico Insurance Agency additional information can be found at Geico dot com or 180947 audio. From w.v.u. Or Boston and n.p.r. I'm Magnitka Bartie this is on point nearly 80 percent of American adults now meet the clinical definition of overweight or obese and that number continues to rise obesity is a public health epidemic with causes that touch almost every aspect of how we live the fat shaming is one of the last socially acceptable forms of discrimination laws and lots of sugar in the food supply doctors who don't have time or training to work with patients insurance companies that push for weight loss even when patients are not unhealthy So what do we do about it Up next some point rethinking everything about obesity 1st the news. Live from n.p.r. News and Washington I'm Windsor Johnston presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway is taking aim at those who say President Trump mocked the woman who says Supreme Court nominee bright cabin all sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers at a campaign rally in Mississippi last night Trump made fun of Christine blousy Ford for not remembering all of the details at times misquoting what she said Conway says Trump was simply pointing out in consistencies and Ford's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week this woman has testified under oath for hours for all of you to see if you know you're getting concerned about the factual inconsistency is the memory gaps the fact that delay has not helped her much because people from all corners of her life are coming forward telling their story some Republicans are condemning Trump's comments Senator Jeff Flake calls them appalling Senator Susan Collins says they were just plain wrong an internal watchdog at the Department of Homeland Security has found serious issues at. Major immigration detention facility in southern California N.P.R.'s Joel Rose reports that's the finding of a report released today by the department's inspector general the h.s. Inspectors paid a surprise visit in May to the Adelanto detention facility which houses nearly 2000 immigrant detainees they found problems that show quote disregard for detainees health and safety unquote including nooses made out of sheets in detainees cells the watch dogs report highlights the suicide of one detainees who was found hanging by a bed sheets and notes 7 attempted suicides at the facility the inspectors also found that detainees lacked timely access to medical and dental care and were sometimes disciplined improperly the Adelanto facility is run by the g.a.o. Group a private prison company under the supervision of u.s. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ice has agreed to conduct a full review of the detention facility Joel Rose n.p.r. News Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the former Russian spy who was poisoned in England a traitor and a scumbag N.P.R.'s losing him reports British authorities are blaming Russian military intelligence for the poisoning which the Kremlin strongly denies during a panel discussion in Moscow President Putin was asked how the Kremlin would react to new u.s. Sanctions to protest the poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei script all in March and. Scribble was just a spider who is said to be a traitor to the homeland and a scumbag he added that espionage like prostitution is one of the world's most important professions and nobody has been able to put an end to it yet this cripple poison has led to a diplomatic rift between Russia and the West as well as tightening u.s. Economic sanctions we've seen Kim n.p.r. News Moscow stocks are trading.