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Left Out Loud is a progressive political podcast breaking down the biggest stories shaping our democracy. From up-to-the-minute political news and midterm election coverage to in-depth interviews with grassroots Democratic candidates, the show spotlights the voices and movements fighting for real change. Smart, informed, and unapologetically loud, Left Out Loud pairs sharp analysis with humor and plain-spoken commentary, cutting through the noise to focus on what actually matters. If you care about elections, organizing, and the future of the Democratic Party—and you like your politics with a little personality—this is the podcast for you.
Seth: Hey, Allie.
Ally: Hey Seth.
Seth: So today we have Maureen Galindo.
She is running for Congress in Texas and
I'm so excited to talk with her today.
Ally: Me too.
She is in the 35th District, which
made me realize what a small state
I live in because I didn't even
know districts went up that high.
Seth: You got that many.
Ally: How, what and there's more.
Wow.
Um, yeah, she is, uh, she's really cool.
Um, super glad we connected with her.
Looking forward to the conversation
and getting to know her better.
So, uh, I guess I'll see
you on the other side.
Seth: Let's do it.
Ally: Alright, Seth, we
have another great guest.
Today we have Maureen Galindo,
who's running for Texas, Texas
35th District for Congress.
Maureen, welcome to left out loud.
Maureen: Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Appreciate it.
Ally: Absolutely.
Thanks for coming.
You know, I saw that you were running in
Texas 35th District, and I'm thinking,
wow, I live in a really small state.
Like I, how many districts
do you even have in Texas?
Maureen: I feel like it's 38,
but don't hold it to that.
Ally: Okay.
Maureen: Mm-hmm.
Ally: I see those high numbers.
I'm like, wow, I really
live in a small state.
Maureen: Texas is huge and Texas
is like taking like five hour
drives is nothing in Texas.
And I grew up in Philly,
so like I never even went
Ally: to,
Maureen: okay.
I never went to Boston before
and that's a five hour drive.
And in Texas you just
jump in the car and go.
Ally: That's crazy.
So, um, tell us a little
bit about yourself.
What's your backstory?
What motivated you to run for congress?
Just wanna get to know
you a little bit better.
Maureen: Sure.
Um, so I grew up, I'm born and
raised in Philly, a very, uh,
working class Irish Catholic
family, working class neighborhood.
Uh, three generations of labor union men.
Um, you know, my dad, both my grandpas,
my great grandpa in the 1920s was like.
You know, fighting for unions and
um, you know, had to carry a gun
around with him in South Philly.
'cause it used to be that
unions were fighting so hard
Seth: mm-hmm.
Maureen: For workers' rights
that the cops were after them.
Um.
Sorry, I'm a little touchy
on that 'cause Right.
The union just endorsed my, uh,
opponent who is a cop, um, a sheriff,
and it's just like the irony.
Mm-hmm.
Um, yeah.
Texas unions are difficult.
So yeah, that's how I grew up, like Right.
Seeing unions and pickets and, um.
I think that that really gave the economy
of Philly, right, the working class, the
opportunity to move up and so, mm-hmm.
My generation's like the first
to be able to go to college.
Um, I moved to Texas when I was 19.
Um.
Abilene, Texas, which
is like a small town.
Uh, my sister's husband was
in the Air Force and, uh,
did community college there.
Came to San Antonio where
I finished my undergrad.
Um, left for a little
while as an army wife life.
Uh, came back as a single mom eight years
ago, chose to come back to San Antonio.
Because specifically affordable housing.
Mm-hmm.
And I was in school at the time, and
as soon as I got here, I got my first
apartment, which I searched so hard for,
I prayed so hard for, and immediately
found out we'd all be getting displaced.
Oh, within months, because it was
downtown last working class apartments
in San downtown San Antonio.
And, um, a county, uh, creek project,
a beautification project mm-hmm.
Was happening right next to it.
So someone was buying it and
going to remove everybody so
they could, you know, profit.
So I started a tenant union.
Um.
We, uh, we made a big impact on
like, kind of exposing to San Antonio
what gentrification looks like, what
government subsidized projects can
do, um, displacing its own residents.
And since then, eight years ago,
I've just been part of the housing
activism, um, anti-ice activism.
Just a bunch of the, uh, organizing
community groups in San Antonio
really working to put like.
Into empowerment.
I have two master's degrees, one in
community psychology, um, the other
in marriage and family therapy.
So I'm a therapist now.
Okay.
At a, um, community organization.
And I also have a private practice,
but I'm not, like, I have a
private sex therapy practice.
That's my main Oh,
Seth: see.
Ally: Okay.
Maureen.
Maureen: Sexual healing.
I think that is like the
root, especially for women.
That's, I might actually
something pretty big on that soon.
Um, because we need it right now.
Ally: Yeah.
Maureen: So, um.
Yeah, I, I, so I use that community
psychology work, which is based on
participatory action research, which is
really getting people most impacted by
issues as part of the solutions, right?
Not just tokenizing them or making
decisions for them, but including
them and empowering them to.
Be part of solutions.
And so, uh, yeah, I've been doing
just a bunch of grassroots work
for the past eight years, which
is what got me to this place
Ally: now.
Yeah, I mean, that's amazing.
It definitely informs you as a
progressive political candidate.
I know Texas is historically pretty
red, so I would imagine some of your
efforts around, um, you know, housing
shortages and housing discrepancy.
Versus maybe anti-ICE community
organization might have a different
response or reaction in your community.
Have you found that to be true?
Maureen: Absolutely.
Um, it's funny because I always say how
like I get support from republicans,
libertarians, and independents, democrats.
The only thing is.
The racism.
The racism and the ice.
And it's like, I know that that's
going to be, once I make it to the
runoff, past the runoff mm-hmm.
And it's me and a Republican, I'm
like, that's going to have to be,
you know what I push on and I mean
it when I'm like, you guys, ICE was
created to be a military force on you.
Like to all these Republicans
who are anti-government.
Right?
Um, so that's sort of, yes, that's
definitely the biggest challenge.
Ally: Yeah.
Maureen: Um, but, but really kind of the
only challenge I, the only big challenge
I would say, as far as the redness goes.
Ally: Yeah.
That makes sense.
Seth, did you have a question?
Seth: Yeah.
I mean, obviously in Texas,
um, we, from the outside we
see a lot of positive momentum.
We see.
Uh, the primaries that just got done,
uh, more democrats showing up about
150,000 more Democrats voting in, uh,
in the, um, not the, not the primary
obviously, but, um, no wait, no.
Yes, the primary.
Pardon me.
And so, uh.
That was so cool to see.
Um, obviously we had two really
good candidates, ERCO and Jasmine.
Um, you know, do you, do you feel that
same kind of momentum in Texas that we're
seeing from the outside, uh, at the ground
floor, you know, with the grassroots
folks down there, are you seeing those,
that same kind of momentum and what
kind of hope does it give you, uh, for
our, for the midterms going forward?
Maureen: Yeah, absolutely.
Um, I think we're all just
suffering so much, right?
Texas has some of the worst health
insurance, some of the worst,
um, workers' rights and wages.
And so we're all feeling the
impacts of Trump, you know,
destroying our economy even more.
We're feeling that even more.
And then as far as ice goes, um.
To me, this is kind of my analysis
anyway, because a lot of these South
Texas, um, counties voted for Trump
overwhelmingly, um, a couple years ago.
And they had voted for Biden before that.
And uh, you know, it's like they
got ICE was so terrorizing that
they voted for Biden and then Biden
didn't do the best job at the border.
Um, and made it feel a lot
of these communities felt
extremely unsafe where they were.
And so that, I think that's why
they heavily voted for Trump
and now ICE is terrorizing them.
Again.
And so they're voting blue.
And so it's just like, it's this Hispanic
population that just doesn't get taken
care of by anybody, but gets used.
And so I think, um, this is, this
is the time and opportunity to
really like, make sure that they
feel heard and not just get ice out.
Um, but also just all of these
government, um, I wanna say cartels,
like run cartels with all the
trafficking that goes on in South Texas.
Yeah.
Um.
And so, yeah, hopefully
we can hit that, but yeah.
Yes, yes.
I definitely see it, um, turning blue
and not just, you know, it's grassroots.
It's all, it's everybody, but it's
also people who haven't even ever been
involved in politics before, right?
Mm-hmm.
Like, are just so appalled at everything
going on that they're getting involved
too, which people in Texas didn't
really do before because it didn't feel
like it was worth the efforts because
Ally: Right.
Maureen: Everything's
gonna go wrong anyway.
Ally: So you are the second person that
we've, well, that I've interviewed.
Um, Seth had a, a working, the last
time that I interviewed a candidate,
her name was Bree Woodson, who
ha is a therapist in residency.
Mm-hmm.
You obviously have done active,
uh, therapy work as well.
Tell me like what that clinical
experience does or how it informs the
way you sort of shape your policy,
the way that you interact with people.
How, how is that helping you as a, and
by the way, I love to see it because
I'm so sick of seeing suits Redding for
Congress that are either a lawyer or a
CEO and now they decide they wanna just
get into politics, but they don't have.
Uh, you know, they don't have the
ability to really connect with people.
So talk to me about how
that's been helpful for you.
Maureen: Yeah, well I'm seeing a
lot of, um, clinical therapists
running this time around and I
think that that's really cool.
I was gonna say, I think that we.
Sorry, we've only started talking
about mental health 10 years ago.
Mm-hmm.
Like, do you guys remember how
trauma was just like part of PTSD
and PTSD was only for veterans?
Ally: Yes, I do.
Maureen: We've come a
long way just in 10 years.
Um, so I think that's why a lot of
therapists are kind of like stepping up
right now because this is the time where
we can kind of talk about what's going on.
So in my work, I work with, um, very
vulnerable population, um, a lot of
complex PTSD, um, specifically for women.
And I've had the privilege to develop a
whole model of mental health at my work.
I call it liberation and systems healing.
And it's the idea that, uh, we can't
really put on the individual all
of their problems because look at
the systems that they exist within.
And so when we're able to
expose those systems, it takes
sort of the, um, shame and.
Off of somebody because now they know also
how to start navigating those systems.
Um, in fact, I've been putting
it together for like a year and
a half and I just presented it
this morning for the first time.
Ally: Congratulations.
Maureen: Yeah.
Yeah.
So I, uh, you know, I,
um, man, yeah, I see.
What I feel like is some of the
worst of it on a regular basis.
Ally: Yeah.
Maureen: And so I've always been one
to like really be able to like kind
of see the worst of it and like I
guess feel empathy for it and wanna
do something about it and take action.
But yeah, the more that I
do this work as a therapist.
The more I just am like, we've got to
change everything, the whole damn system.
Mm-hmm.
Uh, because it's so, it it, it harms
our mental health, which harms our
physical health in such profound ways.
Seth: So obviously in Texas you're
gonna have, you know, immigration is
always gonna be a hot button topic.
And you mentioned, uh, just a
little bit ago how ICE has been
terrorizing, uh, communities,
specifically Latino communities.
Um, what, what plans do you have?
Uh, to, to clean up our
immigration process.
'cause obviously, you know, we could
use more border agents, more judges.
We were trying to get some legislation
passed, but obviously Trump said they
killed the bill right before the election.
So just tell our, tell our viewers,
uh, what are your plans for just
helping to, to make the process
easier for the immigrants that are
coming and just may maybe speed it
up a little bit and clean it up.
Maureen: I, I don't think that
any administration has ever done
it purposefully so that they
can keep immigrants undocumented
and vulnerable for trafficking
Ally: That part.
Yes.
Maureen: Um, mm-hmm.
And so, and, and, you know, and even when
you say like more agents and more judges,
it's not to say that we don't need those,
but I fear how corrupt they are, that
it's not really going to help either.
Um.
I come from this participatory lens,
which is including all of the stakeholders
and especially the people most impacted.
It's really difficult to do.
Um, I have been able to successfully
do some of this participatory work
inside of, uh, the city of San Antonio.
Um, but it takes a lot of fights.
I'm willing to do that, but it's
going to have to take bringing
all of the stakeholders together.
Including immigrants who have gone through
the process or who have gotten deported,
um, to be able to figure out what does
that, you know, safe, smooth, and quick,
efficient process look like at the border.
You know, when I was looking into my
ancestors coming in through Ellis Islands,
um, I was looking at like a bunch of their
documentation through time and it was.
That they came through and then five
years later I could see at their address.
That was when they officially
became an immigrant.
So if they were able to figure
it out for all of these Europeans
coming in through Ellis Island, we
can figure it out for the border.
It's just a matter of if we have the
motivation to do it or if we allow
billionaires to just continue corrupting
our government so that they can keep
profiting off of control of the border.
Mm-hmm.
Ally: Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, uh, I couldn't
agree with you more.
It's so complex, but also doesn't
have to be, it's kind of simple.
Um, and I think leading with
empathy when it comes to immigration
is kind of the game changer.
Um, so obviously you're very
passionate about the housing crisis.
You know, you've been, um,
adversely affected as you mentioned.
When you moved back to, is it San Antonio?
I also spent years, my children are adults
now, but I was a single mother for years.
I understand the struggle.
Um, you talk about being a working
single mom, running against the
system that is rigged against you.
Can you talk about, are there any
examples of policy fixes that you
can think of that will go to the
root cause of some of the things that
are creating all of this struggle?
Maureen: Um, overturning
Citizens United, that first.
You love that?
Ally: Yeah.
Maureen: Yeah.
I mean, when you look at the graphs
of the billionaire influence over
politicians from the time that Citizens
United was passed, it's like a direct
line up and it's only getting worse.
Mm-hmm.
Talking to this, um, consultant guy
and was like, man, can you imagine if
it was actually about democracy and it
wasn't so much just about getting money?
And he was like, I can, because I
remember before Citizens United, right?
I dunno.
I, I dunno, I'm 38.
I don't know if like, maybe I
wasn't paying attention much.
You know, but like, I don't, I like
this reality of billionaires controlling
everything is all I kind of really know.
And so I think that that is the number
one root thing to like pull out.
Mm-hmm.
To be able to like just overall have
them stop taking all of our tax money.
Ally: So, quick follow up.
Do you think there's an appetite in Texas
to maybe I'm seeing other states trying
to eliminate Citizens United at the state
level, like banning it at the state level.
Have you heard any talk of that in Texas?
And if not, feel free to think about that.
Maureen: I have not, um, probably
because our Texas state capital
has been so red, so avid.
Mm-hmm.
Just controlled and I mean, he does
some, um, terrifying things honestly,
to like, keep people in check.
Um, it seems like maybe if I heard
they're scared it may turn blue.
The house.
Ally: Yeah.
Maureen: Yeah.
Um, coming up.
But also I think.
We'll see, we'll see how things unravel.
I mean, things can change
all the time, right.
Culture shifts rapidly.
Mm-hmm.
But, uh, uh, I think people
are pissed about Trump is
destroying our entire economy.
He's putting our military at risk.
He's literally just like spending
all of our tax money, giving it
away to the defense industry.
It's like, I think people, um, or I
think he's losing a lot of support.
Um, too, and so maybe
there is a possibility.
I think Texas used to be anti-corporate,
um, kind of have like a radical effort
to, to get corporations out of government.
And so yeah, maybe we can go back there.
I know the, the water crisis
is a really big, huge.
Problem, and that's Abbott
Abbott's just giving away Texas
to all of these data centers.
And so there may be, who knows,
we'll see and I'll definitely
try and help facilitate it.
A total flip.
Ally: Yep.
That would be great.
Yeah.
I think the more money that
billionaires dump in for their own
profiteering, like with these data
centers, hopefully the more people
feel that and push, push against it.
Maureen: Mm-hmm.
Seth: So, uh, I'm glad that you brought
up the military because that was kind of
leading into what I was gonna talk about
next, because obviously right now the big,
uh, you know, issue today across all media
is, is Iran our involvement over there.
Um, and you're, you're very staunch in
your, in your stances on your website
about, uh, military, military spending.
And I, and I would just like you
to, to maybe talk to our, our
listeners and watchers about.
You know, how you feel military
spending, um, should be done.
You know, can we reign it in?
What are your thoughts on that?
And just kind of the, the war in
general, how we've just kind of, uh,
we've gone into two countries now.
Uh, no regime change and we have a $1.5
trillion defense budget being floated.
And, but I thought we
weren't staying in Iran.
I thought we were getting in
and getting out 1.5 trillion.
Tells me that we're not going anywhere.
Uh, so what, what are
your thoughts on that?
Maureen: Is it true?
Someone told me last week that Trump
was like, he wants to create an
economy based off of defense money.
Has anybody
Ally: heard about?
I don't.
I don't know if he has come out and said
that, but it certainly seems that way
because what he's doing is cutting all
of the programs that benefit Americans
and reallocating that towards the
military budget or the defense budget.
Maureen: Oh, that's terrifying.
So San Antonio is actually military
city, USA, that's what they call it.
We have several bases here.
Um.
Yeah, and there's some big
connections with Israel here too.
Do you guys know about CUI?
Christians United for Israel?
Seth: No,
Maureen: I've not heard that.
They're like.
A hundred thousand, uh, maybe even
more Americans, evangelical Christians,
um, who lobbied it for Congress
to send all this money to Israel.
Um, there's this church
here called Cornerstone.
It's run by a pastor called John
Habe, and he created CUFI and so he
is like kind of one of maybe the main.
Sort of evangelical connection
into Israel and it's military city.
So I'm, I'm so out of establishment stuff.
Um, I don't know what's going on at those
levels, but to me that's real shady.
Um, and it, it, it just concerns
me, the defense industry kind of
taking over here in this region.
I think that we should stop
spending money on offense.
I definitely am a big fan
of a defensive military.
Mm-hmm.
Um, I think that that's an
important thing to have.
I think having a strong army is important.
Um.
Yeah, and I'm just, I'm very
like anti interventionist
of just everything going on.
I really just wanna take all of our
tax money and bring it into America
and I don't, I don't know why that even
sounds crazy as I'm saying it out loud,
like, how is that not what we're doing?
Ally: I mean, that's what he said he
was going to do America first, and we've
seen No Signs of America first since he's
gotten into office the second time around.
Um.
Yeah, and that's interesting
what you brought up.
I'm definitely going to look
into that because I know there's
kind of all these back avenues.
People are now more familiar than ever
with apac, but the offshoots I think,
are a little more sinister and hard to,
and hard to sort of track and trace.
So that's another one I'll
be adding to the list.
Mm-hmm.
Um, okay.
So what do you think, talking about
like putting money over people,
what do you think is the clearest
example of our current Congress
putting profits over people, over
Americans, over their own constituents?
Like how are you seeing that play out in
ways that are the most concerning to you?
Maureen: Um, just for me personally,
it's going to be the Blue Dog Democrats
as being the most, um, obvious example.
Um, because are you
guys familiar with them?
They're, no,
Ally: I feel like I'm learning
so much because these terms
are not familiar to me.
Maureen: Blue because the blue dog
Democrats gave $300,000 to my opponent
who made it to the runoff with me.
It's the only reason he made it
to the runoff 'cause he is like,
knows nothing about anything.
So there I think there are 10 Democrats.
Um, in Congress and anytime that you
hear four Democrats voted with the
Republicans, six Democrats voted with the
Republicans at least a half, at least half
of them or more are blue dog Democrats.
So they're just Republican democrats who
are there to be the controlled opposition.
Mm-hmm.
And then they rotate
that rotating villains.
They rotate who's going to be the villain,
who's going to vote with the Republicans.
It also includes Vicente Gonzalez
and Henry Cuellar of South Texas.
So these guys voted to fund ice.
Seth: Yep.
Maureen: They voted to keep this war
in Iran going on, and they want my
opponent, Johnny Garcia, to be one
of them in there because it's really
likely that the Democrat's going to win.
District.
Mm-hmm.
And so they're just trying
to buy his way up there.
So yeah, those are like examples to me
lately of I'm just like, oh my God, you
guys are so full of it and it's the Blue
Dogs kind of putting us all into this.
If it wasn't for them, it's possible
that those boats wouldn't have passed.
Ally: So disappointing.
Um, but I know, so Blue Dog, I've not
heard, but I definitely am familiar with
the Democrats, the corporate, I call them
corporate establishment Dems, um, that.
Chicken out or, you know, vote
the wrong way when we need them
to oppose some of these things.
I mean, Fetterman always comes
to mind for me because he's the
most obvious example, um, of that.
And now I have another word to write down.
Blues.
Okay.
Seth: I, I was, I was blown away to see.
Latinos voting to keep funding ice.
I mean, we've seen six months of
them terrorizing their communities,
and I know the constituents are, are
pleading with them to reign this in.
Mm-hmm.
And the, and so to, to continue
to, to vote for the funding.
I mean, that's a betrayal.
Maureen: Well now your option is them or
a Republican, which is also terrifying
because they're gonna vote for rise.
So it's like you have no choice.
Yeah.
Seth: That's sick.
It's so sick.
Well moving, moving towards, uh,
you know, one of your biggest,
your, one of your biggest platforms,
um, is to address affordability.
Uh, and right now, you know, with
inflation surging to 3.3% gas being what
it is, and, you know, the GDP just being
stuck in the mud, especially after that
disastrous government shut down and now.
Another partial government shutdown.
Both, both records, both awful
records that Donald Trump
will have to own forever.
Um, what, what are some things that you
wanna put into practice, uh, there in
San Antonio and in Texas at large to just
help, uh, make things more affordable?
Make, uh, you know, the, the,
just the cost of living more
affordable for your constituents.
Maureen: Yeah.
Um, really all of that comes down to how
do we take power away from billionaires
and millionaires like the ruling class.
And so that's why it's like Citizens
United really has to be like the
very first thing that happens just
for like long term healing from it.
And then how do we, I actually,
how do we prevent speculation?
Like how do we like stop having
such a speculative market?
Um, that's something that I'm really
curious about at a local level.
Um, I am so into this participatory stuff.
I spend a lot of time, um, I have a
really big social media platform here.
Mm-hmm.
Um, that's kind of one of the big
reasons that I got the most votes.
Oh, did you guys know?
I got the most votes for the least
amount of dollars in American history.
Ally: I love, love it.
In American history.
Maureen: In American
Ally: history.
I love that.
Maureen, thank you for pointing that out.
Maureen: Yeah, potentially that's what,
that's what the people in DC are saying.
Yeah.
So, uh, so, oh, so locally I have,
I, I ran for City Council last year.
I have no chance of winning, but
it was just to get on the, you
know, forums and be able to talk
the crap to the councilwoman.
Um, but I created a social media platform
off of it where I continued to just call
out all of this, all of this corruption
that I've been witnessing over the past
eight years, um, especially as I've
been spending that eight years trying to
create spaces in government and boards.
Teaching public comments to people so
that we could have more voices being heard
by the people who are making decisions.
So one of my biggest efforts is going
to continue to be educating people on
how to navigate all of these systems.
So, right, there's a problem
with the school board, what's
going on at the school board?
How do we show up to the school
board and hold them accountable?
How do we.
Then, because this is
always the problem, I see.
You hold them accountable, they get
scared and then they try to co-op
you, oh, come here, we'll go out.
And they try to give you
fancy positions and stuff.
So how do you like maintain everybody's
integrity and values and kind of hold
this like gentle community accountability?
Um.
So that, so that we can make changes,
so that we can have accountability
at all of the levels of bureaucracy.
And to me in that way, my plan
is to scare the millionaires and
billionaires outta San Antonio.
I talk a lot.
Like the biggest, yeah, my big
fight, one of my biggest fights
is with the, the billionaire here.
Um.
He's like, he's trying to get his
news people after me right now.
So it's on the top of my mind.
And billionaire, who you guys are familiar
with, the Spurs, the San Antonio Spurs.
Oh yeah,
Ally: of
Seth: course.
Maureen: Peter J. Holt, he's their
owner, and he just took, he just
spent, what was it, millions of
dollars to get us all to vote for his
stadium that we're all going to fund.
Um, so calling all, calling out those
corruptions and exposing them and naming
them, I think that, like, it seems
little right, but I think that it has
a really large impact collectively.
Yeah.
Start knowing how to
advocate for themselves.
So that's one of, you know, my
main things about how to get,
uh, billionaires out of politics.
Ally: Love that.
Um, okay, before we wrap up, I have,
there's a question I ask every candidate.
I always know the answer ahead of time,
but I have to ask it for our viewers.
Do you take any corporate PAC
money, any foreign interest money,
any back channel APAC money?
Maureen: No,
Ally: no.
We know this because you've made history
for the, uh, for, for getting on, you
know, winning your primary or getting on
the ballot, um, with the most amount of
small donor, uh, small dollar donations
in American history, which is crazy.
Maureen: Well, it was the small, it was.
I didn't get that many donations.
Ally: Oh.
Maureen: But I spent the
least amount of money,
Ally: spent the
Maureen: least amount of money, and
got them for the most amount of votes.
So dollar per vote.
Seth: Right.
So, so your, so your dollar per
vote ratio is the best, basically?
Maureen: I guess so, yeah.
Seth: Hey, I mean,
Ally: what do you think
contributes to that?
How do you think that played out?
Maureen: Um, I mean, yeah, I
think there's a few reasons.
Um, first, because people are gonna
Ally: wanna know.
Maureen: I know.
Well, okay, what's your secret?
Ally: Right?
Maureen: I know people always ask that.
It's so funny because they're always
like, I'm pretty non-conventional.
I'm not your polished candidate.
Right?
So they'll be like, you
should dress like this.
You should talk like this.
You should do this.
And then they're like, how
did you get the most votes?
I'm like, people, by not listening, by not
Ally: following your advice, by being
Maureen: my true,
Ally: authentic.
So
Maureen: it's, it's go incessant.
It's so incessant.
Um, I think that really is
truly at the heart of it.
I have to say, first off,
it is my name, right?
That just like, gives some
points, but not, I got a thousand
votes over Johnny Garcia.
Mm-hmm.
Like, that's a pretty significant amount.
Um, so from there, I think
that it was, I've been in the
communities for eight years.
Yeah.
And San Antonio.
Big City.
City, but it's like a small
town, kind of big city.
And especially my district, it's a
lot of the south side, which is like
your really deep Latino and Hispanic
communities, and it's like everyone
talks, everyone knows each other.
Mm-hmm.
Um, so I, I feel pretty confident
that I just like, have a,
you know, good trusting name.
Yeah.
Um, in this area.
Um, and then my social media platform.
And I think what's unique about mine
is that it, I keep it very localized.
Mm-hmm.
I think that there, there may be, and I
don't mean this in a bad way, but like
kind of like celebrity, like candidates
that have this huge national platform,
but it's like, but that doesn't help you.
Like
Seth: Yeah.
Maureen: Get these local people activated.
And so, and then, and then
actually another thing I've been.
Thinking, I think I like inspired
a lot of people to go vote.
Mm-hmm.
Right?
Like a lot of people have not felt heard
and they just haven't gone and voted.
And so, because I continued
to see that, people are like,
oh, I went and voted for you.
I'm gonna get.
My family to vote for you too.
I'm gonna get this person to vote for you.
It's like those add up.
Yeah.
You know, you don't need as much
money if people are vouching for you.
Right.
Um, they can get you votes and so, uh,
Ally: and that's so much more
valuable than, than money.
Right.
It's.
Maureen: It's democracy.
Ally: It's democracy and, and it's, you
know, people know you and trust you.
Um, your character, you've put in
the work you've invested mm-hmm.
Years into all of this community outreach.
And so of course, why wouldn't they
trust you when it comes time to go vote?
I think that's, well, hey,
Democrats, knock, knock.
Okay.
This is how you win.
Is how you do it.
So tell us what you need because
we definitely want you to win
over this candidate that's being
backed by the Blue Dog Dem.
So do you need more donations?
Do you need volunteers?
And also tell us everywhere
people can find you.
Maureen: Um, you can find me on
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok threads.
I'm trying to do Blue sky.
I haven't figured it out.
Um.
Like,
Seth: who has, who has,
who has figured it out?
Like, yeah,
Maureen: not
Seth: me, not this guy.
Maureen: Everyone keeps telling me
it's where all the leftists around.
I'm like, okay, but I just have my groove.
I like, if you look at my social
media, it's literally just me
and my, like a DH, D brand.
So I'm like, you know, I have something
to say and so I just pull out my camera
and so it's not polished and, and so
I already have to do it on TikTok and
then Instagram, so adding blue sky.
Another level that I haven't gotten to.
Um, I am, uh, I have a lot of
people who wanna volunteer.
It's the, I guess it's the money.
Mm-hmm.
Um, we've been making it happen.
I feel pretty good.
I've, I've run like grassroots
camp, I mean like real grassroots
campaigns, like grunge campaigns
with nothing, no resources at all.
So this, none of this is like weird to me.
It's like social media is freak.
Capital.
Um, and then just like, yeah, I've
gotten flyer making strategic choices.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but I am like, okay,
I'm going to need the funds.
And I would love to, I have
volunteers and friends who've been
supporting me in big ways and I would
love to be able to pay them too.
Ally: Sure.
Maureen: Um, to put more of their energy
and efforts into what we're doing.
So, yeah, it's really money.
Ally: Yeah.
Money.
It's money.
And your website,
Maureen: it's always money.
Ally: It's always money.
But the good money, the,
the right kind of money.
So, and that's why we're here.
These are the candidates
that we wanna talk to.
And your website, very simple.
Love it.
It's Maureen for us congress.com, right?
Maureen: Yeah.
Ally: Very simple.
Easy to remember.
Go to her website, um,
read all about our policy.
Air platforms.
The rest speaks for itself.
You're just exceptional.
Maureen: Thank you.
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
I really enjoy, I love
the democratic process.
Actually, tomorrow is my first forum
Ally: is Oh, so cool.
Tell everybody where's that happening?
Maureen: Northeast Bear County
Democrats office on San Pedro Avenue.
Ally: Are they streaming or it's just
Maureen: I hope so,
Ally: because I'd love to watch that.
Maureen: Yeah, it's Northeast
Bear County Democrats.
There's gonna be several.
I even just got two invitations today.
I love.
Forums.
Mm-hmm.
There's such a beautiful democratic
process where like when I ran for
city council, there was 10 of us.
We really don't do not
like our councilwoman.
Um, and we just like got to
bounce off of each other, right?
You get to learn different perspectives.
You're all kind of like processing out
loud at the same time these issues too.
And so we all come out informed.
It's, I just think like the perfect
representation of democracy.
So yeah.
I'm really looking forward to it.
Ally: I love that.
If you get a chance, if you find out
if it's streaming or anything, or if
there's a playback, if you could DM
me, um, that's how we connected in the
first place because I'd love to clip
it and share it and, and just watch it
as, as a viewer and now a fan of yours.
Maureen: Well, thank you.
Yes, I will.
I'll do that.
Ally: Final thoughts from you, Seth?
Seth: Uh, Maureen, once again, just
thank you so much for the time.
It was great to talk with you and, uh,
you're a millennial so you get good
Maureen: points.
Seth: You give points.
'cause I, I, I just, I love to see
the new, uh, wave of leadership,
whether it's Gen X or gen, uh, YAKA,
the millennials, um, you know, it's,
it's, it's great and it's great to see
that you've grown a big following, but
you're still staying true to your roots.
And I think that, I think that's what
it's about, is making it, making your
name, uh, you know, ringing the community.
And that's really what's gonna
get you and put you over the top.
So thank you again for coming.
Ally: Absolutely.
Maureen: Yeah.
Thank you guys.
Ally: We're gonna keep an eye on you
and you're a friend of the show now.
If there's anything you need at any
time between now and the midterm
elections, please reach out.
We'll do whatever it takes.
We'll get you back on.
We'll do a call to action and
we wish you the best of luck.
This has been great.
Thank you.
Maureen: Thank you guys.
Appreciate it.
Ally: Wow.
Seth, what did you think of Maureen?
I thought she was incredible.
Seth: I mean, she was, she was great.
I mean, obviously a millennial,
so she gets points for that.
But I, I, but I, you know, just so great
to hear from her, uh, the way that she
has, you know, grown a big platform, but
remained a big name in her community.
Just working within the community.
I loved how she was talking
about participatory democracy.
Yeah.
Holding forums, getting people involved,
you know, and that that's really what
being a progressive is all about.
Somebody who is deeply
rooted in the community.
Uncompromising.
And that's what you got with Maureen.
Ally: Absolutely.
And I just felt so.
Weirdly like at home with her, like I've
known her, but I've never met her before.
She's just so approachable.
Um, you can tell she really not only cares
about this work, but she enjoys it, right?
She has a forum tomorrow.
She talked about towards the end.
She's doing a debate.
She's so excited.
The connection, I feel
like is what drives her.
And that just heals me.
That heals something in me, especially
in these times with this administration
and all of the divisiveness.
To see someone that just really
loves connecting with her people
and her community, ugh, I wish it
could be this way everywhere forever,
Seth: right?
I mean, you can tell that she's so
deeply tied to the Latino community.
She knows the struggle that they
go through the, you know, how
they've been terrorized by ice?
Ally: Yeah.
Seth: Uh, terrorized and, and,
and put through so much for,
for very little gain, right?
Mm-hmm.
I mean, we're, we're not, we're not
out here arresting majority criminals.
We're, we're harassing families.
We're harassing, you know,
we're deporting children,
separating families and for what?
Yeah.
You know, these are, these people
are the backbone of our society.
They're what make.
Everybody, uh, go and makes
all of our lives easier.
So, you know, it's so great to
see that she's tied in there and
she has not forgotten her roots.
And, uh, that's what the
people of Texas need right now.
Somebody who understands the plight
of, of Texans understands the plight
of Latinos and somebody who's looking
to make Texas just more equitable.
Mm-hmm.
And fair and, and smooth out
that immigration process that we
know has just been so gunked up.
For so long
Ally: I couldn't agree more.
And you know, I think when it
comes to ice cruelty is the point.
And Maureen feels like the antidote.
And I just love that conversation so much.
I hope our audience enjoys it.
Get to know her, go to her website.
This is one to watch.
And you know, there's big money
backing her opposition for the primary.
So we need to push her over
the edge because she's the
right person for the job.
Seth: Yeah, make sure y'all
check her out Reen for Congress,
Ally: for US congress, maureen
us congress, us congress.com.
Seth: Yes.
So check her out a website's
very easy to, to kind of
navigate list all of her stances.
She is extremely thorough.
Yeah.
So, you know, if you're, if you're looking
for a specific issue, she's got it.
And I mean.
Really good stuff.
So happy about that.
Ally: Well, this was a blast, Seth.
I guess so.
I'll see for the next one.
Seth: Yes indeed.
Ally: Bye.