Tejano Talks

Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia

Empowering TEJANO men with the knowledge, mindset, and voice to build wealth, lead with purpose, and shape their future.

  1. 22h ago

    Does James Talarico See Tejanos? A West Side Teacher Makes His Case

    Does James Talarico see Tejanos? He taught sixth grade on San Antonio's West Side. Here's his case.   Before he ran for anything, James Talarico taught sixth-grade language arts on San Antonio's West Side, in what he calls one of the poorest zip codes in Texas, where he says most of his students were Latino. He says watching what an underfunded school, a broken healthcare system, and a rigged economy did to those families is why he ran for office.   Now he's the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, facing Republican Ken Paxton on November 3. Recorded on the first day of early voting, Hiram and Domingo sit down with Talarico to ask the questions Tejano voters are asking: what he would do about ICE after the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, how he'd bring down the price of gas and groceries, why his faith is central to his politics, and whether he'll fight for Tejanos the way he says he will.   James Talarico's campaign: https://jamestalarico.com Check your registration and find your polling place: https://www.votetexas.gov/ Early voting: October 19–30. Election Day: November 3.   🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • "No Te Dejes": Gina Hinojosa's fight to be Texas's first Latina governor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzQWSZMkpo • Justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo: Domingo Garcia on the ICE shooting in Houston: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2eudeoaghQ   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — Why he says the real fight is top versus bottom, not left versus right — Reining in ICE, and the Houston father whose sons called him "el mundo entero" — His affordability plan: tariffs, the federal gas and diesel tax, and health insurance premiums — From a West Side San Antonio classroom to a push for universal early childhood education — A Baptist preacher's grandson on faith, loving every neighbor, and what he calls attacks on his pastor and church — An "FAA for AI": jobs, kids, and AI ads in elections — War powers, and honoring Pvt. Isabella Gonzales of Carrollton — Domingo and Hiram's ask: vote early, and bring people with you   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:18 Welcome: James Talarico, two weeks out 00:52 Top versus bottom, not left versus right 01:48 What he would do about ICE 02:50 Lorenzo Salgado Araujo 03:44 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 04:07 Gas, groceries, and affordability 06:17 Early childhood education and his West Side classroom 08:10 Faith, and the attacks on it 10:25 AI, jobs, and an "FAA for AI" 12:32 War powers and Pvt. Isabella Gonzales 14:04 Why he's running against Ken Paxton 15:55 Closing: vote early, bring 10 people   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE GUEST JAMES TALARICO is a Texas state representative for House District 50 and the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas. Before entering politics, he taught sixth-grade English language arts at a middle school on San Antonio's West Side through Teach For America. He holds a Master of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and his grandfather was a Baptist preacher in South Texas.   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE HOSTS DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. In 2006, he organized the largest march in Texas history, when more than 500,000 people filled downtown Dallas to demand immigration reform. He is a former national president of LULAC and has practiced law for more than 40 years.   HIRAM GILBERTO GARCIA is a journalist, producer, and public affairs strategist based in Austin. His frontline coverage of the 2020 protests drew wide local and national attention.   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT TEJANO TALKS Tejano Talks is a podcast hosted by Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia that blends cultural conversation, political analysis, and interviews with notable voices in Texas and beyond. We're here for Tejanos like us — to help you build wealth, honor your family, and make well-informed choices for your future.   Subscribe, and tell us in the comments who you want to see on the show next. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok.   Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own.   #TejanoTalks #JamesTalarico #TexasSenate

    Does James Talarico See Tejanos? A West Side Teacher Makes His Case

  2. 2d ago

    What Happened to Joe Campos Torres? Houston History You Won't Learn In School

    What happened to Joe Campos Torres? His sister Janie Torres has told it for nearly 50 years.   In May 1977, Houston police officers took her brother, 23-year-old Army veteran Joe Campos Torres, into custody. His body was found in Buffalo Bayou three days later on Mother's Day. Two officers were convicted of negligent homicide and given probation and a $1 fine. A federal civil rights conviction followed, and three officers each served about nine months. Janie still wants the men responsible to answer one question: did her brother die in vain?   Hiram and Domingo sit down with Janie Torres to talk about the brother who raised her, the night the family started calling hospitals and jails, how the loss broke their mother, and why Janie refuses to stop. Domingo looks back on how Houston's Chicano community answered in the streets. And Janie draws the line from her brother's case to the families facing the same system today, including the family of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was shot and killed by an ICE officer in Houston in July 2026.   🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • Justice for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2eudeoaghQ • "No Te Dejes": Gina Hinojosa's Fight to Be Texas's First Latina Governor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzQWSZMkpo&t=88s   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — Who Joe Campos Torres was to his family: oldest brother, teacher, protector — Setting the record straight on his Army service — Probation and a $1 fine, and a community that refused to accept it — The question Janie would put to the officers today — Turning nearly 50 years of grief into a fight for other families — A Gold Star mother on what it means to be treated as less than American — Janie's message to families going through it now: stay strong, take every bit of help, and never stop speaking   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:38 Cinco de Mayo, 1977 02:25 Meet Janie Torres: Joe as brother and protector 03:29 Army service, not Vietnam 04:47 The family's search when Joe didn't come home 06:43 What the family says happened that night 09:19 How the loss hit their mother 11:20 Probation and a $1 fine 12:43 Turning pain into a fight 14:15 Houston's Chicano community responds 15:23 What Janie would ask the officers 16:06 Found on Mother's Day 17:18 From 1977 to today 19:07 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 19:37 The memorial, and Janie's "backup" 20:48 Toward the 50th anniversary 21:14 Janie's message to other families 22:48 The shirt and the solidarity walk 25:20 Closing   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE GUEST JANIE TORRES is the younger sister of José "Joe" Campos Torres, the 23-year-old Army veteran killed by Houston police officers in 1977. She is a Gold Star mother: her son, Army Sgt. Jacob Molina, was killed in Afghanistan in 2011. She has spent years organizing to keep her brother's story alive and to stand with other families affected by police violence.   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE HOSTS DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. In 2006, he organized the largest march in Texas history, when more than 500,000 people filled downtown Dallas to demand immigration reform. He is a former national president of LULAC and has practiced law for more than 40 years.   HIRAM GARCIA is a journalist, producer, and public affairs strategist based in Austin. His frontline coverage of the 2020 protests drew wide local and national attention.   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT TEJANO TALKS Tejano Talks brings you unfiltered conversations with the leaders, activists, and storytellers shaping Texas politics and culture. We are committed to a simple idea: men with real strength don't abuse their power.   Subscribe, and tell us in the comments who you want to see on the show next. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok.   Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own.   #TejanoTalks #JoeCamposTorres #HoustonHistory

    What Happened to Joe Campos Torres? Houston History You Won't Learn In School

  3. Oct 15

    “Don’t Be Ashamed You’re Mexican”: Adrian Garcia’s Father’s 5 Rules | Tejano Talks

    "Don't be ashamed you're Mexican." That was the first rule Adrian Garcia's father gave him.   Adrian was working in his father's North Side auto shop when he applied to the Houston Police Department. Before he joined, his father gave him four more rules: don't be ashamed of the name Garcia, don't bring shame to it, be honest, and never forget where you come from. He went on to serve 23 years with HPD and became Harris County's first Latino sheriff.   And if you think your vote doesn't count: in 2018, running for Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 2, Garcia trailed for hours after the polls closed. The late boxes came in after midnight, and the lead flipped.   Hiram and Domingo sit down with Adrian Garcia to talk about what a county commissioner actually decides, the fights over voting in Harris County, his view of ICE tactics after the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, and his advice to young Latinos thinking about law enforcement or running for office. Garcia is on the November 3 ballot, running for re-election against Republican Richard Vega.   Adrian Garcia's campaign: https://www.adriangarcia.com Check your registration and find your polling place: https://www.votetexas.gov/ Early voting: October 19–30. Election Day: November 3.   🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • What your county commissioner, DA, county judge, and JP actually decide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEyMV_vhnOg • "I Was Declared Dead": check your Texas voter registration now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTcaFnYlOdM   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — The five rules his father gave him before he joined the Houston Police Department — Working alongside HPD's Chicano Squad, the country's first all-Latino homicide unit — A sheriff's race he says he expected to lose, and becoming Harris County's first Latino sheriff — What a county commissioner actually controls, from roads and drainage to clinics and county contracts — Trailing on election night and winning after midnight: why the last boxes matter — Harris County's voting-access fights, and his criticism of ICE tactics as a former sheriff — "We need you": his advice to young Latinos considering law enforcement or public office   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 01:12 Son of immigrants, raised in his father's shop 02:03 The question his mother asked 02:59 His father's five rules 04:01 Undercover work and the Chicano Squad 05:20 From the anti-gang office to City Council 06:30 A sheriff's race he expected to lose 08:27 Election night: Harris County's first Latino sheriff 09:39 Two losses, then Precinct 2 after midnight 10:16 "Literally the mayor of my precinct" 12:13 What a county commissioner actually does 14:05 Health, jobs, and contracts on the east side 16:35 The fight over voting in Harris County 18:43 ICE tactics and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo 22:04 November, the economy, and young Latino voters 25:52 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 26:21 "We need you": advice for young Latinos 28:28 Never break the public's trust 29:27 Texans, Longhorns, and ride-or-die fandom 31:55 Closing   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE GUEST ADRIAN GARCIA is the Harris County Commissioner for Precinct 2, first elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. He is running for a third term on November 3, 2026, against Republican Richard Vega. The youngest of six children of Mexican immigrant parents, he grew up on Houston's North Side and served 23 years with the Houston Police Department, including as director of the Mayor's Anti-Gang Office. He represented District H on the Houston City Council from 2004 to 2009, serving as Mayor Pro Tem under Mayor Bill White, and was Harris County Sheriff from 2009 to 2015, the county's first Latino sheriff.   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE HOSTS DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. In 2006, he organized the largest march in Texas history, when more than 500,000 people filled downtown Dallas to demand immigration reform. He is a former national president of LULAC and has practiced law for more than 40 years.   HIRAM GILBERTO GARCIA is a journalist, producer, and public affairs strategist based in Austin. His frontline coverage of the 2020 protests drew wide local and national attention.   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT TEJANO TALKS Tejano Talks is a podcast hosted by Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia that blends cultural conversation, political analysis, and interviews with notable voices in Texas and beyond. We're here for Tejanos like us — to help you build wealth, honor your family, and make well-informed choices for your future.   Subscribe, and tell us in the comments who you want to see on the show next. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok.   Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own.   #TejanoTalks #HarrisCounty #TexasVotes

    “Don’t Be Ashamed You’re Mexican”: Adrian Garcia’s Father’s 5 Rules | Tejano Talks

  4. Oct 13

    The True Story of the Texas DREAM Act, and How Texas Can Lead Again

    A Republican governor signed the Texas DREAM Act, written by Rick Noriega. Texas was first in the country to do it. Roughly twenty states followed. On June 4, 2025, the Justice Department sued Texas in a Wichita Falls federal court, and the state agreed the same day. Rick Noriega says Texas can lead again. Hiram and Domingo sit down with Rick Noriega — the author of HB 1403 — to talk about how the Texas DREAM Act passed with Republican votes and a Republican governor’s signature, how it ended twenty-four years later without a trial, and what he says is the route left to bring it back. 🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • Why Dolores Huerta's isn't done yet at 96 years old: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv_gdY2jWMI&t=1s • Can Ericka Ledferd Fix Our Schools?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_hNj6KcSk ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — Why a Republican governor signed the first in-state tuition law in the country — The two students behind the bill — one in Houston’s East End, one a Dallas valedictorian who learned she was undocumented when West Point asked for her birth certificate — How it moved: co-authors from both parties, and a second bill Domingo set aside so this one could go first — June 2025 — the Legislature adjourns, the Justice Department sues, and Texas agrees to the end of its own law — The second tuition bill students received mid-degree, for three or four times the amount — What Noriega says is left, and Hiram’s version of the ask — take someone with you on November 3 — Hiram on being the first in his family to finish at UT, and what changed at home after ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open 00:21 Welcome — Hiram, Domingo, and Rick Noriega 00:47 "The Aztec Warrior": Afghanistan, and why this moment matters 01:35 The Texas DREAM Act: House Bill 1403 02:02 The young man from El Salvador who started it 03:15 Domingo’s story: the valedictorian who got into West Point 04:22 What else was moving: California, and a Republican senator 04:54 Irma Rangel chairs the committee — and Domingo steps aside 05:41 Fred Hill, Elvira Reyna, and a bill both parties signed 06:08 How HB 1403 passed, and who signed it 07:02 What happened to the law in 2025 07:39 Sine die, then a federal lawsuit in Wichita Falls 08:07 The state agrees — and the law is gone 08:40 The tuition bills that arrived mid-degree 09:46 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 10:01 What changed since 2001 11:15 Getting it back — and the November 3 ballot 11:44 What an attorney general could actually do 12:25 The return on the investment 13:22 The next twenty-five years 14:11 Hiram: first in his family to finish at UT 15:27 What his parents left behind in Mexico 16:03 Starting the family business 16:43 The fight is not over 17:08 Where that young man from the East End is now 17:48 Noriega’s advice: don’t complain, vote 18:50 Values, community, and showing up for each other 19:54 A moment of personal privilege — his mother’s 95th birthday 20:25 Sign-off ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE GUEST RICK NORIEGA served five terms in the Texas House of Representatives, from 1999 to 2009, representing House District 145 in eastern Houston. He authored HB 1403, the 2001 law that made Texas the first state in the country to offer in-state tuition to undocumented students who graduated from a Texas high school. He is a retired brigadier general of the Texas Army National Guard, with an honorific promotion to major general on the state retired list. He served in Afghanistan and commanded the Houston shelter that housed evacuees after Hurricane Katrina. He was the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate in 2008. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ HOSTS DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. In 2006, he organized the largest march in Texas history, when more than 500,000 people filled downtown Dallas to demand immigration reform. He is a former national president of LULAC and has practiced law for more than 40 years. HIRAM GARCIA is a journalist, producer, and public affairs strategist based in Austin. His frontline coverage of the 2020 protests drew wide local and national attention. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT TEJANO TALKS Tejano Talks is a podcast hosted by Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia that blends cultural conversation, political analysis, and interviews with notable voices in Texas and beyond. We’re here for Tejanos like us — to help you build wealth, honor your family, and make well-informed choices for your future. Subscribe, and tell us in the comments who you want to see on the show next. We’re on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok. Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own. #TejanoTalks #TexasDreamAct #Texas2026

    The True Story of the Texas DREAM Act, and How Texas Can Lead Again

  5. Oct 8 ·  Bonus

    Skipping the Bottom of Your Ballot? Here's What It Decides | Tejano Talks

    Skipping the bottom of your ballot? Those races pick who decides criminal charges, eviction cases, and flood projects in your county.   The district attorney decides how the law gets charged. The county judge and commissioners decide what gets built, funded, and fixed. The justice of the peace hears evictions, truancy, and traffic cases.This episode help you prepare for Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, 2026.   Hiram and Domingo sit down with four Democratic candidates at the 2026 Texas Democratic Convention in Corpus Christi to talk about what these local offices actually do, and how each candidate says they would run theirs.   The candidates: Alfonso Salazar, Hays County Criminal District Attorney: https://www.alfonso4haysda.com Lesley Briones, Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 4: https://lesleybriones.com Dr. Letitia Plummer, Harris County Judge: https://www.drletitiaplummer.com Rodney Lee, Tarrant County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4: https://www.rodneyleeforjop.com   🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • Texas is sitting on $28 Billion in won't spend, Sarah Eckhardt for Texas Comptroller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNk55x1O3l8 • Gina Hinojosa on her run for governor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzQWSZMkpo   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — What a DA, a county commissioner, a county judge, and a justice of the peace actually decide — Charging discretion, second chances, and reviewing past convictions — Flood control, public health, and mental-health diversion at the county level — Bond money, hospital access, and how fast local government delivers — Court access for hourly workers who can't miss a shift — Trust between communities and the institutions that serve them   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 00:21 Alfonso Salazar — Hays County Criminal District Attorney 10:22 Lesley Briones — Harris County Commissioner, Precinct 4 24:08 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 24:23 Dr. Letitia Plummer — Harris County Judge 35:01 Rodney Lee — Tarrant County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE GUESTS   ALFONSO SALAZAR is the Democratic nominee for Hays County Criminal District Attorney. He served as a military police officer with the U.S. Air Force, Air National Guard, and State of Texas from 2008 to 2020, and holds a B.A. in Government from the University of Texas at Austin and a law degree from Baylor Law School. On the show, he focuses on second chances, lowering recidivism, and a civil rights division in the DA's office.   LESLEY BRIONES is the Harris County Commissioner for Precinct 4 and is running for reelection. She grew up in Laredo, the daughter of teachers, taught 8th and 10th grade, and earned degrees from Harvard and Yale Law School. She previously served as judge of Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 4. On the show, she focuses on flood mitigation, county wages, and mental-health diversion.   DR. LETITIA PLUMMER is the Democratic nominee for Harris County Judge. A practicing dentist who began her career with the Harris Health System, she served on the Houston City Council in At-Large Position 4 from 2020 to 2025. On the show, she focuses on getting voter-approved bond projects built, regional collaboration, and health care access.   RODNEY LEE is the Democratic nominee for Tarrant County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 4. He is a 22-year Navy veteran, a former juvenile probation officer, and a public school educator. On the show, he focuses on night court for hourly workers, evictions, and truancy.   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE HOSTS   DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. In 2006, he organized the largest march in Texas history, when more than 500,000 people filled downtown Dallas to demand immigration reform. He is a former national president of LULAC and has practiced law for more than 40 years.   HIRAM GILBERTO GARCIA is a journalist, producer, and public affairs strategist based in Austin. His frontline coverage of the 2020 protests drew wide local and national attention.   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT TEJANO TALKS Tejano Talks is a podcast hosted by Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia that blends cultural conversation, political analysis, and interviews with notable voices in Texas and beyond. We're here for Tejanos like us — to help you build wealth, honor your family, and make well-informed choices for your future.   Subscribe, and tell us in the comments who you want to see on the show next. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok.   Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own.   #TejanoTalks #TexasPolitics #Election2026

    Skipping the Bottom of Your Ballot? Here's What It Decides | Tejano Talks

  6. Oct 6

    There Was Never a Pure Taco — and That’s the Whole Point

    There was never a pure taco. José R. Ralat is Texas Monthly's taco editor — the first at an American publication Ralat has spent almost seven years tracing the origins of the best tacos. Lebanese immigrants brought a shawarma spit to Puebla and Mexicans adapted it into tacos árabes, then al pastor. Japanese and Mexican fishermen worked out the Baja fish taco together, tempura batter and all. Korean tacos came from Koreans and Mexicans living side by side in California. For his newest list he covered 14,000 miles and 437 taquerías to pick 25 of the best new or improved in Texas. Hiram and Domingo sit down with José R. Ralat to argue flour versus corn, explain why burritos are tacos, and make the case that a French tire company has no business telling Texas what tastes good. José R. Ralat’s work at Texas Monthly: https://www.texasmonthly.com/contributors/jose-r-ralat/ 🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • Texas Has Two Supreme Courts. You’ve Never Heard of This One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMnEN8wIku8&t=8s • Can Ericka Ledferd Fix Our Schools?: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_hNj6KcSk&pp=ugUEEgJlbg%3D%3D ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ IN THIS EPISODE — Why nearly every taco he traces turns out to be a record of somebody else's migration — How al pastor got from a shawarma spit in Puebla to a trompo in Monterrey — What he judges first — the tortilla — and why "flour or corn" is a trick question — What 14,000 miles and 437 taquerías cost him, including a shattered ankle — His account of being stopped by ICE and by a state trooper on the same reporting trip — The Michelin star a Mexico City taquería won and then lost — "New Tejano" cuisine, the term he coined in 2024 — and why a Puerto Rican gets to define it ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome — Texas Monthly's taco editor 01:16 Seven years on the beat; 1,000 taquerías for the book 03:05 Judging a lonchera against fine dining 04:14 How to judge al pastor: trompo, adobo, the slice 04:41 Lebanese immigrants, tacos árabes, and the road to al pastor 05:54 "Nothing is perfect until Mexicans get a hold of it" 07:03 The Baja fish taco and Japanese tempura 08:02 Fajitas: the cut nobody wanted 09:35 A shattered ankle in Veracruz 11:45 14,000 miles, 437 taquerías, 25 spots 12:22 "I had a run-in with ICE" 15:57 The criteria: tortilla, filling, salsa, story 17:39 Flour or corn — the trick question 19:15 Tradition versus innovation 20:55 Burritos are tacos 22:38 Korean tacos and fusion that works 24:17 His favorites from the 25 29:02 Austin versus San Antonio breakfast tacos 33:01 Big Red and barbacoa on Sundays 34:17 Mesquite, marinades, store-bought tortillas 37:49 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 38:20 Taco trends: birria, ribeye, wagyu 41:11 The taquería that lost its Michelin star 45:00 Why a French tire company can't judge Texas 46:59 "New Tejano" cuisine, coined in 2024 50:18 Taco Bell, Jack in the Box, and the gateway taco 52:49 The teacher who saw his breakfast tacos 56:26 Where to find José Ralat ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT THE GUEST JOSÉ R. RALAT is the taco editor at Texas Monthly — the first job of its kind at an American publication. He is the author of American Tacos: A History and Guide (2020) and won James Beard Awards in 2022 and 2023 for his Tex-Mexplainer column. In 2024 he introduced the idea of "New Tejano" cuisine alongside the magazine's 50 Best Tacos in Texas list, and his most recent project is "The 25 Best New (Or Improved!) Taquerías in Texas." He serves on the advisory board of Foodways Texas. Originally from Puerto Rico, he lives in Oak Cliff, Dallas. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ HOSTS DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. In 2006, he organized the largest march in Texas history, when more than 500,000 people filled downtown Dallas to demand immigration reform. He is a former national president of LULAC and has practiced law for more than 40 years. HIRAM GARCIA is a journalist, producer, and public affairs strategist based in Austin. His frontline coverage of the 2020 protests drew wide local and national attention. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT TEJANO TALKS Tejano Talks is a podcast hosted by Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia that blends cultural conversation, political analysis, and interviews with notable voices in Texas and beyond. We're here for Tejanos like us — to help you build wealth, honor your family, and make well-informed choices for your future. Subscribe, and tell us in the comments who you want to see on the show next. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok. Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own. #TejanoTalks #Tacos #TexasFood

    There Was Never a Pure Taco — and That’s the Whole Point

  7. Oct 1 ·  Bonus

    “I Was Declared Dead”: Check Your Texas Voter Registration Now

    "I was declared dead about 4 months ago," Domingo Garcia says. His Texas voter registration had been suspended, and he had to get it reinstated.   His isn't the only registration with a problem. More than 1.2 million Texas voters are on the state's voter suspense list, according to KERA News. October 5 is the last day to register or update your address for the November 3 election. Being on the list doesn't mean you can't vote — but check now, not on Election Day.   Hiram and Domingo sit down, just the two of them, to talk about what's on the Texas ballot this November: the race for U.S. Senate between James Talarico and Ken Paxton, the governor's race between Gina Hinojosa and Greg Abbott, the cost of living, and why both hosts say turnout — not persuasion — is what decides Texas elections.   Check your registration, find your polling place, and see voting dates: https://www.votetexas.gov/   Registered online through a DPS driver's license transaction? A state error left tens of thousands of those applications unsent to counties. Confirm with your county elections office.   🎙️ More from Tejano Talks: • "No Te Dejes": Gina Hinojosa on running for governor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KzQWSZMkpo&t=84s • Nathan Johnson Scored 67 Episodes of Dragon Ball Z. Now He's Running for Texas Attorney General: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL3r7EO2nHU&t=29s   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━   IN THIS EPISODE — Why October 5 matters, and how to check whether your registration is current — What the voter suspense list is, who ends up on it, and what to do if you're flagged — Talarico vs. Paxton for U.S. Senate, and why the hosts say the race comes down to turnout — Hinojosa vs. Abbott, and why Hiram and Domingo think the governor's race has tightened — Gas, groceries, rent, health care: how the hosts connect the cost of living to the ballot — Faith, values, and a direct appeal to young and conservative Latino voters — Hiram's closing case: elections change when turnout changes, not when minds do   KEY DATES Register or update your address: October 5 Early voting: October 19–30 Mail-ballot applications (eligible voters) must be received by: October 23 Election Day: November 3   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━   CHAPTERS 00:00 What's at stake on November 3 00:37 Step one: register by October 5 01:19 "I was declared dead": check your registration 01:52 Redistricting and the fight over who votes 02:58 "My vote doesn't count": the 2018 Senate margin 03:23 Talarico vs. Paxton for U.S. Senate 05:49 Why some Latino conservatives still back Paxton 06:49 Diesel, tariffs, and the cost of living 08:31 Big money in Texas elections 09:51 Hinojosa vs. Abbott: why the governor's race tightened 11:46 The rest of the ticket 12:41 How to vote early and find your polling place 13:41 A message to people who don't vote 15:11 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 15:26 Marijuana, health care, and "small government" 16:38 Faith, history books, and Matthew 25 20:42 "Republicans win on fear. Democrats win on hope." 22:03 Take nine people to vote with you 22:26 Why turnout, not persuasion, decides elections   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━   YOUR HOSTS   DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer and one of the most important Latino political figures in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. In 2006, he organized the largest march in Texas history, when more than 500,000 people filled downtown Dallas to demand immigration reform. He is a former national president of LULAC and has practiced law for more than 40 years.   HIRAM GARCIA is a journalist, producer, and public affairs strategist based in Austin. His frontline coverage of the 2020 protests drew wide local and national attention.   ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━   ABOUT TEJANO TALKS Tejano Talks is a podcast hosted by Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia that blends cultural conversation, political analysis, and interviews with notable voices in Texas and beyond. We're here for Tejanos like us — to help you build wealth, honor your family, and make well-informed choices for your future.   Subscribe, and tell us in the comments who you want to see on the show next. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok.   Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own.   #TejanoTalks #TexasVotes #RegisterToVote

    “I Was Declared Dead”: Check Your Texas Voter Registration Now

  8. Oct 1 ·  Bonus

    "No Power Is Ever Given" — 5 Texas Democrats Running in 2026

    "No power is ever given. It is always demanded." That's Matthias Early, running for the Texas House the same year his father runs for Congress. Also here: a city councilman chasing a newly redrawn open seat, Opal Lee's granddaughter taking Juneteenth to Congress, and a Houston broker betting on "purple" politics. Five Texas Democrats, live from the convention floor in Corpus Christi. Justin Early for Congress (TX-31): votejustinearly.com Matthias Early for Texas House (HD-20): votematthiasearly.com Dan Barrios for Congress (TX-32): danbarriosforcongress.com Dione Sims for Congress (TX-25): dionesimsforcongress.com Melissa McDonough for Congress (TX-38): melissaforcongress.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ CHAPTERS 00:00 Welcome: live from the Texas Democratic Convention, Corpus Christi 00:21 Justin Early and Matthias Early: a father and son, both on the ballot 01:08 ★ Justin Early on affordability and his run for Congress in TX-31 02:49 ★ Matthias Early: from pre-med to a run for the Texas House 05:56 Regulating AI, and who new data centers are targeting 09:59 The data-center fight in Hutto, Taylor, and Temple 11:36 Operation Lone Star, ICE, and the immigration question 14:43 Justin Early's military background, from Fort Bragg to the Pentagon 17:08 Two campaigns, one family — and demanding a seat at the table 21:27 ★ Dan Barrios: a Richardson city councilman running for the newly open TX-32 22:50 From an 82-vote loss in 2019 to Richardson City Council 23:31 Why TX-32 is now in play, after redistricting 25:08 Term limits, dark money, and the "Take Back Congress" platform 28:04 "Breakfast with Barrios": bringing government back to the people 31:48 Meet the opponent — and a challenge to debate 34:27 ★ Dione Sims: Opal Lee's granddaughter, running for TX-25 35:37 Juneteenth, and the history most Texans were never taught 38:09 Mexico, slavery, and the Underground Railroad South 40:33 Redistricting, and why she decided to run herself 42:10 Coalition-building, and her first days in Congress 45:42 Getting Juneteenth passed: a case study in coalition-building 47:27 Ad: Domingo Garcia Law Firm 47:46 ★ Melissa McDonough: from professional flutist to candidate for TX-38 51:11 30 years in real estate, and why she calls Congress "checks and balances" 54:29 "Who are you working for?" — accountability and corporate money 57:50 "Backward town halls": McDonough's listening tours across the district 1:00:47 Purple politics, and talking with disenfranchised Latino voters 1:03:38 A border tour, SpaceX complaints, and a 400-page bill that stalled 1:06:05 Closing: five races, one election on November 3rd ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ THE CANDIDATES Justin Early (TX-31): Army veteran (Fort Bragg, Pentagon) and Dell cybersecurity architect. Faces Rep. John Carter (R). Matthias Early (HD-20): Justin's son, former EMT and ER tech, studied political science at UT Arlington. Faces Rep. Terry Wilson (R). Dan Barrios (TX-32): Richardson City Council member since 2023, running for an open, newly redrawn seat. Faces Jace Yarbrough (R). Dione Sims (TX-25): Granddaughter of Dr. Opal Lee, co-producer of Juneteenth Fort Worth since 2015, founder of Unity Unlimited. Faces Rep. Roger Williams (R). Melissa McDonough (TX-38): 30-year real estate broker, running for the seat Rep. Wesley Hunt left open to run for the Senate. Faces Jon Bonck (R). ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ DOMINGO GARCIA is a trial lawyer  in Texas. He served on the Dallas City Council and, in 1993, became the first Latino ever elected Mayor Pro Tem of the city. In the Texas Legislature, he co-authored HB 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act. In 2006, he organized the largest march in Texas history. He is a former national president of LULAC and has practiced law for more than 40 years. HIRAM GILBERTO GARCIA is a journalist, producer, and public affairs strategist based in Austin. His frontline coverage of the 2020 protests drew wide local and national attention. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ABOUT TEJANO TALKS Tejano Talks is a podcast hosted by Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia, blending cultural conversation, political analysis, and interviews with notable voices in Texas and beyond.  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Subscribe, and tell us in the comments which of these five races you'll be watching closest. We're on YouTube, Spotify, Instagram, and TikTok. Views expressed by hosts and guests are their own. #TejanoTalks #TexasDemocrats #Election2026

    "No Power Is Ever Given" — 5 Texas Democrats Running in 2026
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About

Empowering TEJANO men with the knowledge, mindset, and voice to build wealth, lead with purpose, and shape their future.

Information

  • Creator
    Domingo Garcia and Hiram Garcia
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    27
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Tejano Talks
  • Show Website
    Tejano Talks

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