Concluding my series of interviews from the convention in Austin is a short chat I had with State Rep. Juan Garcia. I hadn’t made a prior arrangement with Rep. Garcia for this, and was fortunate to run into him in the byzantine labyrinth that was the outer hallway of the Austin Convention Center, and he was gracious enough to give me a few minutes of his time. It’s a bit noisy, and I’m a bit clumsy asking the first question since I wasn’t expecting this, but I hope you’ll overlook that and enjoy the conversation anyway. Rep. Garcia won a tough race in a pretty red district (PDF), at least at the top of the ticket (Bill Moody got 46.3%), and is probably the Republicans’ #1 target this cycle. As in 2006, when Garcia knocked off the ethically-challenged Gene Seaman, the GOP has another questionable character running, but he’ll be a well-funded one, and Garcia has his work cut out for him. My interview is here, as always in MP3 format. I’m hoping to get a few more interviews with folks I met in Austin who’ll be travelling to Houston, and I expect to get a few more while I’m there for Netroots Nation, and after that it’ll be local candidates all the way.
PREVIOUSLY:
State Rep. Dan Barrett, HD97.
Wendy Davis, SD10.
Robert Miklos, HD101.
Chris Turner, HD96.
Joe Moody, HD78.
Ernie Casbeer, HD59.
UPDATE: There’s a questionable poll that shows Rep. Garcia trailing his Republican challenger. See my comment on that post for why I have some issues with that result.