Wendy Davis is perhaps best known for her marathon 11-hour filibuster, last year. The State Senator was hoping to block a bill which would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Although the bill eventually passed, Davis’ efforts garnered national attention. Davis is hoping to parlay that attention in her bid for governor. Today, her campaign announced they raised $12.2 million between July and the end of last year. This is $700,000 more than Lt. Governor Greg Abbott – her likely GOP opponent – rose in the same time period.
Davis sat down with Marfa Public Radio/KXWT General Manager Tom Michael to discuss her campaign for governor.
INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS
On Education:
“It’s not about putting in money into our schools for money’s sake. The fact of the matter is we have programs that were very important for creating educational success, for our students that have been cut. Programs like full day Pre-K. Programs like some of our dual-language learning programs, that were helping students, who come to school without English language skills, become a part of success in our school system.”
“Student-teacher ratios matter. In classrooms across the state – as a consequence of the budget cuts – we have had classroom size waivers requests by the thousands. Far in excess of what we had seen before. It’s my goal to get back to where we once were, get our classroom crowding situation down, and focus our efforts once again on those programs that are creating successful students, which, of course, creates a successful workforce and a successful economy for Texas.”
On Oil and Energy:
“There is no question that the development of our minerals – oil and gas – is definitely driving the success that we are seeing in Texas’ current robust economy. We must continue to do everything we can – as a state - to partner in a way that continues the strength [of] that industry. I’m very proud of the record that I have in Fort Worth, Texas where I sat on the city council and help[ed] to foster the urban drilling environment that created a success in our community and is creating an incredible success, particularly in the areas of Midland, Odessa, and the Permian Basin.”
On Healthcare:
“I don’t think we should have the federal government telling us how we should do it. We can take advantage – bringing our tax paying dollars back from the federal level – we can invest those in a way that makes sense for our economy and makes sense for taking care of the dramatic number of people not covered by health insurance in Texas today.”
