Today we’re with Sandra Whitten and we’re going to be talking about the gains that Republicans are making in traditionally Democrat areas. Sandra, ran in 2020 for Congress in Laredo, and she increased the vote count by over 20,000 votes and she’s running again this year.
Jonathan Schober:
Well, it is so exciting to hear. We hear about this stuff “oh, Republicans can’t win on the border” you know, “they can’t win and Laredo”, and yet you’re proving it wrong. Why don’t you, just first question, tell us a little bit about this success that you had in 2020 and where do you think you’re going to go for 2022?
Sandra Whitten:
Well, I can’t take any of the glory for starters I do have to give it all to God because His the one that called me into this fight. He told me it was going to be crazy and rival some kind of crazy story that you would imagine from the Bible. I kind of avoid to use this as the man and the milk and honey campaign and that’s exactly what it’s proven to be. You know, we only raised $25,000 however, we raised a movement and a moment and in history we’re at a breaking point. I was told as a white woman I would never, and I hate to kind of come out with race right away, but I would never even come close in this district because it is such a Hispanic district and we’ve seen quite the opposite.
People are so excited that somebody was not only willing to take on the Democrats but that I was not from here. I kind of defy all of the odds in every aspect, I don’t speak Spanish, I’m not born and raised in South Texas or even Texas. I’m a transplant I’ve been here for 12 years but I’m giving people hope. I’m giving people a future and its one of the things that they say, is people come here to South Texas and once they get here they either love it or they hate it. Well, I kind of got to be in between and so when I fell in love with this place and the people, more importantly, I knew what I had to do.
I started seeing that, that people needed hope and they needed somebody to stand up and be their advocate. So what we teach kids stand up and speak for those who can’t speak for themselves and so that’s exactly why I decided to run. We have to speak up for people who were afraid to speak from themselves because there really is a Democrat mafia down here and you don’t run up against it.
Jonathan Schober:
One of the things that I think resonates no matter where you are is the dignity of work and the faith or the factor of family. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are or what color your skin is the Republican Party is for dignity of work and for the importance and the value of the family.
Sandra Whitten:
Well, and that’s exactly it and when I started all of this back at, officially I started running in 2019, but in 2018 when I started getting involved with the Party, that was the first thing that I kept saying. I said, “these people are the most conservative people I’ve ever met in my life, they believe in hard work, they love God, they love their guns, they’re Republicans,” but there’s never been Republican presence down here before. So when I just, I mean, I kind of came out gun swinging like, ‘Hey, let’s do this’ and people thought I was crazy; especially around the state the establishment was like, “no, no, that’s Democrat country we don’t go down there.” I’m like, “well, whether you come or not, we’re going to fight for it” because this area is really Republican they just don’t know it. That, and so we, instead of using the word Republican we use the word conservative and man people [crosstalk 00:04:11]
Jonathan Schober:
It’s amazing, you lose every race that you don’t run in and the fact that we have Republicans that say, “oh, no, we don’t want to run there that’s a Democrat place,” that is a bluntly that’s insulting. I think to those of us that are conservatives / Republicans, it’s insulting that there’s people that are like, “oh no, don’t run there you know, we’re going to give that to the Democrats”. I don’t think there’s any reason why we should, cede a single inch of Texas soil to the Democrats.
Sandra Whitten:
Well, and that was exactly it and people were blind to that and even down here, they didn’t even within the Democrat party, they really have no idea they don’t even know what their Democrat values are because they’re told who to vote for. They’re such, I don’t want to use the word compliant, but they believe so deeply in, “hey, you’re a person of authority so I have to, I have to trust you” that they just were being bought and sold. We, as Republicans, sat back and did nothing for a whole generation, several generations.
Jonathan Schober:
You’re down there on ground zero on everything that’s going on with the border and immigration. You know, I know it seems like we’re a long way away from election we’re not people need to be engaged in maybe in the fight. Can you give us a little bit of, of a report from the field of what’s happening with this absolute Biden disaster on the border?
Sandra Whitten:
There’s so much to it and Kamala Harris is our beloved Vice President is only added fuel to the fire. However, you know what we’re seeing here in District 28, what we’re seeing between Laredo and McAllen, which is exactly where District 28 border lies we have four counties on the river, we’re seeing the hardened criminals come through. We’re seeing the MS-13 and some of the other just unbelievable bad guys that President Trump warned that they were sending through those are whose coming through District 28.
When you go to Del Rio and further points west when you go to McAllen and further points east, yes, you’re going to get some of them. But you’re really getting the asylum seekers the ones that truly are coming over because they want a better life because they really do. Why else would you sell yourself into slavery? if you did not think it was going to be a better way of life. So these people are doing that there, but what we’re seeing here in my 4 counties on the border that’s not what we’re seeing. We have a couple of asylum seekers but not to the extent that we’re getting on the other parts of the border, but our numbers are up over 150% here and the reason that they’re so high and these are unaccompanied men.
Jonathan Schober:
Is not unaccompanied minors, this is men, this is able-bodied men.
Sandra Whitten:
Right now, we do have unaccompanied minors those numbers are up also but not like the unaccompanied men. These are the ones that are going straight to the stash houses to go straight to the back of 18-wheelers that are stealing cars that are ripping apart ranches and things along those nature. These are the kinds of people that you don’t want in your communities, but because we’re drawing all the attention to McAllen, Del Rio and Carrizo Springs and everything else where the women and children are, which we do have to protect and take care of. The bad people who are going to abuse those women and children when they all get through on the other side, they’re all coming right up the middle, right up that 35 corridor and so we’re running into that triangle.
Now the problem, the reason that we need to worry about this right now, our reason we’ve got to put our political brains on right now is because the people who are still in office, right. Unfortunately, we could not completely flip this District, right. So the people who are in office have been in office for years, upon years, upon years, upon years, longer than they’ve been in office since I was three years old, okay. So when we start looking at that these are the same people who are now crying wolf that have been wrapped up in sheep’s clothing. So they’re over here pretending like “we had no idea that this was going to happen,” but they’re getting money from the private prison systems. So they’ve allowed this problem to happen and if you don’t get fired up about it right now you’re not going to care about it in two years when it’s election season again.
Jonathan Schober:
Absolutely, and if you’re supporting someone that’s been in this fight and well has been on these borders and not in the fight, again, I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat. If you’re supporting these people you are not supporting Republican values and you’re a part of the problem.
Sandra Whitten:
Right, absolutely and you know we’ve got Democrat Sheriff’s here along the border who are going, “you know what, we’re not okay with what’s happening there, there really is a problem, there is a border crisis, so we’ve got to do something about it.” It’s not just the asylum seekers the Poppet County, for example, their Sheriff kind of broke away from the Democrats and said, “you know what, no, we do have to speak up we’ve got to let people know that there were hardened criminals that are coming through our counties and tearing up our way of life and causing more damage than we could possibly repay in a lifetime at the of the current status.” But then when you have your Vice President pledging $310 million to South America because of climate change and conditions and hurricanes that are causing all these issues, and I’m going ‘wait, what?’ Then she’s like “it’s because they don’t have any food to eat,” so of that $310 million do you know how much money they’re actually spending on food?
Jonathan Schober:
How much?
Sandra Whitten:
$55 million.
Jonathan Schober:
$55 million out of $310 million and they’re blaming it all on food. Yeah.
Sandra Whitten:
Yeah but well food and the climate.
Jonathan Schober:
Yeah, that’s right it’s food and the climate, food and the climate. So what are some things that we can do right now to help you.
Sandra Whitten:
But well, to help me personally, you can go sandrafortexas.com and click contribute now and I truly covet anything that you can do because we had been literally on the front lines of this fighting it we’re meeting with our Sheriff’s every week. We are taking news crews and things like that, we’ve not slowed down since November and thanks to Biden and Henry Cueller for making this even worse. We have not gotten a breath we thought that we were going to get a breath at Christmas time and that just does not happen because this crisis is real. This is affecting people every single day and when you have the talking heads saying the exact same thing it’s detrimental for the people who are involved in it.
The other thing that you can do, and this is as an American, this is as a Texan. If you see something, say something. Just in Houston this week we had a stash house that was hit with over 97 people in it and they all came right here from South Texas. So if you see something that just slightly looks suspicious please report it. I know that our men and women that have a badge pinned to their chest are so overworked and they are still under appreciated but guys you’ve got to do something. If you see something, say something, we say that to kids in school and I’m saying it to you right now, even if it’s drug stuff because that’s what a lot of this stuff, all stems from its sex trafficking and its drug trafficking.
Jonathan Schober:
It’s just a human tragedy and if you love people you’ll do something about the border. If you love people you’ll secure the border. If you love people you’ll enforce the laws. If you love people you’ll support candidates like you that are willing to stand in there and make a difference. Well, we’re going to take a quick break but when we come back I’m going to ask you, what is it that keeps you up at night?
Announcer:
You’re listening to The Elephant Heard, we’ll be right back.
Pastor Vic Schober:
Promises, God’s promises He makes them and he keeps them. Hi, I’m Pastor Schober I’m wanting you to look with me at the 46th Psalm it’s a great promise. It says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” I guess I should ask, are you in trouble? Are you expecting to be in trouble? Somewhere along the way we’re going to be in trouble and we need God He is one to whom we can run and hide, He is a fortress, He is a refuge, He is our God, He is our place of safety, we have security and assurance and confidence when we’re in God. So I encourage you to do that wherever you are, whatever you’re getting into run to God. I’m Pastor Schober remember God keeps his promises.
Announcer:
From the capital of the Lone Star State welcome back to The Elephant Heard.
Jonathan Schober:
We’ve been having a conversation with Sandra Whitten, and Sandra is in the front lines on the battle for the border, for the Laredo area, and really for the heart and soul of Republicans that are willing to fight for these issues. Thank you so much for being here Sandra. What I want to do now is I want to ask you, what is it that keeps you up at night?
Sandra Whitten:
It’s kind of a two-fold question. So if you don’t mind, I’m going to give you a double answer. So of course the human trafficking aspect of what’s happening on the border is just, it’s atrocious as a mom of children. You know, I’ve got four kids, my baby, I have one daughter and she’s two and she’s Hispanic. So I see these children coming across the border, all like children, Hispanic. I see these children coming across the border, I see my children’s face, and it’s just terrifying to me what’s happening and we have been silent for so long. Our silence is our compliance that definitely is something that it just, it makes you nauseous as a human, as a Christian, if you’re sitting silent you’ve got to do some evaluations. The other part of this honestly, is when I started this gosh, almost three years ago, I just kind of started seeing some of the biblical ramifications of what we’re coming into.
And I, I said, “you know what, I don’t know what I’m fighting but I have to fight” because I see that if I don’t I won’t be able to look my kids in the face in 20 years when they’re standing in a bread line because I said nothing. I wasn’t willing to get out of my comfort zone, I wasn’t willing to fight the fight. I’m a Patriot I grew up in the colonial triangle of our nation, the Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown area minutes away from Washington DC. I understand the founding fathers concepts and way of thinking, probably better than most people today because I was there three or four days a week, you know, talking to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. So to see the land that they gave birth to essentially and what their passion was for it just completely being blown to smithereens it makes me sick.
We’ve got to preserve this. You know what? My 16 year old has a Constitutional Law teacher who teaches anything, but what our founding fathers had my every time I hear him, like my skin just crawls. So we have got to preserve the history of our country we’ve got to preserve our Constitution for our kids because if you’ve been paying attention, President Biden has been saying what’s in the Constitution, your amendments, they’re not absolute. So he’s not trying to take away your guns by any stretch of the imagination. He’s trying to take away your Constitution he wants to take away what makes America, America and that’s something that we have got to fight back with everything single breath that we have.
Jonathan Schober:
I think every man and woman needs to be absolutely on fire. If you’re not engaged, you need to get engaged. If you’re one of those people that you are only engaged in the election, get engaged now we need men and women like you, Sandra that are running for Congress and they’re doing these things. People think, “oh, it’s just the election day” there’s a lot of hard work that goes into this and so I just want to encourage everyone that’s out here. I want to encourage you to, to support Sandra, to support those other men and women that are out there fighting even though it seems like we’re a long way off from the next election. One more time what’s your website?
Sandra Whitten:
www.sandrafortexas.com Sandra for Texas.
Jonathan Schober:
Well, thanks so much for being on The Elephant Heard. You know, if you do have a question or a comment or suggestion for another guest ora topic you can text me directly at (512) 729-5712.
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