State Rep. John Bryant (D-Dallas) said that the invasion of the Capitol and increasing amount of authoritarian talk encouraged him to get up off the sidelines and become involved again in politics. He was also concerned with decisions pending in the Supreme Court relating to the power of states. 

“The invasion of the US Capitol by this mob, and the increasing amount of authoritarian talk about the future, and I thought, I’m sitting on the sidelines, I could get involved again,” Bryant stated in a rewind episode of the Y’all-itics Podcast. “Maybe plug the dike until we can straighten things out instead of sitting here and sending angry emails to my friends, you know, get back involved in it.”

“I was quite sincerely concerned about where we’re headed.” Bryant said. “Also, there were a bunch of decisions pending in the Supreme Court related to the power of states, assertions that states had the power over the Electoral College that they’ve never had before, and had those gone against us, State Government would have been the place where an Authoritarian movement would have begun, and still could be.”

John Bryant is a member of the Texas House of Representatives, representing District 114. He serves on the Appropriations Committee and the Pensions, Investments and Financial Services Committee. He previously represented Texas’s 5th congressional district in the 98th to the 104th U.S. Congress. 

The Y’all-itics Podcast is produced by WFAA and hosted by Jason Whitely, a Senior Political Reporter for the news station, and Jason Wheeler, a reporter and anchor for WFAA. Each week they discuss one recent topic or discussion impacting the state and its residents over a drink and welcome all Texans, natives and transplants, to listen in.  

The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.