Wimberley a personal and national audience’s advantage

Turn on ABC Sunday morning and watch “This Week with George Stephonoupolos” and “Good Morning America,” Wimberley’s own Matt Dowd is featured as a political analyst. Living in Wimberley is not only a pleasure, with its surrounding nature, but it is also an advantage for both Dowd and for the nation.

You can also listen to Dowd on local radio station KWVH in the morning on the Breakfast Taco show. He gives expert insight on politics of the day. This is something that started about two years ago on Tuesday morning for an hour. When the pandemic hit, his radio spot became 7 a.m. until 8 a.m. Monday through Wednesday with co-hosts Dori Bradford and station manager Mike Crusham. “It’s my way as a volunteer to give back to the community. I love Dori and Mike is awesome,” Dowd said. He has also volunteered by serving on the Downtown Development Committee.

Having his voice heard is perhaps a product of growing up in Detroit, the third of eleven children in an Irish-Catholic family. His father was an auto executive and his mother a teacher who became a homemaker.

The Watergate hearings simply fascinated him at 12 years old. He volunteered in Michigan for a local congressman. While attending college at Newman College in St. Louis he volunteered for the Missouri governor’s race. Other races followed, including working for Jake Pickle in his Washington D.C. Office.

He also worked for Senator Lloyd Bentsen and Lt. Governor Bob Bullock. It was the Bush friendship with Bullock that got Dowd on the Bush-Cheney reelection bandwagon where he was the chief strategist for the 2004 campaign. Breaking with Bush over the Iraq War, he was on to 2006 and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s California governor campaign.

In 2007 he moved to Wimberley, knowing how beautiful it was from his graduate days at UT Austin, moving back to Austin as his daughter attended high school. This is when ABC reached out to him for his on air advice. Finally he moved back to Wimberley 2017.

“I’m blessed to live in this community. I’ve made friends. I support the radio for the community. I also (before the pandemic) had a meditation group that met every Wednesday at the Chapel in the Hills. “I try all I can to help the community.”

He is unique in having insight into the world’s major religions “(pilgrimages) Christianity, the Jewish faith, Muslim Buddhist and Hindu…For forty days, starting in New Delhi, then Nepal, Turkey, because going to Mecca and Medina (sacred places in the Muslim faith), Jerusalem and Rome. I ended up in Assisi…I had beads, a beard and a backpack.” He came back to the U.S. emotionally and physically drained. But he had learned, and saw not only good, but also the abject poverty.

“It confirmed things. There are five paths, different in ritual and detail but two things. Believe in something bigger than yourself and love one another.”

The upcoming election season will soon be upon us and Dowd’s political expertise will once again be highlighted on air, but remotely, this year.

So the big Question is how is Wimberley an advantage to both Dowd and the country? Both coasts are highlighted constantly in the media. “Wimberley is perfect for this, it’s in Texas, rural and not in New York or L.A. Wimberley is a swing community, both sides of the aisle 50% Republican and 50% Democrats. It’s a good perspective about politics and the world you don’t hear about.“

Living in Wimberley “is a blessing every single day. I’m grateful, I’m blessed in this life and should give back to others. I wake up with enthusiasm and gratitude,” Dowd said.