Greetings Citizen Advocates!

I hope you enjoyed a happy holiday season.  I just love this time of year - from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day.  So many things to celebrate, and reasons to gather with family and friends, giving thanks always for the many blessings we enjoy.

But now it's time to brush off the holiday lazies and get back to work!  I've been struggling with that a lot lately.  My inclination is to stay in my recliner chair with my blanket and my remote control, but there's work to be done, so enough of that.

This week, we'll see the primary campaigns kick into high gear, and only have a few weeks left until Primary election day on March 5th, with early voting beginning on Feb 20th.  So what are YOU doing to help some of the good candidates that are running?

We have an amazing opportunity this year to gain additional seats for the good guys, because so many House and Senate seats up for grabs with the incumbent not running.  PLUS - we have some really good challengers to some really bad incumbents, so we ought to be seeing some major wins on March 5.  But don't take that for granted!  Every candidate is going to need help to push past the finish line, and that's what my message today is about - What YOU can do to help your favorite candidates.

Some of you are seasoned campaign workers and have done this many times before.  But for those of you who have not - we need you to jump in and get involved.  Here are some suggestions:

1) Donate:  You might not have deep pockets, but understand that every donation matters, regardless of size.  People who evaluate campaigns pay attention not only to how much money was raised, but also how many independent contributions were made.  So you're little $5 or $10 donation could mean a lot.  Don't hold back because you can't give $1000!  Most of us can't - just give what you can to as many as you can.

2) Volunteer:  The next biggest thing a campaign needs is volunteers.  Volunteers do tons of different things.  There’s block walking, phone calling, texting, addressing and stuffing letters, social media posts and comments, putting up yard signs.  Use your imagination and find something YOU can do to help the campaign.  You know your talents and resources better than anyone – so don’t wait to be asked.  Offer something up! 

I recall one campaign advisor who told me he had a lady who wanted to volunteer, but for some reason couldn’t do most of the ordinary things campaigns need.  But she said “I can bake cookies”.  So that’s what she did – she brought home baked cookies to the campaign office and kept the volunteers happy while they worked.  Maybe you have a large lot at your home or business and you could put up one of those giant signs.  Maybe you have a business network that you could introduce the candidate to and urge their support.  The possibilities are endless. 

3) Host a Meet & Greet:  These small casual gatherings are the best way for voters to get to know the candidate.  Invite friends and neighbors to your home to meet and talk with them.  You can do more than 1 candidate at a time if you want to.  All you have to do is invite people, and if you're feeling energetic, make a pot of coffee and put out a plate of cookies.  The candidate and staff will do the rest.  It's a huge boost to any campaign because as people see you supporting a candidate, they are more inclined to support as well.

4)  Offer a personal endorsement:  you don’t have to be a famous person, an elected person, or head of a group to endorse a candidate.  Anyone can give personal endorsements, and you should!  It’s a great way to introduce the candidate to people outside his/her own circle, and spread the word about why people should vote for him/her.  In large, multi county districts, it's especially important in reaching as many people as possible.

5) Organize Networks:  One thing everyone can do is organize individual networks.  We all have networks – maybe it’s church friends, or business associates, or neighborhood friends, or members of a conservative club.  Be sure to collect contact information for all the people in your network, and then make a concentrated effort to keep them informed about the campaign, important dates, getting out to vote on election days, keeping the campaign and the candidate in the forefront of their minds.  The important thing here is to collect that contact information.  We all know the people in our networks but do we know how to contact them?  Make an effort to exchange contacts with folks you regularly gather with, and then use that information to help the candidate.

6) GOTV:  No this is not a new Television network.  GOTV stands for Get Out the Vote, and everyone needs to help with it.  Once you’ve done all the volunteer stuff, you’ve donated money, you’ve block walked, you’ve contacted the people in your network, you've made endorsements, and you've put out signs.  Now it’s down to election days.  All the work and effort and treasure that goes into a campaign doesn’t do any good if the voters don’t get out and VOTE!  This is where your networking pays off.  You will contact those people in the network repeatedly throughout the early voting process to remind them to go and vote (and vote for YOUR candidate!).

7) Use the TTP Voter Recommendations:  During early voting is a great time to share TTP's voter recommendations with everyone you know.  People generally don't take the time or effort to actually vet candidates and they depend on organizations they trust (like TTP) to help them out.  They appreciate our recommendations and are always asking for them.   We post as many races as we can find information for on the website Elections 2024 page. So use it, share it, print it, take it to the polls and hand it out.  The list of endorsements and recommendations will be updated as information comes in, so check it often.

8)  Be a Poll Worker:  During the early voting process an important thing you can do for your candidate is volunteer to be a poll greeter. You will be surprised at how much it helps to have a poll greeter with a smile and friendly wave, just holding a sign, or handing out push cards, or saying “Please vote for XXXX”.  As I’ve already mentioned, people are often begging for someone to tell them who to vote for because they just don’t know. So let's just tell them.

You can also be a poll Judge or clerk or poll watcher.  The people working the polls are the front-line defense against election fraud and irregularities, and we need people in every county to step up and do that work.  Don’t forget the Ballot Board in each county – they need people too!  Contact your local county GOP office to sign up to be a poll worker or poll watcher.  (Poll Judges, and clerks are paid positions)  Sign up with the campaign to be a poll greeter outside the polling places.

9) Prayer:  I hope that you all will be consistently and continually in prayer for your candidates, their spouses and children, extended family and campaign staff.  They will have to endure unspeakable criticism, attacks, and sometimes personal threats to make it to the end of this campaign.  If you love and respect your candidates, then cover them and their families in prayer always.  And when it’s all over, and your candidate is declared the winner, give all the glory to God.  (but also pat yourselves on the back for a job well done).

10) Participate in TTP's Day of Action, Jan 27th:  We hope you'll be helping candidates throughout the campaign season, but we're setting aside January 27th as a special TTP Day of Action to help candidates.  All 18 TTP Satellites will be organizing block walking and phone banking on that day to engage as many people as possible.  But even if you're not connected with a TTP Satellite group, you can still participate.  Contact your candidate and say "I want to help do "X" on Jan 27th".  Or you could organize your own phone calling party at your house - the candidates will help you set that up.  It can be a lot of fun, especially if you throw in some pizza and Dr. Pepper!  Just be sure you do SOMETHING!  We need you!

In other news - the chaos in the Texas legislature continues as the Lt Gov fights with the Speaker, the Speaker fights with the Governor, the AG is called a liar by a Senator, and House members are abandoning Dade Phelan like rats fleeing a sinking ship.  It's like watching an old time soap opera!  Of course, campaign season tends to bring out the worst in people, so expect it to get worse until March 5th.

If you need to see who's running for what in the TX Legislature, The Texan.News did a very nice article listing every House and Senate seat, and the names of candidates for both parties.  I've kept the article open on my desk top during all the candidate vetting so that I can quickly look up names and districts. 181 seats is a lot to keep up with!

In this week's pod cast, Luke Macias talks about different factions in the TX House.  He cites Democrats; Leadership Loyalists; Anti School Choice group; Reformers; and Leadership light.  When vetting House candidates, you should ask them that question - which faction do you fall into?  They probably won't answer truthfully, but their answers might give you some insight. 

That wraps it up for this week.  I'll see you around the campaign trail, and meanwhile, STAY ENGAGED!

Fran Rhodes, President

PS:  Do you need help finding a good candidate to support?  No worries - I've got your back. Just email me and tell me what city you live in.  I don't have all the answers, but I promise, I know people who do!