Dear John,
When we started Powered by People at the beginning of the year we set out to help Democrats win a majority in the Texas House. There were any number of challenges to take on, so why did we pick this one?
First, if we win a majority in the Texas legislature for the first time in twenty years, big positive changes are once again possible for Texas. For example, with a majority we will have a check on the racial gerrymandering and other forms of voter suppression and intimidation that have effectively disenfranchised so many of our fellow Texans. In addition to fair districts and upholding voting rights, a Democratic majority means we will have the opportunity to move forward on Medicaid expansion, climate policy, gun safety laws, and criminal justice reform.
Second, focusing on dozens of State House campaigns across Texas has the added benefit of energizing voters for races further up and down the ballot. That means Democratic candidates for judgeships, commissioners’ courts, Congress and U.S. Senate are all more likely to prevail. And, in the most important Presidential election of our lives, these state house races could generate enough energy and produce enough Democratic voters to help Joe Biden become the first Democratic nominee to win Texas since 1976.
Third, this is totally doable. That has a lot to do with the amazing people who are running for the State House. These are real, everyday Texans standing up for their communities and our state, running strong grassroots campaigns that are expanding the electorate by bringing in new voters. They are putting in the hours on the phones and putting out a strong vision for a better Texas. I’m confident voters will respond in record numbers. You can also think about it this way — we are only nine seats down from a majority, and in 2018 I won more votes than Ted Cruz in nine of the districts our candidates need to pick up. We know these amazing candidates can win because we’ve won these districts before!
But, they can’t do it on their own. That’s why Powered by People is here to help.
In January we started knocking on doors in once-deep-red Fort Bend county, not the most obvious place for Democratic organizing. But we wanted to make sure we were leaving no one behind and taking no one for granted. If we’re going to win the State House and other important elections, we have to contest everywhere.
After the pandemic made in-person campaigning impossible, we took to the phones and have now made over 20 million voter contact attempts by calling and texting Texas voters directly. That’s on top of the more than 77,000 new Texas voters we’ve helped to register.
And we’ve been intentionally focusing on those communities which have faced the brunt of voter intimidation and suppression in the past. We’ve organized phone banks with the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats and the Texas Democratic Party to reach every Black voter in Texas. And this week we teamed up with Congresswoman Veronica Escobar to contact every voter who lives along the Texas/Mexico border, communities that are 85% to 95% Mexican-American.
Starting next week, we are going to take the next important step and organize phone banks directly with the State House candidates. Thus far, we’ve been calling Texas voters to determine their likelihood of voting for Democrats in general. Now we’ll call into these districts with the help of these candidates to make sure their voters know their names and are planning on specifically voting for them.
I am counting on your help to make sure this next phase of our voter outreach in Texas is a success. All that we’ve done so far — the 20 million voter contacts, the 77,000 new registrations — was accomplished with volunteers from all over the country. And to make sure that these state rep candidates are able to connect with the voters who will determine the outcome of these elections it’s going to take more volunteers stepping up to get the job done.
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Upcoming events: |
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Virtual Phone Bank with local candidates and Beto Virtual Phone Bank with local candidates and Beto |
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Given what’s at stake — control of the Texas legislature ahead of a redistricting year — and given what our work could do for the rest of the ballot — including the Presidential election — you don’t want to wonder on the night of November 3rd, as the returns being to roll in, what more you could have done.
Do it all now.
Beto
