Dear John,

I’m grateful for the responses to the “down but not out!” email I sent
last week. General consensus from everyone so far: Tuesday was tough, but
Saturday was a great day for the country. Things now seem more hopeful,
lighter, more possible. And glad to hear from so many of you that you’re
in for the distance.

You’re keeping the faith, a faith grounded in action.

Speaking of which, and before we take a closer look at what happened in
Texas, Georgia needs our help. Amy and I donated to both the Jon Ossoff
and Raphael Warnock campaigns this week. They are our best chances at
winning a Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate (which, among other
things, will determine how effective a Biden administration can be). If
you haven’t pitched in yet, please do so at these two links:

* [ [link removed] ]Jon Ossoff

* [ [link removed] ]Raphael Warnock

And if you’d like to volunteer, the New Georgia Project is registering
Georgia voters ahead of the December 7th registration deadline for these
Senate runoff elections. [ [link removed] ]You can sign up here.

Back to Texas.

I have spent the last week calling around the state to listen to voters,
candidates and organizers. There are many more calls to make, but a few
things are coming into focus.

First, we should remember that we protected 11 of the 12 State House seats
that we won in 2018. Those were historically Republican districts, and it
was no small feat to stave off the millions of dollars spent to retake
them. Likewise for our two congressional pickups from 2018. Colin Allred
and Lizzie Fletcher are both returning to the U.S. House. We also saw Joe
Biden improve nearly 4 points over Hillary Clinton’s performance from
2016. That was the best showing by a Democratic nominee in Texas in 24
years.

However, we lost every challenger Congressional race and every challenger
State House race except for one. And we didn’t come nearly close enough to
winning statewide — Presidential, Senate or otherwise. It’s important that
we understand why, so that we can do much better next time.

Some thoughts based on conversations from this week:

The asymmetrical advantage that Trump and the GOP had this cycle in Texas
is far more powerful than many of us understood. And I think it begins to
explain Republicans’ incredible performance on Tuesday night.

The ability to campaign free of the truth (examples abound, especially
along the border, of social media and texting campaigns that trafficked in
lies and scare tactics); a far more compelling economic message (not an
honest one or better in terms of policy, but simpler, more emotional and
more compelling); a willingness to knock on doors and hold in-person
events through the duration of the pandemic (when almost no Democrat did
the same); the ability to use dominance in government (Republicans hold
every statewide office) to maximize voter suppression and raise and deploy
massive campaign donations across the state; and the power of the national
race to produce record turnout without having the Democratic ticket make a
meaningful investment in Texas, were all factors that contributed to GOP
and Trump success in our state.

The fact that the border, from the Rio Grande Valley to El Paso, has been
ignored for years by the national party, and even many statewide
Democratic candidates, hurt us badly. The failure to invest in year-round
canvassing — so that voters don’t just hear from us during an election —
also made it harder for us to move voters at the end. Coupled with the
effective disinformation campaign conducted via text and social media by
the GOP and the very dire economic circumstances that made people more
receptive to the direct economic message of the GOP (Biden will kill your
oil and gas jobs; Trump will save them. Biden will close down the economy;
Trump will reopen it. Etc.), this begins to explain Trump’s phenomenal
performance in Texas border counties, counties that happen to be 85% to
95% Mexican-American.

Some lessons that should inform future work that I take from all of this
(with the understanding that we still don’t have a final, clear picture on
the Texas election, and that there are many more people to whom we must
reach out and listen):

* Nothing beats meeting your voters, eyeball to eyeball. We should
always find a way to canvass directly at the voter’s door. There is a
safe way to do this, even in a pandemic.

* We should be talking to voters year-round. Not just the quick hits to
determine partisanship or gain a commitment to vote or to turn someone
out to vote. We should be having open-ended conversations with voters
about what is important to them, to us, throughout the year, every
year. Organizations like the Texas Organizing Project (TOP) have been
doing this and have been winning races in places like Harris County.
We should learn from them.

* The central messaging that many Democratic candidates felt obligated
to adopt (because they believed that funding and other support from
Democratic organizations was contingent on it) doesn’t work. If you’re
running for office you should know why, and you should be able to
articulate that. You should also be constantly talking to and
listening to the people in your district to understand their needs,
concerns, hopes and dreams. Understand why your victory would be their
victory. If your “why” and their “why” are not reflected in your own
words, that you came up with yourself, then you’re not going to
connect with voters. People are smart. They smell a focus group-tested
message, talking points derived from polls, a campaign driven by
consultants, from a mile away.

* We have to be far more effective on digital and social media. The
anecdotal takeaway from those I’ve listened to, especially in border
communities, is that Trump/GOP had a ferocious game (lies and powerful
memes, effective targeting of new and young voters) and we had none.

* We’ve got to show up everywhere, be there for everyone — especially
the places that are hard to get to. Especially for those whose votes
have been taken for granted in the past. El Paso, Del Rio, Eagle Pass,
Laredo, Roma, Edinburg, McAllen, Brownsville. “So what if Trump is a
bad guy, what are you bringing to the table?”

* And we can’t write anyone off. Those courageous candidates who ran in
East Texas. Those organizers who are still at it in the Panhandle.
Those voters who want someone whose going to fight for them in the
Permian Basin, we’ve got to show up for them too. We aren’t going to
win many of those districts next cycle, but we’ll NEVER win them if we
don’t start showing up and investing now.

None of this is easy. But it’s doable if we decide that we’re willing to
put in the work, if we’re willing to believe in ourselves and act our
faith.

Thanks again for being part of this effort. Grateful to be doing this with
you.

Beto


 


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