Fellow progressive,

Texas is at the center of the constitutional crisis that played out in our nation’s capital yesterday.

The latest lurch towards authoritarianism — Donald Trump trying to shake down Georgia’s Secretary of State to overturn his loss there; members of Congress contesting the results of our lawfully decided Presidential election; reckless rightwing Republican media fanning the flames of sedition — is being aided and abetted by Texas’ junior senator, Ted Cruz, who abused his position of public trust to try to defy the will of millions of voters right from the floor of the U.S. Senate during yesterday’s vote to certify the election results.

You already knew he was cynical and lacking any personal dignity. But what was hard to imagine — even in the case of Ted Cruz — was that he was willing to sell our democracy for another shot at being President. It was his self serving attempt at sedition that helped to inspire domestic terrorists to violently attack our nation's Capital.

And Cruz is doing this — sacrificing our elections on the altar of his ambition — with only one purpose in mind: making himself the Republican nominee for President in 2024.

Our response at this moment defines our country’s future. That’s why I’m reaching out to you.

Texas, with some amount of pure poetic political justice, could be the state that overcomes this effort to undermine our democracy by restoring faith in the very democratic institutions that are under attack by Cruz and his confederates.

If, in the most voter-suppressed state in the country, we are able to improve access to the ballot box, encourage ever greater turnout, and ensure that those communities targeted for intimidation and suppression are the focus of our work to safeguard democracy, we will be at the forefront of the democratic response to this authoritarian threat.

To do this, Powered by People – the organization I started to engage volunteers to do the hard work it takes to win elections – will spend 2021 registering voters, holding in-person canvasses, and working to expand access to the franchise for our fellow Texans. We will build on the work of the more than 20,000 volunteers who joined our efforts in 2020, work that resulted in the registration of more than 200,000 new Texas voters ahead of the November election and one of the highest levels of voter turnout in Texas history.

I’m asking you to contribute what you can to ensure that we have the resources to get this done. As Stacey Abrams and the people of Georgia showed us, this work is not easy, and won’t be accomplished in one cycle. But if we stay after it, focus on connecting with voters who’ve been counted out or written off, and relentlessly pursue victory cycle after cycle, we will ultimately win Texas.

Donate

While some will cynically attempt to tear down what has been built over the last 245 years, together we will shore up, improve where necessary and restore faith in the institutions that have made the United States the greatest experiment in self government in human history.

Looking forward to working with you this year.