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Post by txdancermom on Sept 30, 2018 21:51:40 GMT
Since we're touting Texas politics here, I'll also put in a good word for Mike Collier, a moderate Democrat running against Dan Patrick for Lt. Governor. The Lt. Governor in Texas actually has more power than the governor, as he sets the legislative agenda for the Texas Senate. Patrick has wasted Texas' time and money passing abortion laws that get struck down in federal court, defunding and hamstringing public education, and trying to pass potty bills. Teachers' groups have organized against him, so he's now saying that he wants to give teachers a $10K raise, but don't be fooled - this is to be an unfunded mandate passed on to districts already strapped for cash. He and Greg Abbott have also lied about their public school funding - TEA records show that the budget expectation is for cities to raise their property taxes by 6% each year, while the state portion of education funding is reduced accordingly. We should also be supporting Justin Nelson over indicted felon Ken Paxton for state attorney general. Paxton is under indictment for felony fraud and has no business in public office. Nelson is a capable and experienced attorney who will stop wasting Texas taxpayers' money defending the unconstitutional laws passed by our Senate and filing lawsuits against the federal government. Not to mention the attempt to pass a bathroom bill....which is totally unnecessary! |
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Post by Merge on Sept 30, 2018 21:53:14 GMT
I was at the Beto / Willie Nelson even yesterday and it was crazy! It had rained off and on all day and I was worried that people wouldn't show but it was packed. Really, really packed. I was registering voters and we were busy the entire night, before the event and even as it was winding down. I know better than to count on people showing up at the polls but people honestly seem more checked in than I've seen in the past. When Beto was speaking there were cheers of course but when he was making his case there was almost a hush over the crowd, people were really paying attention. News says there were over 55,000 people there - more than any single-candidate rally since Obama in 2008. Granted, some of that was Willie - but still. On a rainy day in a red state for that many people to turn out for a Democratic candidate? It's amazing. |
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Post by Merge on Sept 30, 2018 21:53:48 GMT
Since we're touting Texas politics here, I'll also put in a good word for Mike Collier, a moderate Democrat running against Dan Patrick for Lt. Governor. The Lt. Governor in Texas actually has more power than the governor, as he sets the legislative agenda for the Texas Senate. Patrick has wasted Texas' time and money passing abortion laws that get struck down in federal court, defunding and hamstringing public education, and trying to pass potty bills. Teachers' groups have organized against him, so he's now saying that he wants to give teachers a $10K raise, but don't be fooled - this is to be an unfunded mandate passed on to districts already strapped for cash. He and Greg Abbott have also lied about their public school funding - TEA records show that the budget expectation is for cities to raise their property taxes by 6% each year, while the state portion of education funding is reduced accordingly. We should also be supporting Justin Nelson over indicted felon Ken Paxton for state attorney general. Paxton is under indictment for felony fraud and has no business in public office. Nelson is a capable and experienced attorney who will stop wasting Texas taxpayers' money defending the unconstitutional laws passed by our Senate and filing lawsuits against the federal government. Not to mention the attempt to pass a bathroom bill....which is totally unnecessary! Yes, and he's saying he'll bring it back in the next session. Such a waste of our time and money. |
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Sept 30, 2018 21:58:14 GMT
I was registering voters and we were busy the entire night, before the event and even as it was winding down. Thank you for doing that!! News says there were over 55,000 people there - more than any single-candidate rally since Obama in 2008. Granted, some of that was Willie - but still. On a rainy day in a red state for that many people to turn out for a Democratic candidate? It's amazing. Well, many of Willie's fans said they would not go to his shows anymore... They are angry people.. Glad he stood up for himself! Yay Beto! |
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Post by librarylady on Sept 30, 2018 22:34:57 GMT
Keep in mind that he has not taken any PAC dollars. His funding is dollars from ordinary people. He has more than a few of mine!! Mine too! But I live far away from Texas! You could still go to his website and donate. |
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Post by freecharlie on Sept 30, 2018 22:38:18 GMT
Well, my husband certainly isn’t a psychic but he called it with Obama when he was campaigning for the senate years ago..”If that man wins, he’ll be the next President of the US.” He came out with this out of the blue, just having watched how he spoke, and people’s reaction to him. He watches many candidates (armchair political junkie during election season, lol) and he’s only ever said that again for Beto O’Rourke. I feel it’s my duty to roll my eyes at him  but after watching some clips of O’Rourke speak/campaign, I of kind agree...if he wins the senate, he has the “goods” to become President one day. Well, I'm not psychic either, but I said the same thing about Obama after his speech at the Democratic convention (he was our senator too.) I told DH recently that Beto has the ''it'' factor and smarts and if we live long enough we'll likely see him as president. I said pretty much the same thing. I said 2-3 election cycles from now. |
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Post by verdepea on Sept 30, 2018 22:40:48 GMT
I was registering voters and we were busy the entire night, before the event and even as it was winding down. Thank you for doing that!! News says there were over 55,000 people there - more than any single-candidate rally since Obama in 2008. Granted, some of that was Willie - but still. On a rainy day in a red state for that many people to turn out for a Democratic candidate? It's amazing. Well, many of Willie's fans said they would not go to his shows anymore... They are angry people.. Glad he stood up for himself! Yay Beto! This makes me so hopeful. So many Texas Republicans need to be voted out promptly. |
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Post by librarylady on Sept 30, 2018 22:55:53 GMT
One big problem...........too many Texans don't vote.
The only state with a lower percentage of voters (who actually vote) is Hawaii.
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Post by revirdsuba99 on Sept 30, 2018 23:03:14 GMT
You could still go to his website and donate. Oh I have............ I didn;t keep track at the beginning and I think I am close to the limit. oops........... One big problem...........too many Texans don't vote. I think I read the other day 28%.. NJ is not that low but leaves a lot to be desired. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2018 12:42:30 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 8, 2018 12:43:41 GMT
"On Tuesday night, Cruz beat O’Rourke by just over two points. Back in 2012, Cruz beat his Democratic challenger by nearly 16 points. O’Rourke didn’t just close the gap. He didn’t just energize voters. He created an infrastructure of over 25,000 volunteers, many of them in places where there had been no formal Democratic presence for decades. Voter turnout in Texas reached 52.8% — surpassing the 2016 presidential election (51.6%) and blowing away turnout from the last midterm election (28.5%). In early voting, turnout among young people was estimated to be up a stunning five-hundred percent.
Down ballot from the Senate race, Democrats won two heavily gerrymandered congressional districts in the suburbs of Houston (Lizzie Pannill Fletcher) and Dallas (Colin Allred). Upsets against Republican judges gave Democrats an unprecedented majority on the Dallas Court of Appeals and victories in all 59 judicial races in Houston’s Harris County, where newcomer Lina Hidalgo ousted longtime County Judge Ed Emmett; 19 black women judges were elected across the state. Volunteers are no doubt disappointed by Beto’s loss, but they’re also mindful of just how much territory they’ve gained, and ready to steer the grassroots apparatus toward voter suppression and gerrymandering. The hope is to change a system that, for decades, has ensured that a demographically Democrat population remains a Republican electorate. “We awoke a beast,” one Houston-area volunteer told me. “It’s not going back to sleep.”"
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Post by dewryce on Nov 8, 2018 13:00:59 GMT
"On Tuesday night, Cruz beat O’Rourke by just over two points. Back in 2012, Cruz beat his Democratic challenger by nearly 16 points. O’Rourke didn’t just close the gap. He didn’t just energize voters. He created an infrastructure of over 25,000 volunteers, many of them in places where there had been no formal Democratic presence for decades. Voter turnout in Texas reached 52.8% — surpassing the 2016 presidential election (51.6%) and blowing away turnout from the last midterm election (28.5%). In early voting, turnout among young people was estimated to be up a stunning five-hundred percent. Down ballot from the Senate race, Democrats won two heavily gerrymandered congressional districts in the suburbs of Houston (Lizzie Pannill Fletcher) and Dallas (Colin Allred). Upsets against Republican judges gave Democrats an unprecedented majority on the Dallas Court of Appeals and victories in all 59 judicial races in Houston’s Harris County, where newcomer Lina Hidalgo ousted longtime County Judge Ed Emmett; 19 black women judges were elected across the state. Volunteers are no doubt disappointed by Beto’s loss, but they’re also mindful of just how much territory they’ve gained, and ready to steer the grassroots apparatus toward voter suppression and gerrymandering. The hope is to change a system that, for decades, has ensured that a demographically Democrat population remains a Republican electorate. “We awoke a beast,” one Houston-area volunteer told me. “It’s not going back to sleep.”" I hope this holds true. And it'd be great to see Beto and/or his coordinators take the lead in fighting these causes, and for him to put his backing behind the efforts. But with the state courts being what they are, all red victories Tuesday IIRC, I wonder how much change is possible right now. I suppose the effort could include turning over some of the judicial seats in the next election! I'll be very honest and say I never really thought about the implications of a conservative state bench until recently. |
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jayfab
Drama Llama
procastinating
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Post by jayfab on Nov 8, 2018 23:40:46 GMT
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Post by Merge on Nov 8, 2018 23:50:32 GMT
"On Tuesday night, Cruz beat O’Rourke by just over two points. Back in 2012, Cruz beat his Democratic challenger by nearly 16 points. O’Rourke didn’t just close the gap. He didn’t just energize voters. He created an infrastructure of over 25,000 volunteers, many of them in places where there had been no formal Democratic presence for decades. Voter turnout in Texas reached 52.8% — surpassing the 2016 presidential election (51.6%) and blowing away turnout from the last midterm election (28.5%). In early voting, turnout among young people was estimated to be up a stunning five-hundred percent. Down ballot from the Senate race, Democrats won two heavily gerrymandered congressional districts in the suburbs of Houston (Lizzie Pannill Fletcher) and Dallas (Colin Allred). Upsets against Republican judges gave Democrats an unprecedented majority on the Dallas Court of Appeals and victories in all 59 judicial races in Houston’s Harris County, where newcomer Lina Hidalgo ousted longtime County Judge Ed Emmett; 19 black women judges were elected across the state. Volunteers are no doubt disappointed by Beto’s loss, but they’re also mindful of just how much territory they’ve gained, and ready to steer the grassroots apparatus toward voter suppression and gerrymandering. The hope is to change a system that, for decades, has ensured that a demographically Democrat population remains a Republican electorate. “We awoke a beast,” one Houston-area volunteer told me. “It’s not going back to sleep.”" People here are wailing about Ed Emmett's loss mostly due to Democratic straight-ticket voting, but I honestly can't get too worked up about it. The Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general - both strong, centrist, principled candidates who would have done a much better job than the Republican incumbents - lost their races by just a few points due to Republican straight-ticket voting statewide. That's a tragic loss for Texas, as we continue now with an indicted felon as AG and an LG who prioritizes potty bills over adequately funding education. Ol' Ed will get over it and so will Harris County. No one here was wringing their hands when ALL 59 of the county's judges were Republicans due to their straight-ticket voting. Ed Emmett himself was the beneficiary of it for years. So as far as I'm concerned they can just suck it up. I'm sure we lost a few good judges but I also know we replaced some bad ones. It will all balance out. I for one hope that Beto runs for Cornyn's seat in 2020. There are rumors that Cornyn is planning to step down, and if he does, it will be hard for the Republicans to find a candidate with the name recognition and fundraising power to beat Beto a second time. |
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Post by withapea on Nov 9, 2018 0:13:12 GMT
I believe Cornyn said he's running in 2020. I would love for Beto to run against him. Beto's loss was hard but I like Zingermack's article alluded to, unless you fully grasp the situation in Texas you can't see the gains. I live in what has been a really red county, we flipped 4 seats and both MJ Hager and Beto got more votes here. That would have been seen as an impossibility even four years ago. There's also the fact that the Democratic party has ignored Texas so there's been no support for organizing or candidates. Often times my ballots wouldn't even have a choice of a progressive. The fact that there are opportunities to be active and candidates to support in and of itself is a huge change. It's easy to write off Texas but we do deserve better than what we've got. Despite the reputation there are a lot of liberals here, it's just that the system heavily favors those in power, conservative / rural / white folks. Add in suppression tactics and voters who've been conditioned to think that if you aren't an R voting is useless and here we are. I don't know what the future holds but I do know that there are a lot of us that aren't willing to go back, we're not quitting, we're licking our wounds, gathering and planning on what to do next. Straight ticket voting will be no more in 2020. We'll see if that makes a difference. |
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