I could add Don’t Alabama America. Tommy Tuberville is leaving the senate in 2026 and is planning to run for governor. The state Democratic Party say they’re going to challenge his residency. I think he has gotten away with lots of lying over the last 6 years and even further back than that. He’s absolutely the worst senator our state has ever had but he gets voted in because he kisses Trump’s
I totally agree that now is the time to start building support in Texas for Democratic candidates. It also makes sense to support the party all across Texas.
But I totally disagree on this author's take on the Democratic party. Not every state is Texas. Where I live Jake Tapper is a clueless man ignoring the current resident of the White House. Where I live people come together every Saturday because they believe in the opposition party.
If you pay attention to what Democrats do - they are for working Americans. If you pay attention to what Republicans do - they are definitely for wealthy Americans. Blaming them, with a thin majority, for not passing every bill they hoped to, defies reality.
But I do agree Democrats do need to make their message clear. There is so much Democrats believe in and fight for that the majority of Americans support, including voters' rights, solving income inequality, fighting climate change, workers' rights and reproductive rights. They need to spend more time and effort engaging and relating to Americans who don't want to be political junkies.
I'm so glad to read this piece, Ms. Julianna. Here in NC, some party activists had the same idea a few years ago and rebelled against the stale, visionless, OLD party leadership. Party delegates elected Anderson Clayton, a 25-year-old native of the state, and a coalition of like-minded young men and women (for me, anything under 50 is young, but several Exec. Committee members, in addition to Ms. Clayton, are in their 20s and 30s).
This year, in this "purple" state, the party made sure of running candidates in almost every legislative district; fielded strong candidates for the Council of State (Sec'y of State, AG, etc.); raised and spent money to get them elected; and won almost half the state council positions -- including the crucial ones of AG and Sec'y of Education -- while also elimintating the GOP's veto-proof majority in one house of the legislature, enabling Democratic Governor Josh Stein to veto bad legislation. Oh, and NC Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs won her reelection/retention battle against the most corrupt state Court of Appeals member and MAGA candidate, who spent millions of state dollars and six months trying to eliminate 60,000 Democratic voters AFTER the election.
The time to be planning and politicking and raising money and awareness is NOW -- not six months before the next election. And the role of the Democratic "party" is to speak to the values of the voters and present policies that improve the voters' lives.
Oh, how I miss Governor Ann Richards who famously said, "Poor George Bush. He can't help it - he was born with a silver foot in his mouth." Texas is not a red state, and unfortunately it's not secretly blue either. It's simply a non-voting state.
I suppose that after helping to raise over $1B for Kamala Harris to no good effect that Dem donations are drying up everywhere. Let this become an opportunity for Democrats to turn the page on the old campaign ways and forge a completely new normal--one that relies more on ideas, momentum, and actual networks than throwing money at advertising.
Forget paying off social media influencers--what we need is a LACK OF INFLUENCE. Put the money into voter education a la Harvard's free online democracy classes and let today's cheap streaming replace travel and rallies that few can attend. Put the money into local organizing. Since November, we have all wanted ways to contribute in person, and since then, independent organizing groups have staged more protests than ever, letting us be seen and heard. My congressional reps and senators hold effective virtual town halls that are wildly popular. Gee, I wonder why.
The old ways don't work no mo'. The old ways of selecting candidates, promoting candidates, and winning elections are not working for us. Put the money into new ways to connect us all. The technology is there. Now put the ideas behind it.
We have an opportunity here in Texas. As Republican 'values' like racial discrimination, viewpoint discrimination and generalized ugliness are put into action, people recoil, including Republicans. No one likes their political party co-opting them into amorality. Besides, people see Republicans are wrecking the economy. Grassroots Democrats and pragmatic, patriotic Republicans are fighting MAGA. Since National Republicans are running scared in Texas, it means they know they are vulnerable. It would be really nice if National Democrats focused on making their fears a reality with the loss of Texas in the next election.
My county, Tarrant County has been the focus of not just Texas Republicans, but also national Republicans. They know that unless they cram their power-mongering down on us, Democrats are going to win here. Tarrant County is the last metropolitan Texas county which isn't Blue. Republicans know if we turn Blue, they will be unable to hold back the tide in the entire state. Their policies are incredibly unpopular. See the statistics cited by Bud Kennedy in the below editorial.
I strongly believe that we are not pushing back hard enough on what the main stream media is calling the "disarray" of the Democratic Party. There seems to be a lot of "me too-ism" going on. One columnist wrote it so everyone has to write it. The truth is that all Democrats are united against the horrible wrongs being perpetrated by Trump and his fellow travelers. There are lots of us who remain committed to doing what is right for America and our fellow citizens of the world. That's why our household votes, stays informed, advocates for democracy and donates early and often to candidates we support. We have truth and decency on our side!
On the one hand the Democratic Party with "leaders" like Chuck Schumer who do nothing but attempt to keep power. No child tax credit, no John Lewis Voting Rights and Freedom to Vote Acts, no increased taxes on those earning over $1,000,000, no privacy rights, no controlling the corruption of the Supreme Court. On the other there are Democratic Party members who talk about defunding the police, stopping work on the bullet train in CA due to saving some lizard, taking 20 years and $20,000,000,000 over budget to build the San Francisco Bay Bridge, and having the greatest number of homeless persons of any State because to do something about homelessness would cause people to open up neighborhoods to tiny and container houses.
I wish I knew what the answers are. It's simply amazing to me, the voters of MO and FL voted overwhelmingly for reproductive rights yet still voted for the likes of Josh Hawley and Rick Scott (whose company defrauded Medicare for hundreds of millions of dollars). Texas has a criminal for AG and is the most authoritarian State in the US with the banning of books, the abolish of reproductive rights and the most number of deaths from gun violence over any other State.
I think there is an answer as to why red state voters vote for the likes of Hawley and Cruz. Democrats do not have a presence in these states. Democrats gave up on us red state voters and left the entire state to the tender mercies of Republicans. So now after 20 plus years of entrenched Republican power and no opposition to moderate their extremism, we have minority rule. We have what seems to be competitive authoritarianism.
Elections happen, but voters aren't actually given a real voice. No opposition party on the ballot. Gerrymandered districts, voter suppression, RW media propaganda among other oppressive political techniques have led to elections that don't change the status quo. This is not to say that red state voters are paragons of virtue, but it is to say it is very difficult to maintain a democracy when political parties are not responsive to voters. And this also means Democrats have not been responsive to the needs of red state voters. BTW, Blue state residents should take a look at all the money and effort Republicans pour into Texas and other red states trying to tamp down voter rebellions against their ruinous policies. It is absolutely obscene. That tells us Republicans are powerful. They aren't that popular.
Instead of playing just the electoral college game and sacrificing red states to Republicans like pawns on a chessboard, Democrats should have been in every state in this country telling voters that there were other options besides Republicans. Grr.
This still doesn’t explain Marco Rubio winning against Val Demings, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell losing to Rick Scott and Claire McCaskill or Lucas Kunce losing to Josh Hawley. These people (Demings, Mucarsel-Powell, McCaskill and Kunce) raised a lot of money from individual donors; Rubio, Scott and Hawley were really poor candidates, but all still won.
Voter suppression and gerrymandering do explain a great deal of the problem; but personally, I believe racism and misogyny play a bigger part than voter suppression. I believe this is why there is Rand Paul in KY, Tom Tillerson in NC and Ron Johnson in WI; and of course the Felon in the White House.
Scott, Rubio, and Hawley have testicles. Literally. There are a LOT of people, including women, in a lot of states, who will always vote for a man over a woman. Looking at qualifications, ability, brains, vision, policy, and values, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris both were light-years above DJT. Val Demings is light-years above Little Marco in terms of intelligence, character, ethics, personal integrity, and vision, policy, etc. But he has a penis (at least, I assume so; he clearly doesn't have the balls to stand up to DJT). Same with Hawley and Rick Scott.
This is a racist, sexist, misogynistic nation. There was a time when good people convinced a bare majority that we could be better than that -- and for a while we were. But for 50+ years, beginning with Nixon's and Atwater's Southern Strategy, the GOP has been dedicated to reversing that progress.
And they've accomplished a hell of a lot of regress.
San Antonio is having its mayor runoff early voting now. Two candidates with one being a trump closeness endorsed by Abbott. The other is Gina Ortiz-Jones. Very few advertising signs though. The most notable one is “Don’t LA SA..
I'm old enough to collect Social Security, and I hope I have 10 or maybe even 15 years left in me (knock on wood, fingers crossed, no evil eye). But given that, for better or worse (and I happen to think it's for worse) when it comes to Presidential candidates I suspect I will not live to see the Democrats nominate anyone other than a straight, white, cisgender male after 2016 and 2024.
I suspect the first woman President will be a conservative Repugnican, on the same logic that allowed Nixon to go to China while no Democratic President could have gotten away with that.
Still missing is a coherent message explaining what Democrats are about. A message may become more obvious as the wreckage from Trump’s rule multiplies. But, despite the confusion and chaos of his presidency, or maybe because of the chaos, we cannot assume that a simple message will become obvious. The Dems need to focus on the economy, which is likely to deteriorate, but maybe not enough to turn off voters to Republican rule. I would also suggest a message about cultural and societal genocide. Trump is hell-bent on destroying any cultural identity not seen on 1950s television. That should scare anyone who doesn’t conform to that mold. We need to bring back that old Democratic coalition ,enriched by our differences, working together to move America forward.
I could add Don’t Alabama America. Tommy Tuberville is leaving the senate in 2026 and is planning to run for governor. The state Democratic Party say they’re going to challenge his residency. I think he has gotten away with lots of lying over the last 6 years and even further back than that. He’s absolutely the worst senator our state has ever had but he gets voted in because he kisses Trump’s
@$$.
Best of luck kicking the potato to the curb, friend! With you here in Oregon.
I totally agree that now is the time to start building support in Texas for Democratic candidates. It also makes sense to support the party all across Texas.
But I totally disagree on this author's take on the Democratic party. Not every state is Texas. Where I live Jake Tapper is a clueless man ignoring the current resident of the White House. Where I live people come together every Saturday because they believe in the opposition party.
If you pay attention to what Democrats do - they are for working Americans. If you pay attention to what Republicans do - they are definitely for wealthy Americans. Blaming them, with a thin majority, for not passing every bill they hoped to, defies reality.
But I do agree Democrats do need to make their message clear. There is so much Democrats believe in and fight for that the majority of Americans support, including voters' rights, solving income inequality, fighting climate change, workers' rights and reproductive rights. They need to spend more time and effort engaging and relating to Americans who don't want to be political junkies.
Yes. Look at what Ds are doing in North Carolina- very encouraging.
I'm so glad to read this piece, Ms. Julianna. Here in NC, some party activists had the same idea a few years ago and rebelled against the stale, visionless, OLD party leadership. Party delegates elected Anderson Clayton, a 25-year-old native of the state, and a coalition of like-minded young men and women (for me, anything under 50 is young, but several Exec. Committee members, in addition to Ms. Clayton, are in their 20s and 30s).
This year, in this "purple" state, the party made sure of running candidates in almost every legislative district; fielded strong candidates for the Council of State (Sec'y of State, AG, etc.); raised and spent money to get them elected; and won almost half the state council positions -- including the crucial ones of AG and Sec'y of Education -- while also elimintating the GOP's veto-proof majority in one house of the legislature, enabling Democratic Governor Josh Stein to veto bad legislation. Oh, and NC Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs won her reelection/retention battle against the most corrupt state Court of Appeals member and MAGA candidate, who spent millions of state dollars and six months trying to eliminate 60,000 Democratic voters AFTER the election.
The time to be planning and politicking and raising money and awareness is NOW -- not six months before the next election. And the role of the Democratic "party" is to speak to the values of the voters and present policies that improve the voters' lives.
Keep writing!
Oh, how I miss Governor Ann Richards who famously said, "Poor George Bush. He can't help it - he was born with a silver foot in his mouth." Texas is not a red state, and unfortunately it's not secretly blue either. It's simply a non-voting state.
I suppose that after helping to raise over $1B for Kamala Harris to no good effect that Dem donations are drying up everywhere. Let this become an opportunity for Democrats to turn the page on the old campaign ways and forge a completely new normal--one that relies more on ideas, momentum, and actual networks than throwing money at advertising.
Forget paying off social media influencers--what we need is a LACK OF INFLUENCE. Put the money into voter education a la Harvard's free online democracy classes and let today's cheap streaming replace travel and rallies that few can attend. Put the money into local organizing. Since November, we have all wanted ways to contribute in person, and since then, independent organizing groups have staged more protests than ever, letting us be seen and heard. My congressional reps and senators hold effective virtual town halls that are wildly popular. Gee, I wonder why.
The old ways don't work no mo'. The old ways of selecting candidates, promoting candidates, and winning elections are not working for us. Put the money into new ways to connect us all. The technology is there. Now put the ideas behind it.
We have an opportunity here in Texas. As Republican 'values' like racial discrimination, viewpoint discrimination and generalized ugliness are put into action, people recoil, including Republicans. No one likes their political party co-opting them into amorality. Besides, people see Republicans are wrecking the economy. Grassroots Democrats and pragmatic, patriotic Republicans are fighting MAGA. Since National Republicans are running scared in Texas, it means they know they are vulnerable. It would be really nice if National Democrats focused on making their fears a reality with the loss of Texas in the next election.
My county, Tarrant County has been the focus of not just Texas Republicans, but also national Republicans. They know that unless they cram their power-mongering down on us, Democrats are going to win here. Tarrant County is the last metropolitan Texas county which isn't Blue. Republicans know if we turn Blue, they will be unable to hold back the tide in the entire state. Their policies are incredibly unpopular. See the statistics cited by Bud Kennedy in the below editorial.
https://www.star-telegram.com/opinion/bud-kennedy/article307355906.html
Paywall!!!
See if you can access this link:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/redrawing-tarrant-county-why-republicans-102800794.html
I strongly believe that we are not pushing back hard enough on what the main stream media is calling the "disarray" of the Democratic Party. There seems to be a lot of "me too-ism" going on. One columnist wrote it so everyone has to write it. The truth is that all Democrats are united against the horrible wrongs being perpetrated by Trump and his fellow travelers. There are lots of us who remain committed to doing what is right for America and our fellow citizens of the world. That's why our household votes, stays informed, advocates for democracy and donates early and often to candidates we support. We have truth and decency on our side!
On the one hand the Democratic Party with "leaders" like Chuck Schumer who do nothing but attempt to keep power. No child tax credit, no John Lewis Voting Rights and Freedom to Vote Acts, no increased taxes on those earning over $1,000,000, no privacy rights, no controlling the corruption of the Supreme Court. On the other there are Democratic Party members who talk about defunding the police, stopping work on the bullet train in CA due to saving some lizard, taking 20 years and $20,000,000,000 over budget to build the San Francisco Bay Bridge, and having the greatest number of homeless persons of any State because to do something about homelessness would cause people to open up neighborhoods to tiny and container houses.
I wish I knew what the answers are. It's simply amazing to me, the voters of MO and FL voted overwhelmingly for reproductive rights yet still voted for the likes of Josh Hawley and Rick Scott (whose company defrauded Medicare for hundreds of millions of dollars). Texas has a criminal for AG and is the most authoritarian State in the US with the banning of books, the abolish of reproductive rights and the most number of deaths from gun violence over any other State.
I think there is an answer as to why red state voters vote for the likes of Hawley and Cruz. Democrats do not have a presence in these states. Democrats gave up on us red state voters and left the entire state to the tender mercies of Republicans. So now after 20 plus years of entrenched Republican power and no opposition to moderate their extremism, we have minority rule. We have what seems to be competitive authoritarianism.
Elections happen, but voters aren't actually given a real voice. No opposition party on the ballot. Gerrymandered districts, voter suppression, RW media propaganda among other oppressive political techniques have led to elections that don't change the status quo. This is not to say that red state voters are paragons of virtue, but it is to say it is very difficult to maintain a democracy when political parties are not responsive to voters. And this also means Democrats have not been responsive to the needs of red state voters. BTW, Blue state residents should take a look at all the money and effort Republicans pour into Texas and other red states trying to tamp down voter rebellions against their ruinous policies. It is absolutely obscene. That tells us Republicans are powerful. They aren't that popular.
Instead of playing just the electoral college game and sacrificing red states to Republicans like pawns on a chessboard, Democrats should have been in every state in this country telling voters that there were other options besides Republicans. Grr.
This still doesn’t explain Marco Rubio winning against Val Demings, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell losing to Rick Scott and Claire McCaskill or Lucas Kunce losing to Josh Hawley. These people (Demings, Mucarsel-Powell, McCaskill and Kunce) raised a lot of money from individual donors; Rubio, Scott and Hawley were really poor candidates, but all still won.
Voter suppression and gerrymandering do explain a great deal of the problem; but personally, I believe racism and misogyny play a bigger part than voter suppression. I believe this is why there is Rand Paul in KY, Tom Tillerson in NC and Ron Johnson in WI; and of course the Felon in the White House.
You're right, Nick.
Scott, Rubio, and Hawley have testicles. Literally. There are a LOT of people, including women, in a lot of states, who will always vote for a man over a woman. Looking at qualifications, ability, brains, vision, policy, and values, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris both were light-years above DJT. Val Demings is light-years above Little Marco in terms of intelligence, character, ethics, personal integrity, and vision, policy, etc. But he has a penis (at least, I assume so; he clearly doesn't have the balls to stand up to DJT). Same with Hawley and Rick Scott.
This is a racist, sexist, misogynistic nation. There was a time when good people convinced a bare majority that we could be better than that -- and for a while we were. But for 50+ years, beginning with Nixon's and Atwater's Southern Strategy, the GOP has been dedicated to reversing that progress.
And they've accomplished a hell of a lot of regress.
Tom Suozzi is never right about anything. We go any further right and we’re the GOP of 1980. Fuck. That.
San Antonio is having its mayor runoff early voting now. Two candidates with one being a trump closeness endorsed by Abbott. The other is Gina Ortiz-Jones. Very few advertising signs though. The most notable one is “Don’t LA SA..
Actual Election Day is June 6, 2025
The same could be said about Florida. Maybe Ohio too.
Add Indiana to the list.
I'm old enough to collect Social Security, and I hope I have 10 or maybe even 15 years left in me (knock on wood, fingers crossed, no evil eye). But given that, for better or worse (and I happen to think it's for worse) when it comes to Presidential candidates I suspect I will not live to see the Democrats nominate anyone other than a straight, white, cisgender male after 2016 and 2024.
I suspect the first woman President will be a conservative Repugnican, on the same logic that allowed Nixon to go to China while no Democratic President could have gotten away with that.
Wasn't Ann Richards one of the best governors Texas ever had? Maybe Texans should think back on that and start voting blue.
Wise words! Everyone should listen
Still missing is a coherent message explaining what Democrats are about. A message may become more obvious as the wreckage from Trump’s rule multiplies. But, despite the confusion and chaos of his presidency, or maybe because of the chaos, we cannot assume that a simple message will become obvious. The Dems need to focus on the economy, which is likely to deteriorate, but maybe not enough to turn off voters to Republican rule. I would also suggest a message about cultural and societal genocide. Trump is hell-bent on destroying any cultural identity not seen on 1950s television. That should scare anyone who doesn’t conform to that mold. We need to bring back that old Democratic coalition ,enriched by our differences, working together to move America forward.
Well. That’s a bitter pill.