This is an exciting week to be in Texas. While not too long ago, many progressives outside of Texas would have written off the state completely, we here in Texas can feel the energy. Those involved with the Battleground Texas effort can feel the enthusiasm and dedication of the countless grassroots activists determined to flip the state. We felt it at our Houston Area Kossacks house party last week. Hell, if you just talk to any progressive-minded person in the state who has been paying attention, you know that this time around is different. And it all comes to a head this week, when the woman we're all so excited about makes the big announcement.
On Thursday, State Senator Wendy Davis will announce whether or not she will run for the governorship against Attorney General Greg Abbott, who symbolizes a continuation of the disaster that has been the Rick Perry administration. While we don't officially know what the announcement will be, reports are indicating that she will run. And I think we can guess based on teaser tweets like this:
I mean, come on. Do you need any bigger hints? It's pretty obvious that we aren't going to be disappointed by the announcement on Thursday. Instead, it's looking like it's going to be the official kickoff of the campaign progressive activists have been gearing up for for the past several weeks.
Follow me below the fold, but first, to help get you excited if you're not already...
We all got to know Wendy Davis because of her epic 11-hour filibuster in the Texas State Capitol to stop Republicans from ramming through their extreme anti-abortion bill aimed at closing dozens of abortion providers in Texas. Some of us, such as our own nomandates, traveled to Austin to help fill the Capitol and #StandWithWendy in person.
Many of us were not able to make it to Austin, but we followed the filibuster for as long as we could on the live feed. We watched as Republicans tried their damndest to silence Wendy so they could screw over every woman in Texas. And they almost did it, were it not for those pesky Texas women who showed up to make their voices heard. Even if you only caught the tail-end of the filibuster, you knew something amazing was happening in Austin that was going to reverberate across the entire state.
Texas Republicans ultimately lost that night. And although they eventually got their way and passed a bill that has already had detrimental effects on women's access to health care in Texas, they also ignited a movement. They also elevated a formidable opponent--somebody Texans can get excited about. And somebody who promises to change--and, indeed, already has changed--the landscape of Texas politics.
Many of us might not know much about Wendy Davis the person. From her website:
Wendy Davis has been called “courageous,” “articulate and gutsy” and “inspiring” by the Fort Worth Star Telegram, which also described her as a legislator who “will stand up and fight.”
Wendy has been taking on tough fights her entire life. She began working after school at 14 to help support her single mother and three siblings. By 19, Wendy was a single mother herself, working two jobs to make ends meet in hopes of creating a better life for her young daughter.
Through a brochure laid on her desk by a co-worker, Wendy learned of a paralegal program at Tarrant County Community College that she thought could be the ticket to creating that better life for her young daughter. After two years of community college, Wendy transferred to Texas Christian University. With the help of academic scholarships and student loans, Wendy not only became the first person in her family to earn a bachelor’s degree, but graduated first in her class and was accepted to Harvard Law School.
After graduating with honors from Harvard Law, Wendy became a practicing attorney in Fort Worth and served nine years on the Fort Worth City Council, where she was recognized as a leader on economic development issues. As chair of the City’s Economic Development Committee, Wendy helped create numerous public/private partnerships and successfully helped to bring thousands of new jobs to Tarrant County.
Wendy was elected to the Texas Senate in 2008, defeating a longtime Republican incumbent in a race widely considered one of the biggest upsets in Texas politics in recent times. Last year, she was the lone voice to take on Governor Perry and his majority, staging a filibuster and forcing a special session in her attempt to stop $5 billion in crippling cuts to Texas public schools. Wendy’s legislative advocacy does not stop there. She authored and collaborated to pass a law that will bring justice to rape victims and jail sexual assault predators before they commit another crime by addressing Texas’ backlog of tens of thousands of DNA samples collected from sexual assaults. She filed “Texas Jobs First” legislation to give preference to Texans in the award of state contracts, protected the Veterans’ Assistance Fund from being used to fill budget gaps, and fought against the severe cuts to women’s health care.
The opportunities that Texas provided for a young Wendy Davis – quality public education, a strong community college system, college loan and grant programs for deserving students – are what made the difference in her life. Wendy knows that every Texan deserves the same opportunities to do better, and fights every day to ensure that Texas remains a state where hard work and determination are rewarded and where everybody has the chance to succeed.
And she talks about herself and her personal struggles here:
It is clear that Davis has shown--not only through her legislative efforts to protect Texas women, but also through her amazing journey in her personal life--that she has what it takes to become the next occupant of the Governor's Mansion. And, in the process, she has what it takes to spearhead the efforts to turn this state blue. Texas Monthly sums up why a Davis candidacy will be a BFD for Texas:
[Davis] secured her upset [State Senate] victory by earning 95 percent of the black vote and 80 percent of the Latino vote in rapidly expanding suburban neighborhoods the Republicans had long ignored. The GOP map drawers responded by cutting those minority precincts out of her district in 2011. “We had to fight like hell—they completely gutted my district,” Davis said of the legal battle that ensued. “And they made sure I had to spend a lot of campaign money to get it put back to where it had been.” She prevailed in court and then in her 2012 reelection, in a district that Mitt Romney carried with 56 percent of the vote.
This is part of the reason Davis has generated so much hope among Democrats: in her last two campaigns, she succeeded both in attracting the party’s key constituencies and in broadening its base, equally imperative skills for any successful statewide race. And then there was her already legendary performance on the Capitol floor in June. Exactly 56 hours after it had concluded, I asked her what it would take for a Texas Democrat to win on that larger stage. “I think they would need to convince people that they represent their value system and tap into it outside of a partisan frame,” she replied. “That’s really always what my messaging has been. If you invite people to think about things in a broader way—to step outside of their normal fallback to partisan frames—then thoughtful people will listen, and they’ll sometimes make different decisions. I always stand out by the voting lines on Election Day, and I can’t tell you how many people say, ‘I’ve never voted for a Democrat in my life, but I’m splitting my ticket for you.’ They’re more engaged and thoughtful than we give them credit for. And when I see the pandering by Governor Perry and Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst, it literally makes me sick to my stomach. Because it demonstrates that they believe voters are stupid.”
[...]
And now people are saying it again: there is no way, not in 2014. But maybe that’s beside the point. Maybe the more important question is, If Davis runs and loses, will she wind up hurting either her brand or her party’s resurgence? Or is the opposite more likely? After all, less than 24 hours after her heroics during the filibuster Perry called a second special session, and the Republicans simply reintroduced the abortion-restrictions legislation. But Wendy Davis had, to borrow her phrase, stepped up—and enhanced her party’s prospects (and her own) by doing so. Perhaps what Democrats in Texas need most desperately is not a winner but simply a fighter. Winning comes later.
I firmly believe we can win this time around with Wendy. But as the above article highlights, even if we don't, it's not over. Texas is flipping. We need to get used to that idea.
I'll be standing with Wendy on Thursday when she announces the next chapter of her career. And I'm excited that I'll have a chance to pitch in to make this incredible woman the next Governor of Texas.
If you're as excited as I am--and I know you are--click this link to find out where your local Wendy Watch Party is located. Texas progressives from across the state will be gathering on Thursday to cheer Wendy on as she makes her announcement, and you can and should be a part of that.
And, if you can't make it to a Wendy Watch Party, you can click here to sign up to be one of the first to know about Wendy's announcement.
Oh, and while we wait, Wendy can always use donations!
We have a great deal of work to do here in Texas, but anybody who has spent any amount of time here knows that Texas progressives are not going to let this moment slip by. We are going to win, we are going to flip our state, and we are going to deliver Texas for Democrats in the years to come. And it's going to be sooner rather than later.
Go Wendy!
Wendy Davis, first of her name, Khaleesi of the Texas prairie, born in a storm of Republican tears, breaker of patriarchy, mother of freedom and queen of our hearts!
Texas Diary Round-Up (9/24/2013 - 9/30/2013)
Hunter: Texas Republicans will always be the last horse out of the barn (9/24/2013)
anotherdemocrat: AIDS Walk Austin - it would be Magnificent to get matched donations (9/25/2013)
Dose of Tequila: Texas SB1070? Joaquin Luna Jr Family Reports "Stings" Near Head Start School (9/26/2013)
Hunter: Tax money goes towards Rick Perry's 'Your State Sucks' ad campaigns (9/26/2013)
Laura Clawson: Sources: Wendy Davis will run for Texas governor (9/26/2013)
dov12348: Wendy Davis Running For Governor, Sources Say (9/26/2013)
boguseconomist: Thanks, Ted Cruz (9/26/2013)
txcatlin: Are you ready to Vote in Texas? (9/27/2013)
evilcommunist: UT College Republican Club Holds "Affirmative Action Bake Sale" (9/28/2013)
ATexican: What in the World is a Ted Cruz? A Poll (9/28/2013)
eve: Texas Medical Association has ACA help site. (9/29/2013)
ValleyForger: Significant fissure in GOP Power Base (9/30/2013)
poopdogcomedy: TX-Gov: Gov. Maggie Hassan (D. NH) Helps Build Momentum For A Wendy Davis (D) Gubernatorial Bid (9/30/2013)
Got more Texas news stories or action alerts? Share them in the comments!