Most Democrats in Texas knew deep inside that Wendy Davis had a monumental mountain to climb. All of the state wide Democratic candidates did. This is a deeply conservative state that has been gerrymandered to the point at which the politicians have chosen their electorates. And then there is Greg Abbott's Voter Photo ID Law that made it impossible for over 600,000 American citizens to vote in Texas. That and the Texas GOP has been very successful at convincing folks that government is the root of all evil. And when a black man is elected President, twice, government is beyond evil. Add "socialized" Kenyan based Obamacare care, along with ISIS is coming to get us, to the toxic brew. The far right drank the poison and they fled to the polls, hair in flames, to vote a straight R ticket. That's right. The terrified pulled the lever straight R despite the fact that there were a couple of crooks on the ballot.
To make things even more challenging, Texas has a deep and troubling problem with apathy. Few of us vote. Greg Abbott won with 33% of registered voters.
Meanwhile our craven national Democratic candidates fled away from our President and progressive values as if all were infected with ebola. Shame on them. Each and every one of them deserved to lose. I know it sucks and hurts that they did but yellow bellied Democratic cowards turn off our base. End of discussion.
The deck had been stacked against us since day one, at least in Texas.
Knowing the odds, we continued to phone bank several nights a week. Our group in S.W. Houston met at a nearby Denny's every Wednesday night. The manager graciously let us use a quiet room in the back. The wonderful waitress for the area would fuss over us with genuine affection. She knew what we were doing and she thanked us. We all grew very fond of one another.
On weekends we made calls and canvassed during the day from one of our homes. This was an inconvenience to our spouses and partners but all were supportive and wanted to help, too. On Sundays the key was to turn on the TV during the football games, with the mute button on, of course. Comfort foods and bottled water cluttered the kitchen counters. We sent our dogs into their crates or into the backyards. The furry members of our families were not happy campers given the abundance of dropped food crumbs.
We had been registering voters since last summer. But there were too few of us to make much of a difference. We needed the equivalent of an Army corps but we had to make due with a division. But no matter, all of us worked hard. We stayed focussed. Make that extra call. Knock on one more door. Register 10 more voters. Keep at it.
We were driven because we knew our top candidates, Wendy Davis, Leticia Van de Putte, Sam Houston and Mike Collier are the real deal.
We didn't think much about losing and we kept our noses to the grindstone. When friends and neighbors would ask about Wendy Davis's chances many of us would respond "we don't think much about that for now." For some of us the goal wasn't so much winning as it was to move the needle toward a more competitive state.
But we failed to move it.
The professional pundits, demographers, campaign strategists and political scientists can tell us what failed and what went wrong. White women voters suddenly realize we need to get our shit together.
On a more positive note, Democrats in Harris Co. increased our percentage of mail in ballots for seniors. This was an effort to work around the harsh Voter Photo ID law. Many of the elderly in our Party do not possess the newly required ID. Normally Republicans beat us in this effort 2 to 1. Not any more.
Our group decided to put 2014 in our rear view mirror and we are moving on to find areas where we can make a difference in the long term. The GOP isn't about to let this state go from red to purple without an epic battle. Many of us are determined to fight the battle to purple.
Our core group of 9 or 10 men and woman will meet in January in order to brain storm about our next project. During our canvassing efforts we learned that most of the apartment buildings and gated communities in our part of S.W. Houston are inaccessible. There are hundreds if not thousands of residents whom we could not reach except by phone. We hope to identify residents in order to recruit precinct captains. The goal is for precinct captains to help us bring in the vote in 2016.
I volunteered to work the phones at the Harris Co. Democratic Party headquarters on Monday and on election day. The office teemed with activity and energy. On Monday, the candidate for Lt. Governor, Leticia Van de Putte and her husband arrived to make calls. Next thing I know, Sam Houston, candidate for Texas Attorney General, walked in to do the same. It was awesome to meet our candidates in person.
On Tuesday, Mike Collier, candidate for State Comptroller, an actual CPA with stellar credentials, arrived to do the same.
One of our local judicial candidates, Scot Dollinger, showed me photos of the 18 voters he had driven to the polls. These folks had no transportation.
Maybe, down, deep and inside we all knew Democrats would lose but in the end we found strength and energy by being together.
Despite the fact that things seem so impossibly impossible right now, this election did reveal some positive outcomes. The young voters who did vote for Wendy Davis and Texas Democrats represent a future Texas. Young voters and people of color bucked the GOP wave.
Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte won Texans under 45. While voters 45 and up voted overwhelmingly for Abbott, with an even wider spread than the race itself, voters under 45 tell a different story. Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising, as even young Republicans are not immune to the cultural shifts around hot button topics like gay marriage, but the difference is stark. Were the race conducted only among voters under 45, Texas would appear to be a swing state.
While young voters gave Davis a one or two percent margin, other groups favored her heavily in the statewide race. Black voters in Texas almost unanimously selected Wendy Davis as their next governor. Ninety-two percent of Black Texans who voted on Tuesday voted for Davis. The trend still holds true with the introduction of gender. With 90% of Black men and 94% of Black women voting for Davis for governor. Black Texans, who make up approximately 11.4% of the state’s population, accounted for 12% of voters this year, according to the Austin American Statesman.
Latin@s also voted for Davis on Tuesday. Latino Decisions’ Election Eve poll, found that 68% of Latin@s in Texas supported Davis, the Statesman reported 57% of Latin@s voted for her on Election Day, while the Texas Politics Project’s exit polls showed a slightly lower percentage at 55%. Whichever statistic you choose, they all tell the same story: despite continual hand-wringing over whether Davis’ filibuster fame would keep Latin@s from supporting her, they showed up for Democratic candidates statewide
Today I happened upon the following on CSPAN. Matt Barreto of Latino Decisions explained why traditional exit polls fail to capture the views and opinions of Latino voters. His organization conducted its own exit poll for Latino voters and non-voters. The results are very interesting. There is much to learn.
So while our group's family members, neighbors and friends are heartbroken for us and believe our hard work is for naught, we disagree. My next door neighbor, a Republican, stopped by yesterday to thank me for working so hard on behalf of Wendy Davis. My neighbors noticed the flurry of activity at my house over the past several months.
In fact, a Republican state judge lives down the street from me. I laughed out loud when I voted against him at the poll. But I'll still wave hello and smile when I drive past his house.
My next door neighbor said he was on the fence but the wheelchair ad turned him off.
We will do a whole lot better in 2016. For we did make a difference in 2014.
Who would want to put themselves through a grueling, bruising, expensive race knowing you stand little chance of succeeding?
Who would do that, knowing two-thirds of eligible Texans don't care enough to vote? And the ones that do often vote blindly by pulling the partisan lever with little regard for the people and the credentials behind the labels.
Who would do that, knowing the deck is stacked? Knowing the redistricting lines are crooked, and nearly every voting law is intended to restrict access, from the 30-day pre-registration to the new Voter ID law, which a federal judge in Corpus Christi recently found to be unconstitutional, a poll tax.
Who? A bunch of delusional fools.
A guy named Mike Collier who wanted to give Texans the option of having an accomplished CPA as comptroller, rather than a farmer with little experience forecasting revenues. A guy named Sam Houston who wanted to give Texans an option of voting for an attorney general candidate who had not admitted violating state securities laws.
And state senators named Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte, who wanted to give Texans a choice for the state's highest posts. And to give the men who felt so entitled to assume those posts a little run for their money.
We did have formidable Democratic choices during this election cycle. Most of the big Texas newspapers endorsed the top ballot Democrats. We haven't had an exciting election such as this one in two decades.
It was fun to get excited for a change.
