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.
Comments are closed on this story.