Hope Springs from Field PAC has been organizing GOTV canvasses paired with the Issues Canvass concept to mobilize voters who have previously voted in Democratic primaries in the TX-06 special election for Congress. In the course of knocking on doors, Texans we have talked to have expressed support for three of the Democrats running, with everyone agreeing they want to see a Democrat get into the runoff with the likely Republican, the widow of the deceased incumbent, Ron Wright.
This is a majority minority district in the Ft. Worth metro area. It has changed significantly since the last census and has rather high mobility, even for a Texas Congressional District. 84% of voters are in suburban Tarrant County. It is above average in educational attainment, so it is the kind of district that Democrats find promising — but this is Texas.
As (at least) one voter in the district noted, “We’ve been burned before.” Add to this the fact that polling locations for voting in the TX-06 special election is not necessarily the same as those for the more popular local elections — which is why we have been encouraging the voters we talk to vote early.
There are more Republicans running for this seat and from local reports, Republicans have raised more money that Democrats have in this race. Everyone seems to agree that Susan Wright will be the top vote getter and she seems to be doing her best not to make waves in the race. But there is almost as much a consensus that she will not get an outright majority in this jungle primary.
So the other Republicans are competing over who can be the "most" Trump(ian). Except for Michael Wood, who is running as the anti-Trump. Wood seems to be the establishment Republican answer to the Trump tangent (for those Country Club Republicans who hope things will go back to "normal" since January 6th), getting both national and statewide press. But GOP neighborhoods are not where we are knocking doors. So it is hard to tell if Wood gets the traction that his supporters are expecting.
Even the voters we've talked to who describe themselves as Independents are only mildly interested in Wood. Instead, at the doors of Democrats and Independents who we've talked to, there is interest in 3 Democratic candidates. (Since we are conducting a GOTV canvass, we are not endorsing any candidate or even talking about a specific candidate. We are trying to boost Democratic turnout with the purpose of getting a Democrat in a runoff since one can only be declared the winner of this jungle primary if they have a majority of the vote.)
Jana Lynne Sanchez definitely has the most signs in the neighborhoods we have canvassed. Sanchez' own internal poll of Registered Voters has her on top but polling in special elections are notoriously difficult. As a candidate for this seat in 2018, this is hardly a surprise, as it does appear that she has the highest name recognition among the Democrats running. She definitely has the most signs (by far) among the Democrats in Tarrant County. Sanchez has a wiki page and a YouTube account where her commercial can be viewed. Her responses to the Dallas News can be seen on her Voter Guide page. Sanchez’s 2018 race was chronicled in the documentary Surge that was aired on Showtime.
Hope Springs from Field PAC is knocking on doors in the TX-06 special election. We are focused on the ground, face to face conversations that have proven effective in turning out voters year in and year out. By knocking on doors and delivering a hopeful, clear message, we want to increase Democratic turnout significantly and force a runoff between a Republican (probably the incumbent's widow) and a Democrat.
Obviously, we need your help. We are raising money for field organizers and their tools (for example, access to VoteBuilder). If you support field/grassroots organizing, we would certainly appreciate your support:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/tx-06field
Hope Springs from Field PAC was started by former Obama Field Organizers because field was the cornerstone of our success. The approach we adopted was focused on listening, on connecting voters and their story to the candidate. Face to face interactions, even masked and socially distanced, are critical. And we are among those Democrats who believe that we didn’t do as well in the 2020 Congressional races as expected because we didn’t knock on doors. In areas like Texas, it is even more crucial, since many Democratic voters feel isolated, even surrounded, and are often unaware of the fact that their neighbors and colleagues are Democrats, too!
Shawn Lassiter is another Democrat who we have heard voters talk about. A young Black woman found her moment in the recent winter storms that left many homes in the area without power for hours, even days. Still, her problem is a general lack of name recognition, even among those inclined to support her (one voter told a volunteer that she wanted to vote for "that nice young African American who knocked on their door after the storms" and that she would recognize her if she saw her picture). Lassiter has a YouTube account and her responses to the Dallas News can be seen in her Voter Guide page. She is the most visible of the African American candidates.
Lydia Bean ran for a state House seat in the district last cycle. She has a rather unique perspective for a Democrat, but less so for a Texan. A supporter who talked to one of our volunteers at the door, self-described as an Independent (but who voted in the last Democratic primary), said the Bean appealed to independent voters like himself. He praised her faith-based approach that I would call Social Justice, the fact that she owned a small business and her message focused on health care. Bean also has a wiki page and a YouTube account. Her responses to the Dallas News can be seen in her Voter Guide page. Bean has garnered some attention by attacking her Republican opponents in this jungle primary.
There are men running as Democrats in this special election, but none of them have had support voiced to the volunteers that have knocked on doors asking voters who have voted in recent Democratic primaries to vote in this special election. I can't speak to the reason why this was true, but I do find it interesting. There are a lot of candidates, but the emphasis has been on candidates running for local offices, especially in the city and school board elections. Almost all the local media has been directed at these elections, which is why name recognition is so vital in this special election.
Susan Wright is generally expected to make it into a runoff. Hope Springs from Field PAC is working to mobilize Democrats (and Independents who have voted in Democratic primaries) to boost the chances that a Democrat will be the other candidate in a special election runoff. When we began, some considered the possibility that Wright could receive an outright majority a 50/50 proposition. I don't think anyone sees that as likely now. But the lack of attention to this race is notable.
If you would like to support our efforts to increase Democratic turnout in the May 1st special election and force a runoff, please do:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/tx-06field