Texas Democrats have a candidate filed in each of our congressional races, an amazing achievement from a hopelessly red state. We have filled 133 out of 150 races for state house, where the nuts and bolts of Texans’ lives have real and direct impact. After a decade of Rick Perry and Greg Abbott posturing for national approval by refusing to accept the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, it’s not that difficult to point to our shameful maternal mortality rate and worst percentage of uninsured children in the developed world as cause for real and immediate change.
Here’s our MAP! Zoom in and you’ll find photos and links to candidates’ fundraising sites as they are made available. Holler if you catch any glitches!
https://demprecincts.org/tx-house-2018/
Congress by the numbers:
Seats Contested of 36
# of Candidates
36 (100%)
Texas House by the numbers:
Seats Contested of 150
# of Candidates
133 (89%)
Texas Senate by the numbers (comparable to 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2014 when 15 seats are up):
Seats Contested of 15
# of Candidates
14 (88%)
Texas Democratic Party Candidate Recruitment Director Cliff Walker issued the following statement:
“Folks from all walks of life sense there’s a sea change coming, and that now is the time to fight to save Texas. They aren’t just riding the wave, they’re building it.
“Texas Democrats are already making history in 2018. We set a new record for the number of candidates recruited for Congress, Texas House, and Texas Senate in modern history.
“The Republican establishments in Austin and Washington D.C. are a threat to our families and the progressive movement is fighting back.”
Nowhere is change more evident than in the race for HD82, where 24-year old activist Spencer Bounds is challenging 50-year incumbent and ALEC champion Tom Craddick (R-Midland). It is fitting that in a blue wave election year that Craddick could lose to an upstart the exact same age as he was when first elected to the Texas House in 1968. Spencer’s energy has been contagious in west Texas, (help him out!) where he helped in recruiting another young gun, 25-year old Armando Gamboa in HD81.
Texas can flip for a generation if these young energized down-ballot candidates can connect the dots on how government can positively impact their lives and future generations. They would be smart to craft an inclusive yet unabashedly progressive message that does more to challenge disenfranchised and apathetic voters than it does the inflexible rear-guard priorities of the GOP.
It’s okay to be a Southern Democrat. It’s a fine day to be a Southern Democrat.