Tag Archives: Wendy Davis

Texoblogosphere: Week of July 4th

The Texas Progressive Alliance celebrates another birthday for America as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff credits Wendy Davis for getting it right on HB2.

Libby Shaw at Daily Kos is hardly shocked to learn that our state is run by a group of sexist pigs. Will the Texas GOP Apologize for its Unconstitutional Anti-Abortion Bill and its Sexist Piggery?

Socratic Gadfly notes how chunks of the mainstream media tried to create Scalia-connected false drama on the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling.

CouldBeTrue of South South Texas Chisme warns Texans that far right group wants to purge Starr County voter rolls so that you don’t get a vote.

Cheeto Jesus (Donald Trump) begged Saul Relative (PDiddie at Brains and Eggs) for a campaign donation.

Neil at All People Have Value supports Ann Harris Bennett for Harris County Tax Assessor/Voter Registrar. She will do a very good job in that important office. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Andrea Ferrigno celebrates the SCOTUS decision striking down HB2.

Keep Austin Wonky criticizes that city’s road bond proposal.

The TSTA Blog takes exception to Texas exceptionalism.

The Makeshift Academic explains why Medicaid expansion was such a key component of the Affordable Care Act.

Drew Blackburn wonders why Austin is having such a hard time with regulations on sharing economy companies.

Paradise in Hell looks at the sinkholes of West Texas.

 

TexMerica

Texoblogosphere: Week of March 21st

The Texas Progressive Alliance hopes your brackets are in better shape than its own as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff looked at the legislative and judicial primary runoffs for Harris County.

When Libby Shaw learned some of the drinking water supplies in the state well exceed the federal standard for arsenic, she asked how will small government, government loathing lawmakers react? What will they do? Nothing, of course. Pretend the problem does not exist. No Worries Texas. We Can Shoot the Arsenic Out of the Water.

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme is disgusted to see Greg Abbott leading the charge against legal voters in Texas, but, he is not the only one. The wrongly named American Civil Rights Union wants to disenfranchise voters, too.

Socratic Gadfly, with new news about it, updates a major blog piece from last fall about the First Amendment, politicization of academics, academic freedom, and fired professor Melissa Click.

Hillary Clinton admitted to Chris Matthews that she sold her vote to invade Iraq for $20 billion, to George W. Bush. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs is glad that’s finally cleared up.

Neil at All People Have Value said that people in the Houston area should stop doing dumb things that cause wildfires. APHV is part of NeilAquino.com.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

The Texas Election Law Blog highlights what President Obama said about innovation in civic technological engagement.

Juanita contemplates the sheer awesomeness of a Trump/Carson ticket.

Grits for Breakfast wants to know why the Texas Rangers seem incapable of rooting out local corruption when they are called upon to investigate it.

Ty Clevenger complains about the State Bar of Texas’ refusal to take action against Ken Paxton.

Lone Star Ma focuses on the 9th of the United Nations’ new sustainable development goals: “Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.”

Dan Solomon talks to Wendy Davis about Dawn Porter’s abortion law documentary Trapped, among other things.

The Makeshift Academic reminds us that Merrick Garland has a lot of company in the confirmation process.

 

Galv Bay

Today’s feature photo is from the beautiful Harris County Coastline.  Yes!  Though we sometimes forget, the same Harris County which houses Houston is actually on the Texas Coast.  This is taken from Sylvan Beach in the city of La Porte.  Formerly known as The Grove, the historic beach front park has been in operation since 1893.

 

 

Texas Leftist Impact 2014

As we say goodbye to 2014, it is right to take a moment for reflection. So Texas Leftist wants to answer the ephemeral question…

For the year that was 2014, who had the greatest impact on Texas Politics??

 

There are of course lots of contenders. Attorney General Greg Abbott handily defeated rival Wendy Davis, and is set to become the state’s second Governor elected in the 21st Century. The reign of Rick Perry will officially come to an end as we ring in the new year. Democrat Davis ran a good campaign and certainly performed well in two debates with her Republican opponent. But in the end, her message was not enough to combat an historically-low voter turnout, and Abbott, along with most other Republican Party contenders, claimed victory once again.

Even with this reality, there were still some bright spots for Texas Democrats, and for Progressivism. The citizens of Denton exercised their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness by banning fracking in their municipality, much to the dismay of Big Government Republicans in Austin who have immediately moved to sue the town for working to improve the community.

San Antonian Nico LaHood ousted the Republican Imcumbent to become the next District Attorney of Bexar County. Running on a platform of Bi-Partisanship and reformation of drug convictions, he also rises to the front ranks of the Texas Democratic Party.

But it is another San Antonian that claims the title of of this post… State Senator Leticia Van de Putte.  Though her bid to be the state’s Lieutenant Governor proved unsuccessful, Van de Putte certainly gained attention through a disciplined, common-sense campaign that stayed focused on the issues of Texas, and not partisan gridlock. She never compromised or apologized for her principles, whether they be standing up for LGBT equality in her only statewide debate, or pledging to fight for free tuition to Texas Community Colleges on the stump.

The year’s loss was definitive… Dan Patrick will be the next Lieutenant Governor. But rather than play it safe with her Senate seat, Van de Putte found the courage to risk it all once again, resign her Senate seat and run for Mayor of her hometown. It’s a fighting spirit that has been absent from Texas Democrats for almost two decades.

For awakening the fighting spirit with dignity, courage, wisdom and grace, Leticia Van de Putte had the greatest impact of 2014.

 

The 2014 Electorate: Fewer, Older, Less Diverse

#TurnOutForWHAT???

Literally, that is the question on minds all across the nation right now.

With 2014 in the books it’s time to take a look at what happened to Democrats this go round.  Why were the results so drastically different than the last two Presidential elections?  Despite the efforts of groups like Battleground Texas, it seems that the Republicans had little to no competition in the end.  But what also needs to be said is that the so-called “Red Wave” of 2014 shares some similarities with its predecessor in 2010.  Here’s what Talking Points Memo had to say about the results…

Older voters helped propel Republicans to sweeping victories Tuesday in Senate and gubernatorial races nationwide, according to exit polls from NBC News.

The disparity between the under-30 and over-60 was the widest it’s been in a decade, those polls found. The seniors comprised 37 percent of the electorate; young people made up 12 percent.

That was even more extreme than 2010, another great Republican year, when the split was 32 percent over 60 and 12 percent under 30.

As we know, an older electorate is more likely to be a Conservative electorate.  But what else was very true about voters this week was that there were simply fewer of them that showed up to the polls.  In fact, fewer voters showed up than anyone previously thought possible in the state of Texas… over 200,000 fewer than the pathetic voter participation rates of 2010.   When you include all registered voters, a full 66 percent of people sat out on this election.  Greg Abbott was elected with 20 percent of the actual voter population, Wendy garnered 13 percent, and the rest, well they D.G.A.F…

 

IDGAF 2014

Yes,  I know it’s not a phrase you often find in what one considers “serious” political writing, but is there truly a better descriptor for what happened on Tuesday?  The vast majority of Texans Didn’t Give A ____ about the future of our state.  And if they did, they still did not care enough to go out of their way and participate in a most critical decision.  In other words, a decisive majority of voting-age Texans did not vote at all. 

This post is not meant to sound bitter about the current historic levels of voter apathy in the Lone Star State.  But at the same time, it is no longer acceptable to keep waging these issues in such polite and non-provocative terms.  We want our voters to care enough about who leads Texas through the next four years, and into the next decade.  This is important.

And as one would guess, the 2014 electorate will probably reveal a less diverse group of Texans who showed up to the polls.  There are no official numbers yet, but one need only look at Harris County Early Voting totals to see that the practice was low in many minority EV locations.

So there you have it.  The state’s race for Governor was decided by a puny minority of the state.  And yet the political pundits have to use the decisions made from these voters as some validation that Texas is and will forever be a Red State?  Some blogs, like Texpatriate are fully convinced of this.  But given just how large the IDGAF majority is in the above chart, it’s just impossible to say for certain what this state will do in future election cycles.  When you start reading all these articles about the impressive Republican ground game, don’t take it as the gospel truth of the situation.

Personally, I happen to be a voter, a racial minority, relatively young, and someone who used to not GAF about voting or politics.  This Silent Majority can be moved if they are empowered by the right set of opportunities.  Let’s use 2014 as a teaching tool, and get back to work.

 

A Big Gamble for Battleground Texas in 2014??

The lead-up to Election Night always gets somewhat ridiculous.  The media takes sides in a desperate attempt to claim that they’re the next oracle of political predictions.  This is typical and expected.

Take Paul Burka, acclaimed political journalist and writer for Texas Monthly, who in a short 2 paragraph article, cemented his views on the Lone Star State’s newest political firestorm, Battleground Texas.

Battleground Texas, the organization chosen by the Obama White House to “turn Texas blue,” proved to have been nothing more than a mirage. In fact, Battleground did more to sabotage the Democratic effort — unintentionally — than to support it, thanks to Jeremy Bird, Battleground’s leader. Bird produced a memo claiming major gains by Democrats, which he published. Unfortunately for Bird, his numbers were erroneous, allowing Republicans to enjoy a big laugh at Battleground’s expense.

I’m not surprised, because the major activity of Battleground was to issue press releases taking credit for X direct contacts with voters and Y phone calls. In the end, Battleground has little to show for its efforts. Democratic sources now acknowledge that Battleground provided nothing useful to the Davis campaign. The result is that the state Democratic party suffered another blow to its credibility.

At least the one fact that Mr. Burka presents cannot be disputed… Jeremy Bird, the founder of Battleground Texas, did indeed release a somewhat epic fail suggesting that Early Vote turnout has skyrocketed.  In reality, Early Voting is actually down… 15,858 fewer votes cast in the state’s 15 largest counties from the high water mark of 2010.

Of course 2014 was always meant to be a big gamble for the brand new organization.  It’s hard to judge any business or group on just their first year of operations.  But still the fact remains that after registering over half a million new voters, it hasn’t seemed to move the needle on early vote, right??

Not so fast… a little history here.  Texas Leftist compiled a chart which shows Early Voting in Gubernatorial election years from 1998 to 2014 just so we can compare…

Texas Early Voting 1998-2014

 (Data compiled from the Texas Secretary of State website)

As you can see, 2010 was a really high watermark.  From 2006 to 2010, Early Voting nearly doubled in the state of Texas. Why? Because 2010 was an exceptional, find-every-TEApublican-on-earth-and-get-them-to-vote-because-it’s-the-end-of-the-world-OBAMACARE DEATH PANELS year. Republican turnout exploded off the charts, and that is what drove up overall turnout.

Which naturally leads us to ask another question:  Absent all of the craziness of 2010, what is motivating those same GOP voters to come to the polls this year?? We could say Dan Patrick, with his Rush Limbaugh style politics and constant readiness to whip up the base, but that would be inaccurate.  As Leticia Van de Putte has pointed out on several occasions, Patrick is basically in hiding from voters. It’s sure not Greg Abbott, whom waited very late in the game to do any true attacks on Davis.  Even now, the worst he’s put out is a poor comparison to Barack Obama, and a charge that Davis is… wait for it… unethical.  Most voters assume as much about every politician, so that’s not going to stop her voters from showing up.

So without being scared into oblivion, are not Republican base voters just as enthused about pushing Abbott over the finish line as Democrats are for Wendy Davis, so that he can basically continue the policy agenda of Governor Rick Perry?

Probably not.

Is it at all possible that the miracle achieved by Democrats and BGTX was to simply hold the line at even close to 2010 levels? And if they’re fanning the flames of enthusiasm, is it possible that the people showing up to the polls are a very different electorate than 2010?

If you follow the trend line of expected Early Voting turnout, and exempt 2010, Texas should be at roughly 1.15 million early voters, 1.3 million at absolute best. Something is causing turnout to “stay” at those historically high levels.

There’s just no way to be sure until we get answers tomorrow.  But unlike Paul Burka, Texas Leftist isn’t ready to throw in the towel.  With 32,000 volunteers working day and night in every corner of the state, it’s quite possible that Democrats will have some good news in one day’s time.

The only thing left to do is go and vote.  Don’t throw dirt on their grave just yet.

 

Wendy Davis’ Closing Argument? Education

After a tough and complex campaign season, there are some tell tale signs that the end is near.  One of them?  In the seemingly endless barrage of negative television ads, you start to get more that look less like pure attacks, and more like closing arguments. These ads finally show the candidate’s face, and try to leave a lasting impression on voters with the issue they care about the most.

On Wednesday morning, Wendy Davis released the ad that she hopes will send her to victory.  Titled “Our Kids”, it is one with a simple message that reaches voters from every part of the political spectrum.  Check out the full text and video below…

Education led me from a life of struggle to one filled with hope. I want every Texas child to have the same opportunity.
But that can’t happen when Greg Abbott goes to court to defend $5 billion dollars in cuts to our schools.

How much learning will your child do in a classroom crammed with 36 kids?

These are our kids, and this is their future.

I’m Wendy Davis. Let’s make Texas stronger for every hard-working Texan.

As campaign pieces go, this is one seems to be very effective.  It reminds Texans that the devastating 2011 cuts to education had real consequences… ones that many Texas school districts are still dealing with today.  There are kids in our state right now sitting in packed classrooms, teachers and school employees that lost their jobs in 2011, 2012 and 2013 because the districts, faced with tough decisions, had to get rid of entire programs like Art and Music, or severely pair back on after school opportunities.

Sure… after seeing this devastation up close, it’s true that the legislature restored some of the funding in 2013.  But the current funding levels are still not enough to meet the needs of a rapidly growing state.  And for the kids who had to suffer from the loss of a teacher or vital program, they will never get that instructional time back.

Let’s not forget that these same cuts have also been passed on to Texas taxpayers in school districts.  If you’re a voter in the Katy ISD tax zone, you probably know very well about the $748 million dollar bond referendum that is being decided at the polls right now.  If state funding sources had been available over the past two and a half years, would Katy ISD officials have to ask for so much money in 2014?  We all know that education dollars are an investment, and it’s quite possible that those disastrous cuts are causing schools to have to make up for lost time and resources now.    Katy ISD is just one of the 600 Texas school districts that are suing Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, and all of the irresponsible GOP legislators that enacted those 2011 funding cuts.

In 2011, the state legislature abdicated its promise to invest Texas kids, and in the future of the state.  In her closing argument, Wendy Davis is right to remind voters of that promise, and that with the right leadership, there is a better way forward.  Let’s hope they listen, and vote.

 

Texas Leftist 2014 Endorsements

For those interested, here is the full list of Texas Leftist endorsements for 2014.  Some candidates will also have individual or group posts regarding their endorsement, which will be linked via candidate name from this post.  If a candidate participated in this year’s Texas Leftist Candidate Questionnaire, that information will appear beside their party affiliation.

Texas Leftist has chosen to endorse candidates because they have demonstrated a commitment to advancing public policies that will improve the lives of Texans.  Though each person’s individual positions vary, they are generally candidates that stand for equality, social justice, healthcare expansion, living wage, economic prosperity and common-sense governance.

Today is Election Day!!  Early Voting has begun for the state of Texas, and runs from October 20th until October 31st.  For any questions on where or how to vote, check out this previous post or visit the My Texas Votes website.

 

Though not endorsed by Texas Leftist, candidates Ron Hale, Ron Reynolds and Matthew Whittington did participate in this year’s Texas Leftist Candidate Questionnaire.  Please consult their interviews for more information.  

 

Federal Races

U.S. Senator:                                                    David Alameel (D)

U.S. Rep. District 2:                                      Niko Letsos (D)

U.S. Rep. District 7:                                      James Cargas (D)

U.S. Rep. District 14:                                    Don Brown (D)

 

State Races

Governor:                                                           Wendy Davis (D)

Lieutenant Governor:                                 Leticia Van de Putte (D) [TLCQ]

Attorney General:                                         Sam Houston (D)

 

Comptroller of Public Accounts:                Mike Collier (D)

Commissioner- General Land Office:     John Cook (D)

Commissioner of Agriculture:                      NO ENDORSEMENT

Railroad Commissioner:                                   Steve Brown (D)

 

State Senator, District 15:                               John Whitmire (D)   [TLCQ]

State Senator, District 17:                               Rita Lucido (D)   [TLCQ]

 

State Rep. District 16:                                         Michael Hayles (D)

State Rep. District 23:                                          Susan Criss (D) [TLCQ]

State Rep. District 132:                                       Luis Lopez (D)  [TLCQ]

State Rep. District 133:                                       Laura Nicol (D) [TLCQ]

State Rep. District 137:                                       Gene Wu (D)

State Rep. District 144:                                       Mary Ann Perez (D)

State Rep. District 148:                                       Jessica Cristina Farrar (D)

State Rep. District 149:                                       Hubert Vo (D)

State Rep. District 150:                                       Amy Perez (D)

 

District Races

1st Court of Appeals, Place 3                           Jim Sharp (D)

113th Judicial District                                           Steven Kirkland (D)

308th Family Judicial District                           Jim Evans (D)

309th Family Judicial District                           Kathy Vossler (D)

314th Family Judicial District                           Natalia Oakes (D)

District Attorney                                                      Kim Ogg (D)

 

Harris County Races

County Judge:                                                              Ed Emmett (R)

County Probate Court No. 3                             Jerry Simoneaux (D)

County Probate Court No. 4                             James S. Horwitz (D)

County Clerk                                                                Ann Harris- Bennett (D)

County Treasurer                                                      David Rosen (D)

County School Trustee Pos. 7                            Melissa Noriega (D)

 

Propositions

State of Texas Proposition 1 (Infrastructure)             FOR

Lone Star College System, Proposition 1                       FOR