Filing season has opened in Texas, and goes through December 14th. When that’s done, we’ll know who is (and who isn’t) running for office all across Texas.
Several years ago (2007!), I ran a series of diaries that discussed the congressional races in Texas, and I’m thinking about doing it again. We’ve picked up a few more seats since then, from 32 to 36. I’m going to stare at a map again and see if my original—and completely arbitrary—division of the state is still viable.
It’s easy to write off a state like Texas. Our turnout is abysmal, the Republicans have control of the State Legislature and the courts, and every statewide office (save one Judge, where an R switched to D). It looks hopeless. Hell, it frequently feels hopeless. But I’m not willing to give up. I adopted a long view in 2006 when I first got politically active, and ten years later I’m still looking further down the field. Losses hurt, but giving up will destroy me.
We have the numbers to turn this around, but we have to convince the voters that it matters whether they show up at the polls. We have to recruit worthy candidates to run, and while it’s a daunting task, we need to follow Howard Dean’s 50-State Strategy and run a 254-County Strategy. Just typing that makes me shudder. This state is massive.
And I love it, sometimes in spite of itself.
We’re stuck with Dan Patrick, Greg Abbott, Ted Cruz, and John Cornyn for a while, but we can chip away at the Texas congressional seats and the TXLege every two years. Let’s take a look at where we can make a difference.