Texas Democrats have at least four quite impressive candidates running in our Senate primary, and so I wanted to give everyone a chance to get to know something about them:
- MJ Hegar (Austin area) — a female Air Force veteran and former congressional candidate
- Amanda Edwards — a millennial, African-American Houston City Councilwoman and lawyer
- Royce West (Dallas area) — an experienced African-American state senator and lawyer
- Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez — a Latina organizer and activist who co-founded the Workers Defense Project and then founded Jolt Texas, an organization focused on mobilizing progressive, young Latinos
Find out more about these four candidates and watch their campaign launch videos below.
Candidates are presented here in the order they announced their campaigns.
MJ Hegar
Air Force veteran and 2018 congressional candidate MJ Hegar launched her campaign on April 23. Hegar and her family live in Round Rock, and she’s well known in the Austin area after her spirited 2018 race against the Republican incumbent in TX-31. Although Hegar lost 47.68% to 50.59%, her competitive campaign drove up Democratic turnout in that district by 32,510 votes over 2016. (For context, the 2016 Democratic candidate only received 36.49% of the vote.)
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The Texas Tribune (Apr. 23): MJ Hegar, former congressional candidate, says she's running to challenge U.S. Sen. John Cornyn www.texastribune.org/...
The Dallas Morning News (Apr. 23): Democrat MJ Hegar launches Senate campaign against longtime Texas Sen. John Cornyn www.dallasnews.com/...
Jeff Singer for DKE (Apr. 23): Air Force veteran MJ Hegar launches bid for Democratic nomination for Texas Senate Seat www.dailykos.com/…
MJ Hegar (Sept. 9): Open letter to John Cornyn on gun violence www.tribtalk.org/…
Amanda Edwards
Houston City Councilwoman Amanda Edwards launched her campaign on July 18. Edwards, a millennial African-American attorney, won her 2015 runoff election to an at-large Houston City Council seat with 61.5% of the votes cast and is serving out her term (through December 2019), but has no plans to run for reelection.
No fundraising totals yet because Edwards announced after 6/30/2019. More at amandafortexas.com
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The Texas Tribune (July 18): Houston councilwoman Amanda Edwards jumps into Democratic primary in hopes of unseating Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn www.texastribune.org/...
The Dallas Morning News (July 18): Cornyn draws another challenger as Houston councilwoman Amanda Edwards joins Dems' Senate race www.dallasnews.com/…
Jeff Singer for DKE (July 18): Houston city councilor kicks off campaign to be first woman of color to represent Texas in Senate www.dailykos.com/…
Royce West
State senator Royce West launched his campaign on July 22. West, an African-American attorney who stood with Wendy Davis during her filibuster, is an experienced, respected politician who was first elected to SD-23 in 1992. He’s usually unopposed, but has always received at least 79% of the votes when challenged. West was reelected to the state senate in 2018 and will not have to give up his seat to run for U.S. Senate.
No fundraising totals yet because West announced after 6/30/2019. More at roycewest.com
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The Texas Tribune (July 22): State Sen. Royce West enters Democratic primary to challenge John Cornyn www.texastribune.org/...
The Dallas Morning News (July 24): Dallas Democrat Royce West launches Senate campaign against Republican incumbent John Cornyn www.dallasnews.com/…
Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez
Latina organizer and activist Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez launched her campaign on August 12. Tzintzún Ramirez is an Irish Mexican American who co-founded the Workers Defense Project and then founded Jolt Texas. She was drafted to run by some top O’Rourke Senate campaign alumni as well as a Texas Organizing Project founder.
No fundraising totals yet because Tzintzún Ramirez announced after 6/30/2019. More at cristinafortexas.com
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The Texas Tribune (Aug. 12): Latina organizer Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez enters Democratic primary to challenge Cornyn www.texastribune.org/…
The Texas Observer (Aug. 12): Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez Enters the U.S. Senate Race www.texasobserver.org/…
The Dallas Morning News (Aug. 12): Activist Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez joins crowded Democratic race for Senate seat held by Republican John Cornyn www.dallasnews.com/…
Additional candidates include Chris Bell, Michael Cooper, Jack Daniel Foster, Sema Hernandez, and Adrian Ocegueda.
Feel free to make a case for the candidate of your choice or talk about the ads in the comments.