Best Bets For November 3: Mike Siegel (TX-10)

 

Behind the scenes Republican operative gave up on winning back the House early in the campaign. Lately they're realizing that even the "easy" wins are beyond their grasp. They should be able to take back seats from Blue Dogs in deep red districts like SC-01 (R+10), UT-04 (R+13), OK-05 (R+), NY-22 (R+6), MN-07 (R+12), VA-07 (R+6), respectively Joe Cunningham, Ben McAdams, Kendra Horn, Anthony Brindisi, Collin Peterson and Abigail Spanberger, half dozen of the worst incumbents from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Their records are unabashedly opposed to everything Democratic voters want. But this is another one of those "any blue will do" years.

Now that Republican operatives have come to realize that the White House and their Senate majority are gone too, they are also seeing something even more scary than not being able to take back seats like the 6 listed above. And that's losing more deep-red districts like them that the DCCC didn't even target.

Here's how that works: the DCCC now routinely destroys progressive candidates when they try to run in primaries in "winnable" district primaries. In "impossible" districts they rarely bother-- or only make a half-assed attempt. In a tsunami year like this one, suddenly some of those "impossible" districts become very winnable. Progressive candidates like Julie Oliver (TX-25, R+11), Adam Christensen (FL-03, R+9), Audrey Denney (CA-01, R+11), Nate McMurray (NY-27, R+11), Liam O'Mara (CA-42, R+9), J.D. Scholten (IA-04, R+11) and Mike Siegel (TX-10, R+9) are all the kinds of progressives the DCCC would normally try to sabotage-- but in districts like those? Why bother?

Winning in the relatively close districts, the top DCCC targets-- like in NY-24 (D+3), NJ-02 (R+1), TX-23 (R+1), PA-01 (R+1), NY-02 (R+3), IL-13 (R+3), and MN-08 (R+4) aren't that big a deal. Republicans will shrug those losses off. It isn't going to make them reexamine what Trump and other neo-fascists have done to their party. But when "safe" GOP incumbents in deep red districts like Roger Williams (TX-25), Doug LaMalfa (CA-01), Ken Calvert (CA-42) and Michael McCaul (TX-10) start losing their seats... that's when it's time for talks about existentialism and for a general party shakeup. If Brian Fitzpatrick loses, it doesn't mean much; if Michael McCaul does... scores of Republican incumbents know they are no longer safe. But can McCaul lose? Two polls show him and Mike Siegel within the margin of error and with all the momentum belonging to Siegel. Dan Solomon did a deep dive for the Texas Monthly last week-- Can a Bernie-Style Democrat Unseat Longtime Republican Representative Michael McCaul in TX-10? And, believe me, that prospect scares the Democratic establishment every single bit as much as it scares the Republican establishment... which is a lot.

"Redistricting did a number on TX-10," wrote Solomon. "It was one of several districts redrawn in 2003 to dilute Democratic-voting Austinites by dividing them among multiple districts dominated by GOP-leaning voters in rural parts of the state (see also: TX-17, TX-21, and TX-25). The Tenth now includes a tiny sliver of Travis County, where Austin is located, as well as parts of Harris County, home of Houston, and stretches through the rural areas between those two cities. The dynamics of the Tenth have flipped: in 2004, after Doggett was redistricted out of TX-10, Democrats declined to put up a challenger to Republican Michael McCaul, who’s held the seat ever since. Democrats have run in the Tenth since then, but for most of McCaul’s tenure, their presence on the ballot barely registered in the ultra-red district. But in 2018, Mike Siegel, running as a progressive Democrat, came within 4.3 points of unseating McCaul. In 2020, Siegel won the Democratic primary again, setting up a rematch of one of 2018’s more surprisingly competitive races."

[McCaul] has cast votes with the current president more than 95 percent of the time, including on the border wall and the Trump tax cuts. He also found himself at the center of the mask-wearing debate earlier this month after Trump tested positive for COVID, when photos and video surfaced of him going without a face mask on a United Airlines flight. (McCaul claimed the mask fell off while he was sleeping, though subsequent video indicates he didn’t wear it while awake, either.) McCaul, whose father-in-law is the founder and former chairman of radio and advertising giant Clear Channel Communications, is one of the richest members of Congress, with a net worth estimated at $113 million. He’s also well funded, having raised more than $2.5 million this cycle, $1.3 million of which he had on hand at of the end of the year’s second quarter.

Many of the Democrats looking to flip traditionally red districts in Texas are running as moderates and trying to court conservative suburban voters who may feel alienated by the Trump-era GOP. Not Mike Siegel, a labor lawyer and former public school teacher, whose platform touts issues including the Green New Deal, racial justice, and Medicare for all. Siegel is also focused on labor reform-- especially ending “at-will” employment, which allows workers to be fired for any (or no) reason-- and dramatically reshaping U.S. housing policy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He boasts a trio of high-profile endorsements from former Democratic presidential candidates-- Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Beto O’Rourke-- as well as those of prominent national organizations including the AFL-CIO and Planned Parenthood, and a slew of local politicians, organizations, and newspapers (including the Houston Chronicle).

Siegel has raised $900,000 according to his most recent FEC filing. It’s money he’s been spending at a steady clip: just $164,000 remained as cash on hand at the end of Q2.

The Tenth is changing. Mitt Romney won the district by twenty points in 2012, Trump won by nine points in 2016, and Ted Cruz lost by two-tenths of a percent in 2018. Much of this change has been driven by growth in the urban parts of the district over the last decade, a trend that seems to have kept up after Siegel’s close loss in the 2018 contest: in the last two years, Travis County has added more than 70,000 new voters, while Harris County has added 111,360 to its rolls. (Not every newly registered voter in either county lives in TX-10, of course, but enough of them do to identify the district as one that’s rapidly changing.)

Siegel won Austin by a huge margin in 2018, while McCaul won over voters in the Houston suburbs that year by a narrower (but still comfortable) amount. The rural middle part of the district, meanwhile, also favored McCaul—but 2018 Libertarian party candidate Mike Ryan pulled a whopping 8 percent of the vote outside of Harris and Travis Counties. Siegel could win this year if he runs up the numbers in Austin, keeps it closer in the Houston suburbs, and if the Libertarian on the ballot, Roy Eriksen, can pull votes from McCaul outside of the two cities. (The possibility that third-party candidates could have an impact on close House races led the Texas GOP to sue to keep 44 Libertarians off the ballot earlier this year, though they lost the suit.)

...If Austin turns out in big numbers, and the Houston suburbs prove receptive to a Democrat in the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mold, Siegel could win.

Austin is turning out in large numbers... unprecedented large numbers. Conservative prognosticators who have written off Siegel's chance to flip this district may be in for a huge shock a week from tomorrow. And if you want to help, you can click on the Blue America congressional thermometer above or just hit this Turning Texas Blue link. Electing conservative Democrats of the DCCC ilk accomplishes nothing for the American people-- no reform, no systemic change of any kind. Electing men and women like Mike Siegel and Julie Oliver in Texas... that's what makes the Democratic Party worthwhile and a legitimate vehicle for working families. This cycle, it is only by electing candidates like Siegel and Oliver that can cause a genuine GOP reexamination of what kind of sewer they have slipped into over the past few decades.

Flipping A Red District In The Middle Of Texas-- While Donald Debuts For The Village People

 

This ad the Sunrise Movement just released to assist Mike Siegel win TX-10 from Trump appendage Michael McCaul, is going to be part of the visual history of the 2020 election-- and one of the best ads of the year. The brand new polling released yesterday show Mike and McCaul tied. Hopefully the Sunrise Movement ad will help enthuse more voters to get out and support Mike. Although... Travis County, the biggest in Mike's district, doesn't need much more enthusiasm than it already has. According to the Austin American Statesman out the more than 850,000 eligible voters in the county, 97% of them are registered to vote. A little context:

• In 2016, Trump's share of the Travis County vote was 27.4%
• In 2018, Ted Cruz's share of the Travis County vote was 24.6%
• In 2018, Greg Abbott's share of the Travis County vote was 30.4%
• In 2018, the Travis County portion of TX-10 gave Mike Siegel a gigantic landslide-- D+44
• In 2018, the Travis County portion of TX-25 also gave Julie Oliver a big fat landslide-- D+30

Last go-round, without the kind of name recognition he has now, Siegel pulled between 72 and 73% of the Travis County vote. He is expected to do far better this time. In fact, private polling shows him neck and neck with McCaul in Bastrop County and significantly increasing his share of the vote in Harris and Waller counties. Now all the momentum is with Siegel. The newest poll shows him leading 94-0 among Democrats while McCaul leads 93-2 among Republicans. The most important number though is among Independents, a cohort that has supported McCaul in the past but now backs Siegel by a phenomenal 54-28%.

Yesterday, the first day of early voting in Texas, found gigantic lines in Travis County, with people willing to wait for long periods of time-- mostly to register their disapproval of Trump and his enablers. But don't let anyone tell you Trump doesn't have enthusiasm working for him too. This week at an airplane hangar in a small town in the middle of Florida, Trump fans were rockin' the house. Watch:





In 1978, when the Village People released Cruisin', Trump was 32, a NYC club rat whose after-dark headquarters was often Studio 54, where he was seen hob-sobbing with crooked local politicians, minor celebrities, hookers, drug dealers and, most of all, mobsters. Now a smash hit among the MAGA crowd, "YMCA," the double-entendre single from the album, was more than just the theme song for Trump's favorite disco. It was also the theme song for the gay movement of the 1970s. Nice to see that the 300 pound Trump, a very picture of lack of physical grace-- and still sick with COVID-- remembers how to shake his lard ass to the gayest song ever written (even though he was always seriously on the make and never actually danced at the disco).

Mike And Julie, The Key To Winning Back Texas

 

Republicans have controlled Texas for too long and have grown comfortable enough to overlook arrogance and embrace corruption. It's time for them to be put out to pasture. Many Texas voters-- particularly in the suburbs and exurbs around Dallas-Ft Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio-- are sick of Trump and giving up on his enablers. And whether Biden wins the state's 38 electoral votes or not, Texas is likely to flip as many as half a dozen congressional seats and possibly the state House as well.

Today, as the election barrels towards a denouement, we want to focus on the two most important congressional candidates running in Texas, Mike Siegel (TX-10) and Julie Oliver (TX-25), each in a gerrymandered district carved out of Travis County (Austin) and meant to dilute the votes of Austin Democrats by including rural and suburban counties that were GOP safe zones when the districts were drawn. Those safe zones are no longer safe and both Siegel and Oliver made tremendous headway against the GOP incumbents in 2018. Each is back to finish the job in November.

And each is polling so strongly that a reluctant DCCC-- never eager to endorse outright progressives in "red" districts-- was forced to add both Siegel and Oliver to their Red to Blue list this month. This morning, Siegel told us how clearly he understands the stakes. "When I beat Michael McCaul on November 3," he said, "it will send shockwaves through the political establishment. I'm running hard on the Green New Deal, to create millions of jobs while addressing climate change and the legacy of environmental racism. And when I defeat one of the wealthiest members of Congress, a person who has more money personally invested in oil and gas than any person in the House or Senate, in a district specifically gerrymandered to protect him (because his father-in-law is a media empire billionaire), and in a district that contains numerous fossil fuel concerns in the Houston "oil patch"-- that victory will make history. It will help to dispel this idea that to flip a red seat you need to be 'moderate.' It will show that progressive policies like the Green New Deal are winning issues BECAUSE they are bold, because they meet the scale of the crises we face. This victory will be about more than one seat, it will be about the movement.





Siegel, a civil rights attorney and a life-long union guy, is all about solidarity. He was quick to turn the conversation towards his neighbor and fellow-progressive. "And the same goes for my compatriot Julie Oliver. She is probably the most articulate House challenger right now when it comes to Medicare for All. Because of her personal story and her family's struggles with health care companies, and also because of her work as a lawyer with intricate knowledge of health insurance and spending, she is the perfect advocate for a national, comprehensive, single-payer healthcare system. And her opponent is a caricature of a wealthy, bigoted, out-of-touch Texas Republican. Who would you rather have as a representative, a grifting car salesman or a healthcare advocate and mom who is unafraid to knock every door in her 13-county district, who has fought for Medicare for All even when it wasn't universally popular, and who continues to lead on the most important issue during a national health crisis? I'll take Julie, thank you very much!"

He concluded that "The two of us-- staunch progressives who have built powerful campaigns that are even winning support from the political establishment-- have the opportunity to change the narrative of Texas politics. We can help usher in a new wave of progressivism in the South. As Bernie's recent town hall said, 'As Texas goes, so does America.' So let's make that real-- and win in November!"

Please consider contributing what you can to both Mike Siegel and Julie Oliver by clicking on the Blue America 2020 Texas thermometer on the right. Julie told us that "As the mother of a kid with pre-existing conditions and as someone with 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, I understand exactly how the healthcare industry has failed Texans, how we can fund it more equitably and responsibly, and how our own Republican members of Congress worked to undermine care for millions of Americans. Both Roger Williams and Mike's Republican opponent Michael McCaul have voted more than 50 times to take healthcare from millions of Americans, including cancer patients, sick children, the elderly, and people with disabilities right here in Texas. They've voted at least ten times to end protections for people with pre-existing conditions, like the one my son has. So for me--just as it is for hundreds of thousands of people here in our district whose healthcare is threatened by our own Congressman--this was deeply personal."

As much about solidarity as Siegel, she said that "both Mike and I believe that real change is never top-down-- it is built and informed by Texas communities. That is why both of us have run such organizing-first, grassroots campaigns, with an emphasis on coalition building, working in solidarity with communities that the political status quo has ignored for too long-- whether that's blue collar Texans who haven't seen a pay increase; those who are being priced out of their own communities due to the soaring costs of healthcare, tuition, and housing; or the communities in Texas most severely impacted by climate change. And the natural byproduct of actually showing up and listening to the people that Congress is supposed to serve-- not corporations, not DC elites-- is that we're rooting out corruption and ending the era of pay-for-play politics. Both Mike and I are political outsiders. I'm confident that neither of us can be arm-twisted behind closed doors, and we're not afraid to stand up to corrupt politicians and special interests. For too long, career politicians like Roger Williams and Michael McCaul have taken advantage of hardworking families while they use their office to enrich themselves. And it's time for real, positive change for Texas."





Last week, one of Texas' sharpest reporters, Abby Livingston, wrote that another Texas congressional candidate-- neither a real progressive nor a conservative but more of a moderate-- Wendy Davis, who was slaughtered in her 2014 in her high-profile run for governor, was thinking a lot about why she lost by 20 points but 4 years later Beto O'Rourke lost by just 2.5 points in his statewide race against Ted Cruz. Livingston wrote that Davis figured it out: in "2018 there was a robust lineup of Democratic candidates down ballot running for the U.S. House, the state Legislature and other local campaigns. That wasn’t the case in 2014. Those candidates knocked on doors, raised money, showed up to Rotary Club meetings and de-stigmatized Democrats in once-hostile territory. Some even won. Davis said those down-ballot races were key to O’Rourke’s performance." Beto agrees.

Livingston's point is that Biden's fate in Texas next month "could rest on the backs of dozens of mostly obscure Democratic candidates who are competing for legislative and congressional seats in the suburbs that have been strongly Republican... And with more national and local money pouring into those down-ballot races, political experts say that could have a major effect upstream on the ballot. 'Normally, House and down-ballot candidates are desperate for presidential investment,' said Amy Walter, a political analyst at the Cook Political Report. 'In this case, I think that all the money being poured into suburban [congressional districts] and battleground state [legislative] districts could help boost Biden.'"

Campaigning In The Midst Of The Pandemic-- How Mike Siegel Is Running For Congress In Central Texas

Progressive challengers-- especially in races against well-heeled incumbents who can write themselves big checks or appeal to corporate SuperPACs-- have two new handicaps: grassroots funds from small donors have largely dried up because of financial uncertainty and grassroots campaign strategies have been upended by pandemic best practices. At Blue America, small dollar donations to candidates are down over 70%-- the worst it's ever been since 2006 when we started. Last week several congressional candidates gave us some perspective about how they're going forward. Today we asked Mike Siegel, the progressive candidate running in a gerrymandered Texas district that stretches from northern Austin all the way to the suburbs west and northwest of Houston. Last cycle, Mike held conservative Trumpist Michael McCaul to a 51.1% win. This year, he intends to finish the job he and his volunteer base began in 2017. Please read what he has to see, watch his campaign video below and, if you like what you see, consider clicking on the Take Back Texas thermometer at the bottom of the page and contributing what you can to Mike's campaign.

Running A People-Powered Campaign, While Sheltering In Place
by Mike Siegel

I'm running for Congress to replace one of the wealthiest and most powerful Republicans in DC, Michael McCaul. This guy is a true plutocrat: he married the heiress of the Clear Channel ("IHeartMedia") fortune. His estate in Austin is known for using more water than any other residence in the city. He owns more oil and gas stock than any sitting representative. He has been cited for insider trading again, again, and again.

Not to mention the fact that this guy does little to nothing to help the working people of this district. McCaul has stood by while rural hospitals close, while a coal plant pollutes the water of two dozen counties, while the ancient flood control infrastructure of Houston washes away, while working people struggle to survive on $7.25 per hour, and while the safety net ruptures and crumbles.

Long story short, there is ample reason to get rid of him. And starting in late 2017, I started the work of making it happen. I ran for Congress in 2018 as a progressive populist, as Ryan Grim says. We took on McCaul and his "R+19" advantage, built a coalition of labor, environmentalist, youth and social justice organizations, recruited 1,000 volunteers, made over 300,000 voter contacts, and turned a "safe Republican" district into a national battleground-- holding McCaul to 51% of the vote and a 4% margin of victory, while putting a giant target on his back in 2020.

Early in 2019, I committed to finishing the job-- and to building a bigger and stronger campaign. Unfortunately, some Austin Democrats, like bees to honey, saw that the Texas 10th is now in play, and decided to challenge me in the primary election. On March 3, 2020, after being outspent by my two competitors by a margin of $2.5 million to $500,000, but after mobilizing hundreds of volunteers to knock tens of thousands of doors, I finished first in the three-way race. I won 44% of the vote, with 2nd place at 33%, so I am in a runoff election that was originally scheduled for May 26 but has now been postponed until July 14. And given the state of public health, as well as a Democratic lawsuit demanding universal vote-by-mail, it is possible the election will be postponed again.

And meanwhile, during this crisis, the leading edge of my campaign, our field program, has been put on the shelf. We stopped knocking doors two weeks ago, have cancelled all events, and have slowed most fundraising efforts. Although the first two weeks of March were the top two fundraising weeks of the campaign, the bottom is clearly falling out, and income has dried to a trickle. After initially growing our team after the primary, so that we could not only win the runoff election but also start the essential work of building for the general election, we are now forced to cut back. This last week, we closed our campaign office, and all staff are working from home.

We are down but not out. I am the returning Democratic nominee, with great name ID and a strong base of support among frequent Democratic voters-- those who are most likely to vote in the runoff, whenever that might be. And we are using our network to pioneer new ways of campaigning. Between me and my runoff challenger, I have far more donors and volunteers, even though he has more wealthy ("max") contributors. Our challenge is how to identify supporters during this period; our solution is what one supporter called "the Amway style of campaigning." In other words: we may not be able to get large groups of people together, if each supporter can introduce us to five new supporters, and each of them can do the same, victory is well within reach.

So we are re-tooling, implementing new digital tactics and some old-school approaches, while we also handle our personal lives. My wife is a veterinarian and runs her own clinic, and her services have been deemed "essential" "public health" operations during the shut-down of the city. She is keeping it all together in a very difficult environment. Meanwhile our kids are at home, with school cancelled for the foreseeable future. To handle the need to keep working, we have decided to quarantine together with two neighboring families; all together we have five kids. Each day, one parent takes all five, while the rest of us can work. Yesterday was my first day as teacher.

Of course, my career started in public education, and I was happy to prepare a couple lessons. (The first day's focus: dinosaurs and dragons!) But having five kids, ages 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8, is no cakewalk. Especially with limited options and locations for how and where to conduct our school.

It's a crazy world we are in, and even a bit stranger to be a political candidate. 

On one hand, in terms of asking strangers for money, it feels inappropriate. We just learned today that 3.3 million people have filed for unemployment, and we are still at the beginning of the pandemic. We are in a health crisis and an economic crisis. Some of my donors see their stocks tanking, while others have lost their jobs. And there are so many needs in the community. Food banks, alone, deserve so much of our support.

On the other hand, representation matters. We see that more than ever. Trump's errors will likely cost many thousands of lives. The work of folks like McCaul-- who spends his time blaming China for the crisis, while doing nothing to improve the response-- is akin to Nero fiddling while Rome burns. Every day that passes, when we don't invoke the Defense Production Act, and immediately build more tests, more PPE, more ventilators, is a day that more lives will be lost.

And that's what I've returned to. That this election matters. That replacing McCaul matters. That getting more progressive voices in Congress-- who fill fight for the people, in times of peace and times of crisis-- matters.

So in new ways, at a new pace, we are continuing this work in the Texas 10th. To fight for Medicare for All and a national jobs guarantee. To demand aid for people and not corporations. To ensure that this crisis isn't followed by a wave of austerity and further attacks on social welfare. There is much to be done.

We'd love to get you involved. Learn more at www.siegelfortexas.org.

How Do You Know When A Candidate Is From The Republican Wing Of The Democratic Party? Meet Shannon Hutcheson Of Texas

Last cycle Mike Siegel held Trump enabler Michael McCaul to just 51.1%, McCaul's worst showing in his political career. McCaul, one of the two or three richest members of Congress-- his in-laws are robber barons-- spent  $1,754,122 on the race, swamping Mike's $477,926. The DCCC declined to get involved, telling institutional donors to skip the race because it was too red a district and because Mike is a progressive. So it was a little-noticed race... nationally. In the district, Mike built a grassroots machine that fought for every inch of territory from Lake Travis and the neighborhoods of North Austin through Pflugerville, Elgin and Bastrop and Brenham, Prairie View in the north and Flatonia, Weimar and Sealy along the I-10 in the south to Tombatt and Cypress in the Houston exurbs. This year, even the DCCC recognized that TX-10 is winnable and that Michael McCaul is vulnerable. But Mike Siegel is... still too grassroots oriented, too independent-minded and too progressive for them. So they started looking around for a more conservative, go-along-to-get-along alternative. They finally settled on an "ex"-Republican EMILY's List mess, Shannon Hutcheson.

Over the weekend, several Blue America members in Austin alerted me that they had received polling calls, likely from an arm of EMILY's List, testing what they see as Hutcheson's weakest points, basically sharing that as an attorney, she represented a prison guard who sexually abused women in custody and asking if her excuse would hold water or if it would cause them to not vote for her in the primary. The human-administered poll-- about 30 minutes long and very expensive also shares a great deal of positive information about her after sharing the initial negative information.

The poll seems to have neglected to mention some of Hutcheson's other faults, like her 2010 decision to vote in the Republican primary, a matter of public record. Earlier, she worked as an attorney for a major establishment international law firm, Baker Botts, headquartered in Houston and which sells itself as having over half the Fortune 100 companies as clients, especially in the oil sector. Ted Cruz also worked there in the '90s (and earlier George W. Bush was given a job fitting his skill set as well-- in the mailroom). Hutcheson's gig was far more toxic than Bush's though; she worked on behalf of large corporations, protecting them against labor and employment claims.

DCCC

In 2011 she started her own boutique law firm with her former colleague from Baker Botts, Allison Bowers. Hutcheson’s campaign bio notes that "having her own firm allowed Shannon the time and flexibility to work on the causes that are important to her." So what causes were those that she was eager to work for? One of her first big clients was the worst and filthiest of the U.S. private prison conglomerates, the Corrections Corporation of America, for whom she defended Donald Dunn, a notorious CCA prison guard convicted of multiple sexual assaults, in a civil case against the ACLU representing three immigrant victims of sexual assault. After years of litigation, Hutcheson was able to have the case settled out of court (2017).

A couple of months after acquiring CCA, she took on another cause that was apparently meaningful to her, the defense of Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber, a company accused of age discrimination. The plaintiff had worked for the company for 32 years at the time he was let go. Hutcheson was also able to settle that case out of court. In 2014, Hutcheson was hired to defend NetSpend, a prepaid debit card company, in a suit brought by a plaintiff who claimed to have lost tens of thousands of dollars in social security income after arranging to have it deposited onto a NetSpend card. Hutcheson also settled that case out of court. She has represented the company in three separate cases. But also in 2014 Hutcheson was hired to defend the Office of the Texas Attorney General against an Equal Pay Act claim. A female attorney claimed that she was paid less and promoted fewer times than her male co-workers, despite being equally qualified. This is the kind of case Shannon Hutcheson says is important to her? She makes a perfect EMILY's List candidate, but I bet she'll never be endorsed by Matriarch.

Another example of issues important to Hutcheson is reflected in a paper she wrote, Agencies Run Amuck, in which she harshly criticized the Department of Labor’s subpoena power under Tom Perez, as well as the EEOC’s on-site investigations and work to sue for back wages. She wrote, critically, that "The past decade has seen a steady increase in the amounts of back wages recovered annually. This trend is unlikely to end under current U.S. Labor Secretary, Tony [sic] Perez."

This year, before jumping into the congressional race, she took on several more ugly cases-- another on behalf of CCA, now renamed CoreCivic. An immigrant woman detained at multiple CoreCivic facilities claims that she was forced to work for little or no pay and filed suit under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Another of her firm's cases last year was to defend a tire shop against claims of wage theft by an employee. And the last was last December when she was hired to defend Travis Transit, a company with a history of egregious labor violations, in an employment discrimination suit. The plaintiff, a bus driver who was permanently severely injured during a violent home invasion, was fired by Travis for taking absences during his recovery. The EEOC determined that Travis had failed to engage in the reasonable accommodation process required by the ADA. In his lawsuit, the driver also claimed that he was the victim of racial discrimination, because other, non-black employees did not get in trouble for having the same number of absences. She said she wanted to work on cases that were important to her. This is who Shannon Hutcheson is and it is imperative to keep her out of Congress. We have enough like her already, i.e., the Republican Party and the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

Also not mentioned on the polling calls were her campaign finance problems. Her filings reveal a number of donors and industries that should be of concern to Democratic primary voters. One max donor, George Ryan is a top Republican Party donor and head of Ryan LLC, a massive tax advisory consulting firm. He has given over $6 million to Republican candidates and groups over the years. During the Trump campaign in 2016, Ryan advised the nominee on tax policy, and said he supported Trump even after the Access Hollywood video release. "I find Hilary Clinton to be at least as morally repugnant, if not more," Ryan said in a ringing endorsement of Trump. Hutcheson has the distinction of being one of the few Democrats Ryan has ever supported.

This cycle the recipients of Ryan's largesse are all crooked, easily-bought conservatives:

• John Katko (R-NY)- $2,748
• Ted Budd (R-NC)- $2,748
• Shannon Hutcheson (D-TX)- $2,800
• Glenn Grothman (R-WI)- $2,748
• Donald Bacon (R-NE)- $2,748
• Steve Chabot (R-OH)- $2,748
• Peter King (R-NY)- $2,748
• French Hill (R-AR)- $2,748
• Devin Nunes (R-CA)- $2,748
• Van Taylor (R-TX)- $5,600
• Bill Huizenga (R-MI)- $2,748
• David Rouzer (R-NC)- $2,748
• David Schweikert (R-AZ)- $2,748
• Fred Upton (R-MI)- $2,748
• Doug LaMalfa (R-CA)- $2,748
• Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)- $2,800

and pages and pages of contributions like this, all to corrupt conservatives, every one of them a Republican conservative with one glaring exception, DCCC/EMILY's List darling Shannon Hutcheson.

And it isn't just George Ryan, oil and gas industry executives are pouring money into her campaign. And Hutcheson has also hauled in over $84,000 from law firms who help large commercial and industrial property holders shirk their full property tax bills via special loopholes. A large share of these funds, $77,360, come from Popp Hutcheson, the firm run by Hutcheson’s husband Mark and James Popp. Popp has spent decades writing and advocating for tax policy at the Texas Capitol that has helped companies shave billions of dollars’ worth of property value from local tax rolls that are the primary means of funding schools. He is the architect of the "equity" tax appeal provision, an administrative mechanism that according to the Travis Central Appraisal District, has shaved $16.5 billion in value from the tax roll since 2010, translating to $396 million in potential tax revenue lost. While the tax policy details behind the numbers may be complicated, voters don’t need to understand the whole backstory to know that the game is being rigged against them. Their property tax bills continue to rise while big companies pay less. And those rigging the game are some of Hutcheson’s biggest supporters. and they totally want Shannon Hutcheson in Congress-- and are willing to put up the money it takes to get her there.

With plenty of surreptitious help from EMILY's List and the DCCC and with lots and lots of wealthy conservatives (including Republican predators), Shannon has raised $532,813 for her campaign, while McCaul raised $1,209,859 and Mike Siegel raised $344,642. If money is what determines who's going to win this race, no one is going to catch up with McCaul, who has an unlimited capacity to self-fund. But, as Siegel showed last cycle, it's not only about the cash. Mike's grassroots efforts nearly displaced Michael McCaul last year. This cycle, Siegel should be able to beat both Hutcheson and McCaul. Obviously he can use some help. The Turning Texas Blue thermometer on the right is where you can contribute to his campaign. It's a good investment in good government. This is his first 2020 campaign video. I think it is worth watching because it will give you an idea about where his values lie and what kind of a congressman will be:

Bipartisanship Can Be Great-- Or It Can Be Horrific... Michael McCaul (R-TX) & Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX) Prefer The Horrific Variety

When Blue Dogs and Republicans Get Together, Only Bad Can Come Of It

Americans love bipartisanship. When Long Island Republican Peter King signed on as the first Republican cosponsor of the bill to ban the sale of assault weapons, he may have been the only Republican to do so-- but he was joining Tom Suozzi, a Democrat in the Long Island district just north of his. (To the east is NRA-owned-and-operated Lee Zeldin (R), who opposes any ban on assault weapons.) "When everything is said and done," Rep. Suozzi told me earlier, "bipartisanship is hard in the current climate, but it is the only way to truly get things done on behalf of the people we serve."

Similarly, Ro Khanna, arguably the most progressive member of Congress, teamed up with Matt Gaetz, arguably the most reactionary, to prevent Trump from initiating a war against Iran.

But there's also a toxic kind of bipartisanship. Between 1905 and 1965, conservative Democrats and House Republicans were able to work together to defeat Medicare. Over those 6 decades they whittled it down to exclude dental care and hearing aids and eye care and they took a program that was meant for all Americans and made it into one only for the elderly. That's a different kind of bipartisanship. When voters rushed to the polls to vote down far right extremist Barry Goldwater-- not an extremist by today's GOP standards-- they also voted (by 10 million votes) to relieve a net of 36 Republicans of their House seats, bringing the Democratic majority to 295 and leaving the GOP with 140 seats. (In the Old Confederacy the opposite happened; Republicans gained 7 seats in reactionary states like Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi). The Republicans also lost 2 Senate seats, giving the Democrats a 68 to 32 majority.

The Democrats no longer needed GOP and reactionary Southern support to pass Medicare-- so the next year they did just that. Conservatives have been working to destroy it ever since-- often in a very bipartisan way.

Texas' most conservative Democrat, corrupt Blue Dog/shitbag Henry Cuellar got busy working with Trump enabler Michael McCaul to take advantage of the hysteria over the white nationalist gun massacres this month in El Paso, Gilroy and Dayton. Like Trump, they decided to pretend the massacres are being carried out by "both sides," not solely 100% by white nationalists, racists and demented Trump fanatics. The "bipartisan" bill they wrote appears to be aimed more at anti-pipeline protestors than the kinds of neo-fascists and NRA extremists that support politicians like McCaul and Cuellar.

The progressive Democrat taking on McCaul, Mike Siegel, noticed-- and responded with a powerful tweet storm, which I've made into a narrative below.

This week, Rep. Michael McCaul released a bill to create new crimes for "domestic terrorism."

Like many, I believe we need immediate action to address mass shootings and racist attacks like El Paso. But this bill will do something very different: criminalize dissent.

1st, the context: in 2018 there were 25 race-based terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, all by white supremacists. The Trump Administration has buried the true nature of the threat. And McCaul, former Chairman of Homeland Security, never addressed it.

McCaul's bill doesn't address hate groups. Instead, it focuses on property damage. Here’s how: it creates a new crime, with 25-year sentences, for property damage that might "affect" or "influence" a government policy. This is aimed at Ferguson and Standing Rock-type protests.

The proposed McCaul-Cuellar-Weber bill is the exact law that the fossil fuel industry has been asking for since Standing Rock. Read Lee Fang’s recent piece for some of that context.

The bill does three things: (1) define the “intent” to commit domestic terrorism; (2) identify five qualifying offenses; and (3) punish unsuccessful “attempts” and “conspiracies” to commit these offenses.

An act is “domestic terrorism” if it is performed “with the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence, affect, or retaliate against the policy or conduct of a government.” Focus on the vague language. That's where the threat to our Constitution lies. The definition of “intent” is key.

Under this bill, federal prosecutors could charge terrorism if actions might “affect” or “influence” a government policy. This is an extremely broad definition of terroristic intent. Especially when you consider that a "terrorist act" could include property damage.

Five crimes are included in the bill: murder, kidnapping, aggravated assault, simple assault, and property damage. Most are punishable under existing state and federal law. But property damage would get a 25-year sentence, far beyond any state vandalism law.

Note how the bill treats attempts and conspiracies. “Attempts or conspiracies to commit an offense . . . shall be punished in the same manner as a completed act of such offense.” Don’t talk to anyone planning political property damage, or you can be a terrorist, too.

Context matters. Trump is ranting daily against “antifa” (i.e., anti-fascists). In Portland, white supremacists clashed with anti-fascists. This bill would give prosecutors blanket authority to charge terrorism. And Trump has made clear which group he would focus on.

Think about recent inspiring protests. Bree Newsome climbed a flagpole and removed a Confederate flag, following the Charleston massacre. She changed policy: the state permanently removed the flag from its capitol. Under this bill, Bree could be prosecuted for terrorism.

Under this bill, the Boston Tea Party was terrorism. “Property damage, intended to influence a government policy.” This is not how we reduce mass shootings or confront white supremacy. This is an invitation to trample the Constitution and encourage dictatorship. No thanks.

As you probably know, Blue America has endorsed Mike Siegel for Congress to replace McCaul. He nearly beat him in 2018 with the DCCC ignoring the race entirely. This time the DCCC isn't ignoring the race. They and EMILY's List have recruited a tepid conservative, garden variety Democrat to run against Mike. Even if she can't defeat McCaul, the DCCC is hoping she will drain all Mike's resources in a primary so that another independent-minded progressive who supports Medicare-for-All, the Green New Deal, free public colleges, increased minimum wage ($15/hour) and a ban on assault weapons doesn't wind up in the House to make it more difficult for the conservative establishment leadership to do what they like most: nothing controversial. Please consider contributing what you can to Mike's campaign-- and to the campaign of Jessica Cisneros, the progressive Democrat running against McCaul's partner, Henry Cuellar. Just click on the Take Back Texas thermometer on the right and do what you can. There are just 35 Democrats left opposed to banning assault weapons. Cuellar is one of them... right along with his pal McCaul.

"Texodous" Is A Real Thing Now-- McCaul Doesn't Want Anything To Do With It

"Texodous" isn't in any dictionaries yet; it's just being written about and discussed by talking heads... and it's a hashtag on Twitter. But for Texas Republicans it's frightening real. Texas is hemorrhaging congressional Republicans. Last year the Democrats stumbled into two victories over "entrenched" GOP incumbents. The DCCC added nothing to the equation but Beto's energetic, charismatic Senate campaign-- far more progressive than his actual voting record-- helped Democrats straight down the ballot. A weak stands-for-nothing garden variety Dem, Lizzie Fletcher, ousted John Culberson in Houston 127,959 (52.5%) to 115,642 (47.5%) and a similar stands-for-nothing candidate, Colin Allred, ousted powerful Republican leader Pete Sessions in the Dallas area 144,067 (52.3%) to 126,101 (45.8%).

The otherwise useless DCCC and its allies put over $8,000,000 into Fletcher's race ($6,249,182 of it in negative ads roasting Culberson) and about the same amount into Allred's campaign ($7,750,056 in blistering negative attacks against Sessions). In the Austin to Houston district held by Michael McCaul, the DCCC was in see no evil/hear no evil/say no evil mode and didn't put a nickel into Mike Siegel's race against McCaul. And yet, despite McCaul spending $1,754,122 to Siegel's $481,417, Siegel's progressive grassroots campaign managed to win more votes than Fletcher's stands-for-nothing corporate campaign and tie Allred's stands-for-nothing corporate campaign (and for a fraction of the cost):

• Mike Siegel- 144,034 votes ($3.32 per vote)
• Colin Allred- 144,067 votes ($39.91 per vote, not counting massive outside spending)
• Lizzie Fletcher- 127,959 votes ($47.96 per vote, not counting massive outside spending)

Meanwhile Siegel forced McCaul to spend $11.16 for every vote he got. McCaul wasn't used to having to even campaign for his reelection bids. In 2016 he won 57.3%, 62.2% in 2014 and 60.5% in 2012. Siegel held him down to 51.1%. Alex Rogers' piece for CNN.com yesterday, One Republican's quest to stave off joining the 'Texodus', noted that last year was the worst election for him in his 15 year political career. "McCaul could be forgiven for retiring," wrote Rogers. "In the past four weeks, four of his fellow Texas Republican colleagues have done so-- a political phenomenon nicknamed 'Texodous'-- including two members who represent suburban districts similar to McCaul's. The Democrats flipped the House in 2018, suddenly making life miserable for GOP members now in the minority, and targeted half of the members of Congress in Texas, including him. To win, McCaul has to, for the first time, actually try; His once-safe district stretching from Austin to Houston is changing faster than he expected, threatening to throw him out."

McCaul is far more conservative than the district-- and a die-hard Trump enabler. As chair of the House Homeland Security Committee in 2018, he authored the congressional version of Trump's children in cages policy. Trump is way underwater in TX-10 and Beto beat Ted Cruz in the district last time. Siegel's platform-- Medicare-for-All, the Green New Deal, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, free public colleges, etc. are all opposed by McCaul but popular in the district. McCaul tried blaming Ted Cruz's unpopularity for his bad performance and Cruz's office responded that "McCaul raised more than triple the amount of his Democratic opponent and still 'almost lost.'"

But when faced with fight or flight, McCaul chose the former. He changed his campaign staff, including hiring Corry Bliss, who led the top Republican-affiliated super PAC for House races in 2018, as a general consultant. Last quarter, McCaul claimed a personal fundraising record. His team boasted the earliest field program of any incumbent Republican in America, one it says has already knocked on 10,000 doors. In the past week, McCaul met with local chamber of commerce officials, AARP constituents and local journalists. He toured car dealerships. He led a consortium on how to address human trafficking. And he hit three barbecue joints in three days.

"I decided if I'm going to do this again, I'm going to work it hard, maybe harder than I ever have," McCaul told CNN.

...On Election Night, McCaul was shocked, confident in the polling that showed him winning with about 57% of the vote against Mike Siegel, an attorney for Austin and first-time congressional candidate, rather than the four-point nail biter it was. "Ignorance is bliss," joked McCaul.

...McCaul's actions suggest he knows his previous campaigns were a little listless. He hasn't had to campaign much in the past: He won his first race in 2004 in a newly gerrymandered district by defeating a Libertarian candidate by over 60 points. He won his next seven races by an average of 20. One former McCaul campaign staffer told CNN, "I never saw him knock on a door." Now his campaign sends out photos of him doing it.

In his interview with CNN, McCaul did not mention the name of a potential Democratic opponent; his campaign manager Evan Albertson said that he or she would either be a "Pelosi liberal or AOC extremist."

But at a local Chamber of Commerce event this week, the issues that may illuminate his campaign came into focus-- improving child cancer research, addressing the scourge of human trafficking and touting the benefits of the 2017 tax overhaul.

Siegel told us that "CNN is right to call out McCaul for failing to 'actually try' to meet the voters of the district. He’s been an absentee representative, cashing millions of dollars in corporate PAC contributions while ignoring rural hospital closures, crumbling infrastructure, and specific local needs. His attempt to show engagement (by hiring paid canvassers to drop literature and calling it a 'field campaign') is too little, too late."

McCaul isn't really that interested in Congress. He even admits he thinks he should be Secretary of State instead. Rogers wrote that "Democrats are targeting McCaul for good reason. There are about a thousand new Texans each day, about half of which are babies, about a quarter are domestic migrants, and about a quarter are international migrants... Between 2017 and 2018 four of the top 10 counties with the largest growth in the country were in the Lone Star state, areas that include Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Antonio or its suburbs... In recent years, the populations of Latinos, African Americans and Asians in McCaul's district have boomed. Between 2012 and 2017, Latinos grew from 26% to 29% of the population as over 60,000 moved there or were born... The white population increased but more slowly than other races, and shrunk as a percentage of the district from 58% to 52%."

"Our campaign worked hard to turn this district into a national battleground," said Mike Siegel. "Now, we are ready to finish the job. We are fighting for progressive values and standing up for working people, and showing what it takes to win. Stay tuned for more innovative tactics here in the heart of Texas."

He's the progressive in the race and the more independent-minded on the three primary candidates. The other two, Pritesh Gandhi and Shannon Hutcheson, are just running for the sake of it and don't actually stand for much-- typical DCCC/EMILY's List types. Please consider contributing to Mike's campaign by clicking on the 2020 Take Back Texas thermometer on the right.

Democrats are confident that the mix of Trump at the top of the ticket, fundamental demographic changes and a message centering on health care and protecting the Affordable Care Act will flip the seat.

The Democrats also don't think McCaul is well-known even after winning eight terms in office and call his claims of a reinvigorated field campaign overblown. According to a copy of McCaul's schedule of the past two weeks obtained by CNN, the congressman had one door-knocking event but canceled it. When CNN toured the block, which included a home hoisting a Trump flag out front, a couple potential voters said they didn't recognize McCaul's name, but they would vote for him so long that he was Republican.

Democrats pledge to out-work McCaul since they can never out raise him; He's one of the wealthiest members of Congress. In the stifling August heat one recent evening in Austin, Hutcheson took her two daughters and brother-in-law to knock on dozens of doors. Hutcheson described her pitch as a mother motivated to run by the election of Trump and the desire to finally give women a seat at the table.

"This is a tough thing to do," said Hutcheson. "It is not for the faint of heart, but I'm doing it because I absolutely believe that we have to stand up. We have to stand up against hate. We have to stand up for the working families who aren't being listened to and aren't being represented-- families like the one I grew up in."

She's going to have a lot of catching up if she thinks she can compete with Siegel, although EMILY's List and the DCCC are steering money her way because of her less policy-oriented perspective and her lack of interest in anything remotely progressive.

House Passes Equality Act-- Republicans Whine It Impinges On Their Right To Discriminate Against Gays

Aside from being Republicans serving in Congress, what do these 8 men and women have in common: Susan Brooks (R-IN), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Brain Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Will Hurd (R-TX), John Katko (R-NY), Tom Reed (R-NY), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Greg Walden (R-OR)? They were the Republicans to stand up for their own LGBTQ constituents by voting with every single Democrat to pass David Cicilline's Equality Act (H.R.5). It's a simple, straight forward bill that prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing, credit, and the jury system. Specifically, the bill defines and includes sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity among the prohibited categories of discrimination or segregation. It allows the Department of Justice to intervene in equal protection actions in federal court on account of sexual orientation or gender identity. And it prohibits an individual from being denied access to a shared facility, including a restroom, a locker room, and a dressing room, that is in accordance with the individual's gender identity.

The bill passed with a big bipartisan majority-- 236-173. McConnell has already signaled that he will not permit a vote on the legislation in the Senate, ironic since he's a lifelong closet case himself who was kicked out of the military many decades ago for fondling a private's privates. Republicans don't admit that they're bigots when they try to block this kind of legislation. They claim it-- equality itself-- imposes on their freedom. Banning anti-LGBTQ discrimination is against their bizarre religion and will lead, the insist, to persecution of Christians. (No, no they really tell each other that.)

A morally "upright" Republican hate-monger like Florida crackpot Ross Spano-- who stole his election and should never have been seated-- warned that HR-5 will "allow the government to force its rigid and unyielding fist inside the church... It would deliver a crushing blow to the base of the tree of religious liberty." Could you even image having a lunatic who talks like that as a Reprsentative? Another GOP gay-hater and bigot from the Sunshine State, Greg Steube, also voted no, he says, to protect women athletes.

The Florida Republican argued that the bill will inhibit competitiveness in women's sports and women's eligibility for athletic scholarships.

"A sports team couldn't treat a transgender woman differently from a woman who is not transgender on the ground that the former is male-bodied," Steube said on the House floor. "Yet, the reality is [when] putting male and female bodied athletes together in open sport ... females lose."

"This is fear mongering about trans women playing in sports," California Rep. Katie Hil largued in opposition to the amendment. "No person is trying to game the system to participate in women's sports. That is a sad scare tactic." The Republican motion to recommit failed with only one Democrat, Rep. Dan Lipinski, voting in favor of the amendment; seven did not vote. Lipinski was also the only Democrat not to cosponsor the legislation.

Republican opponents also argued the measure would restrict individual religious freedoms and mandate "specific accommodations" in shared facilities that would put burdens on small businesses, schools, and other community places.

"Its vague and circular definition of gender identity will lead only to uncertainty, litigation, and harm to individuals and organizations that will be forced to comply with a law the authors don’t even seem to understand," Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) said on the House floor Friday. "This is a classic example of passing something now and figuring out what it actually means later ... If the devil is in the details, we’re in for a lot of devilish surprises."

In response, Cicilline, the measure's sponsor, argued that the bill "does not, nor could any legislation," supersede the First Amendment's religious freedom protections.

"H.R. 5 allows the standards set by prior civil rights law to not interfere with worship and religious practices by religious organizations," Cicilline added.

It's worth reminding people who Virginia Foxx-- one of Congress' most hateful and homophobic psychics-- actually is. Do you remember the name Matthew Shepard? He was the young gay man who was crucified-- literally-- and left to die next to a lonely Wyoming highway. While his grieving mother sat in the congressional visitors' gallery, this is what North Carolina 's premiere contribution to national evil and hatred had to say.



Foxx never apologized and has voted against every equality bill that has ever come before Congress-- proudly and loudly, always making sure everyone knows she stands for hatred and intolerance. Her district is safely gerrymandered so that she is re-elected year after year without ever doing anything for anyone but herself and other selfish multimillionaires. Meanwhile, yesterday, what's left of poor old Pat Robertson was ranting and raving on evangelical TV. Clearly, God has cursed him:





Austin and Houston are what you could call WOKE cities. Both Travis and Harris counties-- the westernmost and easternmost components of a gerrymandered shitshow (TX-10) by Tom Delay-- are open and welcoming parts of Texas where people expect everyone to be treated fairly and equally. By cutting Austin up like a pie, Texas Republicans succeeded in disenfranchising voters there-- putting them into 4 bizarrely-drawn congressional districts, 3 of which are predominately Republican. One of the conservative anti-LGBTQ congressmen that gerrymander had forced on Austin is multimillionaire-- he married well-- crackpot and Trump bootlick Michael McCaul. Progressive Democrat Mike Siegel held him down to a 51.1% win last year and Siegel has every intention of finishing the job next year, In fact, please consider contribution to his campaign by clicking on the Lone Star State ActBlue thermometer on the right. After the vote on the bipartisan H.R.5 yesterday, Mike told us he would have gladly joined the vast majority of congressmembers who voted for it. "The Equality Act is about making sure everyone can access work and housing and education and other public services, without fear of discrimination. Unfortunately, here in the Texas 10th, in a district that includes strong LGBT communities in the Austin and Houston areas, our 'representative' voted to legalize hatred. To legitimize oppression and bigotry. To endanger his very constituents, who he is sworn to protect. This is only the latest example of Michael McCaul failing to stand up for Texans. We are working hard to ensure this is the beginning of his end."

Blue America's First Texas 2020 Endorsement-- Mike Siegel Declares His Candidacy Today

Mike Siegel ran in 2018 in Texas' 10th district-- and he just announced he's running again... starting now. Last time he held entrenched Republican multimillionaire Michael McCaul down to a 51.1% win in a district with an R+9 PVI and where Trump beat Hillary 52-43%. The shift towards Mike Siegel in 2018 was 15 points, one of the strongest in Texas. In 2020 he plans to complete what he started in one of the country's most compelling, high-profile re-matches.

This afternoon his campaign is hosting a celebratory "Appreciation and Action" event to honor the volunteers, supporters, and donors who were the backbone of his 2018 efforts, at his campaign headquarters at 5460 Guadalupe St., Austin (2:00 pm). In his invitation, Mike reminded his team that they had "made history in the last election by closing a 19-point gap to just 4 points against a seven-time incumbent who thought was 'safe' in his seat. I am running again because the people of this district need real representation: someone who will fight for healthcare for all and good jobs, someone who will hold the president accountable and work to end the dysfunction in DC. I have a history of advocacy-- for working people and families, students and seniors, disadvantaged populations-- and I will bring that same spirit to the position of Representative for the 10th Congressional District of Texas... [A]s optimistic as we were during the 2018 election, we were never going to flip the state in one election cycle. To build a political infrastructure, to turn non-voters into frequent voters, to make the case that the Democratic Party will make a real difference in people's lives: this is something we need to be doing every day, every month, every year, not just on the eve of an election. With that in mind, even though the 2020 elections are a long way off, we are launching a program of 'Appreciation and Action.' Kicking off this Sunday in Austin, we will spend the weeks and months ahead traveling the Texas 10th Congressional District: to honor the individuals and organizations who dedicated themselves to political change during the 2018 election, and to launch a campaign of political action that will unite Democrats across our nine counties." He had more to say:

Appreciation comes first, because so many of you took extraordinary action last year, efforts we cannot take for granted. From super volunteers to national organizations, from Democratic clubs to activist groups and labor unions, I am personally indebted to so many of you, and I know that countless Texans send their thanks. In 2018 we built a strong foundation for the work to come.

And yet, every time we come together, we need to advance the movement for progressive change. In many parts of the Texas 10th, there is very little political organizing outside of the electoral cycle. But this month the Texas Legislature begins its five-month session, and major policies are at stake including public education, voting rights, and healthcare. Within TX-10 we have five Democrats in the Texas House, and all five are strong women leaders pushing important legislative initiatives. We plan to use our resources and network to support our state representatives. And through this process we will strengthen our habits of political organizing.

Mike has been running on 4 key issues as the foundation of his campaign: Medicare-for-All, Green New Deal (including Job Guarantee), an end to the War on Drugs, and Voting Rights. Yesterday he and I talked about the Voting Rights piece and why it was and is so important for him and for people in TX-10. Remember this video on Rachel Maddow's show last October?



This was the follow-up Rachel did highlighting Mike's victory in Waller County. Yesterday he told me that "The right to vote is the most fundamental right in a democracy, and here in TX-10 the issue highlights the intersection of racial discrimination and voter suppression. Prairie View A&M University is an historically-black college located on a former slave plantation in Waller County. In granting its charter, the Texas Legislature promised to place it on an equal footing with Texas A&M University, but that promise has never been fulfilled. Racist local officials have persistently used their authority to prevent Black students from voting, and unfortunately the 2018 election cycle was no exception. Luckily, our campaign was able to use our spotlight to draw attention to and defeat the latest cynical ploy to discourage the student vote. In 2019 and 2020, we have much more to do.

"One of the deficits for Texas Democrats is that we don't have a strong statewide infrastructure, which makes it difficult to keep local communities engaged outside of an election cycle. In 2019, my campaign will begin by working with folks in Waller County and other communities to fight for issues of local concern. Several Texas House members are pushing voting rights bills during 2009 Texas legislative session, and I will dedicate some of our campaign resources to engaging Prairie View students and other affected communities in the legislative process. We will look to testify at state hearings, and even federal hearings, to draw highlight the work that needs to be done to strengthen the democratic process.

"I believe that this is how we flip Texas-- not just by running strong campaigns to elect specific candidates, but by taking action year-round to fight on issues of local concern. Only by proving ourselves on a consistent basis can we show why the Democratic Party is worthy of the people's support."

Blue America is proud to stand with Mike again and we have every reason to believe that, based on his strong 2018 performance, the Democratic Party institutions that ignored his race last time, will be there to help this time. Please consider clicking on the Blue America 2020 campaign thermometer on the right and chipping him what you can-- or even signing up for a monthly contribution. The Democrats won the low-hanging fruit in 2018. Much of the party's efforts are going to go into protecting their new freshmen incumbents. 2020's congressional campaign-- with the discredited Trump on the top of the ticket-- will mean a tough slog by experienced teams like Mike's, who know what they're doing and have a precise game-plan to build on what has been accomplished take it over the finish line. Please follow Mike's campaign on Facebook and Twitter. And let's remember that if we're not safe, why should entrenched congressional Republicans in gerrymandered districts be? We can do this.