This is not a high bar to clear.
After a contentious primary, Texas Democrats will host their state convention in Corpus Christi this week and look to rally the party behind their ticket ahead of what they hope will be a midterm election that turns a cascade of seats blue.
In what’s being billed as the largest gathering of Democrats in the country this year, Texas Democrats are looking to harness their momentum to seize perhaps their best chance since 2018 to establish Texas as a major battleground state that will be crucial for the national party to invest in as a means to retake the Senate and to maintain a long-term path to the White House. Over two and a half days beginning Thursday, Texas Democrats will choose their state leadership heading into a critical midterm, decide the party’s policy priorities, attend campaign and organizing trainings and hear from their statewide candidates and other prominent Democratic speakers.
“We’ve had a lot of constructive disagreements over the last few months during the primary cycle, but I think the convention signifies our move towards unity, our move towards the common shared vision of flipping the state blue,” said Jordan Villarreal, a Denton city councilman and member of the State Democratic Executive Committee, the state party’s governing board. “A lot of people across the nation and in our state are looking at this convention as a show of force, a show that we’re serious.”
Democrats have been locked out of state power for decades, each election cycle bringing new promises of a blue Texas followed by heartbreak and fingerpointing. But Texas Democrats are looking toward November again with high hopes, this time fueled by voter discontent with the Trump administration, massive turnout in the March Democratic primary and rising star U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico’s scandal-plagued opponent in Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Those conditions have helped turn national attention to the state, with the convention’s speaker lineup featuring the most Democrats with national profiles in several years.
Among the headliners are U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats; Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, who is eyeing a 2028 presidential bid; U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey; Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico; and Tennessee state Rep. Justin Pearson, a congressional candidate who was temporarily expelled by the Tennessee House over a gun control protest in 2023. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin is also on the lineup, and Tejano music star Bobby Pulido, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz in Texas’ 15th Congressional District, is set to perform a free public concert on the first night of the convention.
“I’ve heard, I don’t know how many times over the years, ‘oh, Texas is in play,’” said Terri Burke, executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. “No, Texas has been an ATM machine for the rest of the country. And for the first time, we’re seeing lots of national attention on Texas.”
Much of the national spotlight was first sparked by state House Democrats’ walkout last year over Republicans’ unusual mid-decade effort to redraw the state’s congressional map in favor of the GOP. It has stayed on through high-profile, competitive U.S. Senate primaries on both sides of the aisle, with Talarico and Paxton’s contests both driving national headlines. In a notable show of national support, former President Barack Obama appeared in Austin with Talarico and state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, last month.
Several of the national speakers slated for this year’s convention reached out to the TDP to indicate they wanted to come speak to Texas Democrats, Burke said, adding, “That tells you that Texas is getting a lot of attention, and Democrats are excited about that.”
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A major objective of this year’s convention will be to bring Democrats together behind their sprawling slate of candidates — from Talarico and Hinojosa at the top of the ticket to the party’s legislative candidates and beyond — while introducing some of the candidates further down the ballot to the party’s most engaged base.
In a bid to maximize their flips and send votes up the ballot, Texas Democrats recruited a candidate to run in every state and federal race this year, a first for either party in modern state history. A coalition of the state’s biggest Democratic groups, including the state party and Texas Majority PAC, also launched a $30 million coordinated campaign to support candidates all along the ballot. National Democrats, too, are targeting their most ambitious list of Texas House seats in years, looking to flip a dozen districts and defend three of their own, which would put Democrats two seats shy of a majority.
“Showing a united front is the big key — whatever we can do to work together to get as many Democrats elected in the fall,” said Teddy Shaw, executive director of the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee. “From my perspective, I feel like the candidates are all working well together — we just need to get everyone else to feel like we are doing well together.”
Republicans, too, sought to drive home a message of unity to defeat Democrats at their convention in Houston this month, though signs of fracture were abundant, including the ouster of the sitting party chair, boos to greet House Speaker Dustin Burrows’ address and an effort to reject Muslim delegates looking for a place in today’s Texas GOP, which has fixated on Sharia law and at times veered directly into outright Islamophobia.
Like I said, it shouldn’t be too hard to do better than that, vibes-wise. Honestly, just doing better would be the bare minimum. I don’t want to put too much emphasis or pressure on the convention – these things are for the sickos, after all – but feeling energized and ready to go isn’t asking for much. Let’s start from there and work our way up.
I must also note the asterisk that comes with that candidate in every race claim. We had a filing in every race, but at least one of them won’t have a name on the ballot in November. The same guy who caused that drama got bounced from the Round Rock mayor’s race later on, a small victory for karma. Let us not speak of that again.
I’ll be sitting at home clenching my teeth while waiting for the reports out on the platform votes. More than 20 proposals concern Israel and antisemitism.
I’m disappointed to read the Jasmine Crockett is holding back on enthusiastic support for Talarico. Can anything be done to get her more involved? It would help us win.
I’m willing to bet that had the primary gone the other way, Talarico would be stumping for Crockett. She needs to put on her big girl pants and help defeat Paxton, if for no other reason than enlightened self interest. If she actively helps get Talarico into the Senate, she should have favors to call in for her future prospects.