Justin Miller
By Justin Miller:
Is the Realm of Possibility Expanding for Texas Democrats Running for Congress?
From the swingiest seat to one of the most conservative, Democratic congressional challengers are raising big money — and big questions about the boundaries of a potential blue wave.
Halfway through the summer, Texas Democrats’ impressive fundraising efforts show no signs of cooling down. Beto O’Rourke has attracted the most attention with continuously eye-popping fundraising figures — he brought in $10.4 million in this last quarter alone, once again … Read More
Automatic Voter Registration Could Add 2 Million Texans to the Rolls. That’s Why it Won’t Happen.
By maintaining one of the least accessible voting systems in the country, the Texas GOP has kept a demographically favorable electorate encased in political amber.
“Texas isn’t a red state; it’s a non-voting state” is a political truism used frequently by Democrats to explain why they can win statewide — and also why they still always lose. The state consistently has one of the lowest … Read More
The Interview: Veronica Escobar is Poised to Make History
The Latina would be the first woman to represent Texas' largest border city in Washington, D.C.
While all eyes are on Beto O’Rourke’s bid to unseat Senator Ted Cruz, the race to take over O’Rourke’s El Paso congressional seat has gotten much less attention. Veronica Escobar, the El Paso county judge, decided to step down from … Read More
Four Takeaways from the Texas Democratic Convention
Year of the Woman, Beto’s bandwagon, immigrant families and the “sleeping giant” all animated this year’s Democratic convention.
More than 7,000 delegates for the Texas Democratic Party convened in Fort Worth over the past few days to ruminate on the prospects of a blue wave in November. Activists packed caucus meetings for Hispanics, women and rural folks, attended … Read More
‘There’s More of Us’: Texas Democrats Once Again Counting on Hispanic Turnout
Democrats have long struggled to turn out Latino voters in the state — and the struggles continue in 2018.
4.8 million. That’s the number on the minds of those attending the myriad meetings for Latino Democrats — the Progressive Hispanic Democrats, the Mexican American Caucus, Tejano Democrats, the Hispanic Caucus — on the first day of the Texas Democratic … Read More
Texas Democratic Convention: Can the Lone Star Left Seize the Moment?
As the immigration crisis in the state’s backyard has shown, the GOP is stuck with Trump’s immoral agenda. The question is whether state Democrats can capitalize on that.
The Texas Republican Party convention in San Antonio last week showed the dominance of the GOP’s far-right fringe, and party leaders’ outright deference to President Trump. Attendees were also treated to an apocalyptic vision of a George Soros-backed socialist takeover … Read More
What Texas Republicans Are (and Aren’t) Saying About Trump’s Family Separation Policy
While desperate immigrant families are torn apart and children sent to “tent cities” in Texas, most of the state’s prominent Republicans are more than happy to get behind Trump.
Over the past couple of weeks, the nation has been forced to confront the realities of President Trump’s goal of stopping immigration at the southern border with sheer force. We’ve seen a torrent of coverage about the ramifications of Trump’s … Read More
Ted Cruz and State Republicans Make Clear: This is Trump’s Texas Now
At the state GOP convention, Trump reigns supreme — and everyone knows it.
It was clear when Governor Greg Abbott bragged about being more powerful than Putin, and when he said that Texans had far more influence on Trump’s presidential victory than any Russians could have. It was clear when Lieutenant Governor Dan … Read More
Meet the Merry Band of Texas Democrats Running for Statewide Office
These Democratic candidates hope that an apogee of GOP extremism will help fuel their collective bid to break a 24-year losing streak. Don’t bet on it.
Coming out of the May runoffs, the Texas Democratic Party finally has its statewide ticket firmed up. And at a “Blue Wave Slate Jam” fundraiser in Austin on Tuesday, party leaders and candidates insisted that the slate is strong enough … Read More