Save Harris County, Fight Against White Supremacy - Run For Office
Harris County is expected to have a huge voter turnout in 2024, but we need the candidates for voters to vote on. The filing deadline is in 69 days.
One of the biggest failures of the Texas Democratic Party and County Parties around the state is to constantly convey to would-be Democratic voters how much more important state and local elections are than presidential elections. Because of that, Democratic turnout is always less during the mid-term years. In the last election, 9.5 million Texas voters didn’t vote.
Harris County was most impacted by this low voter turnout of all the counties in Texas. Why? This kept the white supremacist, Conservative Texas legislature in place, and the number one goal of most of these elected officials who didn’t live near Harris County was to hurt Harris County.
Why do Texas Conservatives want to hurt Harris County?
The answer is pretty simple. Harris County is home to over 3.9 million Black and brown people.
Last legislative session, Republican state lawmakers passed measures targeting how elections are run in Harris County. They want to take away the voting rights of the millions of Black and brown voters in Harris County because those voters will hurt their white supremacist agenda.
Republicans at the state and county level decided Harris County’s election system was broken and needed state intervention to fix it.
And the HISD takeover? Everyone knows it was a racist move, and it goes back to a bill Conservatives passed in 2015. The Republican-led government in Texas, which is 90% white, has sent a message to Houston, “Your Black and brown children belong in discipline centers, not libraries.”
Harris County can save itself and save Texas along with it.
Around the country, there have been 31 elections this year, and 25 of them have swung toward Democrats. Not only that, Democrats are massively overperforming their baseline. Now, we have 400 days left until the 2024 election, which is a long time for Democrats to screw things up, but based on the momentum we’re seeing around the country, things are looking good for Texas.
The Harris County Democratic Party has set a goal of 1.1 million voters turning out in the 2024 election. That’s about 180,000 more Democratic votes than Harris County had in 2020.
Not only is this achievable, but between the voters being pissed off and the Democrats expected to overperform, this turnout is inevitable.
The only problem is that there are 69 days left until the filing deadline, and many Republicans remain unopposed.
Run for what?
If you want to run for the Texas State House, you must be 21 years old, a U.S. citizen, a Texas resident for two years, and a resident of the district you’re running in for twelve months. This is where Democrats can have the most significant impact.
If we flip the Texas House, we can completely stop the far-right’s racist and fascist agendas. The House may not flip this election, but if we see Democrats overperform, we could be surprised.
Harris County House seats held by Republicans that are still unopposed:
If you want to run for the Texas State Senate, you have to be 26 by the time of the first day of your term (January 2025), you must be a U.S. citizen, you must have lived in Texas for five years, and in the district you’re running for twelve months.
Harris County Senate seats held by Republicans that are still unopposed:
Here are resources to help you get started:
The Texas Democratic Party’s new program for training and candidate resources - Lone Star Rising.
If you’re young and progressive (I love you), but also Run For Something will help you with all stages of your campaign.
If you’re considering running in a red or rural district, Blue Horizons Texas will help you every step of the way.
If you’re a member of the LGBTQ community, make sure to reach out to the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.
Are you a woman? You can get help running for office from Emily’s List.
And as soon as possible, contact your County Party to get them on board with your campaign.
Even if running for office isn’t something for you, share this because perhaps someone you know was considering this. We can flip Texas, but it will take all of us. Voter turnout is the most important thing, but we have to have the candidates for voters to vote for in the first place.
If you are considering running or know someone who is and needs more information on open seats or how to get started, feel free to contact me. I’d be glad to help.