If Hinojosa gets his way it will destroy the Texas Democratic Party. I, for one, will be the first to resign my position as County Chair and my position on the TD CCA Board. Hinojosa needs to crawl back under the rock he has been under for the last 12 yrs. He is the most detrimental man I have ever seen to lead this party. The State Convention last summer was clearly rigged by him in an attempt to not pass several rules. Not to mention what happened at the state convention in 2022. The SDEC also put out a letter as well as the progressive caucus mentioned. I’ve signed both.
I sometimes joke that in order to defeat the GOP we must first defeat the Democratic party, meaning the establishment cabal that's blindly refusing to confront the fascist threat to America.
All kidding aside, I believe the battle between the old order and progressives in Texas is also accelerating among Democrats nationwide. Given Chuck Schumer's equivocation on the federal CR and what Hinojosa's Gollum-like grip on the TDP, I think the same fire that's animating a lot of Democrats to remake the party is what's needed against the authoritarian threats we face.
I agree that we're seeing this nationwide. I've been mad at Schumer since he failed to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and there is no way he should have been leader again in the 119th.
I only recently got involved in party politics after working as an intern for both Senator Levin (D-MI) and the Children’s Defense Fund in 1994 to pass the 1994 crime bill that banned assault weapons.
I then moved to Iowa where I worked on a juvenile crime prevention program as a result of a county block grant from the Crime Bill. After research on the community, we opened a medical clinic that was the biggest reducer in juvenile crime, ultimately providing the much needed data to pass the Children’s Health Insurance Plan or CHIP.
I then went to law school and hung up my political advocacy hat into 2018 when Beto ran for Senate in Texas and started fundraising on a national level. I went on to raise big dollars for both Biden in 2020 and Harris in 2024, but what I also did in 2020 was answer the call to be an election judge during the pandemic when many of our retired neighbors who normally work elections could not.
In 2022, Texas Republicans gerrymandered my congressional district and Texas Democrats couldn’t even field a candidate when the majority of the voters were still in Dallas and Tarrant County with Ellis growing from rural to suburban. I was so mad that in 2024 after telling all the voters in the March primary to go to their county party convention, I even went to mine. Because the county convention was now divided by congressional district than state senate district, Dallas County just completely ignored the county delegates from Irving.
That was clue #1.
I didn’t understand any of the roles that people were running for but I knew what Delegate was. We needed two women and 1 man, that was the request from the Biden Campaign. No one was particularly excited to go to the convention of our 80 year old incumbent president, but I had worked with Joe Biden when he was a Senator on the crime bill in 1994 and I figured I might get to see Vice President Harris or some of the other up and coming state democrats.
So I put my hat on the ring and we had a district convention via zoom where I met the other state delegates from across the district. There on Zoom I gave my first ever campaign speech.
In El Paso, my spiritual mentor, Rep. John Bryant (HD-114) took me around and introduced me to the who’s who in Texas politics. The first person he introduced me to was Kendall Scudder.
That meant something, to both me and Kendall as we both consider John Bryant a mentor.
I gave my next campaign speech the second day of the convention at our District caucus. I was unanimously elected National Delegate.
What happened after that was well, learn by fire.
There was a bunch of drama that I didn’t understand but I didn’t get the impression that Chair Hinojosa had control of the situation. What I know now, is that it was a fight between the Progressives and the sad excuse for a state party that I learned we have after meeting delegates from all 50 states. I could give multiple examples.
I dove into my District. The numbers showed it was a whole lot closer than I initially thought and we also had a candidate this year.
But neither TDP nor Dallas County gave that candidate or us trying to get out the vote in District 6 any help.
But Kendall did.
Every single time I have asked Kendall for help, he provides it or introduces me to someone else who can.
I drove all over my 9 county district to fulfill my duties of getting out the vote for Kamala Harris, and Kendall helped.
But you know who wasn’t getting out the vote? Dallas County.
And that is how I learned that there is DC consultant money in Texas that is ensuring that those of us on the ground doing the hard work of knocking on doors and connecting with voters never get what we need.
It is that same money that is trying to disqualify Kendall rather than face the actual voters.
That sounds an awful lot like the fight we have with Republicans.
I have been actively involved for exactly 1 year and I figured out the real uphill battle and I am not what you would call “progressive” by any means at least politically. I am pretty sure Michelle will slam me if I ever talk about oil and gas, capital gains or a litany of regulations. But if you are a progressive because whatever the TDP has been doing the last 30 years isn’t working and you want new leadership that actually supports grass roots organizing, and forcing national democrats to actually fight for the state? Then I guess I am.
What the money behind TDP is doing to Kendall is garbage and frankly not supported by Texas law. I looked into this and when it was first brought up at the Dallas Forum.
And once again, as I have learned the past year, I keep thinking someone else is taking care of this and it is above my pay grade. But apparently not.
I know my SDEC members are split but I can tell you that the overwhelming majority of democratic leadership in our 9 county district supports Kendall.
Because Kendall shows up. Because Kendall works.
Because Kendall knows that listening to the DC consultants isn’t working and we lose voters when we don’t contest every election.
Groups like Indivisible and Mothers Against Greg Abbott are doing the ACTUAL work that the TDP should be doing.
You think we are pissed off at Republicans. Just wait until March 29. There may just be a revolt.
I would only slam you on oil and gas, 😉. And tell you, it’s time to think clean. But I’m all for capital gains, as long as they’re taxed fairly (more than they are now).
I’m aware of the support Kendall Scudder has, even warning a few weeks ago for people for the SDEC members to give everyone an open mind.
But the fact of the matter is, there has been internal struggles for a long time and it seemed like those struggles stemmed from Hinojosa. Perhaps this is his side’s last hoorah, their last “fuck you” on the way out the door. Idk 🤷🏻♀️
Regardless, the next few weeks are going to be messy and I’m just glad I’m not on the SDEC.
I have to agree. The fact that this is all coming up now is complete and utter 🐂 💩. We have a nominations committee per party rules and they were in charge of ensuring the candidates were eligible back in November. It is coming up now because the DC machine thought they could just anoint their successor and it would be all fine. But I can tell you why that person would not be my choice if I had a vote. It is totally irrational but that is what I have learned from a recent book by Michael Lewis. Economic Psychology: If voter prefers B over A and C over B then the voter prefers C over A. But what actually happens is they perfect A over C 70% or the time. It makes no rational or logical sense. But that is what we democrats need to learn and why this is all personal. That candidate snubbed me, didn’t introduce themselves. I presented as someone who had a vote (someone gave me an arm band mistakenly). They had the opportunity to make me feel noticed and important, that they wanted to earn my vote.
That is what is wrong with TDP. Actually talking to voters and empowering local leaders and activists. Instead of they just keep saying “this is what we are doing we know best” when they didn’t. In fact they weren’t doing anything.
If Hinojosa gets his way it will destroy the Texas Democratic Party. I, for one, will be the first to resign my position as County Chair and my position on the TD CCA Board. Hinojosa needs to crawl back under the rock he has been under for the last 12 yrs. He is the most detrimental man I have ever seen to lead this party. The State Convention last summer was clearly rigged by him in an attempt to not pass several rules. Not to mention what happened at the state convention in 2022. The SDEC also put out a letter as well as the progressive caucus mentioned. I’ve signed both.
I know 2 of the SDEC members that are voting.
Who is it that Hinojosa wants. And these two have been leaning Kendall.
I’m sharing this article with them.
If Hinojosa choice is a Chuck Schumer.
I would rather have AOC. 😁
This is so important. As ever, thanks for keeping us informed!
as I look back......the establishment wing of TCDP has won.................nothing......
why would anyone reward them with more time in office to do .........nothing....
I sometimes joke that in order to defeat the GOP we must first defeat the Democratic party, meaning the establishment cabal that's blindly refusing to confront the fascist threat to America.
All kidding aside, I believe the battle between the old order and progressives in Texas is also accelerating among Democrats nationwide. Given Chuck Schumer's equivocation on the federal CR and what Hinojosa's Gollum-like grip on the TDP, I think the same fire that's animating a lot of Democrats to remake the party is what's needed against the authoritarian threats we face.
I agree that we're seeing this nationwide. I've been mad at Schumer since he failed to pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and there is no way he should have been leader again in the 119th.
I only recently got involved in party politics after working as an intern for both Senator Levin (D-MI) and the Children’s Defense Fund in 1994 to pass the 1994 crime bill that banned assault weapons.
I then moved to Iowa where I worked on a juvenile crime prevention program as a result of a county block grant from the Crime Bill. After research on the community, we opened a medical clinic that was the biggest reducer in juvenile crime, ultimately providing the much needed data to pass the Children’s Health Insurance Plan or CHIP.
I then went to law school and hung up my political advocacy hat into 2018 when Beto ran for Senate in Texas and started fundraising on a national level. I went on to raise big dollars for both Biden in 2020 and Harris in 2024, but what I also did in 2020 was answer the call to be an election judge during the pandemic when many of our retired neighbors who normally work elections could not.
In 2022, Texas Republicans gerrymandered my congressional district and Texas Democrats couldn’t even field a candidate when the majority of the voters were still in Dallas and Tarrant County with Ellis growing from rural to suburban. I was so mad that in 2024 after telling all the voters in the March primary to go to their county party convention, I even went to mine. Because the county convention was now divided by congressional district than state senate district, Dallas County just completely ignored the county delegates from Irving.
That was clue #1.
I didn’t understand any of the roles that people were running for but I knew what Delegate was. We needed two women and 1 man, that was the request from the Biden Campaign. No one was particularly excited to go to the convention of our 80 year old incumbent president, but I had worked with Joe Biden when he was a Senator on the crime bill in 1994 and I figured I might get to see Vice President Harris or some of the other up and coming state democrats.
So I put my hat on the ring and we had a district convention via zoom where I met the other state delegates from across the district. There on Zoom I gave my first ever campaign speech.
In El Paso, my spiritual mentor, Rep. John Bryant (HD-114) took me around and introduced me to the who’s who in Texas politics. The first person he introduced me to was Kendall Scudder.
That meant something, to both me and Kendall as we both consider John Bryant a mentor.
I gave my next campaign speech the second day of the convention at our District caucus. I was unanimously elected National Delegate.
What happened after that was well, learn by fire.
There was a bunch of drama that I didn’t understand but I didn’t get the impression that Chair Hinojosa had control of the situation. What I know now, is that it was a fight between the Progressives and the sad excuse for a state party that I learned we have after meeting delegates from all 50 states. I could give multiple examples.
I dove into my District. The numbers showed it was a whole lot closer than I initially thought and we also had a candidate this year.
But neither TDP nor Dallas County gave that candidate or us trying to get out the vote in District 6 any help.
But Kendall did.
Every single time I have asked Kendall for help, he provides it or introduces me to someone else who can.
I drove all over my 9 county district to fulfill my duties of getting out the vote for Kamala Harris, and Kendall helped.
But you know who wasn’t getting out the vote? Dallas County.
And that is how I learned that there is DC consultant money in Texas that is ensuring that those of us on the ground doing the hard work of knocking on doors and connecting with voters never get what we need.
It is that same money that is trying to disqualify Kendall rather than face the actual voters.
That sounds an awful lot like the fight we have with Republicans.
I have been actively involved for exactly 1 year and I figured out the real uphill battle and I am not what you would call “progressive” by any means at least politically. I am pretty sure Michelle will slam me if I ever talk about oil and gas, capital gains or a litany of regulations. But if you are a progressive because whatever the TDP has been doing the last 30 years isn’t working and you want new leadership that actually supports grass roots organizing, and forcing national democrats to actually fight for the state? Then I guess I am.
What the money behind TDP is doing to Kendall is garbage and frankly not supported by Texas law. I looked into this and when it was first brought up at the Dallas Forum.
And once again, as I have learned the past year, I keep thinking someone else is taking care of this and it is above my pay grade. But apparently not.
I know my SDEC members are split but I can tell you that the overwhelming majority of democratic leadership in our 9 county district supports Kendall.
Because Kendall shows up. Because Kendall works.
Because Kendall knows that listening to the DC consultants isn’t working and we lose voters when we don’t contest every election.
Groups like Indivisible and Mothers Against Greg Abbott are doing the ACTUAL work that the TDP should be doing.
You think we are pissed off at Republicans. Just wait until March 29. There may just be a revolt.
I would only slam you on oil and gas, 😉. And tell you, it’s time to think clean. But I’m all for capital gains, as long as they’re taxed fairly (more than they are now).
I’m aware of the support Kendall Scudder has, even warning a few weeks ago for people for the SDEC members to give everyone an open mind.
But the fact of the matter is, there has been internal struggles for a long time and it seemed like those struggles stemmed from Hinojosa. Perhaps this is his side’s last hoorah, their last “fuck you” on the way out the door. Idk 🤷🏻♀️
Regardless, the next few weeks are going to be messy and I’m just glad I’m not on the SDEC.
I have to agree. The fact that this is all coming up now is complete and utter 🐂 💩. We have a nominations committee per party rules and they were in charge of ensuring the candidates were eligible back in November. It is coming up now because the DC machine thought they could just anoint their successor and it would be all fine. But I can tell you why that person would not be my choice if I had a vote. It is totally irrational but that is what I have learned from a recent book by Michael Lewis. Economic Psychology: If voter prefers B over A and C over B then the voter prefers C over A. But what actually happens is they perfect A over C 70% or the time. It makes no rational or logical sense. But that is what we democrats need to learn and why this is all personal. That candidate snubbed me, didn’t introduce themselves. I presented as someone who had a vote (someone gave me an arm band mistakenly). They had the opportunity to make me feel noticed and important, that they wanted to earn my vote.
That is what is wrong with TDP. Actually talking to voters and empowering local leaders and activists. Instead of they just keep saying “this is what we are doing we know best” when they didn’t. In fact they weren’t doing anything.