This is not just a campaign for Governor of Texas, it is a campaign to save Texas by bringing together all people who do not have hate in their heart. It is a campaign to change Texas by getting Texans to prioritize real issues over the culture war issues that Greg Abbott uses to distract voters from the actual problems facing this state and in their lives. And a campaign to pick up the pieces of this country that Trump broke in half and put us back together again.
In Texas, elections for Democrats now are a fight for Texans' lives. Beating Greg Abbott is life or death for thousands of Texans, especially women. This is an election that we must win. Texas must flip blue all statewide offices, and I know I can absolutely make that a reality!
We must have a candidate who can genuinely connect with new and low propensity voters and bring together everyone who does not have hate in their heart. Elections are not about policies, they are about connection and trust. Our democratic nominee for governor must be able to truly connect with people on a deeper level than just issues and build trust. We cannot run a campaign that is completely focused on Greg Abbott and republicans. It must be about building trust with voters and potential voters. They need to trust us that we truly care about them and that we are going to make their lives better. A campaign that is solely focused on Greg Abbott is not focused on building the trust that is needed to turn out new voters and swing over potential swing voters.
Aside from not being able to turn out new voters and low propensity voters, we keep losing statewide elections because our previous Democratic nominees didn't know how to calm the voters' emotions and keep them from feeling the fear, anger, and confusion that Republican messaging does to them. The culture war issues that Republicans run on create unnecessary fear and anger with the potential swing voters and new voters that we need to win. People have to start understanding how much those emotions play a role in an election. In Texas, it is everything. Elections here are not about ideas or issues, they are about the feelings and the emotions surrounding the issues. Greg Abbott does not campaign on ideas. He campaigns on distractions, culture war distractions that incite fear and anger. We are not going beat him if we don't nominate a candidate who knows how to fight against the culture war enough to calm that fear, calm their anger, prevent voter confusion, and put an end to the gaslighting.
The entire Republican playbook is: make scared, make angry, confuse, and distract. We have to have a Democratic nominee who can stop that from happening. When voters are angry or scared everything becomes about self preservation. Rational thought and the care that they do have about real issues goes out the window. They stop caring about public education, property taxes, and affordability. All of our previous statewide nominees have done is run on real issues, not understanding that people don't care because they are worried about themselves or are angry about insignificant culture war issues. Not about healthcare, or about public schools, or about affordability. We have to have a candidate who can stop them from becoming afraid, scared, and angry while preventing confusion so that they can care about those things. Texans do care about real issues, but not if Republican culture war messaging is being hammered into them causing them to not prioritize them.
Four things have to be done if we want to save Texas:
- The most important thing that absolutely must happen is that we need to put an end to the culture war. In Texas, the candidate who runs on fear of people and cultures will always beat the candidate who is running on change and making things/life better for people. If we want change, the culture war must end. And that means actually fighting it. Not just pretending that it doesn't exist because you think that there are enough people ready for change. There aren't. And fighting the culture war back will take a strong and compassionate candidate who can show voters a different perspective and help them overcome their irrational fears and anger.
- We also have to turn out at least 250,000 new voters. This will take a genuinely authentic and empathetic candidate who can connect with people on things other than issues.
- And lastly we must swing at least 250,000 "non-partisan right leaning" voters to the left, instead of the right. Needed for this, in addition to everything else, is a relatable candidate who can inspire the potential "swing" voters by getting them to overcome their emotions about certain things or specific issues. Someone who can get them to know, and believe, that everything is going to be okay.
- We must also turn out as many "presidential election only" voting Democrats as possible. There are millions of voters who vote democratic in presidential elections, choosing to then skip the midterms and stay home for whatever reason. We have to have a nominee who can connect with those voters and get them to turn out in the midterm. Kamala Harris got 4.8 million votes in Texas in 2024 vs Trump. Greg Abbott got 4.4 million votes against Beto in 2022. If every single person who showed up to vote for Kamala Harris turns out in the midterm, we will flip every single statewide seat. We have got to nominate someone who can turn them out. And I will turn them out.
So, how can my campaign turn out new voters? First, we must identify which kind of nonvoters we need to target so we know exactly how to get them to turnout.
- Some just don't care about politics at all.
•This group needs to feel a connection to the candidate outside of the issues. I have to connect on things like common interests and personality. They need to get to know me on a deeper level, not just at the surface. - Some care about issues, but may or may not care about politics or a candidate and think that if they vote, nothing is going to change anyway. Or at least the things they truly care about will not be addressed. That voting will be a waste of time.
•This group needs to know and believe that if I win, they are going to get the things that I told them they were going to get. No lies and false promises. They need to know that I'm going to work my tail off to make the changes that I campaigned on. They will also need to know how I even plan to achieve my goals in order to be successful. That I'm not just blowing smoke. - Would be Democratic voters who don't vote because they think that the Democratic candidate doesn't even have a chance to win.
•This group needs to see close poll numbers. The closer the better, but at least be within 4 points. There are a lot of people who just don't want to be on a "losing team." If they don't think that I am going to win, they will ask themselves, "why bother?" This goes for a lot of Republican voters also. Many of them just want to be on a "winning team," and they will swing Democratic if they think that the Republican candidate is going to lose.
We need a Democratic nominee who can draw a clear and defined line in the sand that cannot be mistaken. On one side, good people who actually have a conscience. People who care about other people and about real issues. People who don't have hate in their hearts. People who aren't afraid. Afraid of change or afraid of the future. People who embrace change and who know that that is what makes us better as human beings. People who want a government that actually cares about them. And people who are sick and tired of the bullshit.
On the other side of that line... everyone else.