Message from the Chair:

Andy Brown, TCDP Chair

Thanks for $287,450!

January 17th, 2012

Fellow Democrats,

We almost hit $300,000! We raised $287,450 at the JBR Dinner to fund our 2012 Coordinated Campaign. This is truly amazing, as the most we had ever raised at an event was $180,000 in 2010, which itself broke all previous TCDP fundraising records by a long shot. But, you can still help us reach that magic $300,000 even if you didn’t come to the dinner by donating here!

Not only did we raise record amounts, we had a great time doing it. Governor Barnes gave the best, most heartfelt speech I’ve heard in a long time. Loyal Democrats, 652 strong, packed shoulder-to-shoulder into the ballroom to see Lt. Governor Ben Barnes, Leader Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Doggett, Senator Watson and Dave Glassco give their thoughts on Barnes and politics. Click here to watch the video tribute to Gov. Barnes from Vice President Joe Biden, Larry Temple and Robert Spellings that we showed at the event.

Cappy McGarr was the emcee, and, true to form, entertained everyone. His true flash of brilliance, however, came when he called me King, in a transparent attempt to be asked to reprise his role next time. We shall see.

In all seriousness, I want to thank Pastor A.W. Anthony Mays, Senior Pastor at Mt. Sinai Baptist Church, for his heartfelt invocation. I truly hope he will join us again next time.

Thanks again to our host committee, chaired by the very generous Dave Glassco, and all of our sponsors, especially top donors Congressman Lloyd Doggett and Senator Kirk Watson. We had so many willing and generous donors that it’s impossible to mention them here, but please take a look at this link. The next time you see one of them, please thank them yourselves for giving us such an amazing start to our 2012 Coordinated Campaign.

Thanks also to our many volunteers who helped carry out this event. And I would like to send out a special thanks to TCDP Executive Director Laura Hernandez and the super-dedicated Crystal Viagrán, both of whom worked ridiculously long hours to organize the logistics of this amazing event. (Please let me know if you have any suggestions for how to keep Laura from leaving us to go off to law school next fall.)

Now that the party is over, it’s time to once again crank up the grassroots work of electing Democrats. Thanks to Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman and all of their great audience members (remember the enthusiastic applause for Rick Perry’s record 234 executions in Texas??), I feel very optimistic about our chances in 2012. Together, we will show the rest of the state what it takes to turn the red tide blue!

* * *

One more note of appreciation: Thanks to the hearty souls who, after having some fun the night before, turned out Monday morning for the MLK Day Community March. We started on the UT campus, marched to the Capitol and then on to Huston-Tillotson University. It’s always good to remind ourselves that the cause of civil rights is ongoing and affects us all. Plus it’s always a really good time!

Sincerely,