Fellow Democrats,

The Bexar County Democratic Party is catching up with us!  Their County Chair, my old friend and co-worker at the 21st Century Democrats, Manuel Medina, has started their first-ever sustaining member program.  He invited me to speak at an event last Friday night to talk about our sustaining member program at Precinct Chair Bob Comeaux’s house, and now we officially have a friendly rivalry going. They already have 100 new members, and they are working hard on the next 200.  We can’t let them catch up to us!  Please consider signing up now only $10 or, for a free t-shirt, $20 per month.

Some great folks showed up on Friday, including the Chief Justice of the 4th Court of Appeals, Catherine Stone, who let me know that she thinks our newsletter is very well written and organized—thanks Justice Stone (and hello!).  There were also several local judges, a lot of great precinct chairs (only one of whom thought I was Seth Meyers), and of course Congressman Charlie Gonzalez.  And introducing Congressman Gonzalez was our own (and Bexar County’s) Congressman Lloyd Doggett—who stayed the entire time and I’d bet spoke with every single person at the event.

So remember, we aren’t in this battle to take back Texas alone, and that’s a good thing.  We’ve got hard working activists, precinct chairs, donors, and elected officials all over the state, each doing a small part to help us win Texas.  And now, with the kickoff of Battleground Texas, we have even more to be excited about.

If you haven’t heard Battleground Texas is a new organization committed to making Texas a competitive state in Presidential elections. If Texas goes Democratic in a presidential year, it is very, very unlikely that a Republican could win the White House. We have done more than our part to help Democrats in other states – whether helping fund our President’s campaign, making calls to Florida and other swing states, or getting on a bus and actually helping to turn out the vote on the ground – Texans have done their duty to help other states. Now, it’s our turn.

Many Texas Democrats are thrilled to hear about the group, but are curious what role Battleground Texas will play in helping to make our state competitive. Executive director Jenn Brown is on the ground running, and Texan Christina Gomez, who used to worked for State Representative Trey Martinez Fischer, is the Digital Director.

I have high hopes for Battleground Texas – I like to think of it as the 21 Precinct Project (run by Crystal Viagran and Laura Hernandez for TCDP in 2010) but statewide. In that program, we dramatically increased voter turnout in 21 East Austin Precincts following a very basic but well-organized field program – I am confident that,  with proper funding, organization, and volunteer, we can win back Texas!

I hope you are as excited as I am about this new front in the fight to Turn Texas Blue. If you’d like to help Battleground Texas by hosting a house party, registering voters or just letting your neighbors know how to get involved sign up to volunteer at www.BattlegroundTexas.com.

Sincerely,

Andy Brown

Travis County Democratic Party Chair

p.s.

Also I’m very sad to report that our good friend Mary Margaret Farabee
passed away yesterday. The memorial service is Monday March 18, at Lady Bird Wildflower Center, at 10:30am. More details here.