November 7, 2012
Fellow Democrat,
With your help, we have done it again — and our Coordinated Campaign efforts paid off. We beat the previous record set in 2008 for straight ticket votes by 4,000, giving us an impressive 129,139 straight ticket Democratic votes in Travis County.
We raised over $500,000 this cycle, knocked on over 115,000 doors and called over 110,000 voters. This is how we will turn Texas blue — with every urban area in the state increasing its straight ticket votes. Once again, we have done our part. I want to personally thank all of you for your hard work and financial support throughout this campaign. From campaign staff to volunteers and donors, we couldn’t have succeeded without you.
Congratulations to our incumbent legislative delegation: Representatives Donna Howard, Dawnna Dukes, Elliott Naishtat, Eddie Rodriguez and Mark Strama. By re-electing Donna Howard, we did our part in helping to strengthen the Democratic Party in the Texas Legislature — Republicans no longer have a super-majority in the House.
Senator Kirk Watson led us to a resounding victory for the forward-thinking health care initiative Prop 1, and despite having his district sliced and stretched between two cities, Congressman Lloyd Doggett cruised to victory with more than 64 percent of the vote. Congratulations to Constables Adan Ballesteros, Sally Hernandez and Carlos Lopez for winning their races as well.
Congratulations also to our hard-fighting candidates who faced redistricting that made victory more difficult — Chris Frandsen in HD 47 — and our Third Court of Appeals candidates, including incumbent Justice Diane Henson, who won handily in Travis County but whose fates also hinged on counties outside our dependably blue precincts. Andy Hathcock, Karen Watkins and Bryan Case all ran tough, energetic campaigns.
Commissioner Karen Huber ran a great campaign, too, with the full support of the Party, and we know that she will continue to be a champion for protecting our water resources in Central Texas. Her team, including Sylvia Camarillo, Garry Brown, Karen Gilbert, as well as Coordinated Campaign field staffers, could not have run a more energetic, positive campaign.
We have a lot to be proud of in Travis County. Our Election Day turnout of 151,616 was among the highest ever, and our overall turnout of 389,687 (more than 237,000 or 37 percent were cast early) was an impressive 61 percent of registered voters. Considering we had about 30,000 more registered voters than in 2008, we should be very proud of our turnout percentage.
Along with other urban areas in Texas, Travis County is leading the way in helping turn Texas blue! Let’s take a post-election breath, but stay active so that we can support our legislative delegation as the session begins in just a few months.
Sincerely,
Andy Brown
Travis County Democratic Party Chair
