December 8th was one for the books ~
Dear Fellow Democrat,
Yesterday was the final day for filing to be on the ballot. At 7:15 a.m., the first news hit my phone - Colin Allred was stepping down from the race for Senate and had decided to run for Congressional District 33. CD33 was gerrymandered away from Democrat Marc Veasey (who decided yesterday to run for Tarrant County Commissioner, which is its own drama) and is a predominantly Hispanic district that Domingo Garcia had been about to run for and Julie Johnson (yes, currently the Congresswoman in CD32, right here in Richardson) had just filed for when the Supreme Court ruled to stay the judgement we just celebrated two weeks ago saying that the gerrymandering was indeed racially motivated and that the state could use the 2025 maps instead of staying with the (also gerrymandered) 2021 maps. (Got all that?!?) When Colin announced he was going to run in that district, Domingo announced that he was in fact not going to run. This was all before 8 a.m. And the day just went on from there... as they usually will.
The Colin announcement was prelude to Jasmine Crockett's announcement that she was indeed (as has been speculated for a while now) going to run for Senate. This set off a storm of folks stating their positions on her candidacy across the internet, varying between the "I love Jasmine, but a Black woman cannot win in Texas," to "I love Jasmine, but we need her in Congress," to the other end of the spectrum with something along the lines of "how dare she step in when we support Talarico?!" Some of the conversation was respectful and thoughtful, some of it ... less so.
Towards the end of the day, James Talarico posted a video to his supporters, welcoming Congresswoman Crockett to the race. It is classic Talarico and showed great respect, thus setting the tone for a different type of primary. Video of Jasmine's speech is inspiring and lays out a great case for her candidacy. And by the time the lights went out, it occurred to me that we are about to meet two people, regardless of how well we may think we know them, who are presenting in a new way. We've never known this James Talarico - the bold and thoughtful young pastor running for Senate against Jasmine Crockett. And we've never seen this version of Jasmine Crockett - the powerful, brilliant Black woman running against James Talarico in Texas for Senate. They each deserve to be heard and understood, to be reckoned with on the merit of what they each bring to this race. Because by the time this primary is called, we are going to coalesce behind the winner and work together to win for Texas.
We found out at the end of the day that EVERY RACE IN TEXAS HAS A DEMOCRAT ON THE BALLOT!! We haven't had a full ballot for decades - actually since 1974!! But because of the hard, smart, diligent, and coordinated efforts across the state by our Texas Democratic Party Chair, Kendall Scudder, Beto O'Rourke and his Powered by People organization, and Blue Texas, along with lots of input from county parties and regular folks who stepped up, we are now making the Republicans work in every contest across the state!! This is how we win!!
Locally, we're excited about our uncontested candidates! In HD112, Zach Herbert is challenging Angie Chen Button and we are really hopeful that this is the year we will see our efforts rewarded! In the Collin County side of the city, HD33 Orlando Lopez has stepped up to run against Katrina Pearson and we see a real possibility of flipping this red seat! On the State Senate side of things, Keenen Colbert has filed in District 2 to make Bob Hall have to work for that enormous and very rural (red) district. Our dear (and fierce!) Representative Ana-Maria Rodriguez Ramos is running for re-election, unopposed in the primary! And thank goodness, Representative Mihaela Plesa is running for re-election unprimaried so she can focus on the general - in the most contested house race in the state.
We are very proud to announce that Richardson Councilman Dan Barrios has decided to run for Congressional District 32! He has served two and a half terms in the Richardson City Council Place 3, and he just made the huge decision to step up for this congressional district that covers all of Richardson and has been newly gerrymandered to reach all the way out to Upsher County in East Texas near Longview! Dan is going to need all of us to work together to turn out the vote in an unprecedented way in order to tip the scales for this Democrat! LET'S GO! He is in a primary with Anthony Bridges, who is also running for CD32.
We are taking the rest of the month of December off from RAD events. We'll be back in 2026 with great speakers and awesome events, so get ready to join us! January 15th will be our first Happy Hour of the new year and the following week, we'll be hosting a debate for the Attorney General's office on January 22nd! Details to follow soon!
But we continue to show up loudly, ROARing on the bridge and with our signs! We are now three months into our weekly protests, and they continue to be a fun and effective way to be inspiring to others and to lift our spirits in community. You can join the ROAR Bridge Brigade on Thursday evenings from 3:30 - 5:30 and Saturday mornings from 9-10 on the Collins Blvd Bridge over I-75 (park at Cafe Max and walk up!) - they are always happy to have more hands to hold the banners and flags and wave at the honking cars on Central! We also meet every Saturday morning from 10-11 on the southeast corner of Campbell & 75 to let our community know that there is a resistance in Richardson! Join Us!
I hope you are encouraged and ready to show up in all your unique ways. I chose to use our mosaic RAD logo above to remind us how beautiful it is that we each have our own wonderful way of being a part of this community. We need each other. Thank you for being you here with us.
~ See You Soon ~
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Once again, if you haven't done so yet, we invite you to join or renew your membership in Richardson Area Democrats. Your suggested donation of $10/month will help us continue to build this inclusive community! Thanks for all you do.
