FINALLY! Breaking News that is GOOD!
Dear Fellow Democrat,
By now you've probably heard... This afternoon, Texas Democrats got two wins! Just after noon, a panel of three federal judges in El Paso ruled that the gerrymandered maps were illegal. That's big news!! What makes it more satisfying is that the panel was made up of a Reagan-appointed judge, an Obama-appointed judge, and a Trump-appointed judge, and the latter wrote in the 160-page opinion that "substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 map." It is likely that Republicans will appeal to the Supreme Court, and who knows what they'll rule, but for today, we can celebrate the win! The other win was in the form of the overwhelming vote to release the Epstein files in Congress, which is especially noteworthy in Texas because the entire bipartisan delegation from our state voted to release the files. Again, we know that that's the first of several hurdles, and we don't know how it will turn out in the end, but we can take a moment to enjoy the fact of a unified stand for pursuit of justice.
And of course, we are still celebrating the significant wins across the country a couple weeks ago, including close by in Tarrant county. Taylor Rehmet, the Democrat running for State Senate District 9, a district that went for Trump by 20 points last fall, took the lion's share of the votes in a 3-way race against two Republicans, almost winning the majority outright! The runoff was just announced for January 31st, so we have just over 2 months to help Taylor make it across the finish line! If he can do that in SD9, WE CAN WIN House District 112 with Zach Herbert as our candidate! I'm also super excited to welcome Orlando Lopez to the race to win House District 33! And I've been told that there is a candidate who is going to run for Senate District 2 against Bob Hall, but I don't have a name yet! We've got work to do folks! But the wind seems to be picking up at our backs!!
This Thursday is RAD Happy Hour! We are going to be meeting at Four Bullets Brewery, as usual, and are looking forward to hearing from Bobby Cole, a Texas rancher and volunteer fireman who is running for Governor. We just got word that the new candidate for Attorney General, Tony Box, will be rounding out our trifecta of candidates for that office as one of our featured speakers this month! And even though the government is open again and Texans started receiving their SNAP benefits this past Friday, the interruption of food benefits has set back already struggling assistance services like Network of Community Ministries (please donate if you can!) and Local Good Pantry, who will both be talking with us about their work. If you would prefer to stay home and not brave the weather (75% chance of thunderstorms!) you can watch the livestream from home! Please tune in or show up!
We continue to show up loudly in Richardson! We are now two or 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!
The day after Thanksgiving, on November 28th, RAD is going to enjoy some time in nature! We started doing this last year and everyone enjoyed it so much that we asked Chrissy & Sean Cortez-Mathis to introduce us to the Prairie Creek Marsh and the work they are doing there as Master Naturalists. Please join us! You can get more details and sign up here!
But Wait! There's More!! RAD will be marching in the Richardson Holiday Parade with our RAD banner and lots of candy to give out to the adorable children along the route on Saturday, December 6th! We would LOVE to have a HUGE group of RADs to show our community that we're here and we welcome them to be a part of our group! So come on out and walk with us - details and registration are here!
Please take care of yourself and others ~ As this year winds down and we consider our challenges along with our blessings, take time to appreciate the community we've built. We are stronger together.
~ 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.
