Texas Democrats Strategize A Path Forward

On Tuesday evening about 500 people packed into a Methodist church in Dallas for an event sponsored by the local Democratic party. The headliner was former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, who used to represent Illinois, but now lives in Texas. 

Kinzinger has had a well-documented break with the MAGA wing of the Republican Party. He served on the select committee investigating January 6^th and is an outspoken critic of the Trump administration. 

The evening in Dallas started with Kinzinger, who looked and sounded like a cross between a motivational speaker and a fitness guru, discussing the need to defend democracy.  “I refuse to be the generation that lets democracy die on our watch,” he said to the cheering crowd. Kinzinger also made the point that while it is important for the Democratic Party to field quality candidates in Congress and Senate, “the real battles” are on the local level.

That teed up the main portion of the evening, which featured several North Texas elected officials, many of whom recently won close elections. In May, Amir Omar defeated a well-funded incumbent to become the mayor of Richardson, a large and sprawling suburb just north of Dallas. Omar is the first Muslim mayor in North Texas.

While Omar alluded to his values as a progressive, he emphasized that the role of mayor is nonpartisan. He said that when he was running, he utilized a “pragmatic and proactive” approach. On stage he pointed to a yellow tie and purple socks as literal symbols of his commitment to avoiding red or blue partisanship. 

Another elected official who echoed Omar’s commitment to keeping a race nonpartisan was Dr. John Biggan. In May Biggan won a race for Trustee of HEB (Hurst-Euless-Bedford) ISD. While Biggan campaigned in a nonpartisan manner, his opponent did not. That backfired with constituents who were fed up about cuts to the Department of Education and the recent passing of a voucher bill in Texas (all of which Biggan’s opponent supported). 

Another panelist, Laney Hawes from the Texas Freedom to Read Project, talked about Republican efforts to radically shape education policy in Texas. In Tarrant County, where she lives, she spoke about the impact of Patriot Mobile, a conservative wireless provider, on school board elections in the past few years.

However, Hawes talked about the strategy that was implemented to counteract those Patriot Mobile-backed candidates in the recent municipal elections. Several ISDs in North Texas experienced a wave of new members who explicitly ran against the far right’s encroachment on schools.

Hawes also noted how the Texas Republican Party views Tarrant County as a “must-hold” for them to maintain power. While it has traditionally been a reddish county, in 2020 it did narrowly vote for Joe Biden. And now there’s an effort underway to redistrict the commissioners court. County Judge Tim O’Hare outright admitted it was a scheme to keep Republicans in control. 

As Kinzinger closed out the evening, he mostly offered a positive message about coalition building but he had some suggestions for Democrats, particularly in their appeal to young men. He said that the Democratic Party has gone too far in denouncing masculinity, which is a trait he believes should be lauded in a positive manner. And then he offered up an assessment of the current president. “He is the least alpha male in this country.”