Letter from the Chair
Our Plans for 2020 – We Can’t do it Without You
I have received a couple of emails from loyal Democrats in the last few days inquiring about the Montgomery County Democratic Party’s plans for the upcoming federal and state election cycle. Because it is time (after the recent local elections) to address those issues, I wanted to use our newsletter to talk about the issues raised in the emails
The first email asked if we were doing anything to “locate, encourage, or draft a viable candidate” to run against Kevin Brady. I appreciate that Federal issues are often front and center in everyone’s mind because of the influence of the national news media, but I believe the question, a well-intentioned question because the writer at least offered to help, misses the mark. While finding someone to run against Kevin Brady is a priority, it is not my top priority as the Chair of the Montgomery County Democratic Party.
The first reason is a reflection of the geographic considerations in getting a candidate to run in Congressional District 8. While Montgomery County is the population base of the district, it is by no means the only county involved. CD08 (my shorthand for the district) is comprised of all of Montgomery, Grimes, Walker, Madison, Houston, Trinity and San Jacinto counties, and parts of Harris and Leon counties. That means there are as many as eight (8) other County Chairs that may have some input in to the potential candidate.
Second, demographically the district is a challenge. According to the latest information I have available, the population is almost 2/3’s White, less than 10% Black and about 20% Hispanic, numbers that mirror the demographics of Montgomery County. We also lack a large Asian population that other areas have, such as Fort Bend County. And the district has voted accordingly, with Brady more often than not having to defend his right flank from some real Tea Party types.
Third, the funding sources have been difficult, with almost no support from national Democrats. Steven David, our candidate in 2018 was only able to raise a grand total of $34,300. But that was significantly more than our last candidate, Neil Burns in 2012, was able to raise. The lack of funding makes it much more difficult to generate much in terms of buzz around a candidacy, but Steven was able to hit almost 25% district-wide.
And the cumulative effect of these factors has made it hard to attract a candidate, much less “draft” someone to run. But even given those odds, we are pursuing all leads and may even have a potential candidate waiting in the wings.
But that is not why CD08 is not my top priority. One of the other reasons that we have issues with finding candidates for Congress is that we haven’t attracted candidates for any state or local positions, so we don’t have much of a bench to go to with experience in running a political race, either as a candidate, or as a campaign manager or staffer (and because of the aforementioned funding limitations - more about that later - those have been volunteers thrust into those roles). So imagine our delight when we had ALL of our state legislative slots filled with candidates: Lorena Perez McGill for House District 15; Lisa Seger (Waller County) for House District 3; Mike Midler for House District 16; and Shirley Layton (Angelina County) for Senate District 3. In addition, we filled three out of the four county-wide races, including County Judge, and one each for Commissioner and Justice of the Peace.
Where does that leave us for 2020? Well, we need to do it again. We don’t have Senate District 3 this time, but we do have Senate District 4, another Republican far-right politician that we need to defeat. And I believe that we will soon have the right candidate to do that! But that means we still need too recruit candidates for all three House Districts (and I have even seen that Lisa Seger has offered to pay the filing fees for anyone interested in running for HD03 – and that is my home district as well! If you have an interest in state-level politics, now is the time to consider a run.
Below the state-level races are the local elections. And as we know from our recent experience, local elections really make a big difference! In 2020, the big county-wide races (outside of the judicial elections) are for the legal and law enforcement positions. Sheriff, District Attorney, and County Attorney are on the ballot county-wide, in addition to several judicial races (the 9
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, 410
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, 418
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and 435
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District Courts, and County Court at Law #5). And so is the Tax Assessor-Collector. In addition, we have county district races for Commissioner Precinct 1 (North County) and 3 (The Woodlands and Oak Ridge), and all five constables, too. There will also be several non-partisan elections occurring at the same time.
My correspondent asked what he could do to help. And the answer is simple: Run for Something! Especially if you are in Law Enforcement or an Attorney – I need people to run for everything listed above. Ask those who ran in 2018 about the experience (they were not all 100% fabulous, but that is what you need to hear) – Lorena Perez McGill, Lisa Seger, Mike Midler, Jay Stittleberg, John-Brandon Pierre, Mandy Sunderland, Claire Lindsay, Ron Keichline and Shirley Layton. Or our good friend from the Kingwood area – Mike Collier. They will all tell you how important it was that they ran for something (even if they don’t want to do it again). And if you can’t run yourself (and there are good reasons why people can’t run), support those candidates who step up to the place with your time, treasure and talent.
The filing deadline for the 2020 partisan elections is December 9
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at 6:00pm. The filing period opens November 9
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, 2019.
The second email raised an issue that I have seen before and was related to our sustaining membership drive and chided me because our list of proposed projects was not specific enough, and that the writer gave to a Harris County project that targeted women and minorities because results. The writer also said that they had contacted the Party before to recommend the program, but we hadn’t responded.
I want to address the first portion of this email because it fundamentally misunderstands our position in Montgomery County. I’m glad that the Harris County Democratic Party is able to fund innovative programs and raise money to do so. They also have a county of over 4.5 million people that is already over 50% Democratic and trending more blue every day. They have not had any issues maintaining an office or even professional staff. We haven’t had those luxuries given that we are much smaller and deep red, but we have been able to maintain our office for almost 8 years now. However, we would like to transition our office and regular operations to a more stable footing with donors contributing smaller donations on a regular basis. This works, as evidenced by Bernie Sanders and Beto O’Rourke in 2018, and seemingly every presidential candidate this year.
But the second half of the missive deserves a more thorough answer. We are interested in new ideas. Really. But there is a fundamental disconnect between what my correspondent thinks we should be doing and what we are able to do. We have wonderful volunteers up at headquarters, and they are making things happen! Myself and the party officers do all we can do to support their operation while working to grow the party locally. But they are already at their limits in terms of what they can do maintaining the routine needs of the Montgomery County Democratic Party without additional volunteers.
When anyone comes to us with a program or idea, we take those ideas seriously. But frankly what it comes down to is that any idea or program needs a champion. My common response when confronted with a new idea or programs is two-fold. First, I want to see a proposal on paper because my experience leads me to believe that if it can’t be summarized on paper, it is very hard to develop goals and track results. Second, I ask the person proposing the program what they are going to do to make it happen, because if a person isn’t willing to take action to support a proposal, then why should I ask my already busy volunteers to do the same.
In the end, both of these good Montgomery County Democrats want to improve our local party and build on the results we saw in 2018. With an almost 5% bump in voting for Democrats at the top of the ticket (Beto 2018 over Hillary 2016, a result mirrored down-ballot as well), the playing field for 2020 seems poised to continue our gains. And in the end, it comes down to two things that individuals can do to improve our position going in to 2020: 1) RUN FOR SOMETHING! Anything that you are qualified for, really; and 2) use your time, your talents and lastly your treasure to support the Montgomery County Democratic Party; our local clubs, like The Democratic Club of The Woodlands; and our candidates when they announce themselves as we go into the fall.
Marc Meyer, Chair
Montgomery County Democratic Party
