Glad to see it, even if I’m not really sure what it means.
Hillary Clinton
The Democratic National Committee is expanding its presence in Texas as polls continue to show a closer-than-usual presidential race in the solidly red state.
Texas is set to become the fourth state participating in the DNC’s Victory Leaders Council program, which establishes groups of prominent state Democrats to work directly with the party operation in Washington. The program is already underway in Arizona, Georgia and Utah — three other traditionally Republican states where Democrats are seeing new opportunity this election cycle.
The Texas Victory Leaders Council features a who’s who of state Democrats, including well-known activists, donors, elected officials and party leaders. The council will be focused on helping elect both Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and down-ballot candidates while trying to lay the groundwork for Democratic inroads in the state beyond 2016.
“Democrats are competing across the country and building for the future,” DNC chief of staff Brandon Davis said in a statement. “In states from Georgia to Texas, demographics and politics are changing quickly — and Democrats are making the investments to make gains now so that we can take majorities later.”
In a separate statement, interim DNC Chairwoman Donna Brazile said the Victory Leaders Councils are “one more way that Democrats are investing in all 50 states.”
[…]
The DNC says its Victory Leaders Councils are volunteer-driven but will “work closely” with the leadership of the Clinton campaign in each state. Jackie Uresti is currently serving as Clinton’s Texas state director.
There’s a loooooooong list of names at the end of the story – I think if you’re a recent Democratic elected official, you’re either on the list or ought to be wondering why not. On the one hand, it’s always a pleasant surprise to see the national party invest any kind of resources in the state and to embrace the idea that there are opportunities here. It’s awesome to be classified, even in this fuzzy and opportunistic way, as a state on the verge of competitiveness, and not just another depressingly red redoubt. If this turns out to be a longer-term investment (which as we know the Clinton campaign offices are not), with an eye on 2018 and beyond, so much the better and about damn time.
On the other hand, the described purpose of this is so vague, I have no idea what this Council or its Leaders are intended to do, other than get their names on a long list. I don’t expect them to disclose their goals and metrics, but it sure would be nice to have even a general idea of what those “opportunities” are. I can’t measure the success or failure of something if I don’t know what the intentions of it are. I’ve talked at length about what I think the goals for this election ought to be, but I’m not on that list, so I can’t say if they share any of those goals. I’m delighted this exists, and I hope after the election they find lots of things to brag about, but we’re going to have to take it on faith until then.
The Republican Party is now the Trump Party and that label will be hung on them for many years. The Trump party stands for racism, bigotry, and every other hate out there, no one should forget nor stop telling people.