Texas Democratic Party holds convention in Corpus Christi as it looks to bolster unity ahead of midterm elections

When Democrats gather in Corpus Christi for the convention this weekend, one notable face will be absent.

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Democrats kicked off their state convention in Corpus Christi on Thursday afternoon, with the party is hoping to use it as a chance to organize and energize its base ahead of what they hope will be a blue wave in November.

“I think the biggest thing that Democrats want to accomplish is to bolster party unity, make sure the different factions of the party are on the same page, and that there’s reconciliation after their primary,” SMU Political Science Professor Matthew Wilson said. “Also, to hone their lines of attack against the Republican ticket in the fall. They want to have message discipline. They want everybody to be on the same page about what the critique of Republican rule is.”

As more than 6,000 delegates, activists, elected officials, candidates and guests gather for what is expected to be the largest Democratic gathering in the country, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett will not be among those in attendance.

The Democrat from Dallas, who Democratic U.S. Senate nominee State Rep. James Talarico from Austin defeated in the March primary, won’t be at the convention. Talarico invited her to introduce him, but she declined.

In a statement, Crockett’s office told KVUE that the U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to conduct legislative business into Friday afternoon, and “given the Floor schedule, prior scheduled travel and commitments, it was not logistically feasible for the Congresswoman to fulfill this last-minute speaking engagement.”

“The Congresswoman hopes Texas Democrats have an energizing convention that charges them up for November,” Crockett’s office said in a statement.

Crockett told The Dallas Morning News last week that the invitation was an “afterthought” and said she “had no idea” whether she would actively campaign for Talarico this fall, and that she is more focused on down-ballot candidates.

As Talarico gets set to take on Republican nominee Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the general election, he still has work to do to win over those who backed Crockett and shore up support ahead of November. Talarico needs to get Black voters, who make up a large portion of the Democratic base and who broke overwhelmingly for Crockett in March, excited.

“If the attitude of Black Texans towards the Talarico campaign is lukewarm, kind of a shrug their shoulders attitude, that could really doom him in a close race, having lower Black voter turnout, because there’s still a little soreness about the fact that he edged out Jasmine Crockett,” Wilson said. “That could doom his chances of pulling off the upset.”

In a new Texas Politics Project poll released this week, about two-thirds of Black voters said they would support Talarico over Paxton, which is lower than the proportion that have backed the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate in previous cycles.

“At the end of the day, he’s going to get more than two-thirds of the Black vote. I’d be stunned if Talarico doesn’t get at least 80% of the black vote in November,” Wilson said. “The question is, though, how many Black voters just decide they’re not motivated enough to vote at all? It’s not just about what percentage of the Black vote he wins among those who vote. It’s how many people are motivated to go to the polls in the first place. So that’s where enthusiasm really kicks in and where I think he’s got a struggle.”

Crockett endorsed Talarico the day after she lost the primary, though since then she has said she is focusing on helping down-ballot candidates through FIRE PAC.

“Down-ballot races are crucial to building community, coalitions and power,” Crockett’s office said in a statement.

Since winning the primary in March, Talarico has been trying to woo Black voters. He has visited Black churches and universities, met with Black leaders around the state and rolled out a plan to tackle maternal mortality.

He has also added several Black community leaders and elected officials, including Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis and State Sen. Royce West (D-Dallas), to campaign for him and serve as surrogates. Texas Organizing Project, a group dedicated to mobilizing Black and Latino voters across the state to vote, endorsed him last month.

“He’s not a candidate who is naturally appealing to African-American voters. His whole style and self-presentation and Austin White progressive liberal background is not the ideal calculated candidate profile to enthuse black Texans,” Wilson said. “That’s a respect in which he is fighting uphill to try to secure that vote, and where Jasmine Crockett’s enthusiastic support could have been really valuable, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to be in the cards for him.”

Democrats are hopeful this is the year they will have a candidate win statewide in Texas for the first time since 1994.

“Texas Democrats are always in the back of their minds asking themselves, ‘Is Lucy going to yank the football away from Charlie Brown once again?’” Wilson said. “Every cycle, the promise is, ‘This is the time we really get to kick it. This is the time we really get to win.’ But then they don’t. They fall short. They don’t make the kind of gains that they expect.”

It is shaping up to be a tough environment for Republicans this fall, given President Trump’s low approval rating, concerns about the economy and backlash tied to the conflict in Iran. Historically, the party of the president who is in the White House has struggled and not done well in midterm election years.

“We have a damaged and tarnished candidate at the top of the Republican ticket in Texas in Ken Paxton, somebody who the Democrats really think they can go after. We’ve seen softening, at least in the polls of Republican support among Hispanic voters,” Wilson said. “There are a lot of things that should favor Democrats in this cycle. They want to make sure they don’t screw it up. They want to make sure that they take advantage of these opportunities, because an environment this favorable may not come around again for them in Texas for some time.”

While there are reasons for Democratic optimism this midterm election cycle, Wilson said there are also ways that Democrats could fumble the ball.

In the same poll released this week by the Texas Politics Project, Paxton has a one point lead over Talarico, a virtually neck-and-neck race. It is a much different story down ballot. In the gubernatorial race, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott leads Democrat State Rep. Gina Hinojosa by seven points: 47% to 40%. In the Lieutenant Governor’s race, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick leads Democrat State Rep. Vikki Goodwin by seven points: 43% to 36%. In the Attorney General race, Republican State Sen. Mayes Middleton leads Democratic State Sena. Nathan Johnson by five percentage points: 41% to 36%. In the race for Comptroller of Public Accounts, former Republican State Sen. Don Huffines leads Democratic State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt from Austin by six points: 40% to 34%.

“It’s not a gimme. Texas is still a state that overall leans Republican,” Wilson said. “The Democrats have a lot of wind at their back, but there are also some challenges that they’re going to have to surmount. So I think their mission at this convention is to do everything they possibly can to make sure that they have positioned themselves to maximize their prospects.”

In the same poll by the Texas Politics Project, 36% of Democrats said their view of the party was very unfavorable, 16% somewhat unfavorable, 20% somewhat favorable and 13% very favorable.

Those with somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable views include 66% of rural Democrats, 56% of suburban Democrats and 28% of urban Democrats. 22% of rural Democrats surveyed, 33% of suburban Democrats surveyed and 38% of urban Democrats surveyed said they have very or somewhat favorable views of the party.

Thirty-eight percent of those surveyed said the party’s elected officials are not liberal enough, while 32% said they are liberal enough and 10% said they are too liberal.

Asked whether the Democratic Party is welcoming to people like them, 44% said no, while 43% said yes. Among those surveyed, the group of those who said they did not feel welcome includes 53% of white voters, 12% of black voters, 35% of Hispanic voters, 52% of men, 38% of women, 56% of those who live in rural areas, 47% of those who live in suburban areas and 34% of those who live in urban areas. 55% of those surveyed over the age of 65, 46% of those between the ages of 45 and 64 and 38% of those surveyed between the ages of 30 and 44 also said no.

Republicans have their own issues as the party tries to unify following a bitter primary battle in which Paxton defeated incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination. 

“Paxton needs to get the more establishment faction of the Republican Party to hold their nose and support him,” Wilson said. “There’s a faction of Republicans in the state who find Paxton distasteful and don’t like his style of politics, his personal and ethical baggage.”

Cornyn has said he will “support the Republican ticket,” but he has also made clear he stands by his criticisms of Paxton from the primary, including calling him corrupt and unfit for office.

“Republicans don’t have as much internal Democratic ammunition to draw from as Democrats do, and that presents a potentially additional challenge for Paxton,” Wilson said.

Top Texas Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, have urged Republican supporters to come together, warning that failing to do so could lead to a Democratic upset in November.

“Paxton has to make the case to those people that whatever you think about me, you don’t want Democrats running Capitol Hill, and you don’t want to rally behind somebody like James Talarico, who, in Paxton’s words, is just ‘weird,’” Wilson said. “He’s going to have to hammer that message home over the next several months to try to get those establishment Republicans who clearly would have preferred Cornyn over Paxton to say, ‘Well, Paxton is the lesser of two evils here.’”

At the Texas GOP convention earlier this month, Patrick called Cornyn and Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller “sore losers” for losing their primary and not throwing their support behind Paxton.

Cornyn fired back in an interview with Semafor published this week, saying Patrick’s comments show the Texas GOP “basically continuing to alienate what I would call traditional conservative Republicans like me, and the people who voted for me. Makes no sense whatsoever.”

“Clearly, Jasmine Crockett ideologically is closer to Talarico than she is to Paxton, and clearly Cornyn ideologically is closer to Paxton than he is to Talarico, but we can’t discount the personal elements and the sour grapes that are going to play into making their support more muted than it might otherwise be,” Wilson said.

On Thursday, Gov. Abbott’s campaign launched a new website, RadicalTexas.com, which they said shows the Democratic Party’s “radical agenda for Texas” and illustrates “the major disconnects between Democratic policies and everyday Texans.” The site features Democrats’ own words, votes and policy positions.

“No amount of rebranding can hide the fact that Democrats have embraced a radical, socialist agenda that is dangerous for Texas,” Texans for Greg Abbott Campaign Manager Kim Snyder said. “They’re hoping voters forget that they’ve championed the defund the police movement, open borders, and anti-energy policies that will destroy Texas’ oil and gas industry. RadicalTexas.com exposes the fraud, highlights their own words and shows Texans exactly what’s at stake this November.”

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is running an attack ad against Talarico only in Corpus Christi this weekend.

Texas Democrats said the opening day of their convention will “showcase the culture, energy and diversity of South Texas,” beginning with a welcome featuring mariachi music, folklorico performances and local artists, as attendees arrive at the American Bank Center and surrounding convention facilities. 

Thursday evening will feature a concert by Tejano stars Bobby Pulido and Lucky Joe. Pulido, a longtime Tejano music icon, is running for the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat in Texas’ 15th Congressional District against incumbent Republican Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz. 

“Texas Democrats are gathering in Corpus Christi united around a vision of opportunity, freedom and economic security for every Texan,” Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said. “This convention is about bringing together Democrats from every corner of the state as we prepare for the elections ahead.”

Thursday’s activities also include a Donor Appreciation Reception, which honors supporters who have helped build the party’s statewide organizing and voter engagement efforts.

The convention continues through Saturday, with keynote addresses from national Democratic leaders like U.S. senators Cory Booker and Bernie Sanders, party business, training and caucus meetings.