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Ep. 16: What Do The Top Texas Donors Really Want To See?
103 Plays24 days ago
What do Texas donors really want before they invest—and what will it take to fund a winning path for Democrats in Texas?
In this episode of Mission: Texas, hosts Kate and Alex talk with leading Texas Democratic fundraisers Claire Dewar and Howard Klion about the donor mindset and the infrastructure needed to win long-term.
In this episode:
- What Texas donors want to see before they give
- Why “big shiny” statewide races aren’t enough
- The demand for results, ROI, and accountability
- Building real infrastructure: precinct chairs, county parties, and year-round organizing
- Why candidates can’t keep “building the plane while flying it”
- Where time and money make the biggest impact
Follow us on all socials @MissionTexasPodcast
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Mission
00:00:00
Speaker
Howdy. This is Mission Texas. A political podcast about winning Texas by 2032 or else we may lose the White House for a generation. I'm one of your hosts, Alex Clark.
00:00:13
Speaker
And I am Kate Rumsey. Other podcasts may focus on the day-to-day the next election. But we are keeping the eyes of Texas on the bigger prize. What happens after the next census?
Meet Claire Dewar and Howard Kleon
00:00:27
Speaker
right, this week we have two guests that are some of the biggest fundraisers in Texas Democratic politics. If you're a Democratic candidate in Texas, you likely know who these two people are because they do help candidates up and down the ballot, which we really appreciate.
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast, Claire Dewar and Howard Kleon. How are you? We're very well. Glad to be here. Hi, Howard. Hi, Claire. How are you? Howard, you're my partner in crime these days, aren't you? Do we talk a lot with each other?
00:00:58
Speaker
we do. We talk like way too much, I think, every day. And then then when I don't return a phone call like yesterday, I really get my hand slapped. I didn't slap your hand, but it turned out you really hadn't called me back, had you? I know, I thought i had. So I'm very excited to hear your perspective.
00:01:16
Speaker
And I know, i think I understand both of y'all are relatively new to Texas politics. And so I'm wanting to know right out of the gate, like what were your impressions having gone from not being very involved to now some of the biggest
Claire's Political Journey
00:01:30
Speaker
fundraisers?
00:01:30
Speaker
Well, thank you Yes, I got very involved in 2018 after I had the very good fortune of meeting Beto O'Rourke at friend's house. Later, I said, how did you know to call me to come meet him? Because I really hadn't you know been active.
00:01:46
Speaker
And she said, I just had this sense you might like him. And I shared a pop up with a a woman that became my good friend. i always say I've met a thousand new friends.
00:01:58
Speaker
And so 2018 after, you know, after the horror of Donald Trump being elected. That's a similar story, I think, to a lot of people that they started getting involved 2018. Howard, how about you?
Howard's Entry into Fundraising
00:02:10
Speaker
It was very similar in 2017. um i realized I just couldn't sit at home, watch MSNBC and whine and complain. I actually had to try to do something.
00:02:21
Speaker
And i was much more involved in Collins' campaign. in 2018 letter writing campaign where we wrote 50,000 letters on his behalf. The first fundraiser I did was was for Colin and it was kind of just felt really natural for me to be able to do that. I like connecting people.
00:02:42
Speaker
um As Claire will probably attest, it gives me an opportunity to speak in front of people, which um as everybody, including myself say, I love to hear the sound of my own voice. um So that seemed like a good fit.
00:02:56
Speaker
And, you know, I had a, and and I, I find fundraising to be kind of competitive and there's real, there are definitive goals. And while I don't necessarily think of myself as that competitive or that much of a goal oriented person, somehow it really does appeal to me.
00:03:13
Speaker
You know, Howard, I love the fact that you are not a native Texan. You're one of the great, you know, call it transplants into Texas that has really given back. I am about as close to a native Texan as as one could be, even though i was not technically born here. But I looked back, my very first fundraiser actually was, I think, in 1986.
00:03:39
Speaker
for the county judge, Lee Jackson. So I had a little moment of being interested in politics in the very early days of my adulthood, even my childhood. But I have to tell you, it was on the other team. And so um when I grew up, I realized I needed to be a Democrat.
00:03:58
Speaker
Well, I can say, well, I wasn't doing fundraisers then. I do remember having in 1968, I remember having a little um button or badge that said ABJ on it. And I remember my mother asking me, what does ABJ stand for? And it was, I know this is really anti-Texan, it was anybody but Johnson.
00:04:18
Speaker
And know in 1968, I was delivering flyers for Richard Nixon. And I didn't really understand the differences, but I stayed up late to hear the return. So, you know, i've I've definitely had an evolution in terms of why I have become, you know, a strong, strong, fairly, you know, tribal Democrat.
00:04:43
Speaker
That's great. And how good to have you both on with a lot more experience. And I guess not just the quantity, but the quality of the experience. You're much more effective at fundraising than me. My my fundraising goes back to, you know, young Democrats and in college. And um I was actually the Texas Young Democrats finance chair when we had the the national convention come to San Antonio.
00:05:09
Speaker
And so it was really kind of thrust upon me to fundraise for this this big national thing. um I guess some of it stuck with me because I ended up doing some fundraising here recently for the Dallas County of Young Democrats. We had like the the largest ever ah debate watch party at the a local theater. And it was just, it was inspiring to see how many people were willing to help ah put together something innovative.
Building Sustainable Infrastructure
00:05:34
Speaker
And so what I'm really interested in asking you both about is, Are there opportunities for the fundraising world in general to put together some sort of outside the box infrastructure to help democrats not just in for any particular campaign but to help the entire ecosystem and moving towards that that bigger goal that 2030 horizon when we're going those new seats from all of the new growth coming into the state you know i i think there is opportunity there um but one of the you know but this goes kind of to our central issue in this state
00:06:09
Speaker
is that there really isn't a um powerful enough voice within this state who can say, we need to try to set this up, we need to try to do that.
00:06:21
Speaker
you know And was it was very it's very evident in kind of what happened this cycle in terms of who's running for what office and everybody's asking, well, couldn't have they sorted this out? And and if we had a functioning um Texas Democratic Party that had some real power, yeah, I think that they could have potentially sorted it out.
00:06:44
Speaker
Whether that power having come from um a political position or a financial position, um maybe something could have happened.
00:06:54
Speaker
And I think, you know, one of the things that I'm encouraged about is that I, and maybe this is just my experience at the moment, I think a lot more people are looking at infrastructure of all sorts, of in all sorts of different ways than I have been, and we have been previously, so that there are organizations popping up to try to provide the infrastructure that we need in order to be able to win elections.
00:07:24
Speaker
um Just sponsoring candidates just in the end, just isn't going to be good enough. We have to have something there for them to fall back on or even to start. um And I see some of that being done now and that's exciting to me.
00:07:41
Speaker
Well, you know, ah i'm going to jump in and say that it has been my conclusion about two cycles ago that because we have such an enormous state and because at that point we really didn't have what I consider to be a particularly functioning Texas Democratic Party, that the way for us to create that lasting um infrastructure ah meaning that we're talking to voters all the time, that we're not just coming to them, you know, right before election, was that we needed to be sort of, instead of top down, we need to be grassroots up. And I feel that there are the, ah there would be the ability to strengthen the big city,
00:08:23
Speaker
um party structures, and then you've got Dallas County, you've got Harris County, which is Houston, you've got um down in, you know, Travis, Bayer, El Paso, Tarrant, Fort Bend, even, Colin.
00:08:40
Speaker
We could theoretically, i feel gather those those um parties and then have a groundswell of this is how we should do it. Let's let's correspond with each other. Let's figure out best you know practices. And then let's then essentially teach the top how to do it from the bottom, if that makes sense.
Funding Challenges in Texas
00:09:06
Speaker
And um so I have been really excited for a number of years that to donate to and try to professionalize better our county party in Dallas. And i do i do watch how it's a fire hose at a party situation. There's just a lot of things that happen. You know, some years we've been really successful raising money um ah You know, in off cycle, sometimes years, it's little bit more challenging because it is, you know, I think it's like a teaching moment where we have to explain why um it's important to continue to have staff and messaging and outreach
00:09:52
Speaker
and you know continual conversations with building up you know precinct chairs and activities um even during the times when we don't really have direct elections per se.
00:10:05
Speaker
And i I think sometimes kind of going along with this, you know, I see Dallas, where we're all from, all live, is ah an incredibly philanthropic city. And we're great at putting our names or not our names, but people are always willing to donate incredible amounts of money to get buildings built, to put their names up on buildings.
00:10:28
Speaker
but then the maintenance of the buildings don't get funded. And i kind of look at it in the same way politically. um we are We love the big shiny things.
00:10:40
Speaker
The big shiny things are you know the statewide elections. And then the smaller elections and also the infrastructure required, which and those are kind of the two things that I'd say is kind of maintenance, particularly the infrastructure. But the smaller elections were like, oh, that isn't quite as exciting for me. I'd really like to be donating to the Senate campaign or to the governor's campaign.
00:11:04
Speaker
But as Claire said, I think we're really going to have to win from the ground up.
Importance of Local Elections
00:11:09
Speaker
It is. you know if we can win the county elections and be able to control the the county, um what goes on in the counties, which actually have a lot more impact on people's lives than certainly a federal election and even to some degree the state elections.
00:11:28
Speaker
um And also providing the infrastructure, like both Claire and I are really involved with Lana Hansen at Blue Action. or as I mentioned before, Christian Bown at Cornerstone.
00:11:39
Speaker
And there are lots of other organizations that are kind of bubbling up and having success, um you know, Progress Texas. And um the more that we can do that,
00:11:51
Speaker
it is going to be easier to unify all of us and it's going to be easier for candidates to have things to rely on when they start to run. i mean, that you asked before kind of like what kind of surprised me or when, you know, the first campaign and it's like, where's the cavalry? Where's like the Dallas County democratic party who's helping these candidates. They don't know anything when they start. I mean, I know, you know, I was in the don't know what I don't know stage DK DK, but the I think the candidates were there too. I mean, I've had long conversations like with Avery Bishop last time when she ran. It's like, what do I do?
00:12:29
Speaker
And it's really hard for candidates and got to build an organization in six months um that's ready to win. and You got to build the plane and fly at the same time in these campaigns, especially right now when people filed right on filing day. But I hear you on the infrastructure, especially with our county and state. But I wonder, is there like a chicken and an egg kind of problem? Because As I understand it, some party groups like the county or the state have trouble fundraising because they're not delivering. So what are you looking for or what would you recommend these state like official groups do to like earn more investment or or are or is there something else at play here that they're not being able to fundraise as well?
00:13:14
Speaker
Well, i think I think you've got to provide some results. And I will say that 2024 really set us back. And so when you have results like we did in 18, where we flipped, you know, 12 house seats, so there's that. i also, for example, last night was speaking with a couple who have been good, wonderful donors,
00:13:35
Speaker
um And I explained that a group we were hearing from last night had spent $30,000 to provide all of the state house reps a booker that got them on national TV.
00:13:51
Speaker
And that investment, we believe, gave the publicity that was frequent, made Texas, you know, national news about redistricting, explained what was happening. And it was coming from so many voices because of this booker who, you know, was was spreading spreading it out, getting people on all kinds of different, you know, podcasts and different, you know, TV. And then all of a sudden, California, you know, popped up. I mean, I i do think there are sometimes stories where we can tell that our
00:14:25
Speaker
what would end up being an incremental amount of money that might have made a real impact on flipping nationally the house. So so we have to tell those stories.
00:14:36
Speaker
um I also um met a number of young people who had come through kind of an internship program in 18 for a particular candidate that did a really amazing job of having more than 100 interns working for that candidacy.
00:14:53
Speaker
once again back in 18, and a number of them are now either working with their own fundraising companies, having worked in Washington at the DNC. Some are lawyers now working for um ah They were, you know, working in Austin for some of the legislators.
00:15:13
Speaker
um Some have been staffers. So it was those are all sort of stories that are, I believe, inspirational to tell, because sometimes it's hard to be able to say, well, we need to spend money on infrastructure. What exactly does that mean?
00:15:29
Speaker
So it needs to be very um specific. What is it that you're going that is going to make an impact? so So I have been coaching our party, our county party, on, you know, providing exactly where, you know, where's the money being spent. I've been coaching Blue Action Texas on, you know, tell us exactly your results. I do think those are all important.
00:15:53
Speaker
um in a point where people have, um no matter how much money you have, you have certain, you know, budgets that you're trying to figure out and you're going to be spending your money where you think it's going to be the most effective. Because at this point, a lot of people will say, and I'm certainly one of them, we basically need to win.
00:16:12
Speaker
We really just need to start winning. And we've got, I'm very optimistic that we have the kind of voting populace that um means Democrats should be able to win.
00:16:28
Speaker
We just, you know, have to turn out the right voters. Your example of the $30,000 booker is is incredible. I mean, just like 30 minutes of TV time is easily cost more than that, right? I mean, I can't fathom the ah ROI on that. Just all of the national attention.
00:16:48
Speaker
I can fathom the ah ROI on that. You run the numbers? Yeah. No, I don't have what yeah what I do. i have a i have us winning in New Jersey. i have us winning in Virginia.
00:17:01
Speaker
i have us redistricting in California. You know, we take a lot of crap as Democrats in Texas, and a lot of it is really well-deserved. But I am firmly convinced that if the House Democratic Caucus had not broken quorum and nationalized the redistricting issue, that California never would have put forth the legislation that they did. And Governor Newsom has pretty much said that um as well. And I spoke to Governor Pritzker when he was at um the Dallas County Democratic Party dinner. And he said, I was talking to him about it. he said That's the first part of my speech.
00:17:40
Speaker
We really, ours were when we had Democratic voters throughout the country, starting in January, yelling at our reps, damn it, do something.
00:17:53
Speaker
And the Dallas um House members who broke quorum did something. They were the first ones. And I think it was the for the start to um the like belief that we can do something about Trump and Trumpism and that we can win elections.
00:18:14
Speaker
And I'm really proud of um you know the members of the House who did that. ah So to me, the Booker is like a very high value tactical strike. in the moment in a very pitched and important juncture on this fight.
00:18:30
Speaker
I guess still my question is, what are the kind of the long term plays that we can make? And what I am um envisioning is um there's a great story about how ah Democrats would spend all this money on radio ads in Florida.
Long-term Investments and Strategies
00:18:46
Speaker
which obviously hadn't worked. Although how how great that we just flipped the Miami mayor's mayor's race. um But at the same time, Republicans were just buying radio stations.
00:18:57
Speaker
So wow why not just get the station? And then we don't need to buy ads, right? But that's ah that's a long longer term thinking. Well, you know, nationally, I've been presented with a group called Media Matters, American Bridge. I'm not sure they're – I mean, I think there's a lot of big money that goes into some of these pots where you're paying for um stars that – I don't know. Anyway, point being, I do think media matters with this other group. They've been doing like small newspapers that come out as if they are the local, you know, newspaper. And I think they did it in a couple of the swing states where they did control the message.
00:19:38
Speaker
And they felt like that was a good expenditure. I don't know. if that is, you know, particularly effective. But the point being, I guess, is there's, you know, there's a lot of different ways to incrementally make the difference.
00:19:52
Speaker
And i think that I think that locally, though, back to just being in Texas, I'm hoping that between having candidates that might have a slightly different edge as, for example, James Tallarico does, where as a seminarian, you know, he can authentically talk to other Christians um as ah sort of a spokesperson from that strata that may be relevant to those that perhaps we've lost to, you know, kind of the fact that I think somehow the Christian
00:20:29
Speaker
um The evangelicals sort of felt that they should be supporting Republicans. And yet, as I've said, Jesus would be a Democrat, actually.
00:20:40
Speaker
love that you mentioned James. And I'm going to stop talking for a little while. But I love that you mentioned James because you had you had referenced in 2018 that there was this like campaign academy type thing to build interns.
00:20:52
Speaker
That's actually how James got his start. James Tallarico was an intern for Mark Strauma's campaign academy. And so if it had not been for that kind of forward-thinking development program for young people, who's to say we wouldn't have James Tallarico today? Well, and James Tallarico is also personally part of a group that the Yagavi Fund has been supporting along with other city council people and, you know, I think a county judge and other state reps, and they are – up-forming kind of, you know training for those that have already gotten elected, but yet may not be at the end of their careers and may want to step up.
00:21:35
Speaker
So I'm curious, you mentioned earlier that you had supported Colin Allred in 2018. know you both supported him last cycle, and now we're in primary season. So i had understood that y'all were both early supporters now of James Tallarico, especially given Claire's recent comments that you were just making. So what do you make of what's going on right now ah with Jasmine and then Colin dropping down to compete with Julie Johnson? Well, I think that, I think that James is going to win the the primary.
00:22:06
Speaker
And I think that having um Jasmine as his competitor is going to make him all that much stronger um in in the general election.
00:22:18
Speaker
um They're both qualifie ah really qualified candidates. They're both really well-spoken. think they speak to kind of different bases. But I really do think that in the end that you need to be able to bring everybody into the tent in order to win a general election. And I think One of the things that I point to in twenty eighteen when James flipped a district that had been i don't know how many points it was a pro Trump district in twenty sixteen. But I know Trump won it and I know a Democrat hadn't won that seat in 30 years.
00:22:55
Speaker
And that, in fact, in 2018, Governor Abbott won that district, even though James won it. So by definition, he had to have been taking some of those independents and Republicans who were voting for Governor Abbott.
00:23:12
Speaker
And he converted them into James Tallarico voters. And um there are a lot of independents in this state, five or six percent, um that we regularly lose.
00:23:25
Speaker
um We regularly lose because they don't the voters don't trust us. The voters don't know what we really believe in. And I think James can speak to those voters. Well, I'll tell you, this has been one of the most fascinating entries into a primary season. ah um' I'm assuming they're going to write a book about it, potentially, or certainly a long a long article about it.
00:23:51
Speaker
And I know that I was not luckily terribly busy over the last five days before filing deadline because i basically got thrown into doing nothing but trying to, you know, listen and communicate and figure out what everybody was doing. so At the end of the day, um and I will say this, at the end of Sunday, when I first heard the rumor, and it was the first time I'd heard it, that Colin Allred was going to drop out and run for Congress, I said, oh, my goodness, he's the perfect candidate. After I had recruited others and not been able to field a really, really strong candidate for my congressional district, which is 24,
00:24:33
Speaker
And I thought, wow, he is the perfect, perfect candidate to go up against Beth Van Dyne. Because when he got elected in 18, Colin Allred, I introduced him to many Republicans that basically had been accustomed to having a 22-year incumbent as their as their congressman. And I said, don't you all want to now meet the new congressman? Sure.
00:24:56
Speaker
And many of them did meet to him and many of them have been, ah you know, supportive. I think the fact that Colin is now running against my good friend, Julie Johnson, it's it's a dilemma, but I am going to be team Julie Johnson. i think the newly drawn district that she had decided to run and had filed for on Friday really is a um perfect district for somebody like her because it has about 40% of voters in that district that at one time she represented, whether she was a state rep or most recently a congresswoman in 32. And secondly, then it adds a very large group of people that she's going to know personally that are going to work hard for her from the LGBT community. And they've been so proud of the fact that she was the first openly female LGBT member in Congress. So,
00:25:56
Speaker
i'm um I'm sad that um there is that competition. I will say we got delayed because of the delay of where the maps were. And, you know, we had one in the map.
00:26:10
Speaker
in El Paso, you know, which was a late news. And then within whatever, 10 days, we heard from the Supreme Court that we were going to have to use the 25 maps. so So I do think that that was a particularly unfortunate and unusual situation as to why at the very end things were things were moving around. And Regarding Jasmine Crockett, whether she hasn't been brought into the tent or whether she's choosing not to enter the tent, she is not one that is going to do something ah with
00:26:41
Speaker
with a team approach. She is definitely going to be making her own independent decisions. And so, I've had a lot of people say, why why is it that all these people are choosing or or why can't the party structure, you know, spread all the candidates around? Well, guess what? You know, that's like saying to your, you know, child, you must do X and they're going to probably do the other.
00:27:08
Speaker
But anyway, point being, um i don't think that um as much as there may have been emphasis given towards spreading things around, i think the candidates were all making their own individual decisions, whether they're going to be as fruitful as they should be.
00:27:24
Speaker
and while... You know, this was clearly a cluster at the end. I mean, with everything that happened between, you know, Supreme Court, Jasmine's late entry into the race, how that affected all of the districts that people were running for.
00:27:41
Speaker
And i don't necessarily feel as though that we have fielded the best candidates in certain districts and I would have liked to have had some options. But I'm really proud that whoever helped work on getting a Democrat in every single race in the state, it's the first time I think it's happened since either 1994 1995, I think is so important and is so valuable because when um we, in some of these districts where there are never any Democrats to show up, some people will vote a little, there there'll be a presence there, whether it's a big presence or not, you know, maybe it will change votes, you know, throughout the state by 2%, whatever the number is, but we're never going to win elections in the long run.
00:28:37
Speaker
if we don't have candidates running in the short run. And um we have to we have to show up. And, you know, I think I read somewhere about someone who said, you know, politics is really easy to get involved in.
00:28:52
Speaker
If you just show up, you're doing, you know, more than 50% of the population. yeah, and so And I think we're in a lot of rural counties and and different places in the state where they don't know that there are even Democrats out there.
00:29:08
Speaker
Having somebody run is really important. And I think it's great that um that we're doing that this time. Yeah, two things on that. I would say, yes, one, the first is even as a very young person, it's incredible how fast you can get involved and how high you can climb by just raising your hand.
00:29:24
Speaker
and I'll do it. Absolutely. I'm interested in that. um And the second is, yeah, I think running someone in every seat for the first time since the last time we won a statewide election, right? 1994, when it was like Lane Commissioner Gary Morrow was our last hanger on.
00:29:40
Speaker
I think not only is it like a good strategy, technically as a political like turnout machine, but I also think it addresses like a credibility thing. And I've tried to have this conversation with with Kendall and and and others, which is, how can we be taken seriously as a party if we don't even try to become the majority in the legislature?
00:30:02
Speaker
right If we're not running a majority, we can't win a majority. And so the fact that we have someone in every single state legislative seat ah running, I think,
00:30:14
Speaker
shows that we're being more serious about the the stakes because it affects real people's lives and again i keep trying to get the attention for this podcast to focus on what's really coming down the pipe in 2030 because you think it's big and bad now you think you know every story that comes out you can't keep up with them because it's just it's such a deluge of this is not normal this is not normal this is not normal this is gonna be normal We're not going to win the White House again if we can't figure it out.
00:30:45
Speaker
um Because Texas and Florida are going to get bigger in the Electoral College and the states that Democrats rely on are going to get smaller. And so let's let's figure this out. Right. You know, I think one of the questions we try to answer is like, what is going to be the impetus to some degree to have us win?
Political Shifts and Opportunities
00:31:04
Speaker
And I i kind of look at it like that Trump and MAGA is stretching the rubber band and they keep stretching the rubber band and they keep stretching the rubber band. At some point, the rubber band breaks.
00:31:19
Speaker
And I just hope we're prepared at that particular moment to be able to take advantage. And I don't know, maybe that's 2026.
00:31:28
Speaker
Maybe that's the time where all the things that he's doing have been so beyond the norm that the rubber band in this state will finally break and give us an opportunity.
00:31:41
Speaker
And not only that, Howard, you know, Abbott is trying to be mini Trump, as is, you know, the rest of his little cadre. So, of course, Abbott said, no problem, Mr. Trump, Mr. President, Mr. You know, complete nut. We're going we're going redistrict. And I think I think we're going to find that that is going to be a huge mistake they made. Look at how Indiana finally at least recently said.
00:32:11
Speaker
Maybe just yesterday. No, we're not going to redistrict, even though Trump literally was threatening all of them with the fact that they would lose any federal funding into the state, whether he has that.
00:32:24
Speaker
I don't even know that, you know, he makes these threats. He may not even have the capability of doing it. No, i was going to just piggyback off of that, which is that in 2018, we had a big blue wave, maybe as a reaction to Trump.
00:32:35
Speaker
and his actions. And so, but i and I also understand a lot of people like yourselves started getting busy and active and in that time period. And so I'm wondering, is that going to be an even bigger blue wave as a result of Trump's actions? Like for every action, there's a reaction. And so I guess, what are you hearing from folks like yourselves or folks that you're trying to get to donate to candidates and groups? Like, are you experiencing the same kind of vibes for lack of the better word, in 2018 that you're now going, we're hoping to see in 2026? I think it's, there's kind of a dichotomy in that we came out of 20, you know, out of 2024 in such terrible shape and everybody felt so burnt and so downcast that like right after that,
00:33:26
Speaker
It was like, okay, what are we going to do? and And again, all the, all the complaining and angst, okay, what are our democratic reps going to do? Certainly over the last few months, there has been a renewed um feeling of optimism, especially buoyed by the results in Virginia and New Jersey. And then, you know, the special elections in various places.
00:33:53
Speaker
But I think there's still a cloud kind of hanging over Texas with a number of the donors that I know who have been working really hard for years that, oh shit, you know, we lost by 14 points.
00:34:09
Speaker
it's just It's just not winnable. And um I think there's some of that overhanging. On the other side, I see many more kind of 40-something folks who are getting involved and taking the places of some of my, you know, the people who have been fighting the battle for a really long time. I have seen an upswell this time in younger people kind of moving into like, I want to have a, ah ah like you guys, um you know, you want to do more and, you know, you have a friend, you know, you have friends who are attorneys who are probably in their forties and they want to do an event for, um for James and, you know, other people doing events. And, um and I think it's really helpful. And I think it's an imperative for people like Claire and myself to mentor
00:35:01
Speaker
you know, these younger people who are trying to get involved, mentoring, you know young donors, like, how do you go about this? What do you want to give to? How do you give? How can you do more? How you can get involved?
00:35:14
Speaker
And I think people find that they can get, it they can find a meaningful place fairly easily, as you know, we discussed, you know, Alex, as you said, just raise your hand. So you talked about mentoring people like us.
00:35:28
Speaker
hypothetically, let's say that some some upstarts want to create a long-term podcast about the problems coming in 2030. What advice would you give them for how they should go about gathering the kinds of resources they would need, hypothetically, to pay for an editor, to do promotions, to get better microphones and lighting, like those kinds of things? Because these things don't come out of nowhere and they cost money.
00:35:57
Speaker
What would you say to them? So you can look at pull up your county. So I know in Dallas County, we have a website, pull up precinct chairs.
00:36:08
Speaker
And I guess, first of all, you need to know the number of your precinct. You need to know what that number is. And you can find that out, I believe, by DallasCountyElections.org. And when you know your number, then you will scroll down. Is there a precinct chair?
00:36:23
Speaker
that covers your precinct. If there is not, sign up to be the precinct chair. There's a lot of training. There's a lot of camaraderie. If you already have a precinct chair assigned to your precinct, contact that person and tell them that you want to help them because being a precinct chair is easier and better if there are others within the precinct that will volunteer to to help. that's That's number one. And then I think number two, um figure out who's running as the state rep in your district and go um to something where, you know, it's it's perhaps affordable um where you could give a little bit of money to actually go support them. to Find out when they've got some fundraisers, which will be happening this year because there's an election in 26.
00:37:12
Speaker
That would be great. And I mean, I'd kind of piggyback off of that and not necessarily as specifically, but I would say just, you know, kind of like what voters were yelling at our reps to do, damn it, do something.
00:37:25
Speaker
I'm going to say, you know, get off the sidelines and do something. You know, and I do will say, you know, kind of going along with Claire, if you have money, but not a lot, your money goes a lot farther in state legislative races.
00:37:38
Speaker
And if you're knocking on doors, knocking on doors in a state legislative race goes a lot further than knocking on a door for a Senate candidate. um If you kind of like You know we we talk about the environment, environmentally act locally, think globally. i think that's a you know good way for people to get involved and look for the things that that you're comfortable doing. I mean, one of the things Colin always used to say was, if you have money, give. If you have time, give. If you have both, give both. um It's.
00:38:08
Speaker
You know, no one's inviting you to come do the work per se, except for Claire, who invites me to go block walking all the time with her. But nobody's really inviting you to get involved.
00:38:19
Speaker
But once you're involved, it's really easy. And there is a real sense of community. As Claire said, she has made a thousand new friends through this endeavor, and i feel the same way.
00:38:31
Speaker
I'm retired. Honestly, I'd feel lost without having the community that I have and the work that I'm doing. i don't know what I would be doing, and I know I wouldn't be nearly as happy. I could be a lot happier if we were to win elections. Because that seems like it would be really fun. I mean, I remember 2018 was really fun when Colin won that election and we won 12 seats and in the state house and I think two Senate seats.
00:38:59
Speaker
um And I'd like to go back to some of that winning. I'm really kind of tired of losing. it Great. Well, can I also say one thing that I think is considered to be a really good starter entry that I don't believe in, in particular?
00:39:12
Speaker
i don't believe that if you attend a protest, and say, that's it, I've protested. I made a sign, i went down, you know, in front of the city hall or I walked across a bridge and I did some protesting. Guess what?
00:39:27
Speaker
That doesn't do any good. It makes you feel good. It makes you feel, you know, it's fun. I will say the other thing that doesn't really do any good at this day and age is to call your rep that's not on your team. They are not going to change their vote right now. So, i you know, we could be calling Beth Van Dyne until the cows come home, and it is not going to do one bit of good. So what will do good is finding people that you can communicate with about why it's important for them to vote, why it's important to vote for Democrats. And
00:40:02
Speaker
Find, you know, maybe voter registration, maybe find ways to be sure that you're helping campaigns, you know, turn out their voters when they come. But but I would say that that's we need to be engaging our voters and getting all of our voters to go vote in the ways that will share their values, which I find that most people, when they get the explanation, the values are really represented by the Democrats.
00:40:31
Speaker
for most people. Well, we usually end with that kind of call to action because I think that's what a lot of people are needing. oh They want to know the plan and they want to know how they can fit into that plan. And we've been calling that the last word. So we appreciate your last words. If there's anything else ah that we have not covered, please letts let us know in our last word segment, but also what are some groups or people that you think we should be following on social media or on the internet? ah Claire, any last thoughts?
00:40:59
Speaker
Well, follow Lincoln Project. I believe in the Lincoln Project. They are funny and irreverent, but I think they make a big impact. Definitely follow Dallas Democrats.
00:41:15
Speaker
And then find some candidates and just follow them. You know, it is helpful to the candidates to know that they've got a large following. So we've mentioned James Tallarico. I'm going to mention Mark Veazey. And I'm going to mention Julie Johnson all have some really good, interesting social media.
00:41:34
Speaker
Howard? Well, of course you can follow me or you can follow you guys, which would probably be the best thing they could do. um um Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Like and subscribe. right But you know also, I'll just go back.
00:41:47
Speaker
I mean, i I'm on Twitter a lot, as my family will say, and I need to get off of it and everything else. I don't really kind of think that much about who I'm following. there you know there are i will say one thing. So some in terms of if somebody wants to do something today,
00:42:04
Speaker
that could be really helpful. And that is, you know, there's an election coming up in Fort Worth in Tarrant County on January 31st, which is Taylor Ramette overperformed tremendously. So they can, you know, if they want to donate money, i know that they're going to be outspent tremendously. They were outspent tremendously, or he was outspent tremendously in the primary.
00:42:28
Speaker
And there are a lot of people who are block walking. If we're going to win this state, we have to win Tarrant County. And Tarrant is is winnable. And it would give a huge boost going into 2026 if we were to flip that seat, which I think had been a plus like 16 Republican seat.
00:42:49
Speaker
So if people are looking for something to do, you know, get involved in that campaign at the moment, I would say that is an incredibly good use of their time. All right. Well, that's it for this week. Thank you so much, Claire and
Conclusion and Sign-off
00:43:02
Speaker
Howard. You spent so much time with us and we very much appreciate you and your time. and I'll sign off by saying God bless Texas.
00:43:09
Speaker
You can follow us on all socials at Mission Texas Podcast. Email us at missiontexaspodcast.gmail.com. This episode is edited by Juan Jose Flores.
00:43:21
Speaker
Our music bumper is by Adam Pickerel and our cover art is by Tino Sohn. you