In the recent redrawing of electoral maps in Texas, Erath and Comanche Counties joined Texas Senate District 22. The new SD22 reaches from Eastland County in the west to Hill, McClennan, and part of Ellis County in the east. Delegates Moumin Quazi and Margurite Stewart of Erath County and Suzann Thompson of Comanche County met fellow delegates from SD22 at a Pre-Caucus in Glen Rose, on Saturday, June 25, 2022, in preparation for the Texas Democratic Convention in July.
In addition to conducting straw votes for state party committee positions and enjoying delicious snacks, delegates heard from candidates for Texas House Districts.
Cedric Davis (TX HD13), a Desert Storm veteran, said, “In the military we don’t leave anyone behind. We’ve got to keep doing that.”
After the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade was announced on the previous day, Davis’ daughter asked, “Dad, what are you going to do?”
He replied, “I’m only one person, but I’m going to fight like hell.”
TX HD56 candidate Erin Shank, a lawyer, decided to run during the ice storm of 2021, when two of her clients died of exposure to the cold. Her opponent in HD56 has sponsored a law that forbids abortion even to save the life of a mother, for instance in the case of ectopic pregnancy or a deceased fetus. She said, “Pregnant women’s lives matter!” Shank added that this is not only a women’s issue. She urged women and the men who love them to stand up for reproductive rights.
Neither Comanche County in heavilygerrymandered HD68, nor Erath County in HD59, will have the choice of a Democratic candidate on the ballot in 2022. State Party Chair candidate and incumbent Gilberto Hinojosa mentioned that voters need to flip only nine Texas House Districts and a few Senate Districts to Democratic candidates, to change the balance of power in those institutions. “We can make sure this country goes back to people and not just to the Republican right,” he said.
Kim Olson, retired Colonel of the United States Air Force and a candidate for State Party Chair, reminded delegates of words in the U. S. Declaration of Independence. It states that Americans have been endowed “…with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.__That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…” Olson said, as a woman, a mother, a daughter, a wife, a niece, a friend, “I no longer consent to those in government who make me a secondclass citizen in the United States of America.”
Carroll Robinson, also a candidate for State Party Chair, was unable to attend.