Reliably Austin
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

3 Things To Watch At The Texas Democratic Convention

Marjorie Kamys Cotera
/
Texas Tribune
Attendees hold up signs as U.S. Congressman Joaquin Castro of San Antonio speaks during the Texas Democratic Convention in 2016.

Texas Democrats are holding their biennial convention Thursday through Saturday in Fort Worth. There, they'll discuss the party’s platform for the coming year and organize ahead of a midterm election that they hope will be an opening for more Democrats to get elected in the state.

Here are some things to look out for over the next few days.

Beto O'Rourke

Democratic Congressman Beto O’Rourke has been raising a lot of money and garnering national attention in his bid to oust incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz. So far, Cruz has a slight lead in the polls.

O’Rourke, who is running as a progressive, has visited all 254 counties in Texas in an effort to rally Democrats across the state.

His election is still a long shot, though. A Democrat hasn’t won a U.S. Senate seat in Texas in nearly 30 years.

Immigration

President Trump’s policy of separating families at the southern border has garnered a lot of outrage from voters around the country in the past week or so. And while it has since been rolled back, tension over the country’s immigration laws isn’t going away.

Texas Democrats have been staunchly opposed to the administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program – which provides protections for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children – as well as other measures aimed at cracking down on illegal and legal immigration. Democrats will likely propose their own vision of what immigration laws should look like in the U.S.

Female Candidates

The anticipation of a possible “blue wave” this year has led to a historic number of Democrats running for office.

In fact, for the first time in recent history, Democrats are running in all of Texas' 36 congressional districts. They are also running in 89 percent of the seats in the Texas House and 88 percent of the seats in the Texas Senate. Both are the highest percentages the party has mustered since at least 1992.

Among all those candidates is a long list of women. Female candidates did very well during the primaries. In fact, Texas Democrats nominated the first Latina to run for governor.

Correction: A previous verison of this post stated the conventional is held annually. It is held every other year. 

Ashley Lopez covers politics and health care. Got a tip? Email her at alopez@kut.org. Follow her on Twitter @AshLopezRadio.
Related Content