Dear John,
I just got back from the road last night and want to tell you all about it.
I left El Paso on Wednesday to lead a candidate recruitment rally in Fort Worth, which happens to sit in one of the last competitive large counties in Texas. The rest of the big ones in Texas — Travis (home to Austin), Harris (Houston), Bexar (San Antonio), and Dallas — are all strong Democratic majority counties.
But Tarrant County, which has over two million people and includes Fort Worth, is a true toss-up. It had been reliably Republican for decades before I won a slim majority there in 2018. Joe Biden won it in 2020. But in the following election cycles it swung back to the GOP. Victories here are tough, hard-fought, and never permanent.
Bottom line: without Tarrant County it will be impossible for Democrats to win political power in Texas.
So on a chilly autumn evening, I gathered with a couple hundred people on the outdoor patio of the Rusty Nickel brewhouse to talk about the importance of running for a place on the ballot. County Commissioner, Constable, State House, State Senate, U.S. Congress. My theory of the case: if we field a strong candidate for every available office, we have a much stronger chance of winning county-wide, as well as winning statewide. I saw that in 2018 — part of the reason we carried Tarrant and got so close against Cruz was the full ballot of quality Democrats that were running with me.
After I made my pitch and we answered questions from prospective candidates, 16 people raised their hands to run for office in Tarrant County. A great start!
The next day we were in McKinney in Collin County, one of the fastest growing counties in America (pop. 1.2 million). Same general trend — we got within four points in 2020, but the gap has grown some since then. At our recruiting event at a bar called “Elysium,” 22 people said they were interested in running for office after we made our pitch. More progress.
Saturday I was in Brazos County, smaller and more rural (pop. 250,000) and a lot redder electorally. And yet, if Democrats get on the ballot, then we’ll have candidates around whom we can organize, values that voters can watch us fight for, and more votes going both to these new candidates and all the way up to our nominees for Senate and Governor too.
We closed the week in Waco on Sunday (McLennan County, pop. 270,000), another place where we’ve historically struggled to get Democrats on the ballot. More than 150 people packed the Southern Roots brewery to talk about the stakes for 2026 and then commit themselves to action. Many signed up to learn more about running for office and nearly half joined Powered by People to volunteer to register and turn out the voters who will power these new candidates’ campaigns.
I told them: “We are tempted to despair as we watch what’s happening to this country. Some might even lose hope. But we can’t let that happen. We must take action. It’s the antidote to despair. It’s the key to victory. It’s hope in motion.”
Tarrant. Collin. Brazos. McLennan. All currently “Red” counties. But if we show up, fight on every front, for every position on the ballot, concede nothing and work until we win, these counties may hold the key to big Democratic victories in 2026.
Thanks for keeping me on the road so that we can do this important organizing work. We’re bringing our fellow Texans into the most important election in our lives by giving them ways to take action. Running for office. Volunteering for Powered by People. Whatever it takes, we are committed to doing the work.
— Beto
