Beto O'Rourke's 2021 Voter Registration Initiative Is Essential To Ending TX GOP Voter Suppression

Playing catch up here with my e-mails since it was a very busy week for me. Received this e-mail this week from former Presidential candidate, Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D. TX), on behalf of his organization, Powered By People:

As President Joe Biden said at his inauguration, “democracy has prevailed.”

Last month’s inauguration of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and the swearing in of Georgia Senators Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff, was proof that, though tested unlike any time in our lifetime, our democracy still holds and that “the people have been heard.”

But for how long?

I don’t need to tell you that we’re confronted by the greatest set of challenges known to any generation — vaccinating an entire country before hundreds of thousands more Americans die; creating good jobs that get people back to work and purpose in their lives; confronting climate change before it’s too late — these are the kind of threats that will take a nation working in concert to overcome.

And yet, at the moment we need a robust response from a government “of the people”, our democracy is on the ropes. It’s not just the attempted coup on January 6th, or the seditionist work from inside the Capitol led by Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley. It’s decades of big money and corporate influence corroding the connections between people and their representatives. And it’s more than a century of voter suppression that has targeted communities of color in an effort to restrict the franchise and consolidate power.

You are receiving this email because you’re invited to be part of Powered by People, a grassroots effort to strengthen and expand our democracy. We work to register voters and to ensure those voters know their rights and vote free of intimidation or suppression. We communicate with voters both in and out of election cycles, building trust, confidence and democratic infrastructure in the most voter suppressed state in the country. And we organize and empower volunteers, by the thousands, to do this work.

I can’t think of a more important moment for us to be so fully engaged in the fight. Because, while it’s wonderful that Trump is gone and Joe Biden is now our President, new leadership in the White House is not going to be enough.

We won’t overcome the challenges we face if we aren’t pushing every day to, as Governor Ann Richards said, “let the people in.” The enemies of democracy aren’t taking a break, neither can we. No rest for the weary, no respite for those in the fight.

That’s how we’ll save our democracy AND build lasting Democratic majorities that can see through the most important and the most ambitious national agenda America has ever had.

Powered by People will spend 2021 fighting to expand access to the ballot box for our fellow Texans. Donate today to support this vital work.

Contribute $3

This year we will build on the work of the more than 20,000 volunteers who joined our efforts in 2020, work that resulted in the registration of more than 200,000 new Texas voters ahead of the November election and one of the highest levels of voter turnout in Texas history.

We will work county by county to remove barriers to voting and improve the ability of our fellow Texans to register and to be counted in our elections. And we will continue the effort of transforming the most voter suppressed state in the union to one that can be an example of what true democracy looks like.

Because until the voter suppression tactics enacted throughout Texas and the country are removed, we will not have a true democracy. Chip in $3 to support our work today.

Thanks for being in this fight with us.

Beto

Click here to donate to Powered By People’s voter registration efforts.

Also this past week, former Presidential candidate & HUD Secretary, Julián Castro (D. TX), is also focusing on Texas in 2021. Received this e-mail from his People First Future PAC:

I’m excited to announce that People First Future is gearing up for the 2021 elections!

In a few moments, I’m going to ask you to make a contribution to People First Future to help us target key races in 2021, starting in Texas. But first, I want to highlight what we accomplished together so far.

In the last year we:

• Supported more than 50 candidates up-and-down the ballot nationwide;
• Helped elect two new senators in Georgia, giving Democrats the majority in the U.S. Senate;
• Elected our entire slate of People First Policing candidates who will fight to overhaul our broken policing system;
• Raised tens of thousands of dollars to support food banks during the holidays and Dreamers renewing their DACA statuses;
• And, we helped elect President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and said “Adiós” to Donald Trump.

My home state of Texas, like Georgia, is not a red state. It’s a low turnout state, and a state plagued by voter disenfranchisement. Let me be clear: we will flip Texas blue and elect great candidates this year — and that work begins now.

This year, we have the opportunity to elect Democrats for mayor and city council across Texas. As a former mayor myself, I know these are critically important to achieving progress. People First Future will be dedicating the next several months to winning these races and turning Texas blue.

So here’s my ask: Will you join me in helping flip Texas blue by making a contribution to People First Future today? Together, we will build on our momentum from November, and help President Biden and Vice President Harris achieve their progressive agenda.

DONATE ››

Your support this last year gave us some incredible victories. We can’t let up now — let’s elect Democrats up and down the ballot in Texas and turn this state blue once and for all.

Thank you,

Julián Castro

P.S. If you or someone you know is running for municipal office in Texas, you can apply to be a People First Future endorsed candidate here. Let’s win together.

Click here to donate to People First Future’s efforts.