BETO ENTERS THE RACE FOR GOVERNOR! | Image: Mario Cantu/CSM via ZUMA Wire/AP | In one of the least surprising yet very welcome announcements of the year, former Congressman and candidate for US Senate Beto O'Rourke announced that he is running for Texas Governor to challenge incumbent Greg Abbott. In his announcement released via Twitter, Beto spoke about the failure of the Texas electrical grid during last February’s winter storm, linking the grid failure to a larger failure of Texas elected officials to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of Texans generally. | |
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The Collin County Democratic Party welcomes Beto to the race to replace failed incumbent Governor Greg Abbott. In 2018, Beto rallied Democrats across Texas and with this enthusiasm, helped Democratic candidates to win down-ballot and also inspired a new generation of Democratic activists who are still working throughout our state. Support for Beto here in Collin County during his Senate run was deep; his rally in Plano in September of 2018 packed over 2,000 people into Legacy Hall.
Meanwhile, Abbott's star has dimmed, especially with moderate Republicans and independents, after a disastrous COVID pandemic response in which over 73,000 Texans have died, the February blackout that may have killed as many as 700 Texans, and the 2021 Legislative sessions that passed highly partisan laws such as the abortion bill, voting suppression, and attacks on transgender high school students. A recent poll showed Abbott and Beto in a statistical tie, though other polls have had Abbott with a comfortable lead.
While he needs to win the primary election to face Abbott (who has his own primary), Beto will energize Texas Democrats, will help us to raise money, and could help drive down-ballot voting, as he did in 2018. Beto is already on the road and will be stopping in Dallas, at Fair Park, on Sunday, November 21 at 2:30.
Read More:
Texas Tribune: Beto O’Rourke enters 2022 a weaker candidate with a harder race
Texas Standard: Beto O’Rourke on why he’s running for governor
Texas Monthly: Exclusive: Beto O’Rourke Is Running for Governor
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CONSIDERING RUNNING FOR OFFICE? |  | |
Prospective Candidates,
The filing period for running on the 2022 Democratic Primary ballot opened Saturday, November 13, and ends at 6 p.m. on Monday, December 13, 2021. The Primary is scheduled to be held on March 1, 2022.
Please contact County Chair Mike Rawlins, 972-783-9573, or Executive Director Debbie O'Reilly, if you have questions about running for office. We are happy to help answer any questions you have!
We have an outstanding Candidate Development Team and Coordinated Campaign Committee that can help you if you decide to run. We take care of our Democratic family!
To see a list of races on the 2022 Democratic Primary ballot and other helpful information, including links to instructions on filing and filing fee/petition requirements, please visit our Run For Office page.
It’s important to let us know if you are considering running so that our Candidate Development Team can work with you to help you prepare for your campaign.
When you are ready to file, you will reach out to chair@collindemocrats.org. And check out the article below highlighting the primary candidates who have already filed!
Thank you for considering representing Collin County!
| PRESIDENT BIDEN SIGNS HISTORIC BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE BILL | Image: JONATHAN ERNST | Credit: REUTERS | On Monday, November 15, President Biden signed the $1 trillion Infrastructure and Jobs Act into law, delivering a sweeping and bipartisan infrastructure package in his first year in office. What's in this new law for Texas? About $38 billion in infrastructure that will impact Texans for many years to come. | A HUDDLE WITH HANSEN INDIVIDUAL TICKET SALES NOW OPEN! |  | |
The Collin County Democratic Party's first VIP event will be at The Star in Frisco Sunday, December 5, from 4 to 7 p.m. where we will hold "A Huddle With Hansen," a legendary evening of food, fun, and drinks at City Works, featuring DFW sports journalism legend Dale Hansen. Come swap stories with Dale and bid on our sports-themed silent auction.
This event is available for free to our Monthly Active Donors at the Activist,
Advocate, and Champion levels who will receive complimentary tickets to all of our VIP events - including Huddle with Hansen.
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Activist: $60/month
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Advocate: $120/month
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Champion: $240/month
We are selling sponsorships for additional event benefits and have now opened up sales for individual tickets! Space is extremely limited, so get your ticket now!
If you would like to increase your existing active monthly donation, email executivedirector@collindemocrats.org.
When: Sunday, December 5, 4 - 7 p.m.
Where: City Works at The Star, 3680 The Star Blvd #1300, Frisco
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CCDP PHONE BANKING - COME AND JOIN US! | |
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Collin Democrats - we are already working on winning seats in 2022. We've got a lot of work to do with the new district lines that have been drawn. Now is the time to take action — and Talk the Talk!
Phone Bank with us! Our phone bank campaign has call parties where we smile and dial together every Tuesday and Sunday via Zoom. Training is provided — so new dialers are WELCOME! We will be dialing volunteers to fill out our volunteer slots, then talking to our recently registered voters. Calls will be made from home with training, coaching, games, and encouragement provided on the Zoom call. Sign up below!
Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - Noon
Sundays, 1 - 3 p.m.
Would you like to be a phone bank co-captain?
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PRIMARY CANDIDATE FILING AND LAUNCH PARTY | |
Clockwise from top-left: Sheena King and family; Joshua Murray; Mihaela Plesa; Dana Huffman; Sandeep Srivastava with CCDP Exec. Director Debbie O'Reilly and Vice Chair Frederick "Nick" Nickens; Lorenzo Sanchez; David Smith with CCDP Dep. Exec. Director Matthew Leahy and Vice Chair Nickens; Jonathon Cocks. | |
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Candidates all across the ballot joined the Collin County Democratic Party Family Saturday on the first day of filing! Please congratulate the following candidates for announcing or for filing for office:
Additional candidates will file on a different day, and we will recognize them as they file!
Congratulations to our Democratic candidates!
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NOW OPEN - THE TRUE BLUE TEXANS CCDP ONLINE STORE! | |
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TRUE BLUE TEXANS: Show your True Blue colors as we launch into the 2022 election cycle!
Our brand new webstore is ready for your order!
Sport the CCDP logo and slogan on your hat, shirts, coffee mugs, yard signs, and stickers. All profits support the Coordinated Campaign for 2022 as we register and reach out to more Democrats to expand our base.
We are proud Democrats! Show your pride!
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VDR TRAINING RESUMES IN COLLIN COUNTY | |
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The Collin County Elections Department will resume virtual Volunteer Deputy Registrar training labs. You must be trained and certified with each county where you would like to register voters. For example, if you want to register voters who live in Collin, Dallas, and Denton Counties, you must be trained and certified in each of those counties. This training will certify VDRs for Collin County only.
The "Become a Volunteer Deputy Registrar" page will explain how to schedule an appointment in person or how to attend virtually to become a VDR.
You may contact CCDP VDR Co-leads, Sharon Stark and Barb Walters with questions via our CCDP VDR email.
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We are seeking one or more people with good clerical and people skills to assist in administering the March 1, 2022, Democratic Primary. These are part-time positions with flexible hours, starting in late November and running through March 31, 2022.
There may be a two- or three-month extension if there is a runoff. For a full job description please email elections@collindemocrats.org.
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State Wide: I’m sure our local school boards are absolutely thrilled by a federal judge’s ruling that the state’s ban on mask mandates in schools violates the rights of students with disabilities. Districts can again consider requiring face masks. This is great news but bittersweet since the ruling comes at a time when some of the districts that did require masks, like Richardson ISD, now plan on ending them due to kids getting vaccinated and decreasing Covid cases. However, it’s good that if we need future mask mandates (like if the holidays make cases spike), schools can implement them without fear of state inference since Attorney General Ken Paxton is prohibited from imposing any fines, withholding any educational funds, or bringing legal action to enforce Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on mask mandates....
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Commissioner’s Court: It was a quiet week as their meeting on November 8, 2021 lasted only 26 minutes. Over half of that time was taken up by a presentation on vaccines by Taylor Burton, our Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Coordinator. Chris Hill didn’t seem to know her name which is just the kind of attention to detail you want in someone tasked with managing a public health disaster. I’d love to know if the PHEP budget has increased at all this year since most experts think Covid19 is only the first of many possible pandemics. Ms. Burton provided a lot of good information about what vaccines are and how anyone can sign up to get any kind of vaccine – from the first dose to a booster for anyone of qualifying age – Monday through Friday at Health Care Services. There are appointments easily available should you want to go there instead of to your physician or local pharmacy.....
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Allen ISD Board of Trustees: At their workshop meeting, Allen parent Jason Fine had his Level 3 grievance hearing. His child was kept in quarantine in his classroom when there was a Covid outbreak in the class. Parents weren’t notified there was an outbreak or of the quarantine. AISD claimed this was cohorting per Collin County Health Services and the CDC and there was some mistake with regard to communication. CCHS said their recommendation would be for the students to stay at home and not be incubated with other students deemed to be too dangerous to be around the rest of the school. Since this recommendation makes sense, it’s clear that AISD is being careless and deceptive about its safety protocols.....
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Frisco City Council: At their last meeting, Gail Stevens spoke to the Council about Marjorie Taylor Greene’s visit to Frisco on Dec 11th. Green will be the keynote speaker for the Frisco Conservatives’ annual winter gala at the Hyatt Regency Frisco/Dallas (be sure to let them know what you think of that!) and also will receive their Conservative of the Year award. She was invited by a PAC run by Brandon Burden, the controversial lead pastor at the Kingdom Life Church. Ms. Stevens pointed out that Green is a Holocaust denier and that our leaders need to be Upstanders, not Bystanders. She invited council members to visit the Dallas Holocaust museum but no council member responded. This isn’t terribly surprising since several of them have strong ties to Burden’s church. We need to let them know that Green’s invitation is deeply offensive and dangerous...
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Plano ISD Board of Trustees: The board announced that Chief Financial Officer Randy McDowell is retiring and Johnny Hill will be replacing him. This is notable only because Hill recently served as Allen ISD’s CFO. I wonder why he jumped ship. Maybe he just doesn’t like them. Like Hill did for AISD a few weeks ago, he gave a report on the Financial Integrity Ratings System of Texas (FIRST). Plano ISD scored a 94/100 (A) rating.
PISD also approved their District Improvement Plan....
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| LWAN:If you enjoy reading these columns, please join LWAN (men welcome). I can’t write these columns without a lot of help! If we want true change, we must know what’s going on. That means monitoring every city council and school board in Collin County. This is something anyone can do and it’s interesting work. Please let me know if you’re interested. | |
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PLANO AREA DEMOCRATS
NOVEMBER VIRTUAL HAPPY HOUR
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Join Plano Dems as we do a deep-dive into the new gerrymandered districts that will impact Plano for a decade. Joel Montfort of Montfort Political Consulting joins us to provide some expert analysis of all the new districts, using maps to compare Democratic voting over the past four years and help us think about how best to win these districts.
Please RSVP to receive the Zoom info!
When: Friday, November 19, 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Where: Virtual, via Zoom. RSVP for Zoom link.
| MADC NOVEMBER FRIDAY SOCIAL | |
Newsflash: special guest Mike Collier, running for Lt. Governor, is joining us!
We're sure thankful for our friends! Join us the Friday before Thanksgiving as the McKinney Area Democratic Club heads to the Wing Bucket for a social get-together. Complimentary appetizers will be served, and a cash bar is available.
Please RSVP so we can plan for attendance.
We encourage masks* (when not eating or drinking) and social distancing. *only vaccinated individuals should attend.
When: Friday, November 19, 7 p.m.
Where: Wing Bucket McKinney, 3510 W University Dr, McKinney
| FRISCO DEMOCRATIC CLUB NOVEMBER MEETING | |
Rich Yap, Founder and CEO of KARMALIZE, an app that promises to "Spread good karma by supporting socially responsible businesses!" will be the featured speaker at the November 21, 2021, Frisco Democratic Club meeting. FDC invites anyone interested in hearing Rich speak to join us. Please register for the FDC meeting to participate.
When: November 21, 2021, 5 - 6:30 p.m. (Zoom opens for socializing at 4:30)
Where: Virtual, RSVP for Zoom Info
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The CCDP physical office is closed until further notice for safety. Our office staff are, however, working for you from home and available by telephone at 972-578-1483 or contact us on the web at collindemocrats.org.
Check our Online Events!
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Collin County Democratic Party (CCDP) | 972-578-1483 | www.collindemocrats.org © 2021
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