|
SUSAN DOLLAR
President
There are some wonderfully exciting things happening that should give Democrats hope - and strength - to get through the next few months! First of all, there were the thousands of "No Kings" protests in the U.S. as well as demonstrations across Europe, Latin America, and Australia that targeted the Trump administration policies.
Momentum against the administration is building with every passing day!
Secondly, over the past 14 months, Democrats have flipped a total of 28 Republican-held seats in state legislatures across the country, a sign that the GOP is indeed at risk of losing control of the House, and maybe even the Senate, in the midterms.
A total of 36 House Republicans have retired so far – the largest number since 1930. Democrats need a net gain of three seats to win a majority in the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives. Republicans currently hold a narrow majority, 220–215, meaning a net shift of three seats would give Democrats the 218 seats required for control. Recent special elections in Texas and Florida, where Democrats unseated Republican incumbents, are sending a warning to Republicans that they may be facing fierce political headwinds in a critical election year.
Democrats only need a net gain of four seats to win control of the U.S. Senate in the 2026 midterm elections, assuming they hold all their current seats. Republicans currently hold a 53-45 majority (with two independents that caoucus with Democrats). There are eight key U.S. Senate races to watch in the 2026 midterm elections: Alaska, Georgia, Maine, New Hampshire, Ohio., Michigan, North Carolina, and Texas.
Speaking of Texas...it has been over 31 years since Texas has had a Democratic governor. Ann Richards, the last Democratic governor, left office on January 17, 1995, following her defeat by George W. Bush. Since then, Texas has been led by Republican governors, marking the longest streak without a statewide win for Democrats in the nation. Now we have an opportunity to change that!
Gina Hinojosa, candidate for governor, is coming to Boerne!
Details are being worked out but mark your calendars now
for the evening of May 12, 2026!
Slightly changing the subject - this is not a smooth segue - but stick with me.
From 1993-2003, I was a single mom with three boys to support. Money was always tight and became tighter as the boys grew up - entered high school, participated in extracurricular activities, needed cars, went on to college – you get the idea. Although the boys worked at after school jobs, we still had to budget and plan for expenses. It always boiled down to choices. Some of them were easy, like deciding on hamburger meat or chicken, and some of them were hard, like paying for the letter jacket or buying the senior photos. There were alway choices. And based on those choices, I tried to make my decisions based on priorities – what did we absolutely need and what we could live without?
You probably see where I’m going with this. We have choices of candidates we want to vote for. But we also have the choice of financially supporting the candidates that we want to win. We know what our Democratic priorities are. If we are truly going to change the direction of this country, we have to win elections - and unfortunately, to do that, it takes money. Lots of money.
We're up against huge megadonors. You're probably aware of the rich Texas oil men, Tim, Dunn and Farris Wilks, who continue to donate millions to hard right, conservative MAGA candidates. The 2010 Citizens United ruling paved the way for dark money donations, anonymous funds, that skyrocketed to nearly $2 billion in 2024, and funded ads that influence, or even control, state and federal policy. Greg Abbott currently has over $105 million in campaign cash.
So what I'm asking you do to is consider your options here, think about your priorities, and open your wallets.
This election is the election of our lifetime. BAD needs money to be able to donate to candidates (plus pay our share of the rent, fund our scholarship, and pay for operating expenses). If you have been a member of BAD in the past, please think about renewing your membership by paying dues. And If you are not a BAD member, please consider joining BAD. A one-time donation is also greatly appreciated. And finally, if you are already a recurring donor, please consider upping your contribution by $5 a month. You can do any of this on our BAD website: https://www.boerne-area-democrats.com/.
I know that everyone and everything is asking for money and I also know that budgets are tight. But together, with our funds pooled collectively, we can make significant donations to federal, state, and local candidates. We can fund events like the May 12 event for Gina Hinojosa. We can donate to our local candidates, Adrianne Wolfe and Javi Andrade. We can donate to state candidates like Vikki Goodwin, Kristin Hook, Clayton Tucker, and Gina Hinojosa. We can donate to federal candidates like James Talarico. We can help fund the get-out-the-vote efforts. We can fund the scholarship for a deserving high school student. There are so many things we can do together to make a difference - all it takes is money.
So thank you in advance to any new members and donors. And many thanks to current donors and dues-paying members who enable BAD to support our democratic values and goals. Like Kendall Scudder, Texas Democratic Party Chair said, we’re all on the same team, working together to win THE election of our lifetime, so let's do this!
| 
