This I did not expect. And I'm not even sure what I think of it. By "this," I mean 54 Texas residents filing to run as Greens in the 2016 election, for offices ranging from the Railroad Commission to county justices of the peace. While I have no influence over who decides to run for office, I was kind of hoping that the Party would focus its efforts on candidates in key races this year. In 2012 and 2014, the Greens' battle cry was "Occupy the Ballot." This year I was hoping that we'd change our strategy. We still can: I'll be pushing for the Party to throw its weight behind Martina Salinas in her pursuit of a seat on the Texas (Totally Not Railroads) Railroad Commission, as well as our Presidential nominee, and letting all the other candidates DIY. I'll be advocating for this strategy because of something unusual that the Texas Democratic Party has done. As of the 14 December filing deadline, the Democrats have fielded candidates for all the statewide races. This has happened only twice since 1996. But then, I'm conflicted about the matter. I have reasons for wanting the Party to practice a little restraint. I also have reasons for wanting to have candidates in as many jurisdictions as possible, which is why I'm sorta psyched about having candidates in 20 of our 36 US House districts. (The Democrats have candidates in only 27 of the 36, because...why bother?) BTW, you don't have to live in a Congressional district to represent it.
Some readers of this blog will already know that each state has different rules for how "minor" political parties gain and retain ballot access. Some will not know, and some think they know but don't really. The rules outlined in the Texas Election Code go something like this:
So what are the statewide offices up for election in 2016?
The candidates for the statewide judicial spots typically don't campaign actively. It's unethical and just plain gauche. Even in Texas, Sharon Keller notwithstanding, we have standards for the behavior of our jurists. There is nothing to stop Martina Salinas from campaigning actively, as she did in 2014, when she polled 2.03% even with a Democrat and a Libertarian in the running. That's the best percentage for a Green in a four-way race in Texas since Ralph Nader in 2000 (2.15%). She'll just have to build on her performance. The question is: What's the best strategy to do that? My gut answer to that is: Awaken the Sleeping Giant. If we decide to pursue that strategy, then we can figure out exactly how. Martina did remarkably well in the heavily-Latin@, heavily low-income counties of the Rio Grande Valley. In a race marked by piss-poor turnout (about 33% statewide), these counties' turnout was even piss-poorer. If she can reach out in a big way to the people displaced and sickened and by the fracking boom and the environmental disasters that are just part of the South Texas landscape, maybe she can get Brown Texas voting Green. Here are 2010, 2012, and 2014 turnout numbers for the Valley counties—and just for fun we'll throw in El Paso with its 400,000 registered voters. Keep in mind, these are the percentages of registered voters who voted for the open Railroad Commission seats. County: 2010, 2012, 2014, Total Population, Metropolis Cameron: 22.33%, 40.35%, 20.33%, 406,220, Brownsville-Harlingen El Paso: 22.35%, 42.50%, 19.32%, 800,647, El Paso Hidalgo: 23.39%, 43.14%, 24.20%, 774,769, Edinburg-Mc Allen Jim Hogg: 25.98%, 40.80%, 18.32%, 5,300, Hebbronville Starr: 11.98%, 35.97%, 16.31%, 60,968, Rio Grande City Val Verde: 24.43%, 41.42%, 26.06%, 48,879, Del Rio Webb: 26.08%, 42.12%, 22.13%, 250,304, Laredo Willacy: 21.38%, 39.94%, 17.85%, 22,134, Raymondville Zapata: 15.91%, 42.075, 14.98%, 14,018, Zapata Note that the percentages are about twice as big in the 2012, when there was an Obama to vote for. It's not that these counties don't vote, but they seem to pay more attention when the word "President" appears on the ballot. Of course, there are plenty of other places, including our five largest cities (El Paso has slipped to 6th), where Martina and the Greens can find Progressives and non-voters who are tired of the Tweedle Parties and ready for the Greens' message. They will need to make that message big, make it good, and make it translate into votes.
dbcgreentx
16/12/2015 15:33:12
When I mentioned that Martina Salinas did quite well in El Paso, South Texas, and the Valley in 2014, I did not quantify what "quite well" means. Here are some of Martina's percentages by county:
dbcgreentx
16/12/2015 15:53:46
Those seven West Texas counties, by the way, cram 27,000 registered voters (42,000 total population) into 28,000 square miles, a space about the size of the Republic of Ireland. 16/12/2015 19:33:13
Agreed with the strategy, as noted on my blog, with Salinas being the primary focus. 23/12/2015 09:55:57
David, I am generally in accord with your assessment re Martina & her RRC race. 25/12/2015 20:01:52
54 candidates is great. Comments are closed.
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