FAQ
The TXPC for 2022 employed a 3 strike rule, where the 20-person committee members were allowed to issue a strike against the priority endorsement or recommendation of any particular candidate. If a candidate received 3 strikes, no endorsement was issued. Our committee members (who represent many of our coalition organizations/individuals) could only offer one strike per candidate and had to justify their strike. Our criteria was that a candidate must be either ideologically progressive and/or believe in party reform, depending on the nature of the committee/position they are running for. If multiple progressives were in a race, we generally endorsed one and recommended the others (usually the candidate with the highest score, each app was graded). These types of decisions were made in consultation with local progressives & progressive orgs from their area. As a coalition caucus, we worked to be as grassroots as possible when discussing candidates from each SD.
If a candidate was personally unknown to us and our local sources, if we couldn't find either a provable history of supporting progressive causes or we otherwise had some reasonable doubts, or if a candidate received only 1 or 2 strikes but not 3, we often opted to give just a recommendation. If you believe your recommendation is in error, the best course of action is to ensure we are aware of your history of fighting for progressive causes and for us to get to know you. We also recommended some candidates who may be somewhat moderate in some policy positions but still believed in critical party reforms, as per our criteria and depending on the nature of the position they were running for.
We are very mindful of not splitting the progressive vote when possible. We did our best to make strategic decisions to ensure progressives had a strong chance to win in as many committees as possible. We often looked at everyone who was running in the committees to help determine our best strategy. If one progressive was favored in one race over another progressive, we tried to ensure the other progressive would be favored in a different race. We attempted to balance fairness with strategy to the best of our current knowledge.
While I understand a recommendation or a decision not to endorse may cause some discomfort, please rest assured that we are dedicated to providing truthful priority endorsements and recommendations to our many supporters and other progressive-minded Democrats. We want them to be confident that our assessments are as true and accurate to reality as possible. If that means that in 2024 we determine one of our 2022 decisions no longer matches reality, we can adjust as needed.
If you feel like your non-endorsement or recommendation was an error, I encourage you to try again in 2024. I would recommend coming to our caucus, joining our happy hour, reading our Road Map to Victory document to learn which reforms we're most interested in, and helping us to get to know you more.
The TXPC was formed from a coalition of progressive organizations and leaders from around Texas. We grew out of the Texas Grassroots Alliance. The 2022-24 leadership is Clayton Tucker (President), Emad Salem (VP), Kristi Lara (Treasurer), Julio Acosta (Secretary), & Aftab Siddiqui. The Planning Committee was composed of 20+ individuals and organizations from around Texas.