Annie’s List in 2008

What a great time for women in politics! With Speaker Pelosi presiding in Congress and Sen. Clinton making a historic run for the White House, women candidates up and down the ballot are moving to center stage. Annie’s List is ready to build on our history of success — eight new progressive Democratic women elected to the House in our three years, including five in the 2006 election cycle — by supporting the greatest number of candidates to date.

I’m proud to announce the endorsement of six new challengers, as well as the continued support of our five incumbents who have opponents. To ensure their success, we will continue to make strategically timed cash contributions and, throughout the campaign, our seasoned professional staff will provide tactical support.

(Editor's note: The Texas Blue does not endorse candidates in the Democratic primary. Below we list the primary endorsements from Annie's List for those candidates which are unopposed in the primary. For a complete list, check out the Annie's List website. -gn)

Our Challengers

Wendy Davis
(Senate District 10 – Fort Worth)

Wendy Davis, candidate for Senate District 10 in Tarrant County, is an amazing woman with a truly inspiring story about overcoming adversity. She married young and had a daughter at age 18. The marriage did not last, leaving her as a single mom with no child support. She made ends meet by working as a secretary in a doctor's office and attended paralegal courses at the community college at nigh. She ultimately graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. Today, she is the CEO of Republic Title’s Fort Worth division and just completed her fourth term on the Fort Worth City Council.

In contrast, a recent poll found that 50% of the voters in SD-10 have never heard of her opponent, Kim Brimer, and of those who had, only 27.4% would vote to re-elect him. Further tainting his reputation are his well-documented ethical lapses, including a scheme to convert special interest campaign contributions to personal use.

This race is of tremendous strategic importance because Democrats now hold 11 out of the 31 Texas Senate seats. Because Senate rules require a 2/3rd vote to consider legislation, our victory would mean that Democrats could block destructive Republican legislation.

Diana Maldonado
(House District 52 – Rio Grande Valley)

As the former Round Rock ISD School Board President, Diana Maldonado is already a well-known champion for public education and community development in Round Rock, the heart of HD 52. Elected city-wide in 2003 and 2006, she was the first Latina to serve as school board president in Round Rock ISD’s history.

Diana was originally prepared to challenge incumbent Mike Krusee (re-elected with just 50.5% of the vote in 2006), architect of the boondoggled Trans Texas Corridor. But, in late November, just days after Annie’s List official endorsement, Krusee announced he would not seek reelection. As an open seat, we believe that HD-52 has become an even more viable district due to rapid growth and changing demographics as a result of flight from the expensive Austin housing market.

Kristi Thibaut
(House District 133 – Houston)

Kristi Thibaut is prepared for a rematch with Jim Murphy. While she fell short in 2006 due to low turnout among the Democratic base, she was extremely successful in persuading moderate Republicans to crossover and vote for her on Election Day.

While the presidential election will guarantee a higher turnout in Harris County, an incredible slate of diverse and qualified candidates (reminiscent of Dallas County’s 2006 successful coordinated strategy) up and down the countywide ballot will boost numbers even more. Kristi has worked to ensure her early viability and has already received critical endorsements – worth over a hundred thousand dollars – that she lacked in her last minute effort in 2006.

Diane Trautman
(Harris County Tax Assessor Collector)

With 23 years of hands-on experience as a school teacher and public education administrator, Dr. Diane Trautman is a remarkable woman who knows how to keep an establishment with hundreds of employees up and running smoothly.

In 2006, Diane set her sights on the Texas House, running against Republican incumbent Joe Crabb in a district that votes 70% Republican. Diane’s service and remarkable personality resonated with the voters, and she surprised us all by outperforming every other Democrat by ten points. From that moment, we knew to keep our eye on her!

This election cycle, we asked this impressive candidate (who clearly would have a bright political future in the right political race) to run for Harris County Tax Assessor Collector. Harris County is the last remaining major metropolis we have left to turn blue and is the key to Democrats once again winning statewide races. To ensure every vote is counted, we must have an ethical Tax Assessor Collector committed to bringing voters into the democratic process, rather than excluding them as her opponent has done.

The incumbent, Paul Bettencourt, is a partisan politico who purged 100,000 voters from the roles over the last three election cycles, including randomly removing thousands of minority voters. He positioned himself as the national spokesperson on supposed voter fraud and worked to pass legislation like the Voter-ID bill that would have disenfranchised thousands of low-income, elderly and minority Texans.

Our Incumbents

Rep. Valinda Bolton
(House District 47 – Austin)

The 2006 race for House District 47 in Austin was an epic battle with eleven candidates entering the race after Republican Rep. Terry Keel (now Speaker Craddick’s parliamentarian and chief consigliere) announced his retirement. Valinda Bolton battled her way through a five-way Democratic primary, a primary run-off and ultimately to a 50.5% victory in the most expensive general election in Legislative history. Valinda proved her worth in her first session and earned the coveted “Freshman of the Year” award by the Legislative Study Group.

Even with her successes, we know that her 2008 re-election is not to be taken lightly as this district still leans towards the Republicans. Valinda’s opponent is a Republican woman named Donna Keel – the sister-in-law of the former State Representative.

Rep. Ellen Cohen
(House District 134 – Houston)

State Representative Ellen Cohen took House District 134 by storm in 2006, garnering nearly 56% of the vote in one of the most expensive House races to date. Carrying that momentum into her first session, Ellen fought for legislation to improve public education, health care and air quality, as well as a measure to fund $25 million in sexual assault prevention services. Ellen will face the winner of the March GOP primary, a victory that we cannot take for granted.

Rep. Veronica Gonzales
(House District 41 – McAllen)

Defeating a “Craddick-D” incumbent in April of 2004, Rep. Veronica Gonzales was one of Annie’s List’s earliest successes and has been a force to reckon with ever since. This November she faces a Republican challenger and Rick Perry appointee named Javier Villalobes who has committed to spending $300,000 of his own money.

Veronica was a leader during last session’s fight against the Voter ID bill and a champion of CHIP legislation. Throughout her tenure, Veronica has worked to improve the circumstances of her constituents, including those living in poverty-stricken colonias. We must make sure she returns to continue her vital work on behalf of vulnerable Texans.

Rep. Donna Howard
(House District 48 – Austin)

Rep. Donna Howard was elected to the Texas House in February 2006 just before the special sessions on public education finance. She ran unopposed in November 2006 but, this year, she will face a tough re-election campaign against the Republican who wins the March primary, most likely to be a woman who, like Donna, was a school board member.

During the session, Donna co-founded the Legislative Air Quality Caucus and passed legislation to improve healthcare for all Texans. After just one session, Donna emerged as a leader on environmental and healthcare issues and has been recognized by the Sierra Club and the Texas Hospital Association. Please help us protect this powerful advocate in the Texas Legislature.

Rep. Paula Pierson
(House District 93 – Arlington)

On November 8, 2006, Rep. Paula Pierson was the talk of the town after edging out 16-year incumbent Toby Goodman by 587 votes. During the legislative session she stood strong on the key issues of public education and health care. Her reputation as an advocate for children, especially those neglected and abused, was clearly visible during her Committee on Human Services hearings, as well as in legislation she passed.

Despite Paula’s victory, Republicans still consider this to be one of their seats. In fact, Speaker Craddick visited Arlington three times to flush out a candidate against Paula. This November, she will face Republican Bill Burch whose radical right views are cut from the cloth of Tom Craddick and the Republican leadership.