TEXVAC Celebrates Democratic Sweep

The Texas Values in Action Coalition (TEXVAC) grew out of a basic reality of Democratic politics in Texas: Democratic candidates need lots of money to start and run their campaigns, and there was no local organization to help them with money and message to give them a winning start.

“After the election losses in 2004, a lot of people can remember feeling that our state and country were headed in the wrong direction and that our values and voices were being pushed to the side. Three of us met for a post-election lunch in Nov. 2004 to discuss our mutual sadness about the election outcome," said Tom Solender, a co-founder of TEXVAC.

“As we talked, we realized that complaining wouldn’t change anything. We decided to do something about it, so we started TEXVAC,” Solender said, referring to the three co-founders, Solender himself, Ed Ishmael, and Russell Langley, who served as the organization’s first executive director.

Soon after establishing the group, they were joined by Lisa Turner, a political communications specialist. By doing their research, and working with other election experts to analyze campaign spending and demographics data in Texas, they made the following conclusions:

• There was great opportunity in North Texas both in Dallas County at large and in targeted legislative districts due to shifting demographics and public attitudes about Republicans’ harsh policies.
• Huge resources were potentially available in North Texas and, as a result, the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex had become a national hub for Democratic fundraising.
• Winning races for the Texas House required a minimum of $300,000, and Democratic candidates lagged far behind in receiving the critical start-up money to run successful campaigns.

Despite the financial resources, candidates that could not self-fund were faced with a dilemma that slowed campaign fundraising. On one hand, candidates had to prove themselves one Democratic donor at a time. In the meantime, donors, understandably wanting assurance that their money would be leveraged with other donors’ support, would wait to watch a candidate's ability to raise money from other donors. The clichéd chicken and egg dilemma played itself out in campaign after campaign, and early support could be sluggish.

By pooling financial resources and using state-of-the-art analysis to project districts’ potential, candidates could be given the financial support along with the party nod needed to trigger broad support throughout the length of their campaigns, the co-founders reasoned. So TEXVAC set out to make a difference in state- and local-level elections by raising funds for the early support of Democratic candidates.

By helping to launch dynamic candidates in winnable districts, TEXVAC was pivotal to Democrats winning two additional seats in the Texas House and in sweeping the Dallas County elections.

“After the success of the 2006 elections, we have even more opportunity in North Texas,” said Ishmael. “Democrats statewide now need seven seats to take control of the Texas House, and at least four of those seats can be won here in Dallas and Tarrant counties. If we do our job in recruiting and funding candidates, North Texas will be the leader in reclaiming our state government and laying the foundation for statewide victories for 2010.”

To raise the money needed to support candidates, TEXVAC founded the Rayburn Johnson Dinner as a key, annual fundraising event that would draw high-dollar donations and generate more resources for Democratic candidates. Only in its second year, the Rayburn Johnson Dinner is already the largest non-candidate fundraiser in North Texas.

This year’s dinner, slated for Saturday, April 28, 2007 at the Westin Galleria Hotel in Dallas at 7:00 pm, will host national elections analyst and native Texan Paul Begala as the keynote speaker. Dallas businessman and longtime Democratic stalwart Jess Hay will receive the Rayburn Johnson Award.

The dinner, named for former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Sam Rayburn and former President Lyndon B. Johnson, is expected to attract approximately 500 guests. “Even though the dinner is only in its second year and it’s not even an election year, more than 50 sponsorships have been sold,” Solender said. “We’re excited about the great response.”

Ishmael added, “This kind of response means we can build on our recent success and look forward to 2008, which is coming faster than we think. Candidates will begin emerging over the next few months and will need funds to get a jump start, so it is critical that donors participate now if we want success in ’08.”

The 2007 Dinner will pay homage to a legacy of distinctive leadership by Democrats from national leaders such as Rayburn and Johnson to local luminaries like Hay. Also attending this year's dinner will be Democratic dignitaries such as Congressman Martin Frost, General Wes Clark, former Texas Governor Dolph Briscoe, and numerous newly elected state and local officials. This new group of leaders represents a new legacy of policies that will impact every part of North Texas so that everyone has a better shot at the American dream.

For information on attending or sponsoring the Rayburn Johnson Dinner, contact Russell Langley at 214-350-7875.