Two Trans Texans Running For The Texas Lege!

When we get to cast ballots in the general election this November, Texas Democrats are only nine tantalizing flipped seats away from gaining control of the Texas House for the first time since 2002 .

That would be huge as we go into a 2021 legislative session that will have redistricting on the agenda.

One of the things that would also be huge is if that new class of 2021 legislators had trans Texans as part of it. 

While we have actually had trans Texans serve in public office, we unfortunately have never had a trans Texan be elected to any public office in the Lone Star State. 

Phyllis Frye has been serving since 2010 as a Houston municipal judge,  and was appointed to the position by then Mayor Annise Parker 

Jess Herbst served as mayor of New Hope, TX for two years,   She was serving on city council as the mayor pro tem and took over after the mayor's May 2016 death. She unfortunately lost her bid to win a full term of her own in 2018.

In 2018 Finn Jones advanced out of an uncontested Democratic primary to take on one of the Texas trans community's biggest haters in incumbent District 94 Rep Tony Tinderholt.(R).  Jones made history as the first out Texas trans person to make it to a legislative general election race, and the first out trans masculine Texans to win a party primary . 

Unfortunately, even in a great election year for Texas Democrats, we couldn't get that electoral breakthrough we needed.  Tinderholt was one of the few North Texas House Republicans to survive the Blue Tsunami and win reelection 

So while we trans Texans are still looking for someone to make that Lone Star State history and get elected, history was made on March 3 when two trans feminine Texans won their Democratic primary races to make it to the November 2020 ballot.

In the Panhandle, Addison Perry Franks secured her spot in the District 83 general election by beating James Barrick  by a 54%-46% margin in the Democratic Primary. 

Perry-Franks will take on incumbent Rep Dustin Barrows (R) in the fall and attempt to flip the Lubbock area seat blue. . .

Meanwhile in Central Texas'  House District 17, Madeline Eden was advancing to the general election against incumbent Rep. Jon Cyrier (R), who was also unopposed in the GOP primary.   Cyrier has held this Austin metro area seat since 2015.

Eden is the current chair of the Bastrop County Stonewall Democrats and a former Democratic Party precinct chair.  She has also been endorsed by the Victory Fund.

So here;'s hoping that Eden flips that Centex seat.

And we could have a third trans person running for the Texas Lege if perennial candidate Jenifer Rene Pool wins the Texas House District 138 Democratic runoff for this Houston area seat against Akilah Bacy.

This was the seat that former Rep Dwayne Bohac (R) won by a razor thin 47 votes over Adam Milasincic in 2018, and Bohac retired when the 2019 session concluded.   This seat is seen as a prime pickup opportunity for Texas Democrats, and its a must get.

The winner in that May 22 runoff will take on Republican candidate Lacey Hull in the general.

So will 2020 finally be the year that Texas trans people get a trans person elected to The Lege?
We'll find out in November

HBAD Endorsement Meeting Today!

The Texas primary election date of March 3 is rapidly approaching, and so is the start of early voting in the Lone Star State on February 18.

That meant that for the second consecutive Satuday I got up out of bed early so that I could be at the  Sunnyside area venue in which the Houston Black Area Democrats (H-BAD) endorsement meeting was being held before it started at 9 AM.

It was my first time doing their endorsement meeting, and was nice seeing old freinds and meeting some new ones.  I laughed when I got asked the question by a few people in attendance if I was running for office in this cycle, and when I said 'Not yet", that question truned into 'When was I going to run for office?

91 people screened for the H-BAD endorsement, which is one of the Big Four endorsements of Houston progressive Democratic politics. 

These endorsement meetings can have a lot of drama that rivals the best reality TV shows.  There's twists and turns.   People getting endorsements as expected, and others who didn't get it from the screening committe, but who flipped it once itgot to the meeting. 

People can win or lose endorsements based on what they say that sways the people in the room or pisses them off.

Here are the folks who after six hours, walked out with those coveted H-BAD endorsements:

US Senate- Amanda Edwards 
US Representative District 2- Sima Ladjevarian   
US Representative District 18-  Sheila Jackson Lee
US Representative District 22- Derrick Reed 

Member TX State Board of Education District 6- Michelle Palmer 
TX State Senator Disctrict 13- Borris Miles 
TX State Representative District 27- Ron Reynolds
TX State Representative District 126- Natali Hurtado 
TX State Representative District  131- Alma A. Allen 
TX State Representative Distrct 138-Akilah Bacy 
TX State Represntative District 139-  Jarvis Johnson
TX State Reprsentative  District 141- Senfronia Thompson 
TX State Representative District 142- Richard Bonton 
TX State Represntative District 146 -Shawn Nicole Thierry
TX State Representative District 147- Garnet F. Coleman
Cheif Justice Texas Supreme Court -Amy Clark Meacham
Justice, Texas Supreme Court Place 6- Kathy Cheng
Justice Texas Supreme Court, Place 7- Staci Williams 
Justice Texas Supreme Court Place 8- Peter Kelly
Justice, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals  Place 3 - William Pieratt Demond  
Justice, Texas Court  of Appeals District 14- Jane Robinson
Justice  Texas Court of Appeals 1st District, Place 3 -Veronica Rivas-Molloy
Justice, Texas Court of Appeals  1st District Place 5- Amparo Monique Guerra
Justice Texas Court of Appeals 14th District  Place 7- Tamika Craft

District Judge  80th Judicial District-  Larry Weiman 
District Judge  164th Judicial District- Alexandra Smoots Thomas 
District Judge  165th Judicial District- Ursula Hall 
District Judge  176th Judicial District-  Nikita 'Niki' Harmon
District Judge  179th Judicial District-  No Endorsement 
District Judge  333rd Judicial District-  Daryl Moore   
District Judge  334th Judicial District-  Dawn Deshea Rogers
District Judge  337th Judicial District - Brennen Dunn
District Judge  339th Judicial District- Te'iva Bell
District Judge 351st  Judicial District - Natalia 'Nata' Cornelio 
District Judge 507th Judicial District-  Julia Maldonado

Harris County District Attorney - Carvana Cloud
Harris Ciunty Attorney- Christian Dashaun Menefee 
Harris County Sheriff - Ed Gonzales  
Harris County Tax Assessor Collector - Jolanda Jones

Harris County Commissioner Precinct 1- Rodney Ellis
Harris County Commissioner Precinct 3- Morris Overstreet 

Harris County Constrable Precinct 1 -Alan Rosen 

Harris County Civil Court At Law Number  4- Lesley Briones

Harris County Justice of the Peace Precinct 6 Place 1 - Victor Trevino III
Harris County Justice of the Peace Precinct 7 Place 1 -  Jeremy  L. Brown 
 

Rep. Jennifer Wexton Displays Trans Pride Flag Outside Her DC Congressional Office

When you visit the House and Senate office buildings in Washington DC, in addition to having the nameplate of the representative or senator outside the entry door, there will also be an American flag, their state flag, and then sometimes a third flag of choice on a flagpole outside of the office.

Sometimes that third flag is one for the school they graduated from.  Some have the black POW flags, or the flag representing the branch of the military they served in.

Freshman Representative Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) has a unique one hanging outside her Longworth House Office Building door.  It's the trans pride flag, and she may be the first congressmember to ever display it outside their congressional office door.

Abby Carter, Rep. Wexton's chief of staff, said that she displays the trans pride flag to make a personal statement about trans inclusion.   She the aunt to a trans child, and Del. Danica Roem is one of her Virginia 10th District constituents. 

"This is personal for me. We're talking about my family and friends,” Rep. Wexton said in a statement to NBC News. "I want everyone in the trans community to know that they are welcome and loved even in the face of this administration and its attacks on who they are."

"I didn’t think putting it up would be a big deal, but I've received a huge outpouring of support and appreciation from the LGBT community in the past two days," Wexton added. "We’ve been receiving messages from across the country and they've been telling me how much it means to them to see that in the halls of Congress.

It is a huge deal Rep. Wexton.    In a time when trans Americans have been under attack by the federal government and evilgelicals, and feel that their governments at any level don't care about them, to see that trans pride flag outside a congress member's office. 

Until trans people get elected to Congress, we will be dependent upon legislative allies to help push the policies and make the laws that make life better for trans Americans.

The next time I go to DC, I'm definitely stopping by to say hello and personally thank you for sending a message to everyone that either stops by your office or walks past it that trans lives matter.

What Does Being A Democrat Mean?

I was challenged by someone in a Facebook thread to explain what being a Democrat means. 
This is what I came up. 

****
What does being a Democrat mean?

That evidence and fact based policy matters. That scientific research matters and needs to be consistently funded.

It means we Democrats believe public schools and universities matter because they teach our kids, and they deserve proper funding because an educated populace is important.

We Democrats believe that healthcare is a right that all citizens enjoy, shouldn't be denied because of preexisting conditions or ability to pay, and a healthy society is a policy imperative.

Being a Democrat means that our military should only be used to go to war as a last resort, and not as a first policy option.   We also believe that when people make the sacrifices necessary to serve in our military, they be compensated properly for it.   The Veterans Administration should be properly funded and serve our warriors when they return home from foreign shores. 

It means we recognize that our government at all levels works best when a diverse group of people step up to lead, and that when people of all ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to run for public office.

Democrats believe that people be paid a fair wage for their work, have the right to form a union to collectively bargain for reasonable wages, and get regular wage increases at those jobs.

Being a Democrat means that you believe that all people inside our borders should be treated fairly and with dignity and respect, even ones that aren't citizens of our country.  Who you love or your gender identity should not be justification for mistreatment. 

Being a Democrat means that we believe our country is better when we welcome people not born here to immigrate and contribute their talents to building our society.  It also means that as a multicultural society, hate speech, bigotry and xenophobic commentary is unacceptable and deserves the strongest condemnation  

Being a Democrat means that we believe the Constitution is a living document that evolves as our country and society evolves. It means that all people eligible to vote should be able to cast a ballot that counts in our elections, not suppressed out of participation in them.

It means that we Democrats believe that what determines whether a person receives justice in this country shouldn't depend on their skin color, whether the judge has a D or R behind their name, the federal judge was appointed by a Democratic or Republican president, or the size of their bank account

It means we Democrats believe in a media with journalists dedicated to speaking truth to power and reporting the facts.   We believe the media is an indispensable part of our democracy and a crucial component of creating the informed society we need so this American democratic experiment works properly.

Being a Democrat means we recognize there are many religious traditions in this country, not just right wing evangelical Christians.  The practice of those other religions inside our borders must be respected and protected.    We also recognize and respect the right of people to have no religious tradition at all, and the separation of church and state matters in a multicultural nation.

It means we recognize that infrastructure matters and it needs constant attention, funding and improvement

It means that as people who wish for America to be worthy of being called and seen as a great nation around the world, we praise our country when it is doing things right and constructively criticize it when it is on the wrong evolutionary path

It also means that we Democrats love this country, too

This is what a Democrat means.

Historic 2018 LGBT Slate Of Gubernatorial Candidates

With the historic win of Christine Hallquist last night, it not only points out the building Rainbow wave in this upcoming 2018 election cycle, but also completed an interesting political footnote.

For the first time ever, we have candidates representing different parts of the LGBT acronym running in the same election cycle for governor in their respective states.

In my home state of Texas, we're proudly providing the 'L' in Lupe Valdez, the former longtime Dallas County sheriff who is running for governor against the incumbent Greg Abbott (R).

We go to Colorado for the 'G' in Jared Polis, the current US congressman representing Colorado's 2nd Congressional District, who is running to succeed Democratic governor John Hickenlooper.

The 'B' is Oregon's incumbent governor Kate Brown, who is fighting off a challenge from Republican gubernatorial nominee Knute Buehler.

And as you're aware of by now, the 'T' is provided by Vermont's Christine Hallquist, who is challenging incumbent Republican governor Phil Scott.

This is a year in which we have had over 400 LGBT candidates run for office and who were motivated in large part because of Republican legislative attacks on the TBLGQ community.

There are according to the Victory Fund, 500 LGBT elected officials in the US, and that's only .01 % of the total number of elected officials nationwide, so there is much room for growth. 

Yes, it's clear by the GOP attacks on LGBT rights people from this community must be represented in the halls of governmental power at every level of government, and the sooner, the better. 

Having members of our community wielding the power of the gubernatorial pen to sign executive orders, approve good legislation or veto bad bills is now more than ever even more crucial to our ability as a community to defend ourselves against legislation hostile to us.

The Democratic Party gubernatorial nominations are only the first step in the process. In order to see them sworn in as governors of Colorado, Oregon, Texas and Vermont in January, we're going to have to bumrush the polls and vote for them on November 6.
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Hawaii 2018 Primary Election Today

The Hawaii primary election is taking place today, and one of the races I have my eye on in the Aloha State is the lieutenant governor's one.

Current Lt Governor Doug Chin (D) decided to run for the 1st Congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D), who decided to primary challenge incumbent Gov. David Ige (D).

Kim Coco Iwamoto, who served two terms on the Hawaii State Board of Education in 2006 and 2010 and was subsequently appointed to the Hawaii Human Rights Commission, is running in this crowded five candidate Democratic primary race for Lt. Governor.

She has been surging in the latest polls, but will she get enough support from Aloha State voters to win this statewide race and the Democratic  lieutenant governor's nomination? 

She has been endorsed by one of the major labor unions in Hawaii and Trans United Fund

If she does, she'll get one step closer to making more electoral history by becoming the first out trans person to win a major party lieutenant governor primary in the US. 

However, we won't find out the results of today's Hawaii primary election until all the ballots are cast, counted and the totals revealed in the early morning hours of Sunday our time.

You know I'm hoping for that trans electoral history to happens for her.

 

Texas 2018 Democratic Gubernatorial Debate

I missed this when it happened on Friday because I was traveling to Dallas.   Now that I've found the video for it I'm posting it for you peeps who are trying to make up your minds which person you wish to see take on Greg Abbott in November.

This is the one and done debate between Lupe Valdez and Andrew White that occurred on Friday evening in Austin.  It was moderated by Dallas Morning News reporter Gromer Jeffers, and as you probably suspected, got testy at times, especially since early voting for the May 22 runoff election starts today and runs through May 18 

So who am I supporting in this race?   I voted for Valdez in the primary in large part because I didn't like White's donation to the Kentucky Republican Party and his self description as a 'conservative moderate Democrat.' and I will be voting for her again in this runoff.

We need real Democrats, not Democrats-lite in these Trumpian times. 

 So handle your electoral business.

Rep. Joe Kennedy's Democratic SOTU Response

Folks, it would be easy to dismiss this past year as chaos, partisanship, as politics, but it’s far, far bigger than that. This administration isn’t just targeting the laws that protect us. They’re targeting the very idea that we are all worthy of protection. For them, dignity isn’t something you’re born with, but something you measure by your net worth, your celebrity, your headlines, your crowd size-Rep Joe Kennedy
For the first time since 2008 the Democrats were in the position of having to deliver the response to a Republican State of the Union Speech. 

The person chosen to give that response was Rep. Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts.

While some peeps were appreciative of the fact it was one of the younger Democrats making that reponse, others were tripping about his last name and familial ties to a Democratic political dynasty in the Kennedys.

And unlike 45, Rep. Kennedy gave a shout out to the transgender community

'As if the parent who lies awake terrified that their transgender son or daughter will be beaten and bullied at school is any more or less legitimate than a parent whose heart is shattered by a daughter in the grips of an opioid addiction. So here is the answer the Democrats offer tonight. We choose both.'

Here's the response speech in case you missed it.

The Terrific Ten TX Dem Senators Oppose SB 6

For those of you who were wondering where were the Texas Senate Democrats in opposition to SB 6 and its 21-10 passage in the Texas Senate on Tuesday and Wednesday to sen it to the Texas House, they were live and in full effect in opposing this bill.  Unfortunately we hand one DINO in Sen.  Eddie Lucio, Jr who joined the Texas GOP trans oppressors

But elections matter, and the GOP has a 20-11 edge in the Texas Senate.   You don't like that, vote the GOP oppressors out starting in 2018.   That DINO Lucio needs to primary challenged.

Ten senators rose in opposition to the Texas Transgender Oppression Act that Houston GLBT Caucus president Fran Watson has dubbed 'The Terrific Ten'

Here are their words in opposition to the unjust bill.


Sen. Sylvia Garcia



Sen. Judith Zaffirini 



Sen. Jose Menendez 




Sen Chuy Hinojosa 



Sen John Whitmire 

Harris County Goes Blue!

>The news wasn't all bad for me and Team Liberal-progressive on November 8.

My home county, Harris County, which with over 4 million people in it is the third largest county in the nation and the largest in Texas by population, went blue on Election Night!

What was even more delicious was that Fort Bend County, one of our neighboring counties to the southwest which once upon a time was the political base of the odious Tom DeLay, also went blue on Election Night.   It has become more diverse since 2000.

We did in Harris County what the nation should have done. fired everything with an R behind their name. Hillary romped in Harris County    The GOP lost every county wide seat they held.  We elected Kim Ogg, who narrowly lost two years ago as our DA (#ByeDevon).  We reclaimed the sheriff's office by electing Ed Gonzales to replace the appointed Republican Ron Hickman.. We added new Democratic state judges and now have 12 African-American women judges at the county courthouse.

Stan Stanart, you're next.  We need to have a Democrat as Harris County clerk administering voting rules in this diverse county.  We're done with your shady voter suppression tactics.

Neither is the SGL community going to forget how you stalled implementation of the Obergefell ruling here for several hours.

Flipping the county was the easy part.   Now comes the hard part of keeping it in 2018 and beyond.

2016 DNC Convention Day 2 Recap

Day 1 of #DNCinPhilly was contentious at times, but this was the day that eluded Hillary Clinton eight years ago and that sound you heard was the glass ceiling finally shattering.  

Move over boys, Hillary Clinton has now made history as the first woman to be nominated for president by a major party .  It was a long road to get to this point in American history with many women trying to do so but ultimately falling short of making that history.

Somewhere Ann Richards, Shirley Chisholm and Barbara Jordan are smiling because that glass ceiling she put 16 million cracks in back in 2008 has finally been broken.  



After Hillary Clinton narrowly missed the big prize in 2008, she finally made it happen in 2016.   Now if we can just get her to the point in November of calling her 'Madame President' instead of 'Madame Secretary'.

The LGBT Caucus happened today, and one of the highlights of it was Barbra casbar Siperstein presenting the Jane Fee Award to Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA).

While some of the Bernie Sanders supporters are still upset about the fact that you can officially stop calling Clinton the presumptive nominee, the efforts continue in this convention space and beyond to get those folks who see the big picture of what needs to happen on November 8 to be totally on board with her instead of 'I guess I'm with her.'

Some of the highlights of Day Two of the DNC besides the Roll Call of the States were speeches by the Mothers of the Movement  to the shouts in the Wells Fargo Center hall of 'Black Lives Matter'

They pointed out that they trust Hillary Clinton , not Donald Trump to reduce racial tensions between police and the Black community because of her longtime commitment to social justice and urged people to vote for her.,

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright also took the stage to point out Trump's problematic fawning over authoritarian leaders like Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un, who recently endorsed him.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D-VA) also repeated something I've been concerned about as a Kennedy baby who grew up during the Cold War and had to do duck and cover nuke attack drills in elementary school until 3rd grade.

 I don't want Donald Trump's paws and thin skinned behind near the US nuclear launch codes, and McAuliffe echoed my thoughts in terms of cautioning the nation about giving control of the nuclear launch codes to a man who praises Putin and Saddam Hussein




The speech by former Attorney General Eric Holder debunked the lies that Trump has been telling, and pointed out that violent crime has gone down since President Obama took office.

He went on to passionately endorse Hillary Clinton for president.,

The big speech of the night was given by our Democratic presidential nominees' husband, who happens to have been the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton.

Bill talked about his wife, how they met and her lifetime of fighting for liberal progressive causes as his daughter Chelsea looked on from the arena box seats.

It was a side of her that many people, haven't heard in terms of her undercover work in Alabama on behalf of Marian Wright Edelman to spike the tax exemptions for the racist private academies that sprang up across the South in order for white parents to avoid sending their kids to integrated schools.

It was nice hearing from Bill about how they got married before he launched into his case as to why she should become our 45th president.

 

And yeah, not only has the music been better at this convention, ,so has the star power.  

Day 2 of #DNCinPhilly completed, on to Day 3.

First Lady Michelle Obama's DNC 2016 Speech

For those of you who didn't get to witness it live, First Lady Michelle Obama took to the DNC 2016 stage last night and delivered a speech for the ages that reminded me at times of the one her hubby dropped at the 2004 DNC event in Boston.

No wonder Melania Trump plagiarized the FLOTUS' 2008 DNC speech last week.

This #DNCinPhilly speech was so outstanding that when she was done she should have dropped the mic and walked off the stage when it was over.

But hey, judge for yourselves.   Here's the video of the DNC 2016 speech.

Marisa Richmond Named Official 2016 DNC Convention Timekeeper

This #DNCinPhilly convention is tuning out to be even more historic for trans kind than I anticipated.  In addition to having a record 27 trans delegates attending the event and the American trans community eagerly awaiting Sarah McBride's Thursday podium speech, there's more news cementing this Philadephia DNC convention as one of the most trans friendly events in American political history.

Longtime Nashville based trans advocate Marisa Richmond has been active in Democratic Party politics for years and has been a delegate to several DNC conventions including the 2008 one in which she witnessed history in then Sen. Barack Obama's historic nomination.

She'll have a lot closer seats than she did in 2008 to witness another historic nomination this time, like on the convention stage.

She was tapped to become the official timekeeper for the 2016 Democratic National Convention. This makes Richmond possibly the first out trans person to be named as a major party convention podium official, which is also a big deal.

Marisa's task as the convention's official timekeeper is to keep all the speakers on schedule and within their allotted time limits.  Through her roles with Trans United For Hillary and the Democratic Party's  LGBT advisory board she was contacted and subsequently offered the position.

"It's a personal honor and privilege to be up there on the stage," said Richmond in an interview with The Tennessean.  "I'll be just a few feet away from all of the speakers all four nights.  it's literally one of the best seats there."

"It shows that this is easily the most trans friendly convention ever, " she said.  "It shows that this party has really made progress in terms of inclusion and diversity."

Speaking of seats, if you're looking for her, during the television telecasts, where the arrow is in the photo by Mara Keisling is where Marisa will be sitting and doing her timekeeping duties during the convention.

The Tennessee Democratic Party was also pleased about Richmond being chosen as the 2016 DNC convention timekeeper, and Tennessee State Democratic Party Chair Mary Mancini said she was thrilled by her selection.

Mancini noted that Richmond, the former chair of the Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition, has been one of the strongest LGBTQ advocates in Tennessee and across the country for many years."

And yes, I'll definitely cosign that sentiment.  I've had the pleasure of knowing her trailblazing self since the late 90's, and I'm proud of her for getting this amazing honor.

The 2016 Democratic Presidential Election Process Wasn't Rigged

It's become fashionable in the media, in Green Tea Party circles and with disgruntled Sandernistas ti loudly claim that Bernie was cheated out of the nomination because the process was 'rigged' in favor of Sec. Hillary Clinton.  They, the media and Donald Chump Trump have seized on a Wikileaks dump of documents on Friday before the opening of the DNC as 'proof' that the process was stacked against him.

Um no Bernie Boo Boo Kitties, it wasn't, and Moni's going to tell you why.

Let's get the obvious part of the way that Sanders was a DINO trying to execute a hostile takeover of our presidential primary.   Sanders also has a long history dating back to 1985 of demonizing the Democratic Party, called for President Obama to be primary challenged in 2012, and admitted he was only joining the Democratic Party to make it easier for him to run for president instead of doing so as an independent.

In Hillary Clinton, Sanders was going up against a woman that not only had 40 years of history and working relationships with the key constituent groups in the party, but has been the First Lady, a two time elected senator for New York, served as President Obama's Secretary of State, narrowly lost a contentious 2008 Democratic presidential primary race and worked to unify the party for the 2008 election campaign.

So  if one of your Democratic finalists is a long time Democrat with 40 years of history in the party versus a DINO attempting to execute a hostile takeover of your 2016 nomination process, who in Hades do you think they will support?

Clinton didn't win because the system was 'rigged'. she won because she soundly beat Bernie and used the tactics that beat her in 2008 against Sanders in 2016.

Bernie's support was with predominately white independents and young voters.  Non-white Democratic voters weren't 'Feeling The Bern' because we aren't looking for ideological purity in a candidate like many white far left people are, we're looking for Democratic candidates who can win elections and govern when they get there.

Non-white voters are political pragmatists, and in addition to Bernie's campaign not recognizing that point, they also failed to connect with non-white voters who they discovered far too late, would make or break his campaign.

#BlackVotersMatter in Democratic primaries, and there are three states, MO, KY and IL in which Black voters showed up and helped give Sec. Clinton narrow primary wins.

Bernie failed to explain how his pet issues could not only be accomplished, but how they would improve the everyday lives of non-white Democrats.  The disastrous New York Daily News interview was a glaring example of that.

And oh yeah, loudly saying 'Hillary Sucks' and repeating 25 year old discredited Republican lies about her is not a compelling argument for me to support you when you have done a piss poor job of articulating why I should vote for you.  Making excuses for your repeated failures to connect with non-white voters, claiming the system is corrupt, making specious charges of voter fraud and railing against 'The Establishment' also wasn't a good look for your campaign.

So let's do another reality check.  In the only poll that counts, more people voted for Hillary (16,847,075) than Bernie (13,168,214).  She won 34 contests, many in diverse states by in many cases blowout margins, while Sanders was winning 23 contest in predominately white states.   She has 2764 total delegates to his 1894.

On Tuesday night, she will make history by become the first female nominee of a major political party, and cement the fact that a majority of Democratic primary voters wanted her as our nominee.

So nope, the Democratic presidential election process wasn't rigged, it worked exactly as it was designed to do, to produce a nominee capable of winning a general election contest.   Bernie knew the DNC rules when he made the call to jump in our race, he lost and y'all Sandernistas need to get over it.

Something else that needs to happen is that the sour grapes cries of a 'rigged' process need to cease and desist.
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Hillary Clinton Taps Tim Kaine As VP Running Mate

Presumptive 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton finally made her choice for her vice presidential running mate, and she tapped Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) to be that person.

While I liked Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) , Sen Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and HUD secretary Julian Castro as possible veep picks, the problem with the three senators favored by many people in liberal political circles is that had Sec. Clinton chosen then, they would have been replaced with picks by Republican governors in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Ohio and made our push to get a Democratic Senate a little harder.

Kaine has served as mayor of Richmond, VA, as Virginia's governor, and now as its junior senator.  He speaks fluent Spanish because of his time as a missionary in Honduras.

So this pick made sense from that a political standpoint even if elements of the Green Tea Party wing hates it.

'"Sen. Tim Kaine is everything that Donald Trump and Mike Pence is not," said Clinton. "He is qualified to step into this job and lead on Day 1. And he is a progressive who likes to get things done."

The Democratic running mates appeared together for the first time at an event in Miami yesterday.  and here's the video of the rally



This 2016 election will be critically to the future of our country, and it looks as thought Sec. Clinton with the selection of Kaine, has made another wise decision that underscores how prepared she is to be POTUS.

Sarah McBride To Speak From DNC Convention Stage!

I'm hoping that the 2016 trans DNC contingent during their time in Philadelphia will actually see more trans history made with one of our people actually making a speech to the convention attendees and hopefully the nation from the convention stage. 
-TransGriot  July 24, 2016

Wow, talking about speaking something into existence.  I mused about having a trans speaker in a 2012 DNC post along with literally posting several hours ago my expressed hopes that the upcoming #DNCinPhilly event would witness one of the out members of our community speak from the DNC convention stage for the first time.

I'm happy to announce that Sarah McBride will get to make that history on Thursday as the first out trans person to speak from the Democratic National Committee stage in Philadelphia.

She said in a statement to The Hill that she is honored to have the opportunity to do so.

“People must understand that even as we face daily harassment, tragic violence, and an onslaught of anti-LGBTQ political attacks across the country, we are real people merely seeking to be treated with the dignity and respect every person deserves," she said in a statement. 

"I'm so proud to stand with the LGBT Caucus and speak out in support of Hillary Clinton, because we know she stands with us.”

What an honor for Sarah, and what an amazing and apropos step forward for the American trans community in a year in which we will send a record 28 trans people to the Democratic National Convention.   
That's a huge evolutionary step from Jane Fee being the lone trans delegate in Los Angeles in 2000.  Since then we have had six trans DNC delegates in Boston in 2004, eight in 2008 in Denver and the then record 13 in Charlotte.

I am happy and proud that Sarah will be the person on that DNC Wells Fargo Arena stage, and frankly it's not surprising me that she's the one being tapped for it.

Ever since I met her as a White House intern back when I was attending a 2012 National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) OUT on the Hill White House briefing, she struck me as someone who was going to do some wonderful groundbreaking things for our community, and over the last four years I have been proven correct in my assessment of her.    

The only question I have is will Sarah's DNC speech be in prime time on Thursday or sometime during the convention day?   If it's during the convention day, I'll have to watch the C-SPAN DNC feed to be able to see it without the network pundits and commentators chattering over it. 

Congrats Sarah, this is one amazing accomplishment, and I'll be along with Trans America and our allies eagerly awaiting your historic speech.

2016 Texas Democratic Convention Happening In San Antonio

For the first time in 50 years, the Texas Democratic Party is holding their state convention in San Antonio from June 16-18 at the Alamodome.  

The Castro brothers probably had a lot to do with why it's being hosted in the Alamo City, and fittingly, US Rep. Joaquin Castro and HUD Secretary and his twin brother, former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro are the featured speakers.

It's also fun to note that Sec. Castro is returning to San Antonio as rumors continue to fly that he is being vetted as a possible vice presidential pick for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

I have more than a few friends in the Houston activist community who are in San Antonio as I compose this for the event.  Some of them are trying to make the jump to being elected as the delegates to the national Democratic convention in Philadelphia and I wish them the best of luck in doing so.  One of the things that is also happening for them is that they are repping H-town while connecting with Texas Democrats from across the state.

It's probably a safe bet to state that the Texas Democratic Party convention will reflect the diversity of the state of Texas, unlike the recently held GOP one in Dallas.

One thing I can also say with confidence is that unlike the GOP event in Dallas, the Democratic party platform once it is compiled and released won't be a monument to anti-trans and anti-gay hate, and we won't be hearing Democratic Party officials spouting anti-trans and anti-gay rhetoric during their speeches while they are there..

Y'all handle your business and have fun in San Antonio.

Why The Superdelegates Aren't Going To Switch To Bernie

There is this persistent fantasy being pushed in Bernie World that Sanders will get the superdelegates to massively switch to him and give him the nomination because 'it happened to Hillary in 2008'. .

Yeah right.  That has as much chance of happening as moi walking the runway of the next Victoria's Secret runway show.

Let's approach this logically shall we?

First, let's talk about exactly who the superdelegates are.  438 of them are Democratic National Committee members with 434 votes.  They also include the chairs and vice chairs of all 50 state Democratic parties.

20 are distinguished party leaders (DPL).  That means current and former presidents and vice presidents, former congressional leaders and former DNC chairs.   That DPL list of supers includes President Obama, Vice President Biden, former president Jimmy Carter, and former vice president Al Gore for example.  

The 193 Democratic members of the US House of Representatives (including DC and the US territories like the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico American Samoa and Guam)

The 47 US Senate Democrats and the two DC shadow Senators, and the 21 Democratic governors.

Now that we know who the supers are, let's start breaking down why Sanders attempt to get superdelegates to switch will ultimately fail.

This is 2016, not 2008.  Just as wars are not fought with the same tactics you used in a previous one, neither are political campaigns.  The events that happened in presidential campaign 2008 while instructive and you can learn lessons from them, are not guaranteed to repeat themselves in the next campaign.

Let's get it out there the first dirty secret of the Sanders campaign.  Bernie only joined the Democratic Party last year and admitted he did so only to go after the Democratic nomination and stated it would be harder for him to run for president as an independent. . He is not a Democrat, he is a DINO.

Bernie also has a long history of demonizing the Democratic party going back to 1985. He also called for the primary challenge of President Obama, which means he is not going to be successful in getting President Obama's superdelegate vote, much less many Black superdelegates who haven't forgotted Sanders dissing southern Black Democratic voters.   They also haven't forgotten many of you Berners racistly dissed Rep John Lewis (a superdelegate BTW) and Black voters consistently rejected Bernie at at 86-14% clip. .

Bernie does slightly better with Latinos, being rejected by them by a 75-25% clip. They have issues with Bernie as well, which means he won't be getting many Latino superdelegates to switch either, especially after he accused the Puerto Rico Democratic Party of 'fraud' and the Berners dissing of Latina civil rights icon Dolores Huerta early in the campaign.. And like Black voters, a majority of Latinx voters aren't feeling the Bern either as was demonstrated on Sunday in Puerto Rico. 

And note that out of all his senate colleagues who are superdelegates, only Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon supports him. That speaks volumes 
Sanders acting like a vanillacentric privileged spoiled brat and blaming everyone but himself for his various primary losses is also not endearing him to the superdelegates.

Contrary to what the Sanders campaign is telling you, Sanders is not the better candidate against Trump. He wasn't really vetted and his dirty laundry wasn't given a proper airing. The Repblicans are praying we'll be stupid enough to nominate a candidate they desperately want to run against and paint his 'Democratic Socialist' behind as the second coming of Marx and Lenin.  Trump would spank that behind once they unleash all the unvetted hell on him that Hillary didn't do. 
Then there's the fact that Hillary has 40 years of Democratic Party history, was the First Lady in her husband Bill's administration, elected twice as the US senator from New York and the former secretary of state serving under President Obama .  Being she was on the losing end of a tighter presidential race in 2008 and hadled it with dignity and clas , female Democratic leaders, and especially seasoned Democratic female leaders see this as the best chance of their lifetime to make their presidential dream come true and they aren't throwing away this opportunity for a DINO.   .

Attacking Sen. Barbara Boxer (another superdelegate) in addition to the sexist and nasty commentary that has been aimed at Hillary Clinton in this campaign, in addition to stating you will continue to attack her will only ossify their support for Clinton.

In 1984, Gary Hart tried the same tactic that Bernie Sanders is about o attempt in flipping superdelegates that committed to Walter Mondale before the convention and failed miserably.

We know the stakes of the election this November and see the big picture.  Many of the Bernie or bust people tragically don't.

So good luck with that quixotic doomed to failure attempt to flip the superdelegates.