Endorsement Pulled. Now What?
Because fascists don't wait for us to get our act together.
So. About that TX-35 endorsement.
I don’t love doing this, but I’m pulling my endorsement of Maureen Galindo. If you are already aware of the situation brewing in that district, then you understand why. If you don’t know, you’re free to Google, but basically, some recent behavior has made it impossible for me to stand behind that endorsement in good conscience.
That does not mean I’m endorsing the other guy. But effectively immediately, I’m calling this race a Dead Blue Armadillo™. If this is your district, you still have to vote. You don’t get to opt out. You just have to pick your own poison pill.
With all of the drama circling Maureen Galindo, the week before the runoffs begin, does that mean it’s likely that Johnny Garcia will win? Probably.
And if he does, and he goes into Congress voting in sync with Henry Cuellar and Vicente Gonzalez, he goes on the progressive shortlist.
What’s the progressive shortlist?
I just named it that (just now). But it’s the short list of Conservative Democrats in Texas who keep fucking Democrats, over and over, and over again.
Right now, the Congressional list is:
Henry Cuellar
Vicente Gonzalez
Lizzie Fletcher
This list will grow after this election cycle, but don’t fret, the list of solid progressives Congresspeople in Texas will grow, too. And maybe that’s a sign of the Democratic Party becoming more polarized.
This shortlist is the set of Congressional Democrats that progressives should target in primaries in every single election. There’s a shortlist for the Legislature, too, but we don’t have to get into it today.
The polarization that’s happening within our party isn’t by accident. It’s what happens when a base gets tired of being taken for granted. It’s what happens when there are factions, and they’re all siloed off on different social media platforms and in different realities.
Texas progressives have been clear about what they want for years. I even wrote a (short) manifesto about it last year.
“We have to stop treating different factions as if they’re negligible.” - Kendall Scudder.
During my interview with Kendall Scudder yesterday, this is the one thing he said that has stuck with me the most.
Depending on which social media platform you regularly use, you might have seen a ton of excitement for the Texas Democratic Party announcing that they’ll have Bernie Sanders as a speaker at the convention. Or you might have seen a lot of ire.
It’s the same with Corey Booker. Last month, the TDP announced he’d also be speaking. Booker will be a speaker at the convention, even The Conscious Lee had something to say about Booker’s appearance.
But the TDP also announced:
There are certainly opinions within the progressive wing of our party about billionaires, especially at this moment in time, and Pritzker has had his fair share of criticisms.
That’s the point that Kendall was making yesterday, and while reasonable people can disagree about the speaker lineup, the reaction to it proves his point better than anything else could. Two different factions looked at the same announcements and came away with opposite feelings.
Fascism is the enemy.
The Voting Rights Act is basically gone. Progressives may not agree with Corey Booker’s financial ties to Wall Street. And liberals may not agree with Bernie Sanders’ appeal to white, working-class voters. But both Booker and Sanders, in the Senate, would vote to codify the Voting Rights Act.
Bo French, the dipshit who ran the Tarrant County GOP into the ground, is running for Texas Railroad Commissioner. He came under fire for a social media post where he asked his followers whether Jews or Muslims were a bigger threat to the country, and for comments he made about wanting to deport close to a third of the country. He’s in a runoff on May 26. The Democratic nominee, Jon Rosenthal, besides being Jewish, has spoken about the war crimes in Gaza, and he can win that seat in November. He just wants to regulate fossil fuels in Texas (which is what that seat does).
ICE has killed Americans, and Republicans are defending it. It’s a party of fascism that kills its own citizens and then defends its crimes. Texas is 40% Hispanic and has the highest volume of ICE detention in the US. And while Henry Cuellar’s and Vicent Gonzalez’s votes have betrayed Texas regarding ICE, we can only hope that any newly elected Congressperson won’t do the same. Cuellar and Gonzalez have both been corrupted and bought off after years in the system. If Johnny Garcia is elected, or when Bobby Pulido wins, we have to give them the chance to screw up first, and we have to apply enough pressure so they don’t.
Last week, the 5th Circuit halted mail-order prescriptions of mifepristone. Also, Senate candidate James Talarico unveiled a plan to tackle the Black maternal mortality crisis (even though that’s a state issue). Do you think either of the Republican Senate candidates would even address this issue? Considering both Ken Paxton and John Cornyn have a long history of racism, don’t count on it.
The progressive movement in Texas didn’t happen overnight.
It happened over years of hard work, organizing, and refusing to quit in a state that has never made it easy. That work is ongoing. We don’t get everything we want in one cycle. We don’t get everything we want in two. But right now, in THIS CYCLE, the number one priority has to be getting fascists out of office.
They are a threat to your life. They will deport your neighbors. They will let you bleed out in a hospital parking lot because a doctor is afraid to lose their license. They will ask their followers whether Jews or Muslims are a bigger threat to the country and then run for statewide office. And they will win, if we let infighting do their work for them.
May 15, 2026: Last day to apply to vote by mail (Democratic primary runoff elections)
May 18, 2026: First day of early voting (Democratic primary runoff elections)
May 22, 2026: Last day of early voting (Democratic primary runoff elections)
May 26, 2026: Last day to receive ballot by mail (Democratic primary runoff elections)
May 26, 2026: Election day! (Democratic primary runoff elections)
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Michelle, Thanks for telling it like it is. One word.. VOTE. Rich S. Octogenarian, Contrarian, Democrat and former resident of Dallas
This one's dynamite, Michelle!!! Thank you. Just read it to my husband after posting on bsky. Count me ready for this fight; I've been in it a long time too.