Kendall Scudder Wins Re-Election And Other Updates From The Convention
Officer elections, SDEC wins, and the West Texas slate everyone should be watching.
At the end of the Conventions in 2022 and 2024, many delegates said they walked away feeling dissatisfied with the party’s state and direction for various reasons. However, at the end of the Texas Democratic Party’s 2026 Convention, from what I’m seeing and hearing, the overall mood among Texas Democrats appears energized.
Check out a Texas and an American icon, Congressman Al Green:
I will forever and ever love this man.
Winners of the TDP officer elections:
Chair: Kendall Scudder
Vice-Chair: Shay Wyrick Cathey
Vice Chair for Finance: Daniel Ayala
Secretary: Myra Mills Tschirhart
Treasurer: Michael Apodaca
Only two of my state officer endorsements won, but that’s okay. We did a little better in the SDEC. 28 of my 43 endorsements cleared the line. Here are the SDEC results:
Congratulations to all of the winners! 🥳
My endorsements diverged from the Texas Progressive Caucus this year. Intentionally. We don’t have a report on their wins, but absolutely, I’m keeping an eye out for it.
Progressive Democrat Julio Salinas, from McAllen:
Here are the final published reports from the Texas Democratic Party:
Allegedly, there may or may not be a minority report coming from the Resolutions Committee; there was definitely some chatter about it. Specifically from an elected official’s ex-wife in the RGV who is uber-loyal to Israel, and you know how the rest of the story goes. I haven’t seen a document yet, though.
But you know what? I am really excited about the West Texas Slate. I think I’ve talked about them before. A few of them spoke at the convention.
Kyle Rable:
All of this crew in West Texas is working together: Rable for TX19, Diana Luna for HD71, Riley Rodriquez for SD28, Cullin Knutson for HD86, Mark Nair for TX13, Malik Williams for HD83, Heather Wallace for HD88, and Diana Loya for HD87.
Anytime I see any of these West Texas crew on social media, they are almost always doing joint events or joint block walking with other candidates. It’s so rare to have this many West Texas Democrats running at all, but the fact that they’re working together so cohesively is likely accelerating the construction of much-needed infrastructure in the West.
And here’s the thing about West Texas, everybody writes it off as unwinnable, and everybody’s wrong. The assumption is that it’s white, rural, and Republican by birthright. It’s not. West Texas is heavily Hispanic. What it actually lacks is infrastructure. Decades of Democrats not showing up have left some of the lowest turnout numbers in the entire state, and low turnout can look like a red wall when it’s really just an empty room.
What this slate is doing is filling the room. A year of grinding it out, running on a populist message in territory that’s been tumbleweeds for blue for a generation, and doing it together instead of every campaign fending for itself. That kind of work may or may not show up in the vote totals this November. But it will absolutely show up in 2028.
Today’s wrap-up was speeches, elections, and final reports.
There were speeches by every Democratic candidate on the ticket who was present, so needless to say, there were a lot. You can see the whole thing on TDP’s YouTube channel. I only clipped some of the more notable speeches.
Tyler Smith, in Houston, running for HD138, is going to flip this seat. Put money on it. I would.
I’m also feeling bullish about Josh Wallenstien for HD133:
And Marquette Greene-Scott for TX22:
The SDEC seat payoff.
Update on the Texas Progressive Caucus fight from earlier this week. They got their seat. It passed. The TXPC is now officially at the table where the party makes its decisions, rather than just doing all the organizing work that keeps the lights on. Some fights you have to watch nervously to the end. This wasn’t one of them.
To my understanding, all the committee reports passed without petitions.
And for everyone who spent the last few days reading my platform breakdown, wondering if the floor was going to gut it. It passed basically as written. Affordability stayed up top, the populist bones held, nobody snuck in a last-minute rewrite to soften it back into 2024. The optimism was earned.
And check out one of the Texas Democratic Party’s newest stars:
So that’s the 2026 Convention. Three days, a platform that actually sounds like it was written for people instead of consultants, a Progressive Caucus that earned its seat at the table and got it, and a slate of candidates from Houston to deep West Texas who are out there doing the work instead of waiting for permission. Texas Democrats are leaving Corpus Christi energized.
Let’s go flip some seats.
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This was my first convention. I think I chose a good one to attend. The mood was "just right" in my opinion. There was optimism, but a realistic optimism. No one seemed to gloss over the challenge of organizing and executing in real life. Ken Martin didn't show up in person. There was a very fast glimpse of him speaking in one of the videos on screen. I don't know what the story is there. I thought he was on the list of speakers, not that I thought that was a good idea. I agree that the people seemed pleased with the convention. There was an awesome conga line down on the floor prior to Bernie appearing. It was kind of amazing, given the average age of the participants. Bernie was treated like a rock star. In fact, the whole thing seemed to be a throwback to the seventies. My ears are still ringing like I was at a concert.
The curiosity of Republicans about the Democratic candidates and messages was implied and sometimes outright stated. And it explains Abbott's desperately trying to "rain" on our parade with his juvenile stunts. Most people, myself included never even noticed it happening. There were three former Republicans who came out and introduced nominees, most notably to me, the Trump-appointed former DOJ attorney who managed the impeachment evidence against Paxton. She denounced Paxton with righteous indignation. Paxton can run, but he cannot hide.
Thank you for these highlights!!