The New Texas Democratic Party Is Done Playing Defense

This isn’t just about Texas. It’s about who gets to have a voice in American democracy.

Did you happen to catch Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder on Morning Joe this morning? If you missed it, it’s worth taking a gander:

As most of you are aware, Morning Joe is a former Republican and a centrist Democrat, at best. However, there is a larger underlying significance in Sudder’s national appearance on this show, and we need to talk about it.

And no, it isn’t about how national media rarely ever engaged with our previous chair, although they seldom did, but it’s that the national media is engaging with the progressive wing of the Texas Democratic Party (TDP), which is pretty much all of the TDP.

But, for the last few years, the national media has been platforming Texas centrists like Colin Allred all too often. And just recently, when discussing Abbott’s redistricting plans, MediasTouch invited TX18 candidate Isaiah Martin on their show, one of the most centrist candidates in a crowded field, instead of featuring anyone from the state party or the progressive bench.

Could this suggest that national interest in bolder, grassroots-aligned messaging from red states is growing?

Scudder linked the deadly flooding to deliberate Republican negligence.

And let’s talk about what Scudder actually said on air. He linked the deadly flooding to deliberate Republican negligence. Full stop.

The refusal to tap into Texas’s bloated Rainy Day Fund, the rejection of federal dollars simply because they came from the Biden administration, and the gutting of essential public infrastructure like the National Weather Service, which left key posts vacant and residents without proper warning systems.

I said this the other day, and I’ll say it again. Liability is going to land squarely on the county and state governments, where Republicans have spent over a decade dismantling the very institutions that might’ve prevented this kind of catastrophe.

Scudder reframed this flood, rightly, as a political disaster, not a natural one. He forced the accountability conversation into the national spotlight and, in doing so, modeled something we desperately need more of. Democrats are naming the harm and naming the culprits.

For working-class Texans, especially those who’ve felt abandoned or talked down to by both parties, that kind of clarity matters. It’s credible. And it tells people that maybe, finally, someone in power is willing to fight for them.

Then Scudder did something that most Democrats, especially those handed a national mic, rarely do.

He told the truth about our own party.

He acknowledged the reality that most of us on the ground have been screaming for years. That one-fifth of Democratic voters in Texas sat out the last election, not because they were confused, or misled, or tricked by Facebook ads, but because they didn’t see the point. They didn’t see a party willing to fight for them.

In focus groups, they said it plainly. Democrats don’t fight hard enough. We negotiate away what matters. We settle for the crumbs and call it a win. And honestly? They’re not wrong.

Scudder didn’t dodge that. He leaned in. And then he said what every state party leader should be saying. It’s time to get back to the big, bold, progressive ideas that once defined Texas Democrats. The kind that made voters show up, not tune out. He invoked Lyndon Johnson and Sam Rayburn. If we want people to vote for us, we’d better give them something worth voting for.

That kind of candor is rare. But it’s necessary.

Because the real threat to Republican rule in this state isn’t some mythical swing voter in a Katy cul-de-sac, it’s the millions of disillusioned Democrats across Texas who are waiting to be inspired. And Scudder made it clear. That’s who the new TDP is organizing for. And that was music to my ears.

He talked about the grassroots infrastructure that’s been built over the last hundred days in every corner of the state. There’s a new energy here, he said. And whether it’s coming from county chairs, rural precinct captains, or pissed-off young voters who’ve had enough of Abbott’s cruelty, it’s real.

Scudder’s not trying to win Texas by splitting the difference. He’s not chasing donor-friendly centrists or soft-pedaling red meat to cable news consultants. He’s betting on people power and betting that Republicans know exactly how dangerous that is.

He said it outright, Greg Abbott is running scared. And he should be.

Because when the GOP inevitably nominates indicted corruption-magnet Ken Paxton for Senate, Democrats will have their clearest shot in decades to flip that seat. If we meet the moment.

That’s the big shift here, not just a messaging change, but a strategic one. From persuasion to mobilization. From pundits to precincts. From trying to sound moderate enough to win over people who have already made up their minds, to sounding bold enough to bring back the ones who gave up on us.

And Scudder didn’t just keep this local. What’s happening in Texas isn’t just a Texas problem.

If Republicans succeed here, in carving up the maps, gutting minority protections, and using a climate disaster to entrench their own power, they’ll try it everywhere. Texas is the test kitchen. And if they get away with it, they'll roll it out nationally.

That’s why the rest of the country needs to pay attention. Texas is where the far-right playbook is being refined, on voting rights, abortion, immigration, labor, disaster response, all of it. And if we don’t stop it here, we’re going to be fighting uphill battles everywhere else for the next generation.

Scudder called on the country to take this seriously and to treat Texas Democrats as frontline defenders of American democracy. And frankly? That’s long overdue.

We’re not waiting to be rescued. We’re building power. We’re organizing in rural towns and urban strongholds. We’re running on real issues, in red counties and blue ones alike. And now, finally, we have a state party chair willing to speak that truth on national television and a national audience starting to listen.

Let’s not waste the moment.

• July 25: First day of special session

• August 23: Last day of special session

• November 4: Constitutional/TX18/SD09 Election

• Who Will Be On The 2026 State Ballot?

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