Hill Country Chapter ofTexas Democratic Women September 2020 September Meeting – A Zoom WebinarTuesday, September 112 noon to 1:00 p.m. HCCTDW will begin its fall series of meetings with a Zoom webinar with Jo P. Herrera, Democratic candidate for Texas 53, and Stephanie Phillips,Democratic candidate for Texas 73. A separate invitation with a link to Zoom will be sent in a separate email.. Look for it in your Inbox. Herera and Phillips Personify Dominant Themes of2020 General Election Democratic Party leaders in Texas and at the national level have discovered that the Texas House is a key contest for the future of our country in 2020. Why? The Democrats need to win only 9 more State House seats to take control, just in time to affect redistricting in 2021. In 2018, Democrats picked up 12 seats and came close to winning another 8. Those amazing results have captured the imagination of the Democratic Party establishment. Another big reason for emphasizing State House races is their down-ballot, local appeal at a time when Democrats have to learn to vote for each office individually. State House candidates are in a unique position to raise local issues and recruit local volunteers in their races. With this new emphasis on State House races, HCCTDW will hear from two candidates as featured speakers at our virtual meeting on Tuesday, September 1, 2020. Joe Herrera, candidate for Texas 53 (includes Kerr, Bandera and 10 other counties), and Stephanie Phillips, candidate for Texas 73 (includes Gillespie, Kendall and Comal). These candidates are not typical in their backgrounds, and each brings a unique understanding of our local concerns. Joe P. Herrera and his wife live in tiny Natalia, near IH 35 in Medina County, at the far eastern edge of his 12 county district that stretches all the way to Ozona. In 2018, Joe began his political career by running in the Democratic primary, and that experience motivated him to run again, making it to the General Election against Andrew Murr in 2020. Joe was prepared for the demands of his campaign through his career as an account representative selling food products, especially candy, in communities throughout Texas 53. Joe was born and reared in San Antonio, where he attended Catholic high school and received a B.A. from UTSA and an MBA from Our Lady of the Lake University. Joe served the larger community on the Community Advisory Board at KLRN (PBS affiliate) from 2014 to 2017. Having grown up in one of the largest cities in the U.S. and living for 12 years in a rural area gives Joe a broad perspective on the way that Texas neglects education, health care and other needs of rural citizens. Stephanie Phillips, a musician, music teacher and innovative small business owner with over 30 years’ experience, lives in the hills of northern Comal County with her life partner, Kathy Weiner. Through her work coaching music and performance in local schools, Stephanie has learned a great deal about the importance of fine arts and extra-curricular programs, especially with children in Title I programs. Stephanie has trained scores of teachers about innovative ways to help children engage in their schools and communities. She also performs on violin and viola with many regional symphonies. Stephanie graduated from Texas public schools, Oberlin College (B.A. in History) and Texas State (M.A. in Music). Stephanie Phillips was a candidate for Texas 73 in 2018, running in the General Election against her current opponent, Kyle Biederman. Stephanie was a very active and organized candidate, the first Democrat in 10 years to run for Texas 73. She was able to increase participation as a local candidate and has the distinction of outpolling Beto O’Rourke in Gillespie County (3109 v. 2572 votes) in 2018. Both Stephanie and Joe will appear live on Zoom Webinar for all our members, with streaming on YouTube for the public. They will each have the opportunity to deliver a campaign speech, talk about their campaigns and answer questions from the audience through the chat function. Flip the Texas House!Don’t Stop at the Top!Vote for Every Democrat!
President’s Thoughts for September
President’s Thoughts for September The pandemic continues to dominate our lives. We worry about being with our family and friends. Masks have become another part of our wardrobe. Listening to the experts and reading everything we can to become more informed as to what we should and should not do has become an everyday task. Even the National Democratic Convention became a virtual event. What a challenge they had in presenting our nominees Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to the audience! There were hits and misses, but I think everyone agreed the official roll call that spotlighted each vote from the primaries was a big success. It would be fun to hear from everyone as to their list of hits and misses. As we previously announced we will hold virtual meetings for September and October. Members will be able to participate by streaming the meetings via Zoom on their computers, laptops, phones or watching on YouTube. An invitation to join the meeting will be sent in a separate message. You can go to Zoom.com and download it for free. When it is time for the meeting you will click on the link, or put the link in your browser, and you will be sent to the Zoom meeting. Once there you follow the directions to be able to join the meeting. This will be a first for all of us, so if you need help do not hesitate to contact us. We will help you. We hope you saw the ad Hill Country Chapter – Texas Democratic Women had in the Kerrville Daily Times supplement honoring the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Thanks to Jeannie Berger and Sue Sommers for the work they did to get the ad published. The auction has been an ongoing fundraiser the past few weeks. We have presented items that were donated for a silent auction planned for the “Molly” event. As of August 18, the auction has raised $1010 to be given to our Democratic candidates running for state offices. There are two more weeks for the auction so we hope we can double the amount raised so far. Just watch for the items and send in your bid. Check the county Democratic Party newsletters to keep up with the various events they are holding that allow us to meet and support our candidates. Their events help our candidates running to represent Texas in Washington, DC. We know they have volunteer opportunities that could use your help. One is a postcard writing campaign to support the women running for judgeships. Contact me, sotxpta@ktc.com, if you would be willing to help with this effort. I put a VOTE BLUE sign in my yard. Because I live surrounded by Republicans, I was a little hesitant for fear the sign would be damaged. To my surprise I got a phone call from someone asking where they could get a sign for their yard. They are Republicans but want to VOTE BLUE this time. You never know what might happen when you stand up to be counted. Just as those brave women who worked to pass the 19th Amendment stood up so we could vote, we must stand up to show we appreciate their work and will do our part to get out the vote.
Where is information on Molly Ivins video fundraiser?
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https://hillcountrytxdemocraticwomen.org/2020/01/21/molly-ivins-to-headline-tdw-fundraiser-on-march-21/
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