Optimism abounds for Texas Democrats in 2020, but campaign staffers are sparse

[TexasTowelie]

by Abby Livingston, Texas Tribune


Though the news broke last week from Baltimore, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris’ withdrawal from the presidential campaign reverberated all the way to Texas.

Harris made a few inroads in the state. But most prominently, she hired over the last few years a stable of female operatives with Texas roots. And one particular woman was on the mind of a number of Texas Democrats, now that she was without a campaign.

"What's Emmy going to do next?" was the question bouncing around Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston on Tuesday, referring to Emmy Ruiz, an Austin-based Democratic field organizer who was one of the most sought-after campaign consultants this cycle.

The hope among many Texas Democrats is that Ruiz will turn her attention to her home state. But her trajectory is the story of where the state's Democratic operative class is today: With scant campaign opportunities in Republican-dominated Texas over the last two decades, many of the best and brightest young Texas Democrats deployed their talents elsewhere, like Virginia, California, Colorado and Ohio. Now the state is booming with Democratic campaign activity, but polished political staff is so scarce that poaching or struggling to retain talent is common to practically every campaign in the state.

Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2019/12/10/texas-democrats-are-short-campaign-staffers-amid-2020-optimism/