Lone Star Rising is the Texas Democratic Party’s official, coordinated effort to recruit candidates and county chairs, and provide direct support services to county parties and candidates.

Below is our vision to develop, strengthen, and sustain our recruitment infrastructure:

County Chair Recruitment: Texas Democrats will take the lead in building our party by investing in a robust recruitment effort to identify, appoint, and train new county chairs, particularly in rural counties where there are existing county chair vacancies.

County Party Services and Training: To gear up for the 2024 cycle, we’re offering support services and a series of robust trainings that offer: overall skills development of our county party leaders and members, expectation setting for county party management, mitigate dormancy, technical advising for party business matters, 101 leadership training, and our Texas Democratic County Election Administration Training.

101 Leadership Training: Over the course of the off-year, prior to the primary, we will host skills training for our party leaders and activists that include the basics of leading by inclusion, fundraising, communications, and running effective meetings. Our goal is to ramp up skills development so that our county chairs are up-to-date on best practices for leading their county parties. This training curriculum will include: 

• Leading by Inclusion

• Finance

• Communications

• Organizing

• Mentorship

Down-Ballot Candidate Recruitment: In order to build an apparatus that is identifying leaders across the state to run for public office and vacant county chair positions, we have identified targeted districts and counties where candidate recruitment is of the absolute highest priority. To further this strategic imperative, the Texas Democratic Party will host candidate recruitment events throughout the fall until the December filing deadline.

Candidate Services: A holistic candidate services program run by Texas Democrats will serve candidates running for office at every level, in every portion of the state by offering tools that help candidates build organization and messaging, raise funds, identify key targets, receive VAN guidance, and more.

In addition to Lone Star Rising’s key objectives, the program will also include the following initiatives:

Bluebonnet Project: The Bluebonnet Project, a first-of-its-kind initiative in TDP history, will focus on placing advertisements with Democratic messaging and priorities across various media channels, including billboards, radio, newspapers, television, and digital platforms. These ads will highlight Democratic victories, plans, and proposals that benefit Texas families, helping to build a stronger connection between our party and local communities.
VAN District Partisanship Discount: The Texas Democratic Party is officially announcing that it will be providing a 50% discount on data services to Democratic candidates running in districts that voted R+10 or greater on the top of the ticket in the most recent statewide election.