Texas Democrats Launch “Lone Star Rising”, A Robust Candidate and County Chair Recruitment, Training and Resource Program Ahead of 2024 Election Cycle
AUSTIN, Texas – Today, the Texas Democratic Party is proud to launch Lone Star Rising. Designed to recruit, train and provide support services for local Democratic candidates and county parties, Lone Star Rising is a new, coordinated programmatic effort that will build Democratic strength and influence ahead of the 2024 election cycle.
Texas Democrats are committed to building the infrastructure within our party to sustain a movement in which every Texan feels represented by their elected officials. Local leaders, in partnership with party staff, will lead Lone Star Rising to success. Our charge is clear: we must fight back, organize, and refuse to cede any ground to Texas Republicans in the 2024 election cycle. We must compete everywhere, for every vote.
Learn more at LoneStarRising.com.
In summary, Lone Star Rising will focus on the following priorities:
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. Our staff, in partnership with our State Democratic Executive Committee, the Texas Democratic County Chair Association, and Non-Urban Rural Outreach will dedicate effort and resources to recruit county chairs in rural, remote, and underserved counties across Texas.
County Party Support Services & Outreach: 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.
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. This discount does apply to some exurban and suburban districts, but mostly benefits candidates running in rural districts.
Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa issued the following statement on the launch of Lone Star Rising:
“While Texas Republicans are focused on defunding our public schools, stripping away healthcare from women and children, and implementing deadly border security measures – Texas Democrats are continuing to mobilize our ever-growing and diverse base by focusing on building grassroots, Democratic leadership across the state through Lone Star Rising.
“The goal of Lone Star Rising is simple: recruit, train and support local Democratic candidates and county party chairs so that they have the resources they need to achieve victory next November. No one knows their communities better than our local leaders, and we’re proud to work alongside them to better achieve these goals.
“Texas is the battleground of battlegrounds. We know it. Texas Republicans know it. And Texans know it, too. That’s why we’re rolling up our sleeves and putting in the hard work now to deliver results in 2024 – because when our county parties are strong and when our candidates have the resources they need – that’s when we win.”
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