Travis County voter turnout is down 38% from 2018.
After Day 3, 22% of people age 70+ have voted, but only 2% of voters aged 18-29 have voted.
If you have paused in making a plan to vote because you thought everyone else will vote, or your vote doesn't matter - think again.
Absolutely LIVING for the fact that some gen z digital staffers clearly had to explain the importance of this specific shade of lime green to a bunch of ops today
Everyday a comms person wakes up, tweets from their candidate/orgs account, and immediately switches to their personal to retweet it... I think that's beautiful
It is INCREDIBLY hypocritical to hear Paxton ask his "fellow Texans" to come to the capitol to "make their voices heard" and "peacefully protest" the impeachment proceedings on the house floor...when trans protestors were harassed & arrested weeks ago for the same thing.
Texas has announced its official withdrawal from ERIC, effective 91 days from today.
A withdrawal on October 19th would be just one week after the registration deadline for Nov election, & less than a week before early voting.
No alternative will be tested to be in place.
organizers are wild because they will knock on strangers' doors for a living or be totally fine with hours of rejection on the phone but will be scared to talk to their crush
If you care about voting rights - watch what's happening in Texas today.
With less than 48 hrs notice, over 30 election subversion bills got scheduled for CONCURRENT hearings ranging from election police force, state takeovers of EAs, & voter purges.
It's getting started, a🧵
If every member of Congress was as much of a dear friend to the late John Lewis as they posted about yesterday then we wouldn't still have to be begging for voting rights protections today
It’s no surprise
@Judge_Whitley
, who made
@TarrantCountyTX
property taxes among the highest in TX, doesn’t get it. People are being taxed out of their homes by big spending local governments. Collier & Whitley are two-of-a-kind, tax hiking, big spenders.
Reminder for all following Texas elections -- this is a full tilt conspiracy, and prime example of partisan politics interfering w our Elections.
Even Keith Ingram, then-director of Elections for the TX Secretary of State, said himself ERIC was effective!
ERCOT is closely monitoring the weather conditions moving across Texas this week. Grid conditions are expected to be normal, and ERCOT expects to have sufficient supply to meet demand. Any outages are local in nature. Please contact your local electric provider for information if
Election denier, former TX Secretary of State (who resigned in December amid nefarious audits) is now replacing impeached Ken Paxton as interim Attorney General.
Lord pray for Texas.
The FAC polling location at UT Austin is *regularly* one of the highest turnout locations in Travis County, and yet past December runoffs haven't included the FAC as early voting locations...
You cannot cast off student voters w/o recognizing barriers to their participation.
State takeover and attacks on our democracy has many different faces this legislative session in Texas.
It's not just explicit voter suppression bills.
It's ejecting advocates from the gallery and cutting off testimony when bills are widely unpopular.
#txlege
~Personal news~
This Friday is my last day at
@CCauseTexas
. After 3 years, I will be back inside the building as Executive Director of the TX House Democratic Caucus (
@TexasHDC
).
Next year it will more important than ever to unite Democrats & I look forward to the fight ahead!
ICYMI:
The race for the Lt. Gov of Texas, the most powerful lawmaker in the state who runs the Senate and sets the agenda of the legislature, is winnable!
Early polls show the race within 5, where the race ended in 2018 yet now there's 3 months out. This is big.
#Breaking
: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton used burner phones, fake Uber name to cover up corruption, affair, lawyers allege in detailed new impeachment motions.
#txlege
Almost 300 Texans died in a avoidable climate crisis last year as a result of bad policy decisions, and as temperatures drop below freezing for the first time, almost 10 months later, little-to-no changes have been made.
More Texans will die if the status quo remains the same.
Despite working at least 3 jobs while taking 15-21 hour course loads - I graduate cum laude on the Deans List, having completed 3 fellowships & presented undergraduate research, and w a full time job as an Assistant Director at a national nonprofit.
Couldnt have done it w/o her!
Trump is coming to Austin on May 14th...
...but instead of giving him any energy, I'm going to be joining
@blueactiondems
' canvass for
@CollierForTexas
(happening at the same time as Trump's rally) so we can elect the first pro-choice Lt. Gov of Texas!
Voting in Texas should be easy, but if any questions/issues arise call the nonpartisan Election Protection hotline.
📞 English 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-9683)
📞 Spanish 888-YE-Y-VOTA (888-839-8682)
📞 Arabic 844-YALLA-US (844-925-5287)
📞 Asian Languages 888-API-VOTE (888-274-8683)
We are looking to identify a person of interest in an arson. Please contact the Austin Fire Department if you have information that can help solve this crime.
quick break from voting rights content to freAK OUT BC I ENDED COLLEGE MAGNA CUM LAUDE ON THE DEANS LIST!!!
I worked at least 3 jobs + internships + campaign work + 15 hours every single semester, all 4 years!
My first few semesters struggled bc of it but WE PULLED IT OFF YALL!
#TXANS
Update—6/20/2023: ERCOT has issued a Voluntary Conservation Notice for today from 4–8 p.m. due to extreme heat & forecasted record demand. Texans are asked to voluntarily reduce electric use, if safe to do so. ERCOT is not in emergency operations.
This is BIG news for Texas, as groups like
@CCauseTexas
are among the
@FairMapsTexas
coalition are parties in a lawsuit alleging that Texas’ new state legislative and congressional district plans are racial gerrymanders.
A 🧵:
today the barista at Bennu said "you better go easy on those" when I grabbed my 2nd cold brew before 8am and I had to explain that republicans scheduled 2 hearings on gerrymandered maps AND a hearing on 2 antI-democratic bills AT THE SAME TIME and I didn't need that negativity
Next UT protest: clocks not glocks
every student sets an alarm for a synchronized time and refuses to turn them off in class/outside the Provosts office until they commit to demilitarizing campus
coffee shops in Austin during the first week of january are so weird bc 1/2 the tables are lege staffers or lobbyists taking meetings and the other 1/2 are college couples having a hard DTR convo before classes start 🫡
I got to the capitol at 7:15am and registered to testify in both committee hearings.
It is now 10:40pm and I have not even been told when I will testify.
As hard as it is to testify against these bills, it's harder to vote.
This is *NOT* what democracy looks like.
#txlege
I know that for a lot of Republicans on the Hill their dream is to cut Social Security and Medicare.
Well, let me say this.
If that’s your dream, I'm your nightmare.
I just found out that my 80+ year old grandmother has COVID and is taking hydroxychloroquine to treat it.
She refused to get the vaccine because of gross misinformation.
I'm terrified and furious. If something happens to her, the GOP is to blame.
~personal news~
Today is my first day as Assistant Director of Youth Programs at
@TheCivicsCenter
!
More than 3.5 million HS students graduate each year but many aren't given the chance to register to vote before graduation. I'm so excited to join the team working to fix this!!
Some of the most insidious, dangerous forms of voter suppression are bills moving the Texas legislature & you've probably never heard of them.
But one has a public hearing Tomorrow (5/4).
With under 30 days left this session – state takeover of our elections is on the move.🧵⬇️
Australia is literally training election workers to drive through water if it means ensuring their people can vote, meanwhile Texas just got passed by *Oklahoma* as one of the last states without online voter registration
Last week's 4WD training for remote voting staff is being put into action!
This is a team crossing through water on a road in remote Western Australia to deliver an in-person service that otherwise couldn't happen.
I got my start in voting rights advocacy, so I cannot describe how amazing and surreal it was to be in the room as
@POTUS
laid out his vision for reforming the extreme Supreme Court.
These changes cannot come soon enough.
Texans deserve fast, frequent, and reliable transit. Today, I’m supporting
@TexasCentral
and
@Amtrak
and asking them to include Travis County in their high-speed rail project. Texas needs a passenger rail system that connects our largest communities – including Austin.🧵
Friendly reminder that you only have to be 21 to run for state house in Texas...
it would be great to see some young people running (especially young progressives against Dems who don't share our best interest 👀🤠
Between a misinformation campaign to lie about your ballot proposition, and now resisting popularly elected oversight passed into law -- this is a pretty clean step over the thin line between democracy and towards fascism.
The Austin Police Association is aware of the election results and is taking immediate action to determine the city's intentions regarding the implementation and enforcement of the illegal provisions contained in Prop A. The APA simply will not stand by while this city and 1/4
Tuition assistance is a great step in the direction of making higher education accessible to low income students. It can’t be the last tho.
Prioritize affordable housing & K12 public education
Expand fee wavers for SAT/ACT & AP tests
Pay work-study & grad students a living wage
BREAKING: An estimated one-fifth of all of
@UTAustin
's undergraduates will get full scholarships starting fall 2020 after UT regents voted just now to create a $160 million endowment for tuition assistance. Full rides for any undergrad with family income at $65,000 or less.
Folks from a close senate race to the home of the Supreme Court case Moore v Harper (which has oral arguments Dec 7th!!) -- get involved in organizing NC.
Follow my friend
@gino_nuzzolillo
to get plugged in 🫡
North Carolina is a swing state and anyone who says otherwise isn’t looking at the numbers.
Cheri Beasley lost by 3pts in 2022.
Trump won NC by less than 2 pts in 2020.
If we had given Cheri Beasley the platform and support she deserved we could have flipped that seat.
alternative headline: Organizers on the ground in Texas have been working for years to advance progressive causes, are we (the national media) going to be the thing that tanks it?
Right now in Texas: people can't think about where to go get warm/find shelter during a historically cold snow storm & a crippling 30+ hour power outage (due to a neglected, corrupt energy grid) without worrying about being exposed to a global pandemic lmao like what the fuck
.
@KamalaHarris
in Texas on Thursday 🤝
@POTUS
in Texas on Monday
Texas gets 2 stops in the first 2 weeks of the rescheduled campaign!🚨
Texas Democrats; use this moment to plug into one of the 30+ volunteer opportunities statewide ➡️
NEWS: Vice President Kamala Harris will be coming to Houston on Thursday and speaking at the American Federation of Teachers national convention at 10am, per source.
Last might she eclipsed the majority mark in support from DNC delegates, making her the presumptive Dem nominee.
For every shitpost you make tonight, there should be a rule that you've gotta knock some doors or do work offline.
Clout on Twitter is fun, but next year if we're in the start of a second Trump Admin-& if you're complaining about violent Trump policies-look back at what you did.
"There are three people in Washington DC who can bring this madness to an end.... Texas Democrats are willing to risk arrest & not see their families for months - the least DC can do is end the Jim Crow filibuster & pass voting rights legislation!" - the iconic
@jcslattery
I am once again asking every Texan to register & testify against gerrymandering.
Today starts the Regional Hearings with the Senate Redistricting Committee,
#txlege
!
Preregistration is required, closes 24 hours before each hearing, and will be linked in this thread! 1/4
I often feel imposter syndrome as a woman taking up space in the political sphere but then I remember that I didn't try to book the Four Seasons Hotel and accidentally book the Four Seasons Landscaping for a final campaign rally... and I feel better.
supposed to move to DC on saturday for a fellowship but it got delayed 20 days because of domestic terrorism instigated by a man who was elected by racists - can we get a do-over on 2021 🤪
INBOX, new email from Jill Biden: "KATYA, I heard the news about Taylor Swift. It doesn't take a mastermind to know that the real end game is re-electing the GOOD Joe in 2024. Whether you can afford paper rings, or shiny things, can you rush $13 before midnight?"
Met
@jackantonoff
on 6th street and the only thing on my mind was asking him to remind folks at his Monday night show to vote in the statewide Texas elections on Tuesday 😭😭😭😭