Houston has become a political hotbed -- and not just because of Thursday's presidential debate
HOUSTON — With the Democratic presidential debate just days away, there was excitement in the air at the Harris County Democratic Party's Monday morning staff meeting. But Chairwoman Lillie Schechter urged her troops to keep their eyes on the prize: November 2020.
"Everyone’s goal here is to turn Harris County darker blue and that we elect a Democrat to the White House," she said. "I just want to remind everyone that our focus is the November election in 2020."
"We have all of these awesome things that we are doing, the millions of events that we’re doing in September alone, we’re working on 12 different activities," she added. "All of those is to build up our volunteer army to make sure we win in November."
Just a few years ago, such talk would have sounded crazy. Harris County was for years a backwater of national Democratic politics. But as the political circus comes to town Thursday in the form of the third Democratic presidential debate, politicos here know that this won’t be their only moment in the sun in the 2020 election cycle.
The city has long been where many of Texas’ most prominent donors and biggest political personalities reside. But lately, it’s also been the site of a high-profile congressional swing seat. And after strong showings in recent elections, Democrats are hoping they can run up the margins to offset Republican strengths in rural areas — and at some point in the future put Texas in play in the presidential race.
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/09/12/houston-has-become-political-hotbed/
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