Former O'Rourke Organizers Rally Behind New Texas Senate Candidate
IN APRIL, Becky Bond and Zack Malitz left Beto O’Rourke’s staff, less than a month after they’d helped the former Senate candidate rake in $6 million in the first day of his presidential campaign. It was seen, at the time, as a strategic shift for O’Rourke — away from the “big organizing” vision that drove his unexpectedly impactful 2018 Senate run. Now, Social Practice, the firm created by Bond and Malitz, who also worked on Sen. Bernie Sanders’s 2016 campaign for president, is turning its “big organizing” vision toward Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, who on Monday announced her run for Senate in Texas.
Tzintzún Ramirez, a longtime organizer and the founder of a Texas-based nonprofit that mobilizes young Latino voters, is the latest candidate to jump into a crowded Democratic primary race for the Senate seat currently held by Republican John Cornyn — but she may be the Democrats’ best bet, considering her team and progressive platform.
Tzintzún Ramirez, who describes herself as a proud Irish Mexican American, is embracing progressive policy stances like Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, “massive divestment from Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” and rejecting all corporate PAC money. She also plans to roll out a “bold” immigration plan meant to “protect the rights of immigrant workers and families.”
And the 37-year-old hopeful’s campaign will be stacked with veterans from O’Rourke’s 2018 Senate race: Malitz, a key player on the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign who went on to help create O’Rourke’s massive field operation in 2018, will serve as a senior adviser on Tzintzún Ramirez’s campaign. Katelyn Coghlan, former statewide deputy field director for O’Rourke’s campaign in 2018, will be campaign manager, and Ginny Goldman, co-founder of the Texas Organizing Project, will be a campaign chair. Bond said that she’ll also be helping Ramirez.
Read more: https://theintercept.com/2019/08/12/texas-progressive-senate-candidate/
I disagree with the analysis by The Intercept that Ramirez is the best bet for Democrats in the race. I suspect that Ranirez's voter base will overlap with Sema Hernandez's base since Hernandez ran under the Democratic Socialists platform.
There are now six Democratic candidates that announced for the 2020 Senate race. The other five candidates:
• Chris Bell was on the Houston City Council, served one term in the U.S. House, and ran for governor in 2006 losing to Perry in the general election.
• Amanda Edwards is a current Houston City Council member.
• MJ Hegar ran for the U.S. House in 2018 and lost against incumbent John Carter.
• Sema Hernandez ran in the 2018 Democratic Senate primary against O'Rourke.
• Royce West is a longtime member in the Texas House from the Dallas area and the only announced black candidate.
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