Editor’s Note: This article is the second in a two-part series covering the Texas Democratic Party Convention held last week. Our previous article, covering resolutions adopted by Texas Democrats, is available here.
Delegates to the Texas Democratic Convention in Corpus Christi last week heard from a lineup of far-left voices, most notably self-described “Democratic Socialist” Senator Bernie Sanders, who portrayed Republican leaders as corrupt racists who were destroying Texas and America.
The convention was chaired by former Nueces County Judge Barbara Canales and Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra – two politicians who were both defeated for re-election. Canales was defeated for re-election in 2022 by Republican Connie Scott by an 11-point margin, while Becerra was defeated in the Democrat Primary by a 17-point margin earlier this year. Becerra has also recently been publicly admonished by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct.
The convention opened with invocations from representatives of multiple religious faiths, including Imam Aref Erfan Mazloum.
Several Democrats who are running in Corpus Christi, including Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, addressed the convention on Friday.
Gonzalez, an incumbent Democrat who faces a strong challenge from Republican Eric Flores in Congressional District 34, focused his remarks on his personal story and various platitudes such as “when Texas votes, working families win.”
The Congressman, who has taken to social media on multiple occasions to hurl personal insults at Flores’ supporters, did have some strong words for Republicans as he concluded his remarks.
“Let’s kick their ass,” said Gonzalez
State Representative Gene Wu, the Chairman of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, was warmly greeted by the crowd as he defended the quorum break by House Democrats over Congressional Redistricting.
“For decades, our communities fought like hell to build political power and have their voices matter for once. And with one disgusting act, Republicans tried to strip it all away. So we stood up to Donald Trump. We denied Greg Abbott a quorum!” exclaimed Wu, who added that Republicans who supported the redistricting plan “are trying to steal our democracy.”
Justin J. Pearson, a Tennessee State Representative who gained national attention in 2023 after being expelled from the Tennessee House for engaging in disruptive conduct during a gun control protest that spilled into the House Chamberbefore being re-reappointed to his seat, championed himself as a fighter against “the tyranny of government.”
Pearson told the crowd, “Our founders built this nation in response to a tyrannical government. And today, we must refound this nation once again against a tyrannical government – in the state house and in the White House. I’ve seen this tyranny firsthand. Last month, Republicans in Tennessee capitulated to an Epstein-conspiring, corrupt, racist billionaire who’s enriching himself and his children, who holds the title of president, but not the compassion, care, or dignity of one.”
U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico, whose campaign has been boosted by a SuperPAC funded by prominent liberal billionaires, including LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and members of the Pritzker family, used his speech to decry the influence of billionaires in politics.
“Our state is being taken over by a new kind of tyrant – billionaire mega donors. They’re not invading with an army; they’re just buying the system. The billionaires who own the social media algorithms, who own the cable news networks, who own the politicians fighting on our screens – they are turning neighbor against neighbor, weakening that spirit of friendship that makes Texas so great.
The Convention’s Saturday session began with an indigenous land acknowledgment delivered by Sandra Love Sanchez of the Indigenous Peoples of the Coastal Bend.
Wearing a shirt emblazoned with the word “decolonize”, Sanchez said, “We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional homelands of the indigenous peoples of the coast, in the area known as so-called Corpus Christi.”
Kolby Duhon, who served as the Texas Democratic Party’s Vice-Chair for Finance, challenged those in attendance to get “good and pissed that a fascist ICE is disappearing our undocumented neighbors at unprecedented rates, and executing Americans in the street for daring to use their unflinchingly American right to protest their methods.”
Duhon also remarked that “the trans community is used as a political attack line in our state, instead of being celebrated for courageously living their truth” and claimed that “the Trump Republican Party has enabled Netanyahu’s war crimes by funding an ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Houston-area State Representative Jolanda Jones used her speech to warn her fellow Democrats that the “black vote” cannot be taken for granted.
“With Congresswoman Crockett’s loss, there are no, zero, zilch, nada black statewide candidates for the midterms. Black Texans are hurt, angry, and discouraged,” said Jones.
Congressman Al Green, who was defeated in the Democratic Primary by Congressman Christian Menefee, gave a strong endorsement for James Talarico’s U.S. Senate campaign.
“We can bring more judges to the bench. With Talarico, we will have a voice in the Senate that will speak and stand for women’s rights, for gay rights, for pride rights, for the rights of Asians, for the rights of all Americans, for the rights of Latinos, the rights of women. Because Talarico knows that, in this country, all persons are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Said Green.
The convention concluded with a keynote address from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described “Democratic Socialist.”
Sanders began his speech by commending the work of Texas Democratic Party Chairman Kendall Scudder and mentioning a recent meeting he had with Taylor Rehmet, who won a special election last year for a State Senate seat in Tarrant County that Republican Kelly Hancock formerly held.
Sanders reserved his most fiery rhetoric for his attacks on the Trump administration’s border security efforts.
“Trump’s domestic army, ICE, has acted brutally and illegally, tearing parents away from their kids and deporting millions of people who lived and worked in this country for decades,” said Sanders.
He also gave a glimpse at policies that could be enacted should Democrats re-take the White House in Congress, endorsing wealth redistribution, “Medicare for All” healthcare, a minimum wage of at least $20 per hour, free education “from childcare to graduate school”, “no more spending billions of dollars on the genocidal Netanyahu government in Israel”, enacting green energy policies, and a “path towards citizenship” for illegal immigrants.
