The Texas Democratic Convention. The election of the Chair

Pic from the Dallas Morning News

As they say after eating sushi from a gas station, this too shall pass. 

Gilberto Hinojosa retained his position running on his record. His opponents also were running on his record. Carroll Robinson of Houston hammered Hinojosa and his record everywhere he spoke. He criticized his record of just "maintaining" in 2020 when we ran against one of the worst human beings on the top of the ticket. We gained no ground. He criticized his record in the Valley where we lost in districts we should never had lost. He criticized his loss of Hispanic voters. He and others stated when you take credit for the gains of 2018 you must also take responsibility for just maintaining in 2020. He said it was time for something to change. Maintaining was not enough. It was time to win. He was right. He is right.

All of that changed after Robinson came in third place after the 1st vote. He addressed the delegates and instead of supporting the other change candidate he urged a vote for the very person who he criticized the day before. Instead of a change, as he was advocating for, he asked to maintain the course. The 2nd vote was taken and Hinojosa won. So here we are.....maintaining. Again. 

Many delegates were very disappointed especially those who are on the street knocking doors and doing the hard work looking for help and guidance from the state party. Needless to say Olson supporters were disappointed as they should be. In the year of the Woman, we voted for a man. In the year of change, we voted to maintain.

Hinojosa has a few months to prove us all wrong. Our state has moved backwards on every issue important to Texans, gun massacres, teacher salaries and respect, women's rights, immigration, voting rights, the electricity grid, home insurance, property taxes, home prices, etc etc etc. What is he going to do? How are we going to make progress? How is the party going to help those willing to work especially those in the rural areas and in the Valley? These are good, valid questions.

Maintaining is not an option. Winning is. It's the only option now. Congratulations to the chair. Let's unite and move on. Let's progress. Let's move forward.