Last week, Austin state Representative James Talarico headlined a rally in Plano. The event is part of a statewide organizing tour as Democrats look to seize on any momentum during the Legislature’s special session and the 2026 midterm elections.
Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder has been in his position for over 100 days now and is part of the group making the rounds through the state. He sat down with Eye on Politics reporter Jack Fink to talk about “Blue Texas” and the new attempt to make gains in Texas in 2026. He told Jack that in his 100 days as chairman, he’s done events in 45 counties around the state.
“As the new chairman of the party, I’ve made a lot of promises, and amongst those promises are that we are building a grassroots apparatus in every corner of this State,” said Scutter. “No more neglecting areas that are, you know, outside of major metros. We’re going to show up in communities. We’re going to shake people’s hands, look them in the eye, tell them what we stand for and ask for their votes, and that’s a lot of what this partnership is. It’s about broadening what we’re doing around the State of Texas and bringing in the resources to be able to accomplish that.”
Scudder told Jack that many of the recent decisions made by a majority Republican Legislature could lead voters to vote blue. “When a governor pushed… to defund our community public schools, and to give coupons to rich people to send their kids to fancy private schools on all of our backs,” said Scudder. “You have a lieutenant governor who is operating, prioritizing, and eliminating THC products in the State of Texas, which no one’s asking for. Just keep going down the ballot. And what you’ll see is what’s culminating into what could be the best year that Democrats have seen in Texas since the nineties.”
“If things don’t go our way in the next election, it is not because they had a lazy chairman,” said Scudder. “And it’s not going to be because we did not do things differently and rethink this process from the ground up. I think that what we are doing is going to be hugely impactful. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
