The Texas Democratic Party will be dedicating about a third of its staff to support progressive candidate Michelle Vallejo in the competitive race for Texas’ 15th congressional district after national democrats pulled political ads.
Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said the party would be increasing resources to the race after news broke that the national Democrats would not be airing televised ads in support of Vallejo’s campaign.
“We are sending in probably about a third of our entire state staff down to the Valley to work on this campaign,” Hinojosa said in an interview Wednesday.
On Sunday, Axios reported that House Majority PAC was planning to cancel scheduled ad reservations for Vallejo.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is also not airing ads for Vallejo, though they are airing ads for District 28 where U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar is seeking reelection and for District 34 where U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, currently the congressman for District 15, is running to represent the neighboring district.
The outrage following the Axios story was immediate.
LUPE Votes, the political extension of La Union Del Pueblo Entero that recruited Vallejo to run, lambasted the decision to pull the ads.
“Border communities in CD15 once again find ourselves in familiar territory — disinvested in by the national Democratic establishment,” Danny Diaz, political director of LUPE Votes, said in a statement. “We understand that we have to carry our own weight, and build our own movement here at home — but to step out of the race on the 11th hour is a slap on the face to the working families of CD15. The voters in this district deserve to be reached out to, and to be fully included into our democracy.”
Ground Game Texas, a state organization that works to advance progressive initiatives in cities throughout the state, also had harsh words for the DCCC.
“The DCCC’s decision to abandon Michelle Vallejo is a sign of both cowardice and corruption,” Mike Siegel, political director of Ground Game Texas said in a statement. “On the eve of the election, the DCCC has doubled down on pay-to-play strategies, pulling resources from a fantastic candidate running a competitive grassroots campaign to support two incumbent Democrats who have sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to the DCCC and other committees.”
Hinojosa, too, had criticized the move, telling the Texas Tribune earlier this week that he was “deeply disappointed” in the DCCC.
“I hope they change their mind, and if we lose this election, it’s completely on them,” Hinojosa said.
Vallejo’s campaign, meanwhile, retained an optimistic outlook.
“Michelle has been counted out and outspent at every step of this campaign, and yet she just keeps winning,” Alejandro Garcia, Vallejo’s communication director, said in a statement. “Her community has rallied around her campaign and it’s that grassroots energy that’s going to carry us to victory in November.”
The DCCC pushed back on the claim they were abandoning Vallejo’s campaign, pointing out that it was the House Majority PAC and not the DCCC who had made the decision to cancel the ads.
And while the DCCC is also not on the air in support of Vallejo’s campaign, it noted it opened a district headquarters here in the spring which still remains open.
The DCCC has also run radio and digital ads in English and Spanish and added Vallejo to their “Red to Blue” program which “arms top-tier candidates with organizational and fundraising support to help them continue to develop strong campaigns and win in November,” according to a news release issued by the DCCC in June.
“The DCCC has invested considerable resources to win all three South Texas races, and our commitment has not changed,” Helen Kalla, DCCC spokesperson, said in a statement Tuesday. “We’re excited that our partners will be joining us for the final stretch and we’re ready to win these races together.”
The next day, the DCCC issued a statement attributed to Hinojosa in which he appeared to change his tone on the DCCC’s efforts.
“We appreciate our partners at the DCCC for their early, sustained commitment to keeping South Texas blue,” Hinojosa said in the statement. “Their investments have empowered us to talk to more voters earlier than ever about Democrats’ record of supporting Texas’ working families and Republicans’ extreme agenda. Together we will continue to share our message with voters every day for the next four weeks.”
Asked to clarify his change from criticizing to praising the DCCC, Hinojosa said during Wednesday’s interview that he was made aware that the decision to withhold funding for ads was a decision made by the House Majority PAC, not the DCCC.
“Essentially, we clarified that that decision to withdraw funding for advertisements was by the (House) Majority PAC and that DCCC is, in fact, not going to decrease resources from their particular investment,” Hinojosa said. “Instead, we’re going to team up … they’re going to team up with the Texas Democratic Party to work on her campaign there.”
He added that the decision to divert a large portion of the state Democratic Party’s staff to one campaign was a rare one.
“We don’t have or ever have had the capacity from the very beginning to get up and move and work only on one campaign out of hundreds of campaigns that are involved in Texas, but we made an exception here because when the House Majority PAC decreased funding, we just didn’t want to leave Michelle hanging out there without some support,” Hinojosa said. “So we just decided to make that difficult decision and do the best we can to continue to serve the rest of the state.”
