Talarico Pledges Historic $25M For Black Voter Outreach: “Putting Our Money Where Our Mouth Is”

[00:00:00]But I can say tonight that we are planning on spending $25 million on black voter outreach in this campaign.

[00:00:07]And that is that is the largest the largest investment in black voter outreach in the history of Texas politics.

[00:00:15]>> I've heard on the campaign trail come from you that black voters are often disregarded from the DNC and from Democrats um that were taken advantage of. What are you going to do to make sure black voters in Texas specifically are not taken advantage of by your policies?

[00:00:31]>> That's a great question. So, thank you for asking that and thank you for coming from Fort Worth. I'm actually going to be in Tarant County tomorrow.

[00:00:39]Um, and and you're absolutely right. We got to we got to confront the truth. The Democratic Party has a troubling history of taking black voters for granted. And it is the fastest way to lose an election because the way to lose is to take any community for granted, to take any voter for granted. And I am committed to not repeating those mistakes. It's why we're having this conversation tonight. It's why we have been competing for black votes all over the state. I am treating black voters as swing voters. It's why we have been showing up in black communities all over the state. Why we've been showing up on black media, why we are not just speaking to the issues that we all face, you know, the cost of housing, the cost of healthcare, but issues that black Texans face in particular, whether it's maternal mortality, whether it is the attack on voting rights, whether it's the attack on the hub program, historically underutilized businesses that is hurting blackowned businesses all over the state.

[00:01:40]We need to make sure that this campaign is reflective of the diversity of this beautiful state. It is impossible for any one person to reflect that diversity. And it's why we need to build a campaign that reflects that diversity.

[00:01:54]This campaign, you should think of this campaign as a teenager. It's not a baby anymore, but it's not quite an adult yet, right? It's going to be an adult after Labor Day. This campaign is an unruly teenager. And so there is so much growth still left for this campaign.

[00:02:11]>> And I and I want to reiterate something that was said earlier. I am not a perfect candidate. This is not a perfect campaign. This will not be a perfect campaign. But if we are all committed to the same goal, which is changing the politics of this state and if we come together in friendship, real friendship, I I don't want a relationship where we're just coming together for a photo op. I want honesty because that's what real friends do.

[00:02:38]>> And if we do that and if we adjust our strategy, if we adjust where we're spending money, where we're spending time, if we're reaching out to the people who need that extra touch, then we are going to be successful together.

[00:02:52]There is no way to win this but together. And so I am committing to you to continue to grow as a candidate myself. And on behalf of this campaign, I am committed to its future growth with you as our partner. And so that's what this conversation is about. I'm very much interested in ideas you may have.

[00:03:10]Some of the the stuff we've been doing, the Paul Quinn commencement address, um I was on DD in the morning uh just a few days ago. Those those ideas came from meetings like this, from small group discussions with black leaders, from open town halls where black voters have brought their ideas, from folks who are just sending them via email because this campaign is smart, but we're not as smart as everybody in this room. Right?

[00:03:38]We need your creativity. We need your ideas. If we're if you're thinking I never see Terarico here or I never hear Terico talking about this, it is on you to tell us so that we can change, >> right? I will commit to doing better if you commit to helping us do better. This is a partnership and I and we we don't have time to be defensive as a campaign. We got to race to win >> and this work is too important for anyone's ego to get caught up in it.

[00:04:11]This has to be about the state of Texas.

[00:04:13]This has to be about all of us. And so to answer your question specifically, there are a few things. One, I want to talk about investment because, as you all know, this campaign has raised a lot of grassroots money. I do want to caution you though, this is a big state, so that there's a lot of voters to reach and we got a lot more fundraising to do.

[00:04:31]I'm sorry for all the fundraising texts.

[00:04:34]I was actually I was actually doing a town hall like this and someone lift up their phone and was like, "You just texted me. How can you?" Anyway, they're all they're all me.

[00:04:46]We have a lot of fundraising left to do, but I can say tonight that we are planning on spending $25 million on black voter outreach in this campaign.

[00:04:56]And that is that is the largest the largest investment in black voter outreach in the history of Texas politics. And so where that money is spent, how it's spent, that is still up for discussion between all of us. And we need your feedback. But I want you to know that we are setting aside that money to do that work. We are putting our money where our mouth is. And then we got to do more than just ads. We got to do more than just mailers. I believe in humanto human, persontoperson organizing. That is how we win Texas.

[00:05:29]Yes, the ads are important. Yes, getting our message on TV, on radio, on in mailers, that's all important. And customizing those messages for different communities across the state, that's important. But the way we're going to win this election is neighbor to neighbor. And so we are investing major resources in a coordinated campaign. For the first time in 20 years, all the statewide candidates are coming together with the state party, with our allied organizations, with our labor unions, with our community groups to coordinate our resources so that we're not duplicating efforts. And it's hard. It's hard and it's not perfect. We got a lot more work to do to make sure we are working with our county parties and our local organizations, but it is hard to get Democrats to all work together. you uh some of you may remember the Will Rogers quote. I'm not a part of an organized political party. I'm a Democrat.

[00:06:20]>> It's hard to get us all to work together because we're all different. This is a coalition party. We're all come from different communities, different backgrounds, different beliefs, but if we're going to win this thing, we all got to be on the same team. We ought to be rowing in the same direction. And that takes work to make sure that every community is feels like they are truly represented by the coordinated campaign.

[00:06:42]But I'm excited about the direction we're moving. The last thing I'll say, we have to invest in our down ballot candidates. And this is something we've got work left to do. You don't don't applaud yet because we're we got work to do on this. But we have started the work of making sure that we are investing in and supporting those candidates at the bottom of the ballot because those candidates at the bottom of the ballot, they're going to help me and Representative Ena Hosa at the top of the ticket because they're the ones who are knocking on doors, registering voters, actually speaking to the needs of each particular community. And I remember when I was running for state house difficult to be a down ballot candidate. And so we have already invested $250,000 in the House Democratic Campaign Committee, which is helping take back the state house. We were just in Houston campaigning with Dr. Leticia Plamer, who will make history as the first black woman to serve as Harris County Judge.

[00:07:39]We already talked about Demarcus, who's going to be your next county clerk.

[00:07:43]But there are so many amazing candidates who are running for state house, state senate, city council, school board, and we as a campaign, we as a coordinated campaign want to make sure we're uplifting those candidates. So that is still a work in progress. And I know there are down ballot candidates here in the room that uh I've committed to doing a better job of supporting and helping.

[00:08:04]So, this is a work in progress, but I just want to give you a sense of what are the key pillars of this plan so we don't make the same mistakes that the Democratic Party has made in our history.