Get on the bus, this may be the most important election of our lifetime!
The 2022 midterms primaries are upon us and they’re going to be cutthroat! A stunning loss for anti-Life Democrats in Virginia shows no seat is secure in the culture war.
Pro-abortion politicians fuming over the Texas Heartbeat Act will be looking to seize as many seats as they can. In Texas, the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, Texas House, AND Texas Senate will be up for election. Conservatives will also be voting to take back the U.S. House of Representatives in D.C.
Black women’s representation has steadily increased in Congress and state legislatures, but they have still struggled to win statewide races. No Black woman has ever been elected governor, and there are no Black women serving in the U.S. Senate after Kamala Harris vacated her seat to become vice president.
That could change this year. Beasley is one of three Black women — all Democrats — who have established themselves as early front-runners in statewide primaries, including Stacey Abrams, who is making another bid for Georgia governor, and U.S. Rep. Val Demings, who is challenging Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
Five Black women are running for governor, just shy of the 2018 record of six. Between 16 and 20 Black women are currently, or considered potential, Senate candidates, which would break the record of 13 Black women Senate candidates set in 2020, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University.
They include Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls Danielle Allen of Massachusetts, Deidre DeJear of Iowa, and Mia McLeod of South Carolina. Conservative commentator Kathy Barnette is also vying for the GOP Senate nomination in Pennsylvania.
Abrams, Demings and Beasley are among the few already favored to win their primaries. That’s especially rare considering where they’re running, said Kelly Dittmar, the director of research at Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics. “When we talk about where Black women have been successful in statewide contests, it has been outside of the South,” she said.
Persistent racism, sexism and the perception that Black women (who typically run as Democratic candidates) can’t win Republican states have stymied statewide hopefuls in primaries in the past.
Beasley, Abrams and Demings have already overcome some traditional obstacles, including difficulties fundraising and winning support from party leaders.
Abrams has yet to file a fundraising report since launching her campaign in December, but she raised a whopping $27.6 million in her unsuccessful run for governor in 2018. Demings has raised $13.5 million as of Sept. 30. Beasley announced Tuesday that she raised $2.1 million in the last three months of 2021, bringing her total haul to nearly $4.9 million.
All three have tapped into energy among grassroots Democratic donors. Their early success has also been years in the making.
“These aren’t newcomers,” said Glynda Carr, president and CEO of Higher Heights for America PAC, which supports Black women candidates. She said their candidacies are the culmination of years of efforts to support Black women running for state and local offices so they can eventually run statewide.
In Texas, parents are alarmed. Teachers are alarmed. And the politicians in Austin are more preoccupied with regulating which books kids are reading than with clear evidence that their ability to read anything at all is plummeting. Which books are on the library shelves isn’t the most important trouble spot in public schools in Texas, but you wouldn’t know that from the work of the Texas Legislature.
Republican lawmakers were fretting over whispers that lessons and reading material about racism and what they term critical race theory had overtaken the state’s classrooms, that the 6 million kids in those schools should be in classrooms instead of at home, but without rules requiring masks or vaccinations or proof of negative coronavirus tests.
Lots of those arguments are important, but they’re secondary to keeping people healthy, sheltered against the weather and educated. It’s election season, an opportunity for voters to weigh in. Politicians are attentive to the desires of the people who elect them. If the way to win an election is to keep special interests happy enough to pay for reelection, to keep partisans stirred up over culture wars, to tell people they don’t have to do any of the hard things that would limit the pandemic’s damage, then that’s what they’ll do. They’ll do the other stuff, too, but only if voters tell them to.
Early voting for the March 1 Democratic and Republican primary elections started Monday where every statewide executive-branch office, every congressional and statehouse district along with numerous judgeships and all of the State Board of Education districts, will be in contention.
So here are some of the facts you will need to know as you make plans to vote.
Texas Primaries 2022: Key Dates
Feb. 14 — First day of early voting for the primaries.
Feb. 18 — Last day to apply for a ballot by mail for the primaries. Key fact: Applications must be received by this date, not postmarked by this date.
Feb. 25 — Final day of early voting for the primaries.
March 1 — Primary election day. Also, mailed ballots must be postmarked by 7 p.m.
April 25 — Last day to register to vote for the May 25 primary runoffs.
May 13 — Last day to apply for a ballot by mail for the runoffs. Again, application must be received by this date, not postmarked by this date.
May 16 — First day of early voting for the runoffs
May 20 — Last day of early voting
May 24 — Primary runoff election day. Also, mailed ballots must be postmarked by 7 p.m.
What are new rules for Texas mail-in ballots?
Under a sweeping elections overhaul bill passed last year, applicants for mail-in ballot must complete a form and list a state-approved ID number such as a driver’s license or the last four Social Security numbers, depending on how they originally registered to vote.
This has caused some confusion in many counties, which has led to applications because some voters do not remember which number they originally used. The application forms can be found on the Secretary of State’s website. The site also includes an application and mail-in ballot tracking form, similar to one used by parcel-delivery services, so that voters can monitor the procession progress.
Who is eligible to vote by mail in Texas?
Here’s how the Secretary of State’s Office explains who’s eligible to vote by mail:
- Be 65 years or older.
- Be sick or disabled.
- Be out of the county on election day and during the period for early voting by personal appearance; or
- Be expected to give birth within three weeks before or after Election Day; or
- Be confined in jail, but otherwise eligible.
You may also find a sample ballot at www.saobserver.com.
On Monday, February 14th, Black Voters Matter began a statewide outreach tour across Texas on its signature “Blackest Bus in America” to engage with young voters and build voting power ahead of Texas’ critical primary election. The weeklong bus tour, which began in Houston on February 14 and ends in Tyler on February 18, will stop at 21 local colleges and universities to educate students on ballot access, help them verify their registration status, assist them with creating voting plans, and lead caravans to polling sites. As part of BVM’s outreach, it will also conduct listening sessions at each campus to inform its “Take the Field” campaign to encourage student-led activism.
Monday’s bus tour comes at an important inflection point for voting rights in the state of Texas. Last year, Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas state legislature approved legislation to roll back voting rights protections statewide, which is already leading to widespread voter suppression. Hundreds of mail-in ballot applications – the majority of which are expected to be from Black and brown voters – have already been rejected under the new law. As the state prepares for an important primary election on March 1, the work to empower Texas voters and protect their voting rights has never been more urgent.
BVM’s Take the Field campaign seeks to inspire, train and engage Black college students in acts of civil disobedience that can lead to real influence on campus and in their larger community. The campaign is primarily focused on historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and will empower students to take up issues such as voting rights, campaign finance reform, and the elimination of student debt on college campuses nationwide.
WHO:
- Black Voters Matter
WHEN & WHERE:
All times CT
Wednesday, February 16 | Austin
- 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM: Austin Community College – Riverside (1020 Grove Blvd, Austin)
- 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM: University of Texas – Austin (110 Inner Campus Drive Austin)
- 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Austin Community College (Highland 6101 Highland Campus Dr, Austin)
- 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM: Huston Tillotson University (900 Chicon St, Austin)
BVM will lead March to Polls at 4:30 PM
Thursday, February 17 | Dallas-Ft. Worth
- 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM: Tarrant County College – South (5301 Campus Dr, Fort Worth)
- 10:30 AM – 11:30 PM: University of Texas – Arlington (701 S Nedderman Dr, Arlington)
- 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM: Cedar Valley College (3030 N Dallas Ave, Lancaster)
- 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Mountain View College (4849 W Illinois Ave, Dallas)
- 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM: University of Texas – Dallas (800 W Campbell Rd, Richardson)
BVM will lead Caravan to Polls at 5:30 PM
Friday, February 18 | East Texas
- 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM: Southwest Christian College (200 Bowser Circle, Terrell)
- 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Jarvis Christian College (Private Road 7631 Hwy 80 E, Hawkins)
- 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Tyler Junior College (1327 S Baxter Ave, Tyler)
- 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM: Texas College (2404 N. Grand Ave, Tyler)
BVM will lead Caravan to Polls at 4:30 PM
Make no mistake, the best way to ensure your vote counts is to vote early and in person.
