The Texas Democrats’ plan to defeat Republicans in November is outlined in a confidential fundraising pitch to large political campaign contributors. The strategy document for down ballot Democrats running in Texas is outlined in a nine-page Blueprint Texas PAC confidential strategy pitch to political contributors earlier this year. The formerly confidential document explains that helping “down-ballot wins in 2026,” will help “deliver the votes necessary for a statewide win” this year, “while building the foundation needed for the presidential elections in 2032.”
The “theory of case,” as explained by the document, is based on what the document calls the failure of “superstar candidates like Beto O’Rourke” to win the senate seat he was running for because Democrats left “a single statewide candidate to shoulder more than their fair share of the work” to win. The document adds that Democrats “left on the table: the wins that could have flipped more congressional seats, the wins that could have carried the top of the ticket to statewide victory.”
The solution to turning Texas blue, the document argues is “giving down-ballot candidates the critical support they need to win,” to help “lift the entire ticket” up.
The pitch to political campaign contributors by the Blueprint Texas PAC promises to “do something that we’ve never before accomplished in Texas, at a scale and with the rigor required: providing legislative and county candidates with the direct, focused resources needed to win.”
Blueprint Texas political action committee (PAC) was founded by former Texas Senator Wendy Davis. Davis was joined in the PAC by Matt Angle and David Wysong. Angle founded the Lone Star Project in 2005 as a vehicle to defeat Republicans in Texas.
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House Democrats attempted to stop the Texas Legislature from redrawing new congressional maps last year by staging a quorum break. The effort failed after several Democrats defected and returned to Austin. Of El Paso’s state legislators, only Vince Perez (D-77) was among the quorum breakers. Claudia Ordaz (D-77) was undergoing a medical procedure at the time, while Joe Moody (D-78), Mary E. Gonzalez (D-75) and Eddie Morales, Jr. (D-74) did not participate.
The Texas Justice Fund, affiliated with Angle’s Lone Star Project, donated $500,000 to help the Democrats who were participating in the walk-out effort.
The Texas Justice Fund has contributed $100,000 to Lone Star Rising PAC, a super PAC helping James Talarico’s campaign for the Senate. Talarico has promised not to accept corporate PAC donations and has accused billionaires of influencing political races in Texas. Nonetheless, Talarico has accepted campaign funds through groups tied to billionaires like the Texas Justice Fund.
In October 2024, the Texas Democratic Party announced the Texas Blueprint Coordinating Campaign. The campaign seeks to “uniting county parties and allied partners in a well-organized and focused effort designed…to establish Texas a bonafide battleground state.”
Among the founding members of the campaign include the El Paso County Democratic Party, and O’Rourke’s Powered by People PAC. O’Rourke’s PAC was one of the top funders supporting the Democrat walkout last year. Earlier this year, O’Rourke called the upcoming November election the “urgency of the moment.”
The two PACs, Blueprint Texas and Powered by People have been leading the fundraising efforts for Texas down ballot candidates. Davis’ PAC has raised $600,000 towards the effort and O’Rourke PAC has spent around $2.4 million so far. Talarico has also chipped in about $600,000 to help down ballot Democrats in their races.
The Blueprint Texas project is hoping to deliver 15 state houses for the Democrats, according to its donor brief. It also offers strategic guidance to county and legislative campaigns across the state.
Because El Paso County is considered a Democrat-stronghold, it is not among the “key counties” the group is helping which suggests that is one of the reasons incumbents Sergio Coronado and David Stout lost their county seats in March. Both did not appear to receive much help to keep their county seats in their respective campaigns by local party leaders. This and an anti-incumbent mood across the country likely led to their losses.
According to the latest federal campaign finance reports, O’Rourke’s PAC raised $6.3 million and spent $9.3 million, leaving the PAC with around $500,000. In Texas, the PAC reported raising $2.1 million and spending around $2.4 million. It’s latest Texas campaign filing shows $539,708.80 left in political funds.
O’Rourke’s Texas campaign July 15 report includes 19,410 pages on campaign contributors and expenses.