Democrats gathered for the party's Texas convention in Fort Worth this weekend.
They believe a host of issues from immigration to gun violence to human rights will propel a blue wave in coming elections, including Tarrant County the last metropolitan area in Texas, still very much Republican red. “We’ve got an enormous amount of enthusiasm out there. You can feel that electricity in the air right now," Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said.
Students marched through the convention center lobby to draw attention to gun violence in the U.S. Activists drew attention to wide range of environmental causes. Hinojosa admitted it's the galvanizing force for many of the gathered delegates in the first year-and-a-half of the Trump administration and, most recently, the debate over child-parent separations in a zero-tolerance policy on illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Because they’re going say, we’re better than this. This is not our kind of America. We never have subscribed to treating people and human beings like this and we don’t want to be part of a party that does that," Hinojosa said.
The immigration fight is just one of many issues Democrats feel will drive more votes their way. Democrats like Dianne Martin say weekly decisions by President Trump are the only motivation she needs.
“And this has been the worst time and year, well 15 months, that I’ve ever experienced," said Martin, an immigrant from South Africa who battled apartheid in her home country. "I can’t believe what is going on in America.”
“It’s sad," added Carmen Duron, a delegate from Corpus Christi. "But the Lord works in strange ways. And he always makes something bad into something good. And tomorrow will be better.”
But outside the convention center, a Republican-driven hearse circled the Fort Worth Convention Center with a banner on the side that said 'Texas Democratic Party RIP, 1846 - 2018," suggesting that Democratic blue wave of tomorrow will never come. The Texas GOP was also expected to publish a Texas Democratic "obituary" in local newspapers on Saturday.
“I doubt we’re going to change hardcore Republican’s minds," admitted Hinojosa while suggesting the minds they are hoping for are Democrats and Independents who, motivated by a President they do not like, will come out in force in Texas and even in deep red Tarrant County.
The 3-day 2018 Texas Democratic Party Convention continues through Saturday at the Fort Worth Convention Center.
Texas Democratic Convention hoping for blue wave even in deep red Tarrant County
The immigration fight is just one of many issues Democrats feel will drive more votes their way.